CHICAGO IS THE BIGGEST SCAM!! (but let's keep it a secret) (Berkeley: middle-class, tech job)

[VA All Day]

Originally Posted by BurrRidge1

Chicago isn't cheaper than other places.

It most definitely is, unless you're comparing it to small towns in rural America. How is this even debatable? There have been numerous COL threads in city vs. city where the stats have been broken down.

[smegmatite]

Originally Posted by CCrest182

I might agree with SF, not so much with DC. IMO the White House and government alone don't make the "city" of DC more world class, though it's certainly moved up a lot over the past couple decades. I'd still say foreigners will know more about Chicago over DC, especially the skyline and some cultural things (Deep dish pizza, Blues Brothers, the Bears etc). Despite the growth DC's seen, it still doesn't have a lot of character outside of "that's where the capitol is".

Agree with everything else you said though.

uh no... its the freaking capital of the united states... I guaran-frickin-tee you that foreigners know more about that place than the 3rd largest US city which happens to be in the midwest. And yes, dumb cultural staples like pizza, a movie from 40 years ago, and a football team that might (probably not) be more famous than DC's football team... maybe

I would bet that if you showed a picture of the Sears Tower to a random every day joe outside the continent, there would be an extremely low percent of people who could tell you the name of the building let alone the city it is in

[SkylarkPhotoBooth]

Originally Posted by smegmatite

I would bet that if you showed a picture of the Sears Tower to a random every day joe outside the continent, there would be an extremely low percent of people who could tell you the name of the building let alone the city it is in

I would say this is probably far more true now than 20-30 years ago. The US (which in this category really just means New York and Chicago) was the skyscraper capital of the world for nearly a century, but for the last 20 years nearly all of the most notable ones, and certainly the tallest ones, have been built in Asia and the Middle East.

[smegmatite]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I would say this is probably far more true now than 20-30 years ago. The US (which in this category really just means New York and Chicago) was the skyscraper capital of the world for nearly a century, but for the last 20 years nearly all of the most notable ones, and certainly the tallest ones, have been built in Asia and the Middle East.

yes I agree, Chicago has definitely fallen off in that regard

[Koji7]

I think Chicago’s supertalls stand out more but NY has so many going up now.

[personone]

Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth

I would say this is probably far more true now than 20-30 years ago. The US (which in this category really just means New York and Chicago) was the skyscraper capital of the world for nearly a century, but for the last 20 years nearly all of the most notable ones, and certainly the tallest ones, have been built in Asia and the Middle East.

Originally Posted by smegmatite

yes I agree, Chicago has definitely fallen off in that regard

Originally Posted by Koji7

I think Chicago’s supertalls stand out more but NY has so many going up now.

This is probably true, but I don’t understand the obsession with super-talls. I think a couple mixed in with more moderate size buildings look good, but too many super-talls kind of mess up the full views of the skylines. Like everything else, in moderation they are fine, but I am not upset that Chicago isn’t in an arm’s-race to build the most super-talls.

[CCrest182]

Originally Posted by smegmatite

uh no... its the freaking capital of the united states... I guaran-frickin-tee you that foreigners know more about that place than the 3rd largest US city which happens to be in the midwest. And yes, dumb cultural staples like pizza, a movie from 40 years ago, and a football team that might (probably not) be more famous than DC's football team... maybe

I would bet that if you showed a picture of the Sears Tower to a random every day joe outside the continent, there would be an extremely low percent of people who could tell you the name of the building let alone the city it is in

World class =/= more known, necessarily

Chicago, as a well rounded city, is still more world class than DC, as a well rounded city, which you yourself have just admitted it's largely only known/cared about because "that's where the capitol is". I agree DC could be seen as world class, but if you seriously think the level of nightlife, dining, culture, character, dynamic, and so much more in DC is on par or higher than Chicago on a "world class" level, I'd have to laugh at you. Yes, a lot of government monuments and government jobs are in DC, as well as a recent influx of tech jobs. But I'd still say Chicago has a great diversity of different kinds of jobs, monuments, and features that on the whole, make the city itself more world class.

The Chicago skyline is still the most known skyline of all U.S. cities outside of NYC and maybe LA. Just because the Sears Tower isn't the tallest anymore doesn't really mean anything, though I would say there's a good chance foreigners at least recognize it if you showed them a photo of it.

[CCrest182]

Originally Posted by Koji7

I think Chicago’s supertalls stand out more but NY has so many going up now.

There was a recent thread of "Skylines, Chicago vs. Toronto" here. The argument for the Toronto side was that it had far more skyscrapers/buildings in development than Chicago, therefore Toronto has/will have a better skyline than Chicago. As it turns out, having a good skyline is not only about numbers and tallness. It's also about layout and style, something that very few cities (especially in NA) can rival Chicago in. Chicago handily won that poll, I think the spread was 80 something percent that Chicago's is better, and 10 something percent saying Toronto's is better.

[brodie734]

50% of the posts in this thread can be boiled down to Chicagoans with conservative politics that cause them to hate Chicago

[edsg25]

Something I remember from what has to be over 20 years back (believe it was in the nineties), I'm fairly sure at one point or another, I have shared this here:

My friend used to come to Chicago every year for an annual furniture show. My wife and I would always get together with him and his wife. Nick, my friend, is from SF. One year, we ran into a guy he knew in the business who was there for the same show. Another Bay Area guy. He had never been to Chicago. When he talked to the four of us, he went on and on, talking about all the incredible things to see and do in the city, how beautiful it was.

After he had raved about the city for quite some time, I asked him what he thought of the city's lakefront. His answer: he hadn't been there yet.

The show was (is?) around the Merchandise Mart/Apparel Mart area which I add but may not be relevant: it is in the part of the central Chicago removed a bit from the lakefront. Still, somebody singing the praises of Chicago and hadn't even gotten to the lakefront yet was kind of mind boggling. And shows what a great town we have.

And since that was the 90's which meant there was no river walk, no revived riverfront....this guy might have been able to spend a week long in the city and still not make it to the lakefront.