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Not to speak for Chuckity, but it's the "gritty" part that doesn't ring true for the majority of the area. Heavy industry is concentrated in the northernmost part of NWI. And I think NWI is very much a part of the Chicago area, but calling the area gritty speaks of someone who's only seen a limited part of it. Not that I necessarily take it as an insult! It just doesn't fit much of NWI.
Oh I see. The gritty area is confined to the Lakefront and the rest of it is pretty much Chicago suburbia like Schererville or Munster. Yeah, I can see the lack of grit in those places. But yes, along the coastline there's that "urban grit" associated with the Rust Belt.
It's also interesting, going back to people at work thinking I live in a far away land...
My train ride to work is 42-46 minutes, or 35 if I take the express train. I compared it to my co-worker's train rides and most of them are about the same, or sometimes longer and they mostly live in the West/Northwest burbs
Oh I see. The gritty area is confined to the Lakefront and the rest of it is pretty much Chicago suburbia like Schererville or Munster. Yeah, I can see the lack of grit in those places. But yes, along the coastline there's that "urban grit" associated with the Rust Belt.
The "coastline" also boasts some of the finest beaches in the country...one 6 mile beach and one 12 mile beach...plus Michigan City beaches...it's very yin yang...which I like.
I have to admit that I used to be one of those people who thought that Indiana was this far away land. That is until I spent enough time in Northwest Indiana and realized just how linked to Chicago it actually is. Now, to the guy who said that Michigan City looks nothing like Chicago, does he realize that a place like Naperville or a place like Highland Park or a place like Homewood look nothing like Chicago either? Chicago has a very unique look to it that many cities can't even match. The architecture in and of itself is very unique and is hardly replicated even in the Great Lakes. As far as people go, demographically NWI is very much like Chicago. I suppose people might dress differently as in you probably have less hipsters but you can say the same about any other suburb. Suburbs like Evanston and Oak Park that border the city actually look very different from Chicago. I was in oak park yesterday and I crossed North Avenue to go south from Chicago. Going from the west side of Chicago and crossing into Oak Park, you actually do realize you go into a different town. The same goes for Rogers Park and crossing into Evanston. Just look at the houses along the Evanston shoreline versus those in Chicago. Certain areas of Michigan City actually resemble places like the near Southside. Especially when you look at the housing stock. There is a common theme at least there. Oh, what about the Polish population and signs with Polish on them like St. Stan's in Michigan City? That is very Chicago. Ok, so the rural unincorporated LaPorte regions don't look like Chicago, but areas like this exist in all suburbs.
There is nothing stopping Chicago people from crossing into Indiana. It is not like going from one country to another because there are no check points. The fact that Chicago actually borders the state of Indiana means that there will be cross over. If a place like Baltimore can be influenced by a city that is 100 miles away in Philadelphia, and people have no problem saying the two cities are similar how is it that Chicago cannot influence Northwest Indiana when it is literally right next to it?
I don't dispute that northwest Indiana has some ties to Chicago in terms of being a commuter region, but I would view this much the same way I would view Baltimore and DC, or New Jersey and New York, it would be crazy to say that parts of northwest Indiana have no connection to Chicago, I can understand Munster, but at the same time, comparing Evanston to Chicago, what are you comparing Evanston to? Are you comparing it to the loop or are you comparing it to the residential neighborhoods ? If you are driving through oak lawn into Chicago, you wouldn't know you are in Chicago or oak lawn. If you follow Milwaukee avenue, you wouldn't realize in many cases you are in Chicago. Same taking the blue line from ohare through rosemont into Chicago. Skokie has the yellow line, and it's impossible to say all the south or southwest looks the same.
Michigan city had the general Midwestern small town feel to it, I saw little similarities to Chicagos south side at all. If you consider run down homes and alleys part of that and perhaps the fact that they share Lake Michigan, okay sure. Michigan city in general has a completely different feel that wouldn't be uncommon in many parts of Wisconsin or Michigan. The main thing that sets Michigan city apart completely is the NICTD running right in the middle of residential housing to Chicago. There are a lot of factories, sure Chicago has factories too, but Michigan city in general and large parts of northwest India seem to be full of factories and chimney stacks galore. The only thing that reminded me of Chicago was the giardinera was the subway fast food places and a single gyro place.
I haven't lived in the Chicago area since I was 16, but I do recall enough that when my family would drive up to south haven, I recall being able to tell the difference with Indiana including the northwest and Chicago.
I found a video of the train leaving from Michigan city to Chicago, this is not my video but you can clearly see a difference once the train gets into Chicago.
