Posted on 01/30/2015 3:05:53 PM PST by yetidog
Is Chicago a great city? What makes it different?
The cool thing is that the Democrats cannot blame the Republicans for the miseries of Chicago proper. There are NO Republicans!!!
They were a great band, before Terry Kath died.
I came through there, as my family moved west, in the ‘60’s, when a blizzard blew through. ‘so this is chicago?’
I came through there again, in the 90’s, as I was moving west. Still wasn’t impressed.
I give it a B-. It is miserable weather 5 months out of the year, which is reason enough to avoid living there.
I spent around a month and a half in the Chicago suburb of Naperville for job training around 10 yrs ago and really liked it.
I only actually spent one day in the city, it was a freezing cold, windy Sunday in Feburary, the place was desolate and COLD, seemed like we had the whole city to ourselves.
Place looked clean and all, this was the Downtown, We went to the Weber Grill Restaurant which was fun, saw the Married with Children Fountain (Buckingham) and ran back to the car it was so windy and COLD!
Nice place to visit but from what i read EVERYDAY not a very good place to live.
My best memories of the area was hanging at this particular Mexican joint every night (LOT”S of Mexican restaurants there) and getting up early to watch Pats games on Sunday at this cool dive bar that had a great free food halftime spread and the owner would tune one of the TV’s to the Patriots for me.
Compared to here in MA i found the people to be friendly and outgoing and i developed quite a respect for the Bears fans.
Great town. Great sports and museum town. Great restaurants. Great public transportaion. Friendly to tourists. Hotels are expensive. Commuting and parking sucks.
OMG....we lived on Pearson which is between Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan....The Ritz was a block away....and the WATER TOWER was on the same block....fabulous area. I would have lived there forever if they hadn’t raised the income tax 66% overnight!!!!
The streets are tree lined and flowered lined all over the city....gorgeous.
The Triangle has great restaurants, horsedrawn carriages, and EXPENSIVE shopping on Oak Street.....ther is nothing NOT to like if you are visiting!!
In the summer there is the OAK STREET BEACH....AWESOME...they ship in real PALM TREES for the season....the Lincoln Park Zoo is a short walk away and it’s free to get in......and the walk to it is either along Lake Michigan or MILLIUON DOLLAR HOMES on quaint streets!!
EVERYONE should visit Chicago...especially in the summer with all the outside café seating for all the best restaurants!!
I’m also very rural with no interest in living in the city but a Detroit booster for a few reasons.
One reason is to honor late FReeper, Westlander who loved his city. Another is a simple recognition that a sick city harms the health of the state and nation.
At one time, it was a wonderful city. With the proper leadership, it could be again.
I know the sports bar of which you speak! I watched Super Bowl XLI in that bar (my Amtrak was delayed many, many hours due to the miserable lake-effect snow that day). Quite a game - the wings were great! I finally got on my train, and as I boarded, I told the Amtrak lady "Sorry about the Bears"...
Well if you like hotdogs Portillos restaurant is a good enough reason to visit...
I was born and raised in Chicago, living first on the north side and after latter in the South Lawndale area and then finally in the Little Village area.
The South Lawndale and Little Village areas were just starting to turn Mexican when I lived there.
I moved to Florida back in late 1992 and I have no desire to move back to Chicago.
Have mixed feelings. I grew up there and enjoyed it as a child (Rogers Park) and young adult (Lincoln Park). It was nice to get around without a car, but as crime grew, I moved out to the suburbs where you spend half your life commuting downtown for work or wonderful restaurants.
If I were wealthy a North Lake Shore Drive high rise condo facing the lake would be nice. Unfortunately, I am not connected and can’t afford the kind of places that Barack Obama, Rahm Emmanuel and Bill Ayers have.
You forgot “Pepe’s wonderful Mexican Food”.
The one thing my wife and I Miss about Chicago is the food, especially the deep dish Pizza and pizza from the ORIGINAL Home Run In on 31st street.
I also agree about Portillos.
It is still there, Moody Bible institute remains along with Trinity Seminary of the Evangelical Free Church as well as a few other Christian colleges and seminaries.
Unfortunately, Emmaus Bible School moved out of Oak Park about 30 years ago. I had a few friends attending there and I took Correspondence school classes from there myself.
I was a Sunday School teacher, and youth club leader at Village Gospel Center in the Little Village Area for a few years before moving out to Bolingbrook to raise my own family.
The Chicago I knew when traveling there frequently in the 90’s was surprisingly clean for a large city, an architect’s dream, from beautiful old residential areas to the very impressive and varied waterfront skyline. It was a food lover’s place, too. Not just fine dining but diners with well-prepared, hearty dishes that were very fairly priced. Nice people by and large, drivers were almost polite, they’d wave you into a line of traffic. Very unlike other large US cities.
Even then, though, there were places you just didn’t go even in broad daylight. I understand it’s spreading. That’s truly a pity. I loved the place.
I lived in Bolingbrook next to Naperville for about 16 years before moving to Florida. This of course was after moving out of the Little Village Area.
Hubby, who has been all around the country many times, has always maintained that Chicago is the best city to be really, really rich in.
As a native NYer, of course I say to heck with that.
I worked in Chicago for two years in the mid 70’s. It was a wonderful city then. I’ve been back two or three times since and the decline is obvious. Somehow, I think it’ll be great again.
I’ve been to Chicago.
Greatest mid-Western city.
And oh - did I mention the food?
Chicago is where deep dish pizza’s at.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.