Reflection of a Two Year Transplant (For Outsiders) (Chicago: home, living in)

[PA Born]

Originally Posted by Heyooooo

I am from Utica, and no. It has the same damn longitude as Philadelphia.

Utica, east through the Mohawk Valley to Albany, is a New England feel.

Syracuse to Buffalo and west, I would agree, slightly.

Do you just look at a map and point and set arbitrary boundaries or do you actually spend time in these places youre talking about?

Did you even read my post? I said west of Utica, not east of Utica.

Obviously Utica to Albany feels very New England/East Coast. I totally agree that the Mohawk Valley feels very different from the Midwest. Syracuse might be a better dividing point than Utica, but somwhere between those two would probably be the cutoff.

My point is that Western/Central Upstate NY (and Western PA, for that matter) is culturally closer to the Midwest than to the East Coast. The accents are the same, the ethnic backgrounds are the same, the regional quirks, the religious backgrounds, etc. The economic base is also basically the same.

Once you get closer to Utica (and definitely once you're closer to Albany), the feel is completely different, and more like NYC/Boston (different ethnicities, accents, economic base, etc.). All of Eastern Upstate NY is basically New England.

Yes, there are some differences too, and some exceptions. Ithaca and the Finger Lakes feels far more Northeast/New England, for example. But overall, Buffalo feels much more like Cleveland or Detroit than like NYC or Boston, and same goes for Western PA. I mean, Buffalo is almost as close to Chicago as it is to NYC. It wouldn't make any sense for it to have an NYC/Boston feel.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Chicagoist123

Wicker Park, Bucktown, River North really are the main nightlife spots that don't have a B1G vibe.

I would say Lakeview is where it is completely and totally dominant. Lincoln Park and Near North have it but on a much smaller scale than Lakeview.

Wicker Park and Bucktown, I agree, hence my West Side comment. River North is part of Near North, so I disagree there.

[Drover]

Wicker Park and Bucktown are considered Northwest side. And they're getting a bit more B1G-ish with each passing year. Still nothing like LV though.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by Heyooooo

I am from Utica, and no. It has the same damn longitude as Philadelphia.

Utica, east through the Mohawk Valley to Albany, is a New England feel.

Syracuse to Buffalo and west, I would agree, slightly.

Do you just look at a map and point and set arbitrary boundaries or do you actually spend time in these places youre talking about?

No, Chicago is much further north than Philly; check your longitudinal lines..

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by MassVt

No, Chicago is much further north than Philly; check your longitudinal lines..

Longitudinal lines indicate how far east or west something is. Latitudinal lines indicate north-south. She was indicating that Utica is as far east as Philly, not that Chicago is as far north as Philly.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Drover

Wicker Park and Bucktown are considered Northwest side. And they're getting a bit more B1G-ish with each passing year. Still nothing like LV though.

I was using the traditional north/south/west side categories as delineated by the river, not breaking it down into further subcategories of northwest, southwest, etc. Northwest isn't really a "side." It's more of a corner.

I agree that they're trending in that direction, which is why I said less so on the West Side, as opposed to non-existent.

[Drover]

Well OK. But while you may not make a distinction between "west" and "northwest" neighborhoods, everyone else does.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Drover

Well OK. But while you may not make a distinction between "west" and "northwest" neighborhoods, everyone else does.

Neighborhoods, sure. There are 77 (or more) of those. Sides? There are three. I thought that was generally understood, but next time I can say "traditionally, as divided by the river," if that would help.

Sometimes people divide everything into two sides, north and south, but once I mentioned west people could probably figure out that I was using the three-side model.

[Lookout Kid]

Chicago is about 42 north latitude (roughly even with Boston). Philly is about 40 north. Not a huge difference, but also not a very good indicator of weather. The position in the continent and distance from the coast are bigger factors.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Chicago is about 42 north latitude (roughly even with Boston). Philly is about 40 north. Not a huge difference, but also not a very good indicator of weather. The position in the continent and distance from the coast are bigger factors.

I don't think anyone was discussing the relative latitudes of Chicago and Philly. I think that was MassVt misunderstanding Heyooooo. (Apologies if I'm the one misunderstanding, but that's how it looked to me.)