I don't dispute that northwest Indiana has some ties to Chicago in terms of being a commuter region, but I would view this much the same way I would view Baltimore and DC, or New Jersey and New York, it would be crazy to say that parts of northwest Indiana have no connection to Chicago, I can understand Munster, but at the same time, comparing Evanston to Chicago, what are you comparing Evanston to? Are you comparing it to the loop or are you comparing it to the residential neighborhoods ? If you are driving through oak lawn into Chicago, you wouldn't know you are in Chicago or oak lawn. If you follow Milwaukee avenue, you wouldn't realize in many cases you are in Chicago. Same taking the blue line from ohare through rosemont into Chicago. Skokie has the yellow line, and it's impossible to say all the south or southwest looks the same.
Michigan city had the general Midwestern small town feel to it, I saw little similarities to Chicagos south side at all. If you consider run down homes and alleys part of that and perhaps the fact that they share Lake Michigan, okay sure. Michigan city in general has a completely different feel that wouldn't be uncommon in many parts of Wisconsin or Michigan. The main thing that sets Michigan city apart completely is the NICTD running right in the middle of residential housing to Chicago. There are a lot of factories, sure Chicago has factories too, but Michigan city in general and large parts of northwest India seem to be full of factories and chimney stacks galore. The only thing that reminded me of Chicago was the giardinera was the subway fast food places and a single gyro place.
I haven't lived in the Chicago area since I was 16, but I do recall enough that when my family would drive up to south haven, I recall being able to tell the difference with Indiana including the northwest and Chicago.
I found a video of the train leaving from Michigan city to Chicago, this is not my video but you can clearly see a difference once the train gets into Chicago.
I don't dispute that northwest Indiana has some ties to Chicago in terms of being a commuter region, but I would view this much the same way I would view Baltimore and DC, or New Jersey and New York, it would be crazy to say that parts of northwest Indiana have no connection to Chicago, I can understand Munster, but at the same time, comparing Evanston to Chicago, what are you comparing Evanston to? Are you comparing it to the loop or are you comparing it to the residential neighborhoods ? If you are driving through oak lawn into Chicago, you wouldn't know you are in Chicago or oak lawn. If you follow Milwaukee avenue, you wouldn't realize in many cases you are in Chicago. Same taking the blue line from ohare through rosemont into Chicago. Skokie has the yellow line, and it's impossible to say all the south or southwest looks the same.
Michigan city had the general Midwestern small town feel to it, I saw little similarities to Chicagos south side at all. If you consider run down homes and alleys part of that and perhaps the fact that they share Lake Michigan, okay sure. Michigan city in general has a completely different feel that wouldn't be uncommon in many parts of Wisconsin or Michigan. The main thing that sets Michigan city apart completely is the NICTD running right in the middle of residential housing to Chicago. There are a lot of factories, sure Chicago has factories too, but Michigan city in general and large parts of northwest India seem to be full of factories and chimney stacks galore. The only thing that reminded me of Chicago was the giardinera was the subway fast food places and a single gyro place.
I haven't lived in the Chicago area since I was 16, but I do recall enough that when my family would drive up to south haven, I recall being able to tell the difference with Indiana including the northwest and Chicago.
I found a video of the train leaving from Michigan city to Chicago, this is not my video but you can clearly see a difference once the train gets into Chicago.
Did you address the points I made about Naperville or Highland Park? I see you didnt. Oak Lawn might as well be a South Side neighborhood but Hometown that borders Chicago looks nothing like it. Your point? There are towns that border the city that show little change like Oak Lawn, and there are towns that are night and day difference that border Chicago like Oak Park. Does Oak Park look anything like Austin???? Hometown borders the city and looks nothing like it. Evergreen Park on the other hand borders the city and looks almost identical. Interestingly, Hammond borders the city but Whiting looks more like Chicago than even Hammond.
Housing stock is variable throughout cities. That's the point. But housing stock doesn't change culture. Michigan City is culturally in Chicago's metro. Chicago sports fandom, Chicago food, Chicago accents, and Chicago media dominate Michigan City. Your argument about South Haven or Wisconsin has no merit as neither place is considered part of Chicago's metro. It's worth nothing that despite how far East Michigan City is, it's still in Central Time. Can you say that about the counties east of it?
So, now to your point about the Nictd running through the city. That's an infrastructure choice they made that has no effect on culture. South Haven as far as I know doesn't have this but I haven't been there enough to comment. For what it's worth, the Chicago connection goes as far East and North as St. Joseph/Benton Harbor in Michigan. Those people aren't much different from Chicagoans, just more country versions. Not that we consider them Chicagoans, but we also wouldn't argue with then if they really wanted to vicariously live through us.
