Quote from wilburbear:
Driving my daughters around, to one "playdate" or another, gets me a view of different Chicago neighborhoods.
Which is why I call Chicago "The Quintessential 20th Century City". Almost call it a 19th century city. A German head of state in the 1880's, on his death bed, said, "I never got to see that old Chicago!" In the 1880's we were one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Stockyards! Rail! Water-way Transport!
Our population was very near its peak in 1920. And a lot of this town is built for 1920. Neighborhoods stretch for tens of miles in all directions. Three story "walk-ups", with the bottom floor occupied by retail shops. As I drove, just today, it honestly seemed 7 out of 8 of those independent retail shops were closed down. Street level is not very pretty. And that reverberates. Many neighborhoods are starting to feel strangely gutted-out, occupied by the rootless, and older men in tank tops with their teeth missing.
My informal study of what survives are services like "Hair and Nails" shops, Palm Readers (seriously), and a few Gyms; stuff you can't buy on the internet and avoid our 10% sales tax. Clothes, travel agents, and electronics shops are gone, and they ain't ever coming back.
Before I bought a mansion in Elmhurst I lived a couple of blocks from Wrigley Field. There were 24-hour diners all over the place and you could get a decent meal anytime with a short walk. I was about a block away from the L.
The bars in Chicago were amazing, the real thing. People there to drink liquor, no froofy cocktails with little umbrellas, just booze and beer and some interesting city folks. I never got in a fight and made a bunch of friends in a short time. I once bought some bay rum cologne that had a little too much clove in it and went into a Northside bar wearing some. After about an hour the bartender shouted "who the hell is smoking clove cigarettes in my bar!". I didn't say a word LOL.
It ain't Hollywood that is for sure.My bad attitude came from the culture I encountered at Citadel which was unpleasant to say the least.
Fact is some of my best friends are from Chicago and NYC. They just seem to be able to relate to someone from LA. Good people.
I'll lay off the shit talking about Chicago for now on. I'm over it I guess. Great town, not their fault who does business there. Your stories are very cool. Tell some more if you feel like it.