Chicago is becoming more Wisconsinated. (Evanston, Addison: transplants, apartments, home)

[Farmer Tom Illinois' Best]

"Chicago, Wisconsin U.S.A" Saw this term on another forum.

Wisconsinites seem to be pouring into the Chicago area like crazy these days. It seems like everywhere I look on the North Side and in the suburbs I see Wisc. license plates, W college signs, Packers flags, Packers plates, Brewers flags, etc. etc. Yeah, I know that there are people from all over the midwest living/ going to school in Chicago, I'm one, but there seems to be a heavy influx of Wisconsin plates parked on Chicago's side streets lately and plenty of Wisconsin themed bars going up. Then there is this lovely number...

[URL="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chicago+wisconsin"]www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chicago+wisconsin[/URL]

Are parts of the city being "colonized" again??

[Lookout Kid]

You should be more worried about transplants from Michigan. I'd say they outnumber us Wisconsinites three to one at least.

Wisconsin is only 50 miles away, so it makes sense that you would see a lot of cars with WI plates. You also see a lot of IL plates in southern WI.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

You should be more worried about transplants from Michigan. I'd say they outnumber us Wisconsinites three to one at least.

No doubt they do. I think Ohioans trump the Wisconsin numbers as well.

[Farmer Tom Illinois' Best]

Not really worried about them, just had never heard the term "Chicago, Wisconsin" before. It coincided with a discussion my friends and I were having a while back about how many Brewers fans and Packers fans we see around nowadays. You are right though there are alot of Michigan folks too.

[MannheimMadman]

A couple weekends ago, I was at Dave & Buster's on Clark. When I parked in the garage connected to the building, I saw a crazy number of WI plates. It was enough to pique my interest and make me wonder.

MI people, on the other hand, seem to be pouring into the state. I've even noticed some out here. I suppose it would make sense, as their state is descending into an abyss of depression.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by ManheimMadman

A couple weekends ago, I was at Dave & Buster's on Clark. When I parked in the garage connected to the building, I saw a crazy number of WI plates. It was enough to pique my interest and make me wonder...

Dave and Buster's is a tourist attraction to people from Wisconsin and other places like Iowa. The chain is only in 20 or so states (used to be a lot less.) Wisconsin does not have a location. The closest location for many people from WI is Chicago. It also has a strange attraction of transplants and of native suburbanites. Most natives to the city would rather be caught dead than set foot in that place. I went twice when I was 21 not long after it opened. I will never set foot in it again.

Dave and Buster's is in the category of the bars on Rush and the bars on Division.

[css9450]

Originally Posted by Farmer Tom Illinois' Best

Wisconsinites seem to be pouring into the Chicago area like crazy these days.

I have not noticed any more than normal.

There is an opposite side to this coin however. Take a road trip, anywhere in the midwest, on an interstate highway that originates in or passes through Illinois. Watch the license plates, and count the states. Illinois is always #2 behind the home state. Then keep an eye on the dealer's decals/license plate tags. You guessed it - they're all from Chicago or its suburbs.

Its uncanny. You could be on, say, I90 in Pennsylvania or Kansas and every other car is from Woodfield Nissan, Roesch Chevrolet, Mcgrath Lexus or some other Chicago-area dealer.

[Chicago60614]

I haven't noticed any more Wisc. plates on the streets than any other time in the decade or so I've lived here.

I think a VAST majority of the plates would lie from Roosevelt to Evanston and the lake to Ashland. A majority of the city that isn't talked about much is solidly Illinois...or Hispanic.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I haven't noticed any more Wisc. plates on the streets than any other time in the decade or so I've lived here.

I think a VAST majority of the plates would lie from Roosevelt to Evanston and the lake to Ashland...

Yes. Any high density area with an abundance of apartments as well as demand is going to be highly transient in some way,shape, or form. It has always been so everywhere in the world.

However it has been bit more the case in Chicago in the last ten years versus the last few decades before it.

Chicago had a steady influx of people from other states and countries until the late 40's. The people had to come from somewhere. Even in the days of 4,5,6,7 child families, that alone was not able to equal the population explosion of Chicago and the area from the period after the fire until the late 40's.

I do think however that the amount of (legal) foreign immigration and transplants from other states died down considerably from the early 50's until the mid 90's in the Chicago area.

I remember a time when seeing an out of state plate was very rare in any neighborhood in Chicago (except a few southern black areas on the south side and the southern white areas on the north side.)

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Dave and Buster's is a tourist attraction to people from Wisconsin and other places like Iowa. The chain is only in 20 or so states (used to be a lot less.) Wisconsin does not have a location. The closest location for many people from WI is Chicago. It also has a strange attraction of transplants and of native suburbanites. Most natives to the city would rather be caught dead than set foot in that place. I went twice when I was 21 not long after it opened. I will never set foot in it again.

Dave and Buster's is in the category of the bars on Rush and the bars on Division.

Interesting. There's one in Addison too, right?

Yeah, my girlfriend and I were in the area, and we had both never been to a Dave and Buster's. The service was absolutely terrible, the food was terrible, and people in the gameroom were like animals. It was probably one of the worst experiences I had in a long time. I'm not old at all, but all the craziness and video games isn't my thing.