Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Chicago may have more of a big city vibe compared to LA, but Chicago has nowhere near the level of culture or expression LA has. And that is what attracts people to the city. To put into perspective, Chicagoans are extremely plain, perhaps even boring, maybe that is due to being located in the Midwest. This isn’t a bad thing however.
You leave the downtown area of Chicago and it looks like every other city in the rest belt. Just my opinion of what I observed as a native.
Yikes, this might be the most embarrassing post I have read on City Data.
You can't make this claim. There is no way to prove it. So many people who live in Chicago came here from somewhere else, including myself. So you cannot generalize and say we are "boring" country bumpkins, it's just not the reality down on the ground in Chicago. Further, I believe you mentioned that you don't even live in the city, this further discredits your claims.
I grew up in the Orange County and went to university in LA (lived the first 23 years of my life in SoCal). I completely understand the OP. Chicago is perhaps a perfect example of an extremely centralized North American city. The concentration of jobs and services in the greater Loop area overshadows all other commercial centers in the metropolitan region.
If you look at a map of expressways, freight and passenger rail, etc., all of these transportation corridors converge on downtown Chicago (like a hub and spoke network). The built environment helps tether the rest of Chicagoland to the Loop and has allowed downtown Chicago to grow as large as it has. I believe I last read that downtown Chicago is the 2nd largest CDB in the US (behind only Midtown Manhattan but larger than Lower Manhattan).
The other characteristic of Chicago that meets our expectations of a large urban center is public space. When we imagine great cities such as Paris, or London, or New York, etc , we usually think of not only architecture, but well utilized public space. Chicago has been highly successful with developing parks, square, and attractive commercial districts for residents, tourists, and vendors. The greater downtown area is arranged around Grant Park/Millennium Park, sometimes called Chicago's front yard. In addition, the Chicago river walk has been transformed into a very popular public space with pathways, docks for water crafts, commercial spaces for vendors, etc. Further, the Mag Mile, with it's wide sidewalks, seasonal landscaping, and grand architecture is also an inviting public space.
Los Angeles is the complete opposite of Chicago and New York. The job centers of greater LA are spread across the metropolitan area (downtown LA, Century City, Santa Monica, Glendale, Burbank, Irvine, Costa Mesa, etc.).
The freeway, freight, and passenger rail corridors span across the region like a strange grid instead of the hub/spoke system of Chicago.
When I was growing up in Socal, there were no grand public spaces to visit on the weekend or during the holidays. And there was/is minimal regional transit to connect the far flung subdivisions of LA County, Orange County, Riverside County, etc. Greater LA area residents would just go to large shopping malls to socialize and people watch.
^ Here are a few photos of Chicago that I took in May of this year. I hope you will notice the expanse of public parks around the city and along the lakefront.
Yikes, this might be the most embarrassing post I have read on City Data.
You can't make this claim. There is no way to prove it. So many people who live in Chicago came here from somewhere else, including myself. So you cannot generalize and say we are "boring" country bumpkins, it's just not the reality down on the ground in Chicago. Further, I believe you mentioned that you don't even live in the city, this further discredits your claims.
I grew up in the Orange County and went to university in LA (lived the first 23 years of my life in SoCal). I completely understand the OP. Chicago is perhaps a perfect example of an extremely centralized North American city. The concentration of jobs and services in the greater Loop area overshadows all other commercial centers in the metropolitan region.
If you look at a map of expressways, freight and passenger rail, etc., all of these transportation corridors converge on downtown Chicago (like a hub and spoke network). The built environment helps tether the rest of Chicagoland to the Loop and has allowed downtown Chicago to grow as large as it has. I believe I last read that downtown Chicago is the 2nd largest CDB in the US (behind only Midtown Manhattan but larger than Lower Manhattan).
The other characteristic of Chicago that meets our expectations of a large urban center is public space. When we imagine great cities such as Paris, or London, or New York, etc , we usually think of not only architecture, but well utilized public space. Chicago has been highly successful with developing parks, square, and attractive commercial districts for residents, tourists, and vendors. The greater downtown area is arranged around Grant Park/Millennium Park, sometimes called Chicago's front yard. In addition, the Chicago river walk has been transformed into a very popular public space with pathways, docks for water crafts, commercial spaces for vendors, etc. Further, the Mag Mile, with it's wide sidewalks, seasonal landscaping, and grand architecture is also an inviting public space.
Los Angeles is the complete opposite of Chicago and New York. The job centers of greater LA are spread across the metropolitan area (downtown LA, Century City, Santa Monica, Glendale, Burbank, Irvine, Costa Mesa, etc.).
