Chicago, DC, ATL for Black Professional (Atlanta: apartments, rental market, crime)

[afdinatl]

Please lol. 40 shootings every weekend is normal in Chicago when it warms up. I challenge anybody to find any link where Atlanta had over 6 shootings in one weekend every other week let along 40+ every week. 40 shootings and it isnt even summer yet. Wait until it gets 85+ degrees lol.Now Chicago has a real downtown with a big city feel but the nightlife in Chicago is horrible if you are a professional black. Most of the hip hop nightclubs are hood. And you all know this. Ask any professional AA who has lived or been to these cities which one comesin last in nightlife and it's Chicago. Nightlife I'm talking about upscale hip hop megaclubs, celebrity sightings, after hour places, etc. Chicago doesn't have anything that compares to Compound or Prive in Atlanta or The Park in DC. Plus the taxes are the highest and you can only enjoy the city 6 months out of the year. Nice city though just make sure you stay away from the hoods.

As far as AA cities DC, Atl and NYC are the top dogs. Chicago is a great city though with great restaurants, museums, nice skyline, etc. You should post this is city vs city. Good luck!

[mjtinmemphis]

I had worked with different people in both cities and there is a different approach to getting things done in Atlanta than there is in Chicago.

I personally have a hustling mentality that has to get things done and I thought Atlanta wasn't nearly as productive in the work place in Chicago.

Progressive minded Blacks??? In terms of education, liberal thinking. I don't know. I do think there is a hometown type of thinking in Chicago where people haven't ventured out and experienced a lot elsewhere. There seemed to be an out migration type of thing with Black folks in this city.

I stay in a transient neighborhood in St. Louis and there are plenty of Blacks from Chicago who are on top of their stuff more so than the ones who live there all of their lives and who never left the Block. I also noticed the same thing with Chicago and other transplants in Memphis. They seemed more engaged with a make it happen type of type of energy. You can definitely tell the difference between the natives and transplants in any city. If that's what we are talking about.

Even in Chicago I found myself befriending transplants more so than natives. There is something about venturing out that forces your mind to open. Most transplant relocate to a city for a reason mostly work related so there is going to be a difference for those who live by default and stay in the same hood they grew up in. That mentality is in every city so it's not just Chicago or a black thing.

I think I am addressing the issue?

[ThreeSides]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

Please lol. 40 shootings every weekend is normal in Chicago when it warms up. I challenge anybody to find any link where Atlanta had over 6 shootings in one weekend every other week let along 40+ every week. 40 shootings and it isnt even summer yet. Wait until it gets 85+ degrees lol.Now Chicago has a real downtown with a big city feel but the nightlife in Chicago is horrible if you are a professional black. Most of the hip hop nightclubs are hood. And you all know this. Ask any professional AA who has lived or been to these cities which one comesin last in nightlife and it's Chicago. Plus the taxes are the highest and you can only enjoy the city 6 months out of the year. Nice city though just make sure you stay away from the hoods.

As far as AA cities DC, Atl and NYC are the top dogs. Chicago is a great city though with great restaurants, museums, nice skyline, etc. You should post this is city vs city. Good luck!

I see what you did there. However, Black professionals aren't shooting anyone in Chicago. Chicago's history is much different than DC's, Atlanta's, and NYC's.

The OP is interested in more than a nightlife. Do tell her about the other criteria that make Atlanta superior to Chicago and DC.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

Now Chicago has a real downtown with a big city feel but the nightlife in Chicago is horrible if you are a professional black. Most of the hip hop nightclubs are hood. And you all know this. Ask any professional AA who has lived or been to these cities which one comesin last in nightlife and it's Chicago. Nightlife I'm talking about upscale hip hop megaclubs, celebrity sightings, after hour places, etc. Chicago doesn't have anything that compares to Compound or Prive in Atlanta or The Park in DC.

This is what someone from Atlanta needs to understand about Chicago and nightlife for blacks:

First of all, you are assuming that all or most blacks are into hip-hop. A lot of us aren't, especially not progressive blacks in Chicago.

Not that there aren't professional blacks who listen to hip-hop, there are. But the professional Chicago blacks in Chicago listen to conscious, East Cost hip-hop like A Tribe Called Quest. Not that southern rap garbage outside of Outkast.

There's no such thing as upscale hip hop clubs in Chicago. That is an oxymoron for non-ghetto blacks in Chicago. Professional blacks in Chicago go out to party to House, not rap and hip hop. It's ghetto to a lot of us. That's why the hip-hop clubs there are in the ghetto. Professional blacks aren't into it like that. All this stuff that you are naming are things that progressive black Chicagoans don't care about or aren't into for the most part.

Progressive blacks in/from Chicago listen to all kinds of music not just hip hop. We are very much into house, but also soul, funk, disco, punk, industrial, jazz and neo-soul.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

This is what someone from Atlanta needs to understand about Chicago and nightlife for blacks:

First of all, you are assuming that all or most blacks are into hip-hop. A lot of us aren't, especially not progressive blacks in Chicago.

Not that there aren't professional blacks who listen to hip-hop, there are. But the professional Chicago blacks in Chicago listen to conscious, East Cost hip-hop like A Tribe Called Quest. Not that southern rap garbage outside of Outkast.

There's no such thing as upscale hip hop clubs in Chicago. That is an oxymoron for non-ghetto blacks in Chicago. Professional blacks in Chicago go out to party to House, not rap and hip hop. It's ghetto to a lot of us. That's why the hip-hop clubs there are in the ghetto. Professional blacks aren't into it like that. All this stuff that you are naming are things that progressive black Chicagoans don't care about or aren't into for the most part.

