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

[Anonymous]

Honestly I don't think of Chicago at all!

But to the extent I do - it seems like a cool city. Freezing but plenty of good stuff outside of that. My friends who live there are smart, interesting people. The Bear tells me there's a good food scene!

[Anonymous]

Growing up in KY, Chicago was always the big city to me and I loved it. Now that I live on the coast I still love Chicago, but I don't have any reason to go there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m from the east coast (Fairfield county) and I’ve lived in chicago for 6 years. I cried moving here but I’m never leaving now. Why? Because it’s such a livable city. The economy is good and housing is so cheap in comparison to where I’m from. People tend to have more kids here because they can. I’ll take my 400k HHI with mg 550k 5 bedroom home any day. Plus the public schools are decent here! Even if I’m around mostly ppl who grew up in unsophisticated Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin lol.

Yeah, Chicago is great.

But people in Chicago get really bent out of shape about whether everyone else also feels it. Take your HHI and your nice neighborhood and be happy (not you, you sound like you're doing it) and stop worrying about what people in Boston and NYC think of you.

I live in the Chicago area with high HHI and the lower COL and it’s fine, like most other ok to well off suburbs in the country. It’s cheap to live here because most people here don’t make as much and let’s be real, most people wouldn’t want to live here. Even people FROM here question why I moved here and many people insist on knowing my connection to Illinois (family? Grew up here?), because people don’t just move to Chicago, according to the locals.

It's a great city and beats living in Cleveland. Or Omaha.

But yeah, it's not a global elite city like NYC or DC or LA. And, like it or not, Boston is one of the cities. People anywhere in the world know about it. It's half white-trash American, and half-European in nature. Chicago is just white-bread American normalcy with a nasty urban violence problem.

Wait, you think DC is a global elite city. Are you serious?

Are you insane?? DC is the center of the world. We are literally housed in the corridors of power.

It is some government buildings and monuments surrounded by generic office buildings and rundown neighborhoods and mediocre restaurants. It is a real embarrassment compared seats of power in other countries like London, Paris, and Rome. The seat of power in this country should have been NYC, not swampy backwater DC.

You clearly are not included in the power circles. DC is the capital of the world. We are very fortunate to live here.

Keep convincing yourself of that, O Member of the Self-Proclaimed “Power Circle.”

And you keep convincing yourself a hot dog with tomato, a pickle and celery salt is haute cuisine. And nitwit state school hicks from Michigan and Wisconsin, grey skies, blizzards, high crime and predatory parking makes for a sophisticated cosmopolitan.

I’ll take all of those things over living in place that is disproportionately populated by people with your attitude.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m from the east coast (Fairfield county) and I’ve lived in chicago for 6 years. I cried moving here but I’m never leaving now. Why? Because it’s such a livable city. The economy is good and housing is so cheap in comparison to where I’m from. People tend to have more kids here because they can. I’ll take my 400k HHI with mg 550k 5 bedroom home any day. Plus the public schools are decent here! Even if I’m around mostly ppl who grew up in unsophisticated Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin lol.

Yeah, Chicago is great.

But people in Chicago get really bent out of shape about whether everyone else also feels it. Take your HHI and your nice neighborhood and be happy (not you, you sound like you're doing it) and stop worrying about what people in Boston and NYC think of you.

I live in the Chicago area with high HHI and the lower COL and it’s fine, like most other ok to well off suburbs in the country. It’s cheap to live here because most people here don’t make as much and let’s be real, most people wouldn’t want to live here. Even people FROM here question why I moved here and many people insist on knowing my connection to Illinois (family? Grew up here?), because people don’t just move to Chicago, according to the locals.

It's a great city and beats living in Cleveland. Or Omaha.

But yeah, it's not a global elite city like NYC or DC or LA. And, like it or not, Boston is one of the cities. People anywhere in the world know about it. It's half white-trash American, and half-European in nature. Chicago is just white-bread American normalcy with a nasty urban violence problem.

Wait, you think DC is a global elite city. Are you serious?

Are you insane?? DC is the center of the world. We are literally housed in the corridors of power.

It is some government buildings and monuments surrounded by generic office buildings and rundown neighborhoods and mediocre restaurants. It is a real embarrassment compared seats of power in other countries like London, Paris, and Rome. The seat of power in this country should have been NYC, not swampy backwater DC.

You clearly are not included in the power circles. DC is the capital of the world. We are very fortunate to live here.

Keep convincing yourself of that, O Member of the Self-Proclaimed “Power Circle.”

And you keep convincing yourself a hot dog with tomato, a pickle and celery salt is haute cuisine. And nitwit state school hicks from Michigan and Wisconsin, grey skies, blizzards, high crime and predatory parking makes for a sophisticated cosmopolitan.

DP. You are really showing how provincial you are by proclaiming that somehow DC is more world-class than Chicago. Chicago has better architecture, neighborhoods, public transportation, shopping, cultural events and nightlife compared to anything in DC. The restaurant scene is unmatched, especially compared to DC. You have a far greater cultural history in Chicago than anything in DC, which results in more authentic ethnic foods like Italian, French, Greek, Indian, Polish, Vietnamese, and other. Not to mention, Chicago does comfort foods much better than anything in DC with better burgers, pizza, and street food.

As for crime, DC has a much higher crime rate than Chicago: https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?city1=51150000&city2=51714000

While outside of the city, the Chicago suburbs have far more old-money wealth than anything in DC. Compare Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest or Hinsdale to North Arlington, Bethesda, or McLean, and the former makes the latter look like a wasteland.

