Cities (large) most similar to Chicago (Lincoln, Roscoe: real estate market, living, professionals)

[otters21]

I think Chicago is unique in it's own, not really resembling anywhere else. The closest though was Detroit in it's heyday BEFORE the 60s and later before all that decline and blight practically decimated the Motor City.

[ImaloneJill]

edsg25:
Speaking about the decline of Detroit, these are the lyrics to Audioslave's Broken City, written specifically about Detroit:
"Broken City"

My city sleeps by the side of a freeway, the city scraps
And winter time she wore a yellow coat
Now there's nothin' on her back
If a building falls you wouldn't care to notice unless you were in it
Then no one cares about climbin' stairs, nothin' at the top no more

Outside trippin' in the broken city
Outside trippin' in the broken city, I watch a building crack
Outside trippin' in the broken city
Outside kickin' in the broken city, there's nothin' wrong with that
Doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Now the snow falls down like it's fallin' on an ocean
Dead and empty by the railroad tracks where they used to go and come
Now they don't come back
You can heal the rust, goin' up the throughways
Down the alleys where they stole this town from the frontier
I can see 'em tryin' to steal it back

Outside trippin' in the broken city (Outside trippin' in the broken city)
Outside trippin' in the broken city, I watch a building crack
Outside kickin' in the broken city (Outside trippin' in the broken city)
Outside trippin' in the broken city, there's nothin' wrong with that
Doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Now the sun won't shine on this part of the map
Anymore
When it's cold outside I see it hide behind the smokestacks
No thin roses, no goldrush, no miner, no revolution they'd hire
And the shipyard is a graveyard, no one will be trying to find him

Outside trippin' in the broken city (Outside trippin' in the broken city)
Outside kickin' in the broken city, I watch a building crack
Outside trippin' in the broken city (Outside trippin' in the broken city)
Outside kickin' in the broken city, there's nothin' wrong with that
Doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo (There's nothin' wrong with that)
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo do (Outside trippin' in the broken city)
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

[solymar78]

San Diego is not LA lite...so close geographically but two different worlds.

Originally Posted by LakeShoreSoxGo

I think many rust belt cities are like Chicago to varying degrees. Philly too and brooklyn. But nothing is really set in stone. Its not like San Diego which is LA lite, or Seattle which is SF lite. It really has its own thing going on.

[Paul Rose]

Chicago was built as a union labor town as it looks like one still, but it's changing to Yuppie. Portland Oregon is kinda similar. The one town that looks exactly like Chicago I know is Oshkosh Wisconsin. So similar is Oshkosh that when my 10 year old daughter seen it for the first time she wanted to know if it was Chicago lol.

That said, Chicago is special ya know. Not including the weather, it's the best city in the U.S.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Paul Rose

...The one town that looks exactly like Chicago I know is Oshkosh Wisconsin...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Paul Rose

The one town that looks exactly like Chicago I know is Oshkosh Wisconsin. So similar is Oshkosh that when my 10 year old daughter seen it for the first time she wanted to know if it was Chicago lol.

What?!?!? Is this sarcasm?

[Alicia Bradley]

Hmm... no city is too incredibly much like Chicago (although Milwaukee is arguably a mini Chicago-North, as others have kinda-sorta said). However, I'd have to say that Manhattan feels the most like downtown Chicago to me of any other American cities. Sure, there are differences in size and things like grit and, on the other side of the coin, shininess (I think Julia Louis-Dreyfus said Chicago was "like a clean New York"), but there's a sense of massiveness/hugeness (mostly in terms of buildings), concentrated activity, energy, vibrancy, almost thorough gentrification of *huge* swaths of the central city, that no urban area but Manhattan really shares with downtown Chicago, IMO.

A lot of people are mentioning Detroit (in its heyday, obviously, not now), but, if we look outside the U.S., Toronto (just a hop, skip, and a jump away) is an interesting one to consider. It's a big Great Lakes city, its downtown core never really died the way a lot of American Rust Belt cities' (excepting Chicago's) did. The biggest difference is obviously that it's in an entirely different nation with a different (but mostly similar culture)... Anyway, just musing.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

Hmm... no city is too incredibly much like Chicago (although Milwaukee is arguably a mini Chicago-North, as others have kinda-sorta said). However, I'd have to say that Manhattan feels the most like downtown Chicago to me of any other American cities. Sure, there are differences in size and things like grit and, on the other side of the coin, shininess (I think Julia Louis-Dreyfus said Chicago was "like a clean New York"), but there's a sense of massiveness/hugeness (mostly in terms of buildings), concentrated activity, energy, vibrancy, almost thorough gentrification of *huge* swaths of the central city, that no urban area but Manhattan really shares with downtown Chicago, IMO.

