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Would you mind elaborating a bit on the 2 sentences I've highlighted ?
Chicago is only just breaking through the housing patterns that were established back when white flight was very much the norm. There are diverse areas, but they are few and far between. Many neighborhoods especially on the south and westside are almost entirely black or hispanic.
I taught in Pilsen (mostly Mexican) and Little Village (mostly Puerto Rican). My friends have taught in the inner city (south and southwest sides - mostly black and poor).
I don't find that the people are necessarily racist, but that the neighborhoods do not lend themselves to intermingling, the way my neighborhood here does. I will say that in Skokie (north suburb), my neighborhood was very integrated with Asians, African Americans, Mexicans and whites all on our block. However, that was not the case in Evanston. The segregation there was economic more than racial, but there were NO blacks in my neighborhood there at all.
In the city itself, if you walk through certain areas, you will also hear various languages. The languages and ethnicities segregate themselves into neighborhoods, imo. There are pocket neighborhoods that are almost all Russian or all Polish and all Indian, for example. My dil is Indian and if you lived near Devon, you would find very few people not of Indian extraction.
Lived in Chicago for several years, and loved many things about it.
If you have mainly lived in Texas, you will find winter "depressing".
In Texas, people are very Texan - somewhat insulated and not quite aware of what's going on in the rest of the country or world. Folks are pretty friendly in Chicago, some of that Midwestern niceness does make it to the city.
And get ready for zoned/planned urban development. Houston sometimes feels like a bag full of stuff was dropped from the sky, and things fell where they did. Chicago is as "segregated" residentially as any city I think.
The highways are much better here in Houston - you can actually get to almost anywhere pretty quickly. And yes people do drive faster, but are more predictable than Houston's crazy drivers. Vehicles are on average smaller on Chicago freeways than on Houston's.
For me personally, I like the fact that I don't have to scrape sunshine off my windshield in TX
Great post! I only visited chicago but I noticed what you described. Both NYC and chicago are terrific cities to visit, I would love to live there for a year or two, no more.
Testmo- I've never been to either but I was thinking about moving there after college. I just started by the way so I have a while to go. Well actually, I've been to Chicago before, but only to visit family and I wasn't there long so I wouldn't count that. What was it about New York that you did and didn't like?
well there is lots to love about NYC but it just wasn't a place I wanted to live in.
1) it is freezing cold in the winter and gloomy. i actually ended up in tears several times because it was so cold.
2) it was just too much. it's cool to soak up for awhile but then i started getting sick of being in the city. when you don't have a car or know someone that does and you work (and you don't have a winter or summer house) it is hard to just "escape" from the city to get a break. i just started taking train trips but it eats into a lot of time
3) i learned i hate people and want to hurt them when i get a crowded feeling. the streets are not like what you see on TV. you have to pass some people but it's not some 3rd world hoard of thousands of people at once. but the city itself started making me feel crowded. i think it is the blocking of the sun and vertical space. started getting weird
4) yes there is lots to do. most of it is mediocre because guess what - in a major tourist city with millions of people you can get away with having a lot of crummy places and you'll still earn money. i've never had more bad food in my life than in NYC. i wasn't busting out $300 a night for Ripert.
5) the cool stuff does eventually get old. "do you want to catch a show again?" no i've been to 7 and never really cared much for them in the first place. thankfully there is enough cool stuff to rotate every once in awhile
6) the summer is hot! it gets into the 100s there too. and the winter is freeeeeezing! the nice periods are wonderful but i consider NYC as having more weather extremes than Texas.
i found out i am a city person, but not that big of a city person. what i loved the most was the neighborhood i was in, having friends in various parts of the city and drunk subway riding to visit them, central park and the museums
get a professional job and you can live nice. i know someone who works for a college has his own apartment in brooklyn and it is very nice and not so crazy small like you hear about. i also know a guy who is a hair dresser (not some celebrity kind) and he lives in the bronx in an apartment with 3 random people and it is less than 900sqft. life varies hugely there
whatever you do visit as often as you can before making moving decisions. like you said you have time. for vacations it'll wrap you up but try to be realistic when you go
well there is lots to love about NYC but it just wasn't a place I wanted to live in.