The freeway, freight, and passenger rail corridors span across the region like a strange grid instead of the hub/spoke system of Chicago.
When I was growing up in Socal, there were no grand public spaces to visit on the weekend or during the holidays. And there was/is minimal regional transit to connect the far flung subdivisions of LA County, Orange County, Riverside County, etc. Greater LA area residents would just go to large shopping malls to socialize and people watch.
^ Here are a few photos of Chicago that I took in May of this year. I hope you will notice the expanse of public parks around the city and along the lakefront.
You're clearly speaking from an emotional point of view. First of all, for the fiftieth thousand time... I said there are O U T L I E R S! Not everyone is boring! Not everyone is plain! But from my experience, AS SOMEONE THAT GREW UP HERE, people in Chicago are not that interesting because the city does not promote uniqueness or expression. This is what I mean with the midwestern cultural traits that Chicago has, even though its a big city people are not too keen with speaking on streets with strangers or being outgoing or expressive. Regardless of transplants here. I've had people tell me they've had a hard time making friends because they were always the ones initiating conversations or being outgoing and people did not reciprocate that energy. I've also had this experience growing up here too. I've always been the person to try and initiate conversations or make friends, and my friend groups expanded when my friends would introduce me to people they already knew. I have friends that are very expressive, I have friends that are EXTREMELY outgoing and social people. Is that the norm all over Chicago enough to describe the entire city? NO, and there's nothing wrong with that! And that is all there is too it. My biggest problem is when people try and attribute traits to the city to make it seem like something it is not. I see so many comments on here that I just have to laugh at because it is absolutely not the norm here... Chicago is not known for being that type of city, and that is why people flock to NYC or LA. Btw I don't know where you saw that I said I don't live in Chicago. I never said that at all.
As for everything else, I have no idea what you are tryin to argue for because I never claimed any of that.
Yikes, this might be the most embarrassing post I have read on City Data.
You can't make this claim. There is no way to prove it. So many people who live in Chicago came here from somewhere else, including myself. So you cannot generalize and say we are "boring" country bumpkins, it's just not the reality down on the ground in Chicago. Further, I believe you mentioned that you don't even live in the city, this further discredits your claims.
I grew up in the Orange County and went to university in LA (lived the first 23 years of my life in SoCal). I completely understand the OP. Chicago is perhaps a perfect example of an extremely centralized North American city. The concentration of jobs and services in the greater Loop area overshadows all other commercial centers in the metropolitan region.
If you look at a map of expressways, freight and passenger rail, etc., all of these transportation corridors converge on downtown Chicago (like a hub and spoke network). The built environment helps tether the rest of Chicagoland to the Loop and has allowed downtown Chicago to grow as large as it has. I believe I last read that downtown Chicago is the 2nd largest CDB in the US (behind only Midtown Manhattan but larger than Lower Manhattan).
The other characteristic of Chicago that meets our expectations of a large urban center is public space. When we imagine great cities such as Paris, or London, or New York, etc , we usually think of not only architecture, but well utilized public space. Chicago has been highly successful with developing parks, square, and attractive commercial districts for residents, tourists, and vendors. The greater downtown area is arranged around Grant Park/Millennium Park, sometimes called Chicago's front yard. In addition, the Chicago river walk has been transformed into a very popular public space with pathways, docks for water crafts, commercial spaces for vendors, etc. Further, the Mag Mile, with it's wide sidewalks, seasonal landscaping, and grand architecture is also an inviting public space.
Los Angeles is the complete opposite of Chicago and New York. The job centers of greater LA are spread across the metropolitan area (downtown LA, Century City, Santa Monica, Glendale, Burbank, Irvine, Costa Mesa, etc.).
The freeway, freight, and passenger rail corridors span across the region like a strange grid instead of the hub/spoke system of Chicago.
When I was growing up in Socal, there were no grand public spaces to visit on the weekend or during the holidays. And there was/is minimal regional transit to connect the far flung subdivisions of LA County, Orange County, Riverside County, etc. Greater LA area residents would just go to large shopping malls to socialize and people watch.
^ Here are a few photos of Chicago that I took in May of this year. I hope you will notice the expanse of public parks around the city and along the lakefront.
This actually helps to make Blowm3's argument.
DTLA is still one of the nation's top downtowns, and yes there are other places in the city and metro area that could be confused with the downtown of a large city.
Is that supposed to be some kind of big fail?
You leave the city limits of Los Angeles and you're in Beverly Hills, Burbank, Pasadena, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Culver City, list goes on.
You leave Chicago city and you're in Schaumburg or Naperville.
