Do they mean the Northside and Downtown? (Chicago, Tinley Park: how much, home)

[Ron.]

I hear people say how much they looooove Chicago and how great the city is but I often wonder are the speaking about the Northside and downtown only. Or are they talking about ALL of Chicago( West and South included), the good and the bad?

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

I hear people say how much they looooove Chicago and how great the city is but I often wonder are the speaking about the Northside and downtown only. Or are they talking about ALL of Chicago( West and South included), the good and the bad?

most tourists never leave the "Disneyland" areas...Michigan Ave, River North, etc. Hell, I know people living who have never left their neighborhoods of Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park. Personally, I love Chicago, warts and all, and the real Chicago isnt the one you see on postcards. I dont mean that in a bad way, but when you consider that almost everyone living in the "hot" neighborhoods didnt grow up here and probably relocated from some podunk town in Iowa (or the suburbs for that matter), the true Chicagoans (and their businesses) are the ones you'll find in the other areas who havent been pushed out yet.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by via chicago

most tourists never leave the "Disneyland" areas...Michigan Ave, River North, etc. Hell, I know people living who have never left their neighborhoods of Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park. Personally, I love Chicago, warts and all, and the real Chicago isnt the one you see on postcards. I dont mean that in a bad way, but when you consider that almost everyone living in the "hot" neighborhoods didnt grow up here and probably relocated from some podunk town in Iowa (or the suburbs for that matter), the true Chicagoans (and their businesses) are the ones you'll find in the other areas who havent been pushed out yet.

I find that most people who live in Wrigleyville are from the suburbs originally--not "podunk Iowa". If I had to guess, I'd say about 75% of the gentrification of Chicago is from suburbanites moving to the city after college.

But if a mega-economy like Chicago attracts jobs and people from other midwestern states, that's a good thing. Heck, Chicago attracts people from all over the world, and if they are in their 20s they want to live in neighborhoods like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, etc. It makes sense, doesn't it? Why would someone with no sentimental attachement to an old neighborhood in Chicago want to move to a poor south side or west side neighborhood? It's not hard to figure out why Lakeview is the way it is.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I find that most people who live in Wrigleyville are from the suburbs originally--not "podunk Iowa". If I had to guess, I'd say about 75% of the gentrification of Chicago is from suburbanites moving to the city after college.

But if a mega-economy like Chicago attracts jobs and people from other midwestern states, that's a good thing. Heck, Chicago attracts people from all over the world, and if they are in their 20s they want to live in neighborhoods like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Bucktown, etc. It makes sense, doesn't it? Why would someone with no sentimental attachement to an old neighborhood in Chicago want to move to a poor south side or west side neighborhood? It's not hard to figure out why Lakeview is the way it is.

Oh, I totally understand why it is. I'm just saying most Northside neighborhoods are comprised of people who have "arrived" from somewhere else. I guess if you want to find most red blooded Chicagoans, you'd probably have to go to Scottsdale lol.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by via chicago

Oh, I totally understand why it is. I'm just saying most Northside neighborhoods are comprised of people who have "arrived" from somewhere else. I guess if you want to find most red blooded Chicagoans, you'd probably have to go to Scottsdale lol.

Or Orland/Tinley Park, which is fast becoming Bridgeport II or the new South-Side Irish.

[Ron.]

VC, you nailed it. I agree 100%

Originally Posted by via chicago

most tourists never leave the "Disneyland" areas...Michigan Ave, River North, etc. Hell, I know people living who have never left their neighborhoods of Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park. Personally, I love Chicago, warts and all, and the real Chicago isnt the one you see on postcards. I dont mean that in a bad way, but when you consider that almost everyone living in the "hot" neighborhoods didnt grow up here and probably relocated from some podunk town in Iowa (or the suburbs for that matter), the true Chicagoans (and their businesses) are the ones you'll find in the other areas who havent been pushed out yet.

[oakparkdude]

So the only real Chicagoans are those born here? What about people who were born elsewhere but got here as soon as they could? They aren't allowed in the club?

[Ron.]

Read the response from Via Chicago. I think he gave the best answer. It has nothing to do with belonging or not. It's just a fact. I was born in Mich. and moved to Ohio as a kid than to Chicago but I consider Chicago my home and that's where I usually tell people I am from. I have been hear long enough that I am a unoffical native, so to speak.

Originally Posted by sukwoo

So the only real Chicagoans are those born here? What about people who were born elsewhere but got here as soon as they could? They aren't allowed in the club?

[oakparkdude]

Please forgive me, I realize I'm about to engage in a pointless, semantically argument, but, hey, its Saturday night, my kid's asleep, and isn't that what city-data forums are all about?

Originally Posted by via chicago

most tourists never leave the "Disneyland" areas...Michigan Ave, River North, etc. Hell, I know people living who have never left their neighborhoods of Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park. Personally, I love Chicago, warts and all, and the real Chicago isnt the one you see on postcards. I dont mean that in a bad way, but when you consider that almost everyone living in the "hot" neighborhoods didnt grow up here and probably relocated from some podunk town in Iowa (or the suburbs for that matter), the true Chicagoans (and their businesses) are the ones you'll find in the other areas who havent been pushed out yet.

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

Read the response from Via Chicago. I think he gave the best answer. It has nothing to do with belonging or not. It's just a fact. I was born in Mich. and moved to Ohio as a kid than to Chicago but I consider Chicago my home and that's where I usually tell people I am from. I have been hear long enough that I am a unoffical native, so to speak.

The idea that certain parts of Chicago or certain subgroups of residents are real implies that other parts or subgroups are unreal/fake. This annoys me to no end and is also historically untrue. The beauty of Chicago is that its a constantly changing mixture of all the disparate elements of America: rich and poor, white and black and Asian and Hispanic, PhDs and illiterates, industry and parkland, newcomer and native-born.

Gold Coast hedge fund manager, Lincoln Park physician, Hyde Park economist, Wicker Park yuppie, and, yes Lakeview college grad from Iowa have as much claim to "realness" as the factory worker from Hegewisch.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

Please forgive me, I realize I'm about to engage in a pointless, semantically argument, but, hey, its Saturday night, my kid's asleep, and isn't that what city-data forums are all about?





The idea that certain parts of Chicago or certain subgroups of residents are real implies that other parts or subgroups are unreal/fake. This annoys me to no end and is also historically untrue. The beauty of Chicago is that its a constantly changing mixture of all the disparate elements of America: rich and poor, white and black and Asian and Hispanic, PhDs and illiterates, industry and parkland, newcomer and native-born.

Gold Coast hedge fund manager, Lincoln Park physician, Hyde Park economist, Wicker Park yuppie, and, yes Lakeview college grad from Iowa have as much claim to "realness" as the factory worker from Hegewisch.

I agree 100%. If you were to list the 100 "most Chicago" people you could think of (like Studs Terkel, Daniel Burnham, Marshall Field, etc.), most of them were not born here. This city has always been a mix of peoples from all over the world.

The "new arrivals" talk could also be construed as anti-immigrant, though I know and trust that Via Chicago doesn't feel this way. Change "people from Iowa changing the neighborhoods based on their culture" to "people from Mexico", and suddenly the talk about "real chicago" really falls appart. Chicago is full of immigrants who are changing the city rapidly, but no one questions their "authenticity" or whether they are "real Chicago". It's dangerous to assign authenticity to one group of people over another, but squeaky clean white midwesterners from Iowa are an easy target, I suppose.