Why do Chicagoans look down on people from the suburbs? (Evanston: transplants, school)

[Alacran]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

This is in no way unique to Chicago in the US.

Then how come in the bay or LA or Houston or Atlanta, etc no one cares?

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Alacran

Then how come in the bay or LA or Houston or Atlanta, etc no one cares?

I don't think it would even be relevant in LA (for a different reason then what I gave for SF). Look at it this way: what we would consider the real LA, which is the basin, includes within it independent cities like Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Santa Monica, which in a sense are "virtually LA" while parts of the city (San Fernando Valley, the harbor) though within LA city limits aren't, in some respects, the "real LA".

Beverly Hills, an independent city, is more a part of what we consider LA than Northridge in the Valley, within LA city limits, which seems out of the city. I mean, in LA it gets confusing.

[Alacran]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I don't think it would even be relevant in LA (for a different reason then what I gave for SF). Look at it this way: what we would consider the real LA, which is the basin, includes within it independent cities like Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Santa Monica, which in a sense are "virtually LA" while parts of the city (San Fernando Valley, the harbor) though within LA city limits aren't, in some respects, the "real LA".

Beverly Hills, an independent city, is more a part of what we consider LA than Northridge in the Valley, within LA city limits, which seems out of the city. I mean, in LA it gets confusing.

And that's my point.

Driving down Cicero or Harlem you cut through like 5 suburbs/towns between Chicago.

It irks me how somehow if you live on the Chicago portion of Harlem you magically understand Chicago culture but if you live on the Berwyn or Oak Park side you are unaware of anything.

[Alacran]

Or that one interview where the guy said "I'm from Chicago" and that guy insulted him or tried to insult him by saying "Bruh you're from evanston" It went viral.

Wtf is the cultural difference between rogers park and Evanston?

[paytonc]

Originally Posted by Alacran

Not really. Bay area, Atlanta, Vegas, Dallas, etc. etc. don't really make as big a deal about living in city proper.

Originally Posted by Alacran

Then how come in the bay or LA or Houston or Atlanta, etc no one cares?

Oh yes, they do. Indeed, this is perhaps the highest expression of suburbanite shade I've ever seen, and it's 100% indicative of attitudes within "ITP" Atlanta. Or witness the snarky hue and cry over the Braves' new ballpark in eeew, Cobb.

I can't attest to Texas, where the city limits go on forever, but even as a small kid in the 1980s I was very much aware of sub-regional rivalries in LA -- from elite westsiders lording it over downtown, the "Orange Curtain" that hid the wingnuts down there, and of course the infamously airheaded, quasi-suburban valley girls.

As for the Bay Area, it's perhaps the most elitist place on earth, where rich techie kids spend hours every day sitting on buses so that they can live in "The Sit-Tay" rather than "soulless" Silicon Valley.

Crosstown rivalries are baked into all of us, just because humans are tribal. Cheeseheads vs. FIBs, Illini vs. Boilermakers, Cubs vs. Sox, Lincoln Park yuppies vs. Wicker Park hipsters -- it's all the same. Heck, even rodents seem to divide along city/suburban lines in Chicago

[Haaamburger]

I grew up in the suburbs and think it's way more peaceful and better quality of life if you live in say Naperville, Plainfield, Hoffman estates. Now the suburbs along Harlem are not peaceful they are to run down and congested.

But after living on North side for seven years I can say I have one kind of complaint about suburbs. The complaaint is do not bring suburban architecture to the city. Stop opening grocery stores with huge parking lots in front. The strip mall along western North of Belmont makes me feel like I am in suburbs and if I am living in city I want to feel like I am in the city.

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by Alacran

And that's my point.

Driving down Cicero or Harlem you cut through like 5 suburbs/towns between Chicago.

It irks me how somehow if you live on the Chicago portion of Harlem you magically understand Chicago culture but if you live on the Berwyn or Oak Park side you are unaware of anything.

I wanted to rep both this post and the one after you did so badly, but lol according to City Data, I can't give out any more reputation points for today. Totally agree, I think someone in Oak Park or Berwyn who isn't afraid to cross the border and experience Chicago, shouldn't get negatively criticized by a Chicagoian just because they live a tad outside the city limits. Don't get me, such people do exist out there. But it's wrong to automatically the first second stereotype someone as not being as aware of city culture and stuff, just because they live outside of city limits.

Now if I'm dragged to eat at some chain I don't care about(i.e. McDonald's outside of their breakfast menu, Subway), then I might negatively judge you.

[hendersj31]

While I agree with much of your post and have seen it myself it does indeed happen in Houston. These people have some sort of obsession with their inner loop neighborhoods.

Originally Posted by Alacran

Then how come in the bay or LA or Houston or Atlanta, etc no one cares?

[RememberMee]

Originally Posted by Razza94

Clearly you're not as mentally attuned with the cycles of this world as I am. Many urban-dwellers enjoy working a fixed pattern, get up, work, eat, sleep. Rinse and repeat. Much of this time iso indoors in oppressive office environments. They go to the store and purchase their food, without much thought as to where it's came from. Information comes through a biased media filter, only those in the upper-echelons are afforded the opportunities to experience the world first hand. Many, especially in a declining city like Chicago, rarely get to see beyond the concrete jungle that they call home.

Outside of the city, the air is cleaner, the food is fresher, you observe the cycles of nature. Living among nature is the only truly independent lifestyle you can lead. I've lived periods of my life in the "wilderness". I caught my own food, made my own shelter. I didn't have to worry about bills or deadlines. I was my own boss. I didn't even have to worry about clothing, I tell you standing in a hilltop and watching the sunrise as the breeze touches your body is the only time that I have ever truly felt alive.

Even so, the menace of civilization is never far away. Contrails left by aircraft, roads cutting through forests, loggers, etc. This menace is what cut short my last natural experience. Reports of a "strange man wandering around the forests without any clothes" emerged. I came across a search party and offered to help them find this gentleman, after an hour or so of searching, it turned out that the person they were looking for was me.

Entire forests in the Midwest are now essentially restricted, since I am under curfew. Therefore I'm getting ready to head out to Alaska in the next year or so, where I hope I can live out the rest of my days in bliss, at one with nature, and free from the oppression of our tyrannical society.

You mean that in the corn and soy bean deserts of the Central Illinois there is food you can actually eat, nature, cycles, whatever stereotype concept you fancy. Modernity turned city life into a thing only somewhat lobotomized people can enjoy, but it did not spare rural areas either, actually I believe it trashed rural life much more to the point where rural culture is essentially dead and whatever passes for rural culture these days is just silly. Driving 4 wheelers, shooting for fun at midnight, enduring long commute for jobs and anything else, living like reclusive rats in between commutes did not attune anybody I know to anything city folks are not tuned into.

[personone]

Originally Posted by Alacran

Then how come in the bay or LA or Houston or Atlanta, etc no one cares?

I honestly think it happens in all cities to some extent, but it is usually in good fun (joking) and not serious at all. I have lived in Baltimore, DC, and Philly, and I have heard some city-suburbs trash talking, all in good fun in all of these regions. I honestly have not ever really heard any disrespect in Chicago between city residents and suburban residents. I have lots of friends here who grew up in the suburbs. To me, people from Chicago and Chicagoland, are both Chicagoans. That is why I'm surprised to read on here, that this is a big deal. I've seen less of this in Chicago than I have in other regions. Although, maybe it depends on what circles you are in.