A lot of people are mentioning Detroit (in its heyday, obviously, not now), but, if we look outside the U.S., Toronto (just a hop, skip, and a jump away) is an interesting one to consider. It's a big Great Lakes city, its downtown core never really died the way a lot of American Rust Belt cities' (excepting Chicago's) did. The biggest difference is obviously that it's in an entirely different nation with a different (but mostly similar culture)... Anyway, just musing.

I would agree that Toronto possibly has more in common with Chicago than any other city.

I think the reason why Chicago seems or is cleaner (as far as the core city) is that many areas very close the the Loop have been totally and completely redeveloped due to the fact that you had railyards, industrial, vacant space almost adjacent to the Loop, and so brand new stuff has been built very close (ie: South Loop and Streeterville). Chicagos era as a "hot destination" (as opposed to an industrial/manufacturing) is relatively new compared to New York, and so therefore so much seems new, shiny, and sleek in Chicago. That and there are alleys in Chicago.

In reference to gentrification. Many people think that huge swaths of Chicago are gentrified often because they don't know how huge Chicago proper is. Many people don't know that it extends al the way to and including O'Hare, to Midway, and to the Indiana state line. And areas close to the core of Chicago got gentrified relatively rapidly.

Chicago, more than other of Americas global cities, was most in danger of becoming rustbelt, but it had the economic diversity and brain power from universities to reinvent itself. Nonetheless large swaths of the west and south side of the city, have a rustbelt feel to it, but are in better shape than Detroit for the simple fact that they are part of Chicago (ie: the civic government has no problem patrolling streets, picking up garbage, tearing down abandoned properties) and that low income people can take the El to the Loop and serve drinks at Corner Bakery for Loop commuters (whereas in Detroit they can't even do that really).

This, as opposed to cities like D.C, San Fran, Boston, where the city proper is relatively small compared to their greater metro area, and have not been major industrial centers for a while if ever (as in the case of D.C.).

I would agree that Chicago has most in common with Toronto (with Detroit from the early 20th century up until the 1970s/early 80s) (even Chicagos densest neighborhoods (except the Loop, Mag Mile, Steetervile, and southern part of River North) generally do have a few a couple blocks of single family houses with yards (beautiful houses!), a couple parking lots, with relatively newer built (within last 30-40 years) high rise and many two flat or three flat apartment buildings mixed in. In contrast with Manhattan which doesn't have a single family home anywhere on the island.

[MassVt]

The obvious answer is Milwaukee, a "mini"-Chicago, especially with the bungalow neighborhoods, and the strong German-Polish enclaves.

Physically, I really don't see the similarities between Chicago and, say, Philly or Baltimore. The latter two cities are almost strictly rowhouse cities, with many blocks of homes sharing one long continous roof top ( many of these neighborhoods are in sad shape, in both cities). Chicago's claim to fame is the bungalow, which represents single-family, unattached housing, although the square footage/acreage is fairly small.

[Bono]

We took a nice long trip to Chicago this past fall so Ill give some input with that fresh in mind. Chicago and its metro were surprisingly bigger and more sprawling than I imagined. The city itself was clean but not superclean like some people here say. Cleaner that NY but who isnt? The housing in Chicago was upkept nicley for the most part, and the neighborhoods varied greatly from burned out looking ghettos to vibrant streets and storefronts. The downtown was not as pristine or unique as I imagined. The area along the Chicago River was the best part IMHO. I guess as with anything, when someone builds it up too much it can be a let down. I'd been on this site and others telling me that the Chicgo downtown was the living end. The skyline was more muddled that I thought it'd be from within the core of the city. For all the talk of the distinguished Chicago skyline there seemed to be an annoying obstruction at every turn. Outside of the downtown Chicago wasnt much different from some areas of Queens or Brooklyn I've seen. I do not see the Detroit comparisons at all. Certain streets in Chicago reminded me of Philly more than New York. So I think the answer here is that Chicago is like any other place. It draws its character from the time periods that it did the most growing.