Comparing the urbanized areas of each shows that L.A. has way more going on in a much smaller area:
You're clearly speaking from an emotional point of view. First of all, for the fiftieth thousand time... I said there are O U T L I E R S! Not everyone is boring! Not everyone is plain! But from my experience, AS SOMEONE THAT GREW UP HERE, people in Chicago are not that interesting because the city does not promote uniqueness or expression. This is what I mean with the midwestern cultural traits that Chicago has, even though its a big city people are not too keen with speaking on streets with strangers or being outgoing or expressive. Regardless of transplants here. I've had people tell me they've had a hard time making friends because they were always the ones initiating conversations or being outgoing and people did not reciprocate that energy. I've also had this experience growing up here too. I've always been the person to try and initiate conversations or make friends, and my friend groups expanded when my friends would introduce me to people they already knew. I have friends that are very expressive, I have friends that are EXTREMELY outgoing and social people. Is that the norm all over Chicago enough to describe the entire city? NO, and there's nothing wrong with that! And that is all there is too it. My biggest problem is when people try and attribute traits to the city to make it seem like something it is not. I see so many comments on here that I just have to laugh at because it is absolutely not the norm here... Chicago is not known for being that type of city, and that is why people flock to NYC or LA. Btw I don't know where you saw that I said I don't live in Chicago. I never said that at all.
As for everything else, I have no idea what you are tryin to argue for because I never claimed any of that.
You are also speaking from a personal and emotional point of view. I mean, we can only speak from our respective experiences, no?
In addition, I just laid out for you how Chicago and Los Angeles had extremely different development patterns. I hope I was clear in explaining how Chicago's built environment appears more "urban" to many. Is this not what the OP was saying in the very first post??
DTLA is still one of the nation's top downtowns, and yes there are other places in the city and metro area that could be confused with the downtown of a large city.
Is that supposed to be some kind of big fail?
You leave the city limits of Los Angeles and you're in Beverly Hills, Burbank, Pasadena, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Culver City, list goes on.
You leave Chicago city and you're in Schaumburg or Naperville.
Comparing the urbanized areas of each shows that L.A. has way more going on in a much smaller area:
In my opinion, YES!!
I HATED living in SoCal. I remember going insane sitting in traffic as I commuted to university. I had no other transit alternatives. Commuting across the metro area for internships was just as painful and gave me so much anxiety. You sit in traffic, but once you finally arrive at your destination, you now have to circle the parking structure for another 15 mins to find an empty stall before you can leave your car, by then you are late. Also, LA doesn't have much in the way of large public spaces that the people from around the metro can collectively experience. Maybe LA Live, maybe the Grove, these are all private developments that are a "simulation" great commercial corridors that developed organically in Chicago and New York.
Lastly, I think you just glossed over when I explained the difference between the built from of LA and Chicago, it does not help Blowm3's argument..
Finally, I have to say this....the geography and climate of the LA basin are AMAZING. The Transverse mountains, with some peaks reaching over 10,000 ft., the beaches, and high desert all within a days drive are amazing. However, it makes my blood boil thinking about how the civic leaders and developers of early and mid 20th century Los Angeles supported strict zoning for single family subdivisions, one of the least efficient uses of land. It's partly the reason housing is so expensive in the region today.The basin has become built out, there are few open tracts of low lying land left for housing. I mean, what a wasted opportunity! The region potentially could have housed millions of additional families.
Opportunities for higher density housing are mostly random infill projects around the metro area these days, and the pace of construction for multifamily housing faces stiff resistance from nimbys. The regional government is finally trying to build a transit system for the wider region, but it will take them decades to catch up to what the region demands today. I doubt I will see a useful LA transit system built out in my lifetime.
In the interim, SoCal residents will be burdened with private automobile ownership has their only option to make a living.
In my opinion, YES!!
I HATED living in SoCal. I remember going insane sitting in traffic as I commuted to university. I had no other transit alternatives. Commuting across the metro area for internships was just as painful and gave me so much anxiety. You sit in traffic, but once you finally arrive at your destination, you now have to circle the parking structure for another 15 mins to find an empty stall before you can leave your car, by then you are late. Also, LA doesn't have much in the way of large public spaces that the people from around the metro can collectively experience. Maybe LA Live, maybe the Grove, these are all private developments that are a "simulation" great commercial corridors that developed organically in Chicago and New York.
Lastly, I think you just glossed over when I explained the difference between the built from of LA and Chicago, it does not help Blowm3's argument..
Without knowing where "university" or "SoCal" are, its hard to make heads or tails of this anecdote as to whether commuting conditions would be different anywhere else around the nation.
I was born and LIVE in Chicago so I can speak about what goes on here more confidently.
Perhaps it's time for you to move on? You seem a bit jaded.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
