To those born and/or living on the coasts, do you perceive Chicago to be "unsophisticated"?

[Anonymous]

If you think this, you're missing out on a great city with good food, fabulous art, and kind people.

-- a DC native with family in Chicago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having lived in New York, San Francisco and Chicago for a minimum of seven years in each city and being a New Yorker by birth I feel I can give a fairly balanced answer.

New York - very aggressive and ambitious, life can’t exist west of the Hudson River, pseudo sophisticates only due to their spending, flock to the Hamptons because that is what sophisticates are supposed to do, send your kids away to prep schools because that’s what sophisticated people do. A lot of culture but mostly used by tourists.

San Francisco - not very aggressive or ambitious (ex Silicon Valley types), view CA as a country unto itself with the rest of the country being pretty irrelevant, leisure time a higher priority than other parts of the country (weather related). Plenty of culture but people are avoiding the city.

Chicago - pretty ambitious and work hard, but definitely not NY ambition or aggressiveness. People love the city in the summer where in NYC people exit as often as possible. Great museums, small theaters and music venues. Midwest values do exist as the people are really very nice and family oriented.

All three cities have great medical facilities and universities.

When we got transferred from NY to Chicago we weren’t happy but after a number of years there we decided not to go back to NY. SF was beautiful because of the weather and physical beauty but we didn’t like the CA centric attitude plus the governance.

The wealthy in Chicago seem to have winter homes in Florida and summer homes along Lake Michigan in Michigan, Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, and Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

[Anonymous]

It's a great city but a bit provincial. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Anonymous]

I just don't really think about Chicago. Would assume it's as sophisticated as any other large metro area.

[Anonymous]

I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A work colleague based in Manhattan on zoom earlier today called it a gorgeous city "but unfortunately, it's rather unsophisticated." Others on the zoom nodded and chuckled in agreement, including people from Chicago who now live elsewhere.

Typical NY DB. Probably spends $4000 a month for a one bedroom walk up. In Chicago you can get a nice one bedroom for half that with a lake view. My brother has a beautiful three bedroom, three bath condominium with two parking spots just off Michigan Avenue and across the street from the Four Seasons hotel for $850,000. In NYC that could be $5 million. He may not be NY sophisticated but he’s also not NY stupid.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious about the criteria your colleague uses to determine a city’s level of sophistication.

Did he just mean that Chicago is unsophisticated compared to NYC? I mean, if he thinks Chicago is unsophisticated in general, the list of sophisticated US cities must be very short.

[Anonymous]

Chicago is down to earth and less showy for sure. People don't try as hard to impress and keep up with the Joneses. I think it's more like they don't try to come off as sophisticated even if they are- doing so would come off as odd.... very nice people though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

The Big Ten thing is true, plus add in Notre Dame for good measure. I do like Boston!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google hit for 'Chicago unsophisticated' got this juicy story. A billionaire and his now ex wife had an allegedly violent argument when discussing their pre-nup because she wanted the freedom to move to San Francisco or New York City in the event of a divorce because she found the Windy City “unsophisticated,” according to a court filing: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2015/02/20/ken-griffin-wife-found-chicago-unsophisticated/

The ex wife's bio: Born in France, undergrad at Georgetown, MBA from Harvard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Dias-Griffin

Ok, if you're a French Harvard MBA mom who hangs with billionnaires and married one, I will give you a free pass to call Chicago unsophisticated. That's the kind of person who might be equally grumpy about LA or NYC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

I’m sorry, I think I’m misunderstanding…the Chicago accent is nails on a chalkboard compared to…Boston?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having lived in New York, San Francisco and Chicago for a minimum of seven years in each city and being a New Yorker by birth I feel I can give a fairly balanced answer.

New York - very aggressive and ambitious, life can’t exist west of the Hudson River, pseudo sophisticates only due to their spending, flock to the Hamptons because that is what sophisticates are supposed to do, send your kids away to prep schools because that’s what sophisticated people do. A lot of culture but mostly used by tourists.

San Francisco - not very aggressive or ambitious (ex Silicon Valley types), view CA as a country unto itself with the rest of the country being pretty irrelevant, leisure time a higher priority than other parts of the country (weather related). Plenty of culture but people are avoiding the city.

Chicago - pretty ambitious and work hard, but definitely not NY ambition or aggressiveness. People love the city in the summer where in NYC people exit as often as possible. Great museums, small theaters and music venues. Midwest values do exist as the people are really very nice and family oriented.

All three cities have great medical facilities and universities.

When we got transferred from NY to Chicago we weren’t happy but after a number of years there we decided not to go back to NY. SF was beautiful because of the weather and physical beauty but we didn’t like the CA centric attitude plus the governance.

The wealthy in Chicago seem to have winter homes in Florida and summer homes along Lake Michigan in Michigan, Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, and Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Definitely winter homes in Florida or the desert. Summer homes are mostly old family homes. Newer people stay local.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a guy in medicine who turned down a job offer in Chicago with an eye-popping bump in comp to remain in Boston. He said Chicago felt isolated. Very Midwest. Very cliquish and full of Big Ten state school alums. Accent is also nails on a chalkboard.

I’m sorry, I think I’m misunderstanding…the Chicago accent is nails on a chalkboard compared to…Boston?

A few years ago I was in a store in Manhattan waiting in line behind a gorgeous woman. Then she opened her mouth and she had a Fran Drescher Long Island accent plus she was chewing gum. Puff goes the image!

[Anonymous]

Bahston is a creaking hinge. That nasal high pitch IS nails on a chalkboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is down to earth and less showy for sure. People don't try as hard to impress and keep up with the Joneses. I think it's more like they don't try to come off as sophisticated even if they are- doing so would come off as odd.... very nice people though.

This is total b.s. There's a lot of money in Chicago, status obsession, ritzy restaurants, flashy houses and apartments, flashy cars, flashy nightclubs, exclusive private schools. But all of that is not synonymous with sophisticated.