1) it is freezing cold in the winter and gloomy. i actually ended up in tears several times because it was so cold.
2) it was just too much. it's cool to soak up for awhile but then i started getting sick of being in the city. when you don't have a car or know someone that does and you work (and you don't have a winter or summer house) it is hard to just "escape" from the city to get a break. i just started taking train trips but it eats into a lot of time
3) i learned i hate people and want to hurt them when i get a crowded feeling. the streets are not like what you see on TV. you have to pass some people but it's not some 3rd world hoard of thousands of people at once. but the city itself started making me feel crowded. i think it is the blocking of the sun and vertical space. started getting weird
4) yes there is lots to do. most of it is mediocre because guess what - in a major tourist city with millions of people you can get away with having a lot of crummy places and you'll still earn money. i've never had more bad food in my life than in NYC. i wasn't busting out $300 a night for Ripert.
5) the cool stuff does eventually get old. "do you want to catch a show again?" no i've been to 7 and never really cared much for them in the first place. thankfully there is enough cool stuff to rotate every once in awhile
6) the summer is hot! it gets into the 100s there too. and the winter is freeeeeezing! the nice periods are wonderful but i consider NYC as having more weather extremes than Texas.
i found out i am a city person, but not that big of a city person. what i loved the most was the neighborhood i was in, having friends in various parts of the city and drunk subway riding to visit them, central park and the museums
get a professional job and you can live nice. i know someone who works for a college has his own apartment in brooklyn and it is very nice and not so crazy small like you hear about. i also know a guy who is a hair dresser (not some celebrity kind) and he lives in the bronx in an apartment with 3 random people and it is less than 900sqft. life varies hugely there
whatever you do visit as often as you can before making moving decisions. like you said you have time. for vacations it'll wrap you up but try to be realistic when you go
Fantastic response! It was really informative. I have always seen NYC as "the City" to be in, but I actually wondered about a few of the things you touched on. The weather there sounds very similar to Chicago.
I lived in and out of Chicago during my Navy tour. I will honestly say that Chicago is my favorite destination city. It's rich in history, has romantic and charming towns/architecture, and the Chicago people are, what I would call, the 'belly' of American culture. Lake Michigan, the arts, the quintessential seasonal changes and the people...wow, you just can't call Chicago 'another' city. It really is something worth taking in in person. Most of the replies have outlined the basics of what Chicago offers, but it really takes a trip to breath it all in. This statement may be biased, but I think you can never go wrong with good'ol Chicago!
NYC is amazing, and I would totally live there if I could afford it, but it's just not in the cards. Yet. I visit about once a month (it seems like everyone I know is there) and always leave with barely enough money to come home. I have many friends who live there on education subsidies. Whoever said that jobs pay enough to compensate here lied. The only people are doing well in NYC are medical professionals, lawyers, executive business people, and those with stabilized rent from the 80s. (Seriously, I know someone who moved into SoHo in 1988 and pays less than $1000!) It's very fun, especially for those can afford it. I plan to move to Brooklyn at some point. Taxes will eat you alive.
Chicago I don't know much about, but I've always wanted to visit. I have heard that it can be expensive, but it is definitely a very solid middle ground between Houston and other Eastern seaboard cities, and perhaps even California. I think this would be a Houstonian's best bet.
I currently live in Boston and I'm looking for a new place with my boyfriend. We are looking for a studio/1 bedroom for $1400 and we don't have very many options, if any. I also had a couple of people who wanted to move with us from Texas, they owned a car, and only wanted to spend 800-900 a month. I was like, "You do realize parking your car will cost you at least $150...if you're lucky.."
Oh and just so everyone knows, Vancouver has a 12% Harmonized Sales Tax, (on everything) but it's gorgeous.
(Seattle is my pick.)