Progressive blacks in/from Chicago listen to all kinds of music not just hip hop. We are very much into house, but also soul, funk, disco, punk, industrial, jazz and neo-soul.

You are right! I'm not a Chicagoan but I can't stand the dirty south type rap. I don't even consider it music. It's porn talk with a beat. I can't stand trash.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

I just have to add this: People who think Atlanta has a better nightlife than Chicago typically mostly listen to that horrible southern hip hop, enjoy Top 40 remixes in nightclubs and view strip clubs as the epitome of culture and entertainment.

Ok, I definitely agree with some of this. But I feel that Atlanta definitely has more of a fun energy when it comes to nightlife, and btw I am no huge fan of Atlanta as I had some questionable experiences there. However, I find professional black nightlife in Chicago kind of boring with jazz, neo-soul, and everyone trying to look so professional with their drinks just standing around.

I am the type who prefers a top 40 somewhat hip-hop dance high energy place like Vegas or Miami. Atlanta comes close to this. You will have a hard time finding this is Chicago or like the OP noted on the Northside side it mostly whites standing around drinking, cliquish and not interesting at all.

If the OP was to live in Chicago, I think his nightlife options would be short lived. The only places that come close to somewhat intergrated and high energy are downtown and clubs in the west loop.

But Chicago is mostly a bar culture city. This needs to be pointed out. If you like high energy fun down to earth intergrated clubbing Chicago is not the place.

[marothisu]

^ If I'm reading correctly, the OP is looking for not just black nightlife, but also integrated nightlife. He mentioned clubs in Chicago being integrated (which I'd agree with that many of them are pretty integrated. The problem arises in many other neighborhoods.)

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

But Chicago is mostly a bar culture city. This needs to be pointed out. If you like high energy fun down to earth intergrated clubbing Chicago is not the place.

The most integrated, high energy clubbing you will found in Chicago as a black person is house music clubs or house events. If you aren't into house, then yeah, it could be a problem.

For me I don't listen to hip hop or top 40 so going out in Atlanta wasn't fun for me at all. I go out to dance, not just to drink or stand around; and if it's not house music, I don't care to dance to it outside of going to a salsa club from time to time.

[MuffinGuy]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

But Chicago is mostly a bar culture city. This needs to be pointed out. If you like high energy fun down to earth intergrated clubbing Chicago is not the place.

Due to personal circumstances, I am moving to Chicago regardless of the answer to this question. But if not Chicago, where could one go? I am not into the bar culture, and if I were to have any alcohol at all at any establishment or event, I am not the type to have more than just the minimum to relax - like one drink, and not something strong. Other than relaxing, I do not want my mind or health negatively affected, even temporarily. I am white by the way.

SF seems to have both too many wackos/pseudo-liberals (not real progressives, just hippie-like people trying to get in the news) and too many boring never-get-out-of-the-house geeks. Boston is supposedly uptight and non-fun. LA is a huge sprawling suburban mess. DC is supposedly "government or nothing" and ultra pretentious and competitive about titles/social-status/money. These are the stereotypes I read anyway - I have unfortuantely not yet visited any of them, though I rode through one of them before in a car (another story). All the other major metro areas seem to not attract anything/anyone of importance and/or they suffer from major issues of urban sprawl and inadequate public transportation.

Is NYC the only place in the nation for progressive urban (non-suburban) professionals with intellectual interests, a desire for downtown/city-life and public transit, seeking vibrant nightlife that does not necessitate heavy drinking or sports-culture to have fun? If that is the case, it's sad that one has to have such a high salary to live in America with those attributes/interests.

[marothisu]

There's definitely more things to do in Chicago than just drink, just like any other city. You're talking about a city of 2.7 million people (9.5 million in the metro area). Not everyone has the same interests, nor does everybody drink or care about sports (I was talking with a friend of mine who's about 40 and grew up in Chicago and told me he has too noticed the number of sports bars in certain areas decline and the number of "bros" also decline in the city in the last handful of years).

Chicago is home to many museums, cultural institutions, and also many universities - two of which are some of the absolute highest rated not only in the country but also the world (U of Chicago on the south side is rated #5 in the US and Northwestern in Evanston, the first city north of Chicago along the lake, is something like #12 in the US. In the world they're both top 30 I believe).

The downtown area of Chicago alone is home to a bunch of museums too such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Field Museum, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Loyola Museum of Art, and many others. Also concert venues (big and small) as well as Classical type of stuff like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and some theaters doing plays/musicals here. There is also free music in the summer some days from organizations like the CSO. Usually classical music but sometimes jazz/blues or world music as well. Also in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the south side where the University of Chicago is, has a bunch of museums such as the Museum of Science and Industry, DuSable Museum of African American History, Oriental Institute (Middle East, not the far east), etc. Many other museums, theaters, venues, etc all over the city really and events going on all the time. Of course too there's all different types of food all over the place.

The problem is that whenever you hear someone talk about nightlife, it's clubs, lounges, and bars. However there is a lot of other stuff going on. Hell there's even some sketch comedy shows that don't start until midnight.

Start here, which are meetup groups. Search for an interest of yours or a group (i.e. professional network) you may want to join.
Find your people - Meetup

If you're into Arts/Theater and/or Lecture type of stuff:
Chicago | Events
Chicago Reader | Agenda - The Reader's Recommended Events, This Week's Calendar

In the summer:
City of Chicago :: Chicago Neighborhood Festivals
City of Chicago :: Chicago Farmers Markets
Chicago Beaches 2013
Chicago summer music festivals: Concert event calendar


Trust me, NYC is not the only place to get this type of thing.