Chicago, more like East Coast cities?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by coldwine

Chicago is somewhat akin to the urban east coast cities. However, it has a very different culture and a very different urban setting.

As a city, Chicago was built with all the errors of the urban cities back east in mind. There are alleys (believe me, for the experienced urbanite this is a big deal), tight square grids and other such things.

Personally I like the error-prone layout of Pittsburgh, minus the "no alleys" in some parts of town. While I appreciate the manifest benefits of the grid system, it's bloody monotonous. Throw in Pittsburgh's "three-dimensional" factor that wouldn't allow for a grid layout even if you tried, and navigating that town can be a real adventure. But it does add a ton of character.

Strange thing about alleyways in that town though, they aren't necessarily relegated just to "alley" duty. There are parts of Pittsburgh that used to be extremely dense and they put houses anywhere they could, so there are some houses whose front doors open up to the alleyway while right behind it is another house that faces the street theoretically served by the alleyway. So you'll be driving along an alley looking at a bunch of garages and dumpsters and the like, and then suddenly there's someone's house. It's kind of strange.

[mas23]

Originally Posted by Drover

Personally I like the error-prone layout of Pittsburgh, minus the "no alleys" in some parts of town. While I appreciate the manifest benefits of the grid system, it's bloody monotonous. Throw in Pittsburgh's "three-dimensional" factor that wouldn't allow for a grid layout even if you tried, and navigating that town can be a real adventure. But it does add a ton of character.

Strange thing about alleyways in that town though, they aren't necessarily relegated just to "alley" duty. There are parts of Pittsburgh that used to be extremely dense and they put houses anywhere they could, so there are some houses whose front doors open up to the alleyway while right behind it is another house that faces the street theoretically served by the alleyway. So you'll be driving along an alley looking at a bunch of garages and dumpsters and the like, and then suddenly there's someone's house. It's kind of strange.

now that is random...

[spikeboy25]

Frankly, I go to Chicago every few years and go to New York practically every summer. While I can understand people equating Chicago to New York due to its sheer size and cultural amnenties that are absent in nearby cities in its region, the two are VERY different. People in Chicago are much more laidback than those in NYC (or even Philly or Boston). The housing archeticture is much different. Flats and bungalows dominate Chi-Town with hardly any rowhomes save for a few in a few neighborhoods on the North Side.

I just wish people would let Chicago be the fun, quirky Midwestern, cosmopolitan city that it is and stop comparing it to NYC. NYC is my favorite city in America with Chi-Town being a VERY close second. And what I like about Chicago is that it has its own flavor, culture, people and style different from NY.

[Chicago South Sider]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Hold on chief.

Philadlephia hasnt let itself go any worse than Chicago has. If you are going to bash Philadelphia you have to bash Chicago as well. I'm a big fan of downtown Chicago but the inner city of Chicago has been/still is notorious for its crime as much if not moreso than Philadelphia over the past 30 years. Lets try and keep it real here.

I'm pretty sure that Philly has a higher murder rate than even Chicago.

[beenhereandthere]

Chicago, save for the women, is more like the East Coast (due to sports and mass transit) than the West Coast. But of course, it's more like the Midwest than the East Coast.