So yes, Houston is still cheap.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/379528_2189791914244_1530480095_32123176_173241915 1_n.jpg (broken link)
Great post! I only visited chicago but I noticed what you described. Both NYC and chicago are terrific cities to visit, I would love to live there for a year or two, no more.
That's how I feel about Houston, actually. I don't think I would even visit here if my son didn't have a job here. I've been here 5 years, but would be back in Chicago in a flash despite the winters. Given the fact that I am constantly sneezing (even now in November) and that I can't walk outside in the summers in the heat and that I can't walk to the beach here or get anywhere without a car, I find Houston not to be my cup of tea. I feel trapped here because my eyes don't really allow me to drive in the evening, so I can't really do many of the things I used to do in Chicago by taking the *el.* If my grandchildren were not here, I would definitely not be here.
14 years Chicago here, lived 10 years in Texas in the 80's and west coast another 10. My opinion.
There are a few weeks a winter I found myself saying why the hell do I put up with this. But winter fluctuates a lot up and down so for the most part it is manageable. Winter is about 1-2 months too long.
Folks are friendlier in Houston, yet less tolerant it seems. Got to love football and be part of a mega church it seems. Chicago really is about individualality. Some folks would like people being nice on the outside. Chicagoians just want no fake b.s. Houston would rather have fake manners.
Chicago is WAY more segregated. It is historical and was manipulated into being so by decades of racist policies. But then again public transportation here in Houston seems to only be for the poor minorities where as Chicago it is very mixed all classes and races as are the city events and parks/beaches.
Chicago also thrives on all its diversity.....where as Houston seems to push its wonderful diversity to the side and lets "bubba" culture control everything. We had to quit watching the local news and only watch WGN ....Houston news is too sexist, heterocentric, christiancentric emphasis.
Summers are BEAUTIFUL in Chicago as are most of its falls. Spring, doesn't really happen......seems to go straight into summer.
Chicago is beautiful and sophisticated and has TONS to do that doesn't cost and arm and leg. Everything seems to cost here in Houston.....BUT groceries and gas are cheaper her in Houston.
Both have great places to eat and great bars.
Chicago has lake Michigan right at its core.
You get LESS for your buck as far as housing goes...but you know what...an urban lifestyle is more about meeting friends at movies, restaurants, events and clubs....like in Asia where social happens outside the home more....it is a get up and join friends out and about kind of city.
Oh and just so everyone knows, Vancouver has a 12% Harmonized Sales Tax, (on everything) but it's gorgeous.
(Seattle is my pick.)
I absolutely love the PacNW and Vancouver is a newer, more impressive version of Seattle IMO. Last visited the area in the summer of 2010 and had a great time as usual. Standing in downtown Seattle (or Vancouver),it's like standing in the middle of a National Park because of the vistas and physical beauty of the area and it's also culturally appealing. However living there full-time is a different situation because in terms of climate I'd take the heat/humidity of Texas or the miserable winters in places of the upper MidWest like Chicago over the gloomy, overcast skys of the NW.
In the late 90s I worked 7 months (May-Nov) at Washington state capital in OLympia at the south end of Pungent Sound, 'bout 55 clicks from Seattle, and that weather gets real depressing after about 2 staight weeks of sunless skys, which happens often except in the summer months. And it doesn't really rain much up there, actually much of the time it's a rather delighful little sprinkle or even mist, but it's cloudy and gloomy. And I wasn't even there in the winter months. Something to keep in mind before you just pick and move to the "Great NW".
winters in Seattle and Vancouver are crazy. that is why many people who love the city end up moving elsewhere. few seattle transplants on this board
NYC does pay people more on average than in houston to make up for living expenses. not if you have a **** job but why would they try to help you out? i have a friend with the same engineering background/work experience as me but he moved there. instantly found a job paying like 60k more (it was substantial) than me here in Houston. but he pays more too for regular expenses and lifestyle so it is nearly a wash
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I only visited chicago but I noticed what you described. Both NYC and chicago are terrific cities to visit, I would love to live there for a year or two, no more.
