Chicago, DC, ATL for Black Professional (Decatur, DeKalb: homes, luxury, school districts)

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

But that's not what you posted. You posted two pretty girls and called them ratchet because you didn't like their hair.

Look at post #120. BajanYankee wants the "Black Bourgeoisie", not just any black professional. In Chicago, for example, he wants to be where Obama's inner circle hangs out - Valerie Jarrett and those types. He's not interested in meeting regular black professionals, he wants the Jack and Jill set. Martha's Vineyard, etc.

Both Chicago and DC have those circles. I have no idea where to meet them, short of volunteering on someone's campaign. If you went to the "right" business or law school, you would already know where those folks are.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

You, sir, have gawd-awful taste if you don't find those women to be attractive due to their hair. Send them my way, please.

Yeah. You can have them.

I didn't say anything about attractiveness. I'm talking about a particular type of scene. The specific club I'm talking about features a generous amount of the following...

Bad weave (sometimes multi-colored)
Guys poppin' bottles on 39K salaries (which is way lower in DC than the Chi given COL)
Girls with bad grammar
Women generally dressed like call girls

The crowd can get very Adrien Broneresque very quickly though these are people who probably view themselves as "professionals." Club promoters slap "professional" and "grown and sexy" on a lot of things. The label doesn't make it so.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Look at post #120. BajanYankee wants the "Black Bourgeoisie", not just any black professional. In Chicago, for example, he wants to be where Obama's inner circle hangs out - Valerie Jarrett and those types. He's not interested in meeting regular black professionals, he wants the Jack and Jill set. Martha's Vineyard, etc.

That depends on your idea of "professional." A lot of the dudes you see in these clubs are not professionals. "Professional" is just a buzzword that can encompass anything from the party promoter to the mailroom clerk to the neurosurgeon.

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Both Chicago and DC have those circles. I have no idea where to meet them, short of volunteering on someone's campaign. If you went to the "right" business or law school, you would already know where those folks are.

In most cities (NYC included), you have to go to very specific functions. A black alumni association happy hour, for example. Or a house party. That type of crowd isn't that large and is going to be spread out throughout the metro. You just can't go out on any given night and find them. You have to be in those circles.

Another issue you face is that a place that's pretty decent only has so long before the ratchets catch on. You might have a spot that starts out with a strictly enforced dress code. Then a few months later, you see a sign "No Jerseys, No Timbs, No Athletic Wear, No Solid Color Tees." Come back a month later and there's a bouncer patting you down. Go back in another month and people are wearing sneakers inside.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

Yeah. You can have them.

I didn't say anything about attractiveness. I'm talking about a particular type of scene.

BS. You were labeling two attractive, classy-looking women as "ratchet" due to their hair-- the same kind of hair that many or even most black women (including many very high-class black women) have. Several people have pointed this out to you now.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Look at post #120. BajanYankee wants the "Black Bourgeoisie", not just any black professional. In Chicago, for example, he wants to be where Obama's inner circle hangs out - Valerie Jarrett and those types. He's not interested in meeting regular black professionals, he wants the Jack and Jill set. Martha's Vineyard, etc.

Yeah, I saw that and I think he needs to have a seat.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

Go back in another month and people are wearing sneakers inside.

Sneakers?!?

Oh the horror!!

[frostopsy]

Originally Posted by Nomadic1

Thank you for sharing! Out of curiousity are you AA? I am surprised that you feel DC is so segregated. My best friend is there while finishing up law school so I frequently visit her. She has three roommates, one asian, one white, and one gay mexican male, I can't even make this up. Across the hall lives a hispanic family and right next door are three white college students. There are also several africans on the floor. This is just one floor but the entire building is diverse in this way. This is the sort of thing that I love about DC. The neighborhood she lives in his adams morgan, which is one of my favorite in the city. I also have a friend that lives in dupont and one in Columbia Heights so I am pretty familiar with many of the neighborhoods there. I can honestly say that each time I take a stroll in any in DC rather it's Georgetown, dupont, or adams morgan, I always see people of various ethnicities. I never feel like the odd ball out. I can't say that Georgetown has a lot of miniorities that reside within the neighborhood, but at least I still see plenty of them while walking around. I can't say the same for Chicago's north side.

DC is a great place to visit. DC is a great place to start a career. DC is a great place to network with people if you want to get ahead.

If you want to live life, meet great, people, and have a city with culture and personality, move to Chicago. No one stays in DC forever unless they were born and raised there. Even then, a lot of people spread out. That's just my experience, from people I have met and worked with. You go to DC if you work for the fed, then go somewhere else. Even the president is only renting the place.

DC doesn't compare to Chicago as a city at all. It's a world class city vs a second rate city with under a million residents and nothing to show other than a small section of town that has museums and monuments. It's just my experience that you either love it or hate it. If you love people asking you what you do for a living, constantly sizing you up, and you think work is better than friendship then DC is for you. If you love having a sense of community, making life long friendships, and being in a world class city, go to Chicago.