The way I see it, Northwest Indiana (from Hammond to Michigan City and as far south as DeMotte) is like what South Jersey is to Philly or what Northeast Jersey is to New York. Or how extreme Southern Indiana like Jeffersonville is to Louisville.
I mean, if a strong presence of chimney stacks makes NWI different from Chicago then you might as well remove half of the South Side and South Suburbs since they'really heavily industrial, too. The Calumet region of Chicago's south side is full of chimney stacks and heavy industry. Chicago isn't just Lakeview and Lincoln Park, people. I'd argue that thanks to gentrification and transplants, those areas are less Chicago culturally than surrounding ones.
Your Baltimore/DC argument is interesting since you're comparing two cities whereas here we're talking about a city and surrounding suburbs. Also, NWI isn't just a commuter region. Chicago culture dominates it. I take it you haven't been to the rest of Indiana since you're saying this. The rest of Indiana is nothing like the region. Different sports fandom, different food, general Midwest non-Northern accents, and no media covering Chicago.
Last edited by EddieOlSkool; 09-19-2015 at 02:04 PM..
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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I am a Kentuckian who just moved to far Southern Indiana and just spend a few days in Northwest Indiana and the region. It seems like the culture changes a lot from Merrillville northward and to me felt very Chicago. Drivers are much more aggressive, accent is different, population is more diverse (including Whites, where there is a strong Greek and Polish population). At the micro level I'm sure there are difference between the Illinois and Indiana side but in general NW IN seems like an extension of the southern suburbs of Chicago. North Chicago feels different than either with every other car being a Porsche or Maserati. Lafayette felt like a different world and it's only 80 miles away. Northern tier of Indiana in general felt very different than the rest of the state, reminded me a lot of Cleveland and obviously Michigan. Hammond had a different feel, based on what I know it was a popular destination for Southern Whites / rural people from the lower Midwest who moved there for proximity to Chicago jobs. It had a country / redneck vibe that I didn't feel anywhere else.
It should be noted that different parts of the Region have different connectivity to the city and the rest of Chicagoland
for example
Michigan City has pretty strong Irish connections to parts of the south side, lotsa summer homes..chesterton/valpo have connections to central Chicago as well as the North Shore even...little Beverly Shores was and is somewhat still the most Lithuanian municipality in the country, where successful Chicago Lithuanians summered...Dune Acres is very Irish, Miller has strong gay connections with the Northside, as well as to the Chicago arts community and Hyde Park...East Chicago is connected to Mexican Chicago..Gary to the South and West sides, Hammond/Whiting to old school southside, Hegewisch South Chicago..Munster with the city as well as Lansing southern burbs etc. etc. it's a very integrated, complex relationship...much more so the most of the rest of Chicagoland even.
I am a Kentuckian who just moved to far Southern Indiana and just spend a few days in Northwest Indiana and the region. It seems like the culture changes a lot from Merrillville northward and to me felt very Chicago. Drivers are much more aggressive, accent is different, population is more diverse (including Whites, where there is a strong Greek and Polish population). At the micro level I'm sure there are difference between the Illinois and Indiana side but in general NW IN seems like an extension of the southern suburbs of Chicago. North Chicago feels different than either with every other car being a Porsche or Maserati. Lafayette felt like a different world and it's only 80 miles away. Northern tier of Indiana in general felt very different than the rest of the state, reminded me a lot of Cleveland and obviously Michigan. Hammond had a different feel, based on what I know it was a popular destination for Southern Whites / rural people from the lower Midwest who moved there for proximity to Chicago jobs. It had a country / redneck vibe that I didn't feel anywhere else.
I have never met any Southern Whites living in Hammond. Was this some big move that happened? Most Whites from Hammond I meet are Northern Polish and Irish. The only Southern connection there I know of is from the Deep South but it's Black. Never even heard Southern accents in Hammond Whites. Hmmmm
Now it's hard to believe Jeffersonville is in the same state as The Region. Those two areas are nothing like each other. It must be how the extreme South Jersey is nothing like the extreme Northeast Jersey
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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I know there was some South to North migration centered on Hammond. I had several uncles move to Hammond from rural Kentucky. One of them married a woman there whose parents moved there from Southern Illinois. Everyone I know down here who had family near Chicago it was always Hammond where they lived. A lot of my grandpa's siblings moved to Valparaiso as well during the WWII timeframe. The flow of White Southerners moving north almost totally stopped by the 1970s, so their children and grandchildren still living are now acculturated to local accents and culture. But even then it's likely that they were never a majority of the White population.
A quick way to see where White Southerners moved to is to look up the locations of Southern based Protestant groups. Like Church of Christ (not United CoC), Pentecostal, etc. Hammond has more such churches by far then anywhere else in Northern Indiana.
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