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I've been to a few cities mentioned- SF of course, Chicago, NYC, Detroit, DC. To compare Chicago to Detroit is utter insanity. Only a person who has never stepped foot in that heap of garbage, Detroit, would say that Chicago is similar. Chicago is nothing like Detroit. Chicago has a strong sense of culture, pride, tradition, culinary expertise and is a major business center of the United States. Detroit honestly makes me feel depressed just driving through the city. Chicago is NOT Detroit. Detroit is Gary, Indiana with 700,000 more people.
However, Chicago doesn't really compare to SF or NYC either. Chicago really is an All American City. It feels like it. Its a massive city which reminds you in many ways that you're still in the Midwest. You don't get that All American feel in San Francisco or NYC. Yes, there are definitely some crappy areas outside of Chicago's downtown, but I feel like the media has made Chicago seem so much worse than it really is.
Chicago isn't even in the top 15 US cities for highest murder rates. For the last 10 years, Chicago's murder rate hasn't been much higher than San Francisco's. Chicago has averaged about 15 murders per 100,000 people and SF has averaged about 13 murders per 100,000 people. The media has done a number on Chicago, having people think its some war zone. Its pathetic.
I loved being in Chicago! I loved the restaurants, the relaxed nightlife, I loved swimming in lake Michigan in the Summer.
I can't blame the OP for having a little inferiority complex, Chicago's on the verge of losing its #3 status to Houston for crying out loud.
That doesn't mean anything. Many of the cities that are growing are rather boring. Sorry, but I'll take Chicago over Houston or Phoenix any day. And LA feels largely like a massive suburb. Chicago feels like a true city- dense, bustling, lots of business going on, center of politics, etc.
Chicago cannot be compared to Toronto or SF. Do you agree?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz
You lost all credibility when you said that LA is one-dimensional and has only one major industry.
I'm getting the feeling more and more each day that this forum is nothing more than a collection of incessant rants sewed together by false facts. The ideology of almost every comment on this forum can be summed up by a 10-year old little boy stating, "This city is cool because it looks awesome!" Our in-depth discussion of cities has devolved into child-talk about what a child feels about his or her favorite theme park.
Call me a cynic if you will.
I am afraid you are right only ten years old states: my city is cool because people live there and sun rises over it everyday.
Like this guy few posts up who loves Chicago because of its diversity like there were any cities left that are not diverse.
I've been to a few cities mentioned- SF of course, Chicago, NYC, Detroit, DC. To compare Chicago to Detroit is utter insanity. Only a person who has never stepped foot in that heap of garbage, Detroit, would say that Chicago is similar. Chicago is nothing like Detroit. Chicago has a strong sense of culture, pride, tradition, culinary expertise and is a major business center of the United States. Detroit honestly makes me feel depressed just driving through the city. Chicago is NOT Detroit. Detroit is Gary, Indiana with 700,000 more people.
However, Chicago doesn't really compare to SF or NYC either. Chicago really is an All American City. It feels like it. Its a massive city which reminds you in many ways that you're still in the Midwest. You don't get that All American feel in San Francisco or NYC. Yes, there are definitely some crappy areas outside of Chicago's downtown, but I feel like the media has made Chicago seem so much worse than it really is.
Chicago isn't even in the top 15 US cities for highest murder rates. For the last 10 years, Chicago's murder rate hasn't been much higher than San Francisco's. Chicago has averaged about 15 murders per 100,000 people and SF has averaged about 13 murders per 100,000 people. The media has done a number on Chicago, having people think its some war zone. Its pathetic.
I loved being in Chicago! I loved the restaurants, the relaxed nightlife, I loved swimming in lake Michigan in the Summer.
Yes, but the fact that you call Chicago an "All American City" (whatever that supposed to mean) and reminds you you are still in the midwest . . . means by definition that its essentially a prosperous, successful Detroit. Which makes sense, because up until the late 60s/early 70s, Chicago and Detroit as a whole WERE absolutely very similar, with Chicago of course being larger with a more diversified economy. And in some aspects of culture, like popular music (Chicago as rich of a music tradition as it has NEVER had an equivalent of Motown), residential single family home architecture.