What exactly does DC offer? Mediocre restaurants? Neighborhoods that all look the same? UVA graduates who act like they went to an ivy-league school? Dowdy women wearing Ann Taylor Loft? People who work for a defense contractor? None of these things make DC sophisticated or world-class by any means.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m from the east coast (Fairfield county) and I’ve lived in chicago for 6 years. I cried moving here but I’m never leaving now. Why? Because it’s such a livable city. The economy is good and housing is so cheap in comparison to where I’m from. People tend to have more kids here because they can. I’ll take my 400k HHI with mg 550k 5 bedroom home any day. Plus the public schools are decent here! Even if I’m around mostly ppl who grew up in unsophisticated Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin lol.

Yeah, Chicago is great.

But people in Chicago get really bent out of shape about whether everyone else also feels it. Take your HHI and your nice neighborhood and be happy (not you, you sound like you're doing it) and stop worrying about what people in Boston and NYC think of you.

I live in the Chicago area with high HHI and the lower COL and it’s fine, like most other ok to well off suburbs in the country. It’s cheap to live here because most people here don’t make as much and let’s be real, most people wouldn’t want to live here. Even people FROM here question why I moved here and many people insist on knowing my connection to Illinois (family? Grew up here?), because people don’t just move to Chicago, according to the locals.

It's a great city and beats living in Cleveland. Or Omaha.

But yeah, it's not a global elite city like NYC or DC or LA. And, like it or not, Boston is one of the cities. People anywhere in the world know about it. It's half white-trash American, and half-European in nature. Chicago is just white-bread American normalcy with a nasty urban violence problem.

Wait, you think DC is a global elite city. Are you serious?

Are you insane?? DC is the center of the world. We are literally housed in the corridors of power.

It is some government buildings and monuments surrounded by generic office buildings and rundown neighborhoods and mediocre restaurants. It is a real embarrassment compared seats of power in other countries like London, Paris, and Rome. The seat of power in this country should have been NYC, not swampy backwater DC.

You clearly are not included in the power circles. DC is the capital of the world. We are very fortunate to live here.

Keep convincing yourself of that, O Member of the Self-Proclaimed “Power Circle.”

And you keep convincing yourself a hot dog with tomato, a pickle and celery salt is haute cuisine. And nitwit state school hicks from Michigan and Wisconsin, grey skies, blizzards, high crime and predatory parking makes for a sophisticated cosmopolitan.

DP. You are really showing how provincial you are by proclaiming that somehow DC is more world-class than Chicago. Chicago has better architecture, neighborhoods, public transportation, shopping, cultural events and nightlife compared to anything in DC. The restaurant scene is unmatched, especially compared to DC. You have a far greater cultural history in Chicago than anything in DC, which results in more authentic ethnic foods like Italian, French, Greek, Indian, Polish, Vietnamese, and other. Not to mention, Chicago does comfort foods much better than anything in DC with better burgers, pizza, and street food.

As for crime, DC has a much higher crime rate than Chicago: https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?city1=51150000&city2=51714000

While outside of the city, the Chicago suburbs have far more old-money wealth than anything in DC. Compare Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest or Hinsdale to North Arlington, Bethesda, or McLean, and the former makes the latter look like a wasteland.

What exactly does DC offer? Mediocre restaurants? Neighborhoods that all look the same? UVA graduates who act like they went to an ivy-league school? Dowdy women wearing Ann Taylor Loft? People who work for a defense contractor? None of these things make DC sophisticated or world-class by any means.

Yeah, the DC suburbs are so blah. They don’t have any town center like the ones in Chicago and the housing stock is pretty ugly overall. And you are absolutely right on the food in DC, but it taught me to be a better cook because there were very few places where we ever wanted to go out to eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the east coast (Fairfield county) and I’ve lived in chicago for 6 years. I cried moving here but I’m never leaving now. Why? Because it’s such a livable city. The economy is good and housing is so cheap in comparison to where I’m from. People tend to have more kids here because they can. I’ll take my 400k HHI with mg 550k 5 bedroom home any day. Plus the public schools are decent here! Even if I’m around mostly ppl who grew up in unsophisticated Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin lol.

Yeah, Chicago is great.

But people in Chicago get really bent out of shape about whether everyone else also feels it. Take your HHI and your nice neighborhood and be happy (not you, you sound like you're doing it) and stop worrying about what people in Boston and NYC think of you.

I live in the Chicago area with high HHI and the lower COL and it’s fine, like most other ok to well off suburbs in the country. It’s cheap to live here because most people here don’t make as much and let’s be real, most people wouldn’t want to live here. Even people FROM here question why I moved here and many people insist on knowing my connection to Illinois (family? Grew up here?), because people don’t just move to Chicago, according to the locals.

It's a great city and beats living in Cleveland. Or Omaha.

But yeah, it's not a global elite city like NYC or DC or LA. And, like it or not, Boston is one of the cities. People anywhere in the world know about it. It's half white-trash American, and half-European in nature. Chicago is just white-bread American normalcy with a nasty urban violence problem.

Wait, you think DC is a global elite city. Are you serious?

Are you insane?? DC is the center of the world. We are literally housed in the corridors of power.

It is some government buildings and monuments surrounded by generic office buildings and rundown neighborhoods and mediocre restaurants. It is a real embarrassment compared seats of power in other countries like London, Paris, and Rome. The seat of power in this country should have been NYC, not swampy backwater DC.

You clearly are not included in the power circles. DC is the capital of the world. We are very fortunate to live here.

Keep convincing yourself of that, O Member of the Self-Proclaimed “Power Circle.”

And you keep convincing yourself a hot dog with tomato, a pickle and celery salt is haute cuisine. And nitwit state school hicks from Michigan and Wisconsin, grey skies, blizzards