I just returned from a weekend in Chicago, my third trip back to my old home since the summer. In the 6 ½ years that I’ve lived in New York, my sojourns to the Windy City have evoked a range of emotions. For years my attitude towards Chicago was a bit condescending – I felt that I had moved on to bigger and better things, and every time I visited Chicago I was quick to notice all that was inferior to NYC. (What! The bars don’t close at 2 in NEW YORK! What! The delis in NEW YORK are open 24 hours! WHAT! In NEW YORK you get your pot delivered right to your door! You call this a city?)
In time, that attitude has changed. Not because I’ve changed, or even because Chicago has changed. What’s changed is that I experience Chicago in a completely different way than I did when I was fresh out of college. Thanks to my friends who have shown me the lesser-known nuances of Chicago living, I enjoy the city more and more each time I’m there. Some of my friends have even launched a grass-roots campaign to get me to move back, which involves constantly reminding me that I’m from the midwest and HOWMUCHFUNWOULDITBEIFYOUMOVEDBACKHEREOHMYGOD.
Truth be told, I love Chicago. But I love New York more. Here are the main issues on which I base my opinion.
-Cars
I moved to New York after five years of moving violations and fender benders I suffered in a car that I can only describe as evil. Immediately upon leaving Chicago I sold the death trap and found that living a car-free lifestyle was a refreshing change. You can get anywhere in New York via public transportation or cab, or better yet by foot. Chicago, on the contrary, is a massive, sprawling city. Like every other city in America, its neighborhoods are divided by major streets and highways. Manhattan could have been like this too, but when Robert Moses tried to slap a highway in the center of the West Village in 1961, the neighborhood’s inhabitants protested. Jane Jacobs, a local resident and New Yorker for 30 years, wrote “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, in which she argued that highways separate neighborhoods instead of connect them and that in order for a city to work, the car should not overpower the pedestrian. Thanks in great part to her book and activism, the neighborhood won the battle against the car, and the highway was never built. The lack of highways makes Manhattan the great walking city that it is. People are on the sidewalk, not in their cars.
As a sidewalk person, I must side with NYC on the car issue.
-Bars
In 1995 when I first moved to Chicago I spent my time in an edgy neighborhood called Wicker Park where drinks were $2 and bar floors were covered in a fine layer of filth. It was a wonderful time. Since then, MTV stuck a bunch of Real World shitheads in a house on the corner of Milwaukee, North, and Damen, which only spawned more shitheads moving to the neighborhood. Now Wicker Park is a delicate mix of hipster posers and displaced Lincoln Park yuppies. A few trips ago I was shocked to see that North Avenue was home to trendy clothing stores and Wicker Dog had become a wine store (I think it’s a hot dog joint again, or maybe I was hallucinating when I saw that.) Now that my favorite neighborhood in Chicago repulses me, where, praytell, is there to go?
I’ll tell you where. Lots of places. For every once-edgy-bar-turned-yuppie-hangout there are plenty of laid back neighborhood haunts in which you can keep it real. Lakeview Lounge, Simon’s, Tuman’s Alcohol Abuse Center, The Hideout -- all of these bars offer the type of kitsch that New York money just can’t buy. New York is constantly reinventing itself, and this applies its nightlife as much as anything. One minute a bar is a loungey local watering hole, the next minute it's selling $12 guava martinis to suits. If you’ve seen one red-lighted couch-filled one-word-named bar, you’ve seen them all. In a city where the people are so diverse I sometimes wonder why we don’t have bars to match them.
The truth is that we do – they’re just a little harder to find. Whereas every other street corner in Chicago sports a local pub with wood paneling on the walls and an Old Style sign in the window, you have to try a little harder in Manhattan to find such places. Then once you find one, everyone else finds it too, and it becomes so popular the entire mood of the place changes.
On this point, I award the prize to Chicago.
-Stars
I’m not impressed by stars. Sure I think it’s cool when I eat lunch next to Sarah Jessica Parker, but it is by no means my raison d’etre. New York is riddled with famous faces, but they seem to be living a life not unlike the rest of us. A friend from work has regular morning conversations with Michael Caine; Beth grabbed a beer with Jimmy Fallon in a westside tavern; I saw Mo Rocca from the Daily Show taking the subway. While I’m sure they are plenty of celebs that call Chicago their home, do you see them in line at the deli or rushing to make their morning train? There is something about life in New York City that levels the playing field for everyone here – while tinted-windowed limos deliver silver-slippered divas to black tie events in LA, Danny Pintauro is grabbing a slice in NYC.
But this isn't about LA. Like I said, it’s not the stars that interest me. There’s just a certain star quality to the city of New York that you don’t find in other places. From the street vendors peddling their hand-made jewelry to the punk bands playing on the Lower East Side, everywhere you turn in New York someone is creating something. And there’s something about that that makes me feel like we’re all stars here. Many times I’ve been in Chicago, watching a band play or enjoying a street fair, when suddenly some jackass in a baseball cap jumps on the mike to chant “Chicago! Chicago!” I don’t know how to explain the contrast other than by saying we don’t really do that here (with the exception of post-September 11-rallying, which bothered me a little too.) As much as I appreciate hometown pride, I don’t need to be assaulted by it. I’m more of a proponent for the show-me-don’t-tell-me style. That is the star quality I’m talking about.
With that, I must cast my vote for New York.
So that's New York 2, Chicago 1. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going back to the midwestern city I once called home. Flights to Chicago are cheaper than they've ever been and I have a welcoming network of friends who like houseguests (or at least that’s what they tell me!) This trip was definitely not my last. After all, the votes are close. You never know when I might swing in the other direction.
Hey thanks for that comparision! As a life-long Chicagoan, I've had friends tell me I should move to NYC even for a few years. That I'd fit right in. So hearing from a former Chicagoan on how NYC loes her is great to read. perhaps one day I will give the Big Apple a try.
nice post, especially the part about jane jacobs. I've always wanted to know the details behind that highway story. excellent! i should write something about my move like this one..although they aren't very similar at all ;-)
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