While I believe the midwest can be just as cool, hip, what-have-you, I am a little suspicious, when people say "its still all American, still feels your in the midwest". To me that sounds like one has a somewhat narrow expectation of the way people are supposed to be. That men are to follow sports, or whatever. And that is IMO, incompatible with a cosmopolitan environment.
Personally for me who actually prefers west coast culture, I actually find Minnesota/MPLS to be the more up my alley for a midwestern city. Hipsters, gays are more integrated throughout the city, more people recycle, shop at natural food groceries/fair trade coffee, go hiking, camping. Same with the flagship university towns of the midwest: Madison, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, Champaign, Bloomington, IN.
And the part of Chicago that ARE the war zone where all those murders are . . . do resemble Detroit in terms of demographics (100% poor African American), and physically (many bordered up houses, In fact most of the south side could almost be thought of a continuation of Gary, IN. The south side is obviously proximate, and more similar to Gary, than it is to the north side.
You lost all credibility when you said that LA is one-dimensional and has only one major industry.
I'm getting the feeling more and more each day that this forum is nothing more than a collection of incessant rants sewed together by false facts. The ideology of almost every comment on this forum can be summed up by a 10-year old little boy stating, "This city is cool because it looks awesome!" Our in-depth discussion of cities has devolved into child-talk about what a child feels about his or her favorite theme park.
Call me a cynic if you will.
Agreed. Anyone who believes that a doctor, lawyer, comedian, pilot, etc. can't be found in the same block somehwere in St. Louis or Atlanta is not worth taking seriously.
Same on the "one dimensional" aspect of LA. People have no idea about LA - there are many areas of LA County that have very few people in the entertainment industry. IE: The entire South Bay area is made up of aerospace/airplane engineering and related activities, Pasadena area is tech industries due to Caltechs presence. Long Beach-San Pedro is all about the port. One of the LARGEST in North America. Century City and downtown is a financial center only exceeded by NYC, Chicago, Boston, and SF.
Chicago feels more like a giant financial center rising out of the remains of a post industrial city that once slaughtered hogs and melted steel.
I've been to a few cities mentioned- SF of course, Chicago, NYC, Detroit, DC. To compare Chicago to Detroit is utter insanity. Only a person who has never stepped foot in that heap of garbage, Detroit, would say that Chicago is similar. Chicago is nothing like Detroit.
Chicago and Detroit are actually pretty similar, on the whole. Obviously Chicago is much larger and more prosperous, with a vastly bigger and more urban core, but they look very, very similar.
If I dropped you off in a random Chicagoland suburb or a random Metro Detroit suburb, you likely couldn't tell the difference. Similar weather, topography, landscape, building types, roadways, accents, ethnicities, etc.
Personally for me who actually prefers west coast culture, I actually find Minnesota/MPLS to be the more up my alley for a midwestern city. Hipsters, gays are more integrated throughout the city, more people recycle, shop at natural food groceries/fair trade coffee, go hiking, camping. Same with the flagship university towns of the midwest: Madison, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, Champaign, Bloomington, IN.
Chicago has all this in spades--probably more total than any of those cities. It just also blends together the suit-and-tie business type, the blue-collar worker type, the jock/bro/frat type, the poor etc., which is probably more of a function of its size than anything else. Those other cities have their stronger, more one-sided identity because they are substantially smaller and dominated by a large Big10 university (with Mpls being a bit of the exception, although the city itself is relatively small).
Chicago has all this in spades--probably more total than any of those cities. It just also blends together the suit-and-tie business type, the blue-collar worker type, the jock/bro/frat type, the poor etc., which is probably more of a function of its size than anything else. Those other cities have their stronger, more one-sided identity because they are substantially smaller and dominated by a large Big10 university (with Mpls being a bit of the exception, although the city itself is relatively small).
agreed. Thats why I enjoyed living in Oak Park. And if people were to ask about where they can find others like this - I would steer them to very specific neighborhoods.
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Chicago cannot be compared to Toronto or SF. Do you agree?