I'm not AA. I've just had the chance to live both places. Personally, I can't wait to move away from DC. It's overrated, overpriced, and past it's prime. It had it's own decade of a gilded age, but until there's another war in the Middle East, or a stimulus blow out again any time soon, it's heading back to the dustbin of irreverence. The Feds are done hiring, and the contractors are cutting back as money is no where to be found. The fastest growing job market in DC is hospitality. Unless you have something set up, don't expect a huge paying job as there used to be.

I'm all about whatever makes you happy. Do your research, and find out what works for you. I know nothing about Atlanta other than it's hot. You should figure out where would be best for you 10 years down the road. Not just 6 months from now.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by frostopsy

DC is a great place to visit. DC is a great place to start a career. DC is a great place to network with people if you want to get ahead.

If you want to live life, meet great, people, and have a city with culture and personality, move to Chicago. No one stays in DC forever unless they were born and raised there. Even then, a lot of people spread out. That's just my experience, from people I have met and worked with. You go to DC if you work for the fed, then go somewhere else. Even the president is only renting the place.

DC doesn't compare to Chicago as a city at all. It's a world class city vs a second rate city with under a million residents and nothing to show other than a small section of town that has museums and monuments. It's just my experience that you either love it or hate it. If you love people asking you what you do for a living, constantly sizing you up, and you think work is better than friendship then DC is for you. If you love having a sense of community, making life long friendships, and being in a world class city, go to Chicago.

I'm not AA. I've just had the chance to live both places. Personally, I can't wait to move away from DC. It's overrated, overpriced, and past it's prime. It had it's own decade of a gilded age, but until there's another war in the Middle East, or a stimulus blow out again any time soon, it's heading back to the dustbin of irreverence. The Feds are done hiring, and the contractors are cutting back as money is no where to be found. The fastest growing job market in DC is hospitality. Unless you have something set up, don't expect a huge paying job as there used to be.

I'm all about whatever makes you happy. Do your research, and find out what works for you. I know nothing about Atlanta other than it's hot. You should figure out where would be best for you 10 years down the road. Not just 6 months from now.

I was just talking to my girlfriend in DC this morning and she was saying that all people do there is size you up based on your job and income. She speaks of this often

She says everyone wants to know what your GS level is and where you went to grad school. I've never been to DC and want to visit but based on this I wouldn't want to live there. I know I wouldn't fit in in an environment like that because what people do for a living or how much they make doesn't impress me and I don't want to be around people who judge people based on that.

[mjtinmemphis]

I guess people judge people in every city. It's part of human nature.

In Chicago people judge you on what neighborhood you grew up in or what side of town you are on. It's ridiculous.

Most African Americans in Chicago who are settled here are from here and stay for family reasons and are very complacent Few come for a few years to experience the big city and when they get tired of it they move. If they have to stay for work reasons, they move to the suburbs.

Most African American transplants don't stay for any length of time and they definitely don't settle in the area. Chicago hasn't been a "hot spot" for African Americans since the great migration. I think DC and Atlanta has more of a recent migration of African American professionals more so than Chicago.

Chicago seemed to give a very different experience for African American professionals than it did for White professionals. It's seemed like at least two different cities in one.

[southkakkatlantan]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I personally never experienced a cheaper COL in Atlanta versus Chicago, especially to live in a nice neighborhood in Atlanta that has access to nightlife. I found the rents to be about the same and Atlanta more so because you have to drive a car there. When I lived there I was baffled as to why people kept saying Atlanta was cheap when everything I found in areas worth living in, the rents were actually pretty high and pretty much the same for what you can rent on the lake.

I just didn't find the nightlife in Atlanta to be all that exciting. Perhaps if your thing is strip clubs and you only listen to rap. Quite frankly, I found Atlanta's nightlife to be pretty lame to the point that I just stopped going out. I got tired of hearing the same lame music over and over again.

Now this is one thing I don't understand. Atlanta_BD would you mind giving insight on where you lived in Atlanta?

I had a 700 sq ft apartment within 5 minutes of my job at Emory for $650 a month, close to Dekalb Farmers' market (cheapest groceries around) and a 15 minute ride to Lenox Mall in the city.

My first apartment in Chicago was within 5 minutes of my job at Northwestern downtown and a 15 minute walk to the lake. But it was a 400 square foot studio and was $1300 a month.

Looking at the 2 situations above, I feel that they are a pretty fair comparison-both places within a 5 minute drive of my job which was pretty centrally located in both places.

Where in Chicago can I find an apartment by the lake that's at least, say, 600 square feet and within a 5 minute drive of downtown for close to what I was paying in Atlanta?