Whats Chicago Like? Coming from a Detroiter (Addison, Lincoln: bus, garden)

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by Drover

It's like Detroit with the nice parts of Queens and a tiny slice of Manhattan attached to it.

Simply stated, that is about right. Although Chicago has more trendy/yuppie areas than what you would find in Queens.

To the OP: I would also add that Chicago has an amazing and vibrant Lakefront and good transit system (you don't need a car to get around much of the city). If you take the Red, Brown, or Blue "EL" lines (Chicago's subway) north from downtown it will take you through what is considered the nicer parts of the city. These areas are mostly safe. The bad areas of the city generally exist west and south of downtown.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Drover

Like I said... all of the major sports venues... And the Blackhawks play in the United Center in West Town.

I remember hearing about ten years ago that (at the time) Chicago was the ONLY city where the baseball, basketball, football, and hockey teams all played within the city limits of the central city (ie not suburbs). I don't know if this is still true today, since there's been a trend for suburban teams to relocate to the central city.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by whatnow

YUCK!!! and NO WAY!!! If you think Chicago is like Detroit perhaps you should go spend a week or two in Detroit...

Uhhh. Many parts of the south side and west side are close to if not right on par with Detroit level of crappola.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

I remember hearing about ten years ago that (at the time) Chicago was the ONLY city where the baseball, basketball, football, and hockey teams all played within the city limits of the central city (ie not suburbs). I don't know if this is still true today, since there's been a trend for suburban teams to relocate to the central city.

As far as I know, this has always been the case for Philadelphia, the Twin Cities and Denver (for as long as Denver has had a baseball and hockey team anyway), and it's currently the case for Atlanta. I guess it's technically true of the Bay Area as well since all five of its major-league teams play in one of the three major cities in the Bay Area. And there are probably a handful of cities with 3 major teams, all of which play in the city. Pittsburgh is one. Cleveland is another.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

Yes, I live here. Do you? There are whole swaths of Chicago that are just as bad as Detroit in terms of crime and quality of life but the city also has very nice parts.

The worst of the worst in Chicago does not approach Detroit. Chicago has NO neighborhoods like the ones in this video. We bulldoze neighborhoods before they ever reach this level of decay.


YouTube - Industrial Ghosts - USA

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

The worst of the worst in Chicago does not approach Detroit. Chicago has NO neighborhoods like the ones in this video. We bulldoze neighborhoods before they ever reach this level of decay.


YouTube - Industrial Ghosts - USA

True. Even the so called ghettos in Chicago are more dense/occupied than a large portion of Detroit. I looked on streetview map and its messed up how some blocks in Detroit have only one house or none. You can't even find that in Englewood.

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

Thats because detroit is decaying so bad its beyond ghetto. Some neighborhoods are literally returning to the state they were in the early 1900s before detroit was developed. Some places have literally gone full circle. unsettled, Settled, developed, stable and middle class, decline, decay, and abandoned.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by LakeShoreSoxGo

Chicago is pretty much what detroit could have been, had they not revolved the local economy around gm.

Lake Shore, I do see your comparison here. Certainly for much of the first part of the 20th century, there was tremendous overlap between Chicago and Detroit. And Detroit at the time was unquestionably the Midwest's second city. Both cities were poster children for America's incredible industrial might.

But there was a major difference between Chicago and Detroit that went well beyond Detroit being a one industry town:

Chicago was a white collar mecca, along with the blue. It was the business and cultural heart of the midwest. And it had the public transportation system that such a white collar base would support. Chicago put a lakefront in place that kept itself livable and inviting even in the worst of times. And frankly, unlike other cities like Detroit, Chicago never really experienced the absolute worst of times. Even during the drain of population in the 1950s to suburbia, Chicago still held on to its core attractions and between government and a strong invovlement in the health of city among cultural institutions and the business community, Chicago held on better than most.

Blue collar Detroit had nothing to use as a hold over those who left it over the same time period which undoubtedly contributed to its incredible racial divide that still very much exists today.

[Shrewsbury Road]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Simply stated, that is about right. Although Chicago has more trendy/yuppie areas than what you would find in Queens.

To the OP: I would also add that Chicago has an amazing and vibrant Lakefront and good transit system (you don't need a car to get around much of the city). If you take the Red, Brown, or Blue "EL" lines (Chicago's subway) north from downtown it will take you through what is considered the nicer parts of the city. These areas are mostly safe. The bad areas of the city generally exist west and south of downtown.

The subway runs through the entire city?

[Shrewsbury Road]

Originally Posted by LakeShoreSoxGo

Thats because detroit is decaying so bad its beyond ghetto. Some neighborhoods are literally returning to the state they were in the early 1900s before detroit was developed. Some places have literally gone full circle. unsettled, Settled, developed, stable and middle class, decline, decay, and abandoned.

Because the abandoned, decayed, and sometimes even praried parts of the city are more predominate in the city, the still beautiful and stable neighborhoods remain un recognized. Detroit should have had these place destroyed a long time ago but they didn't, now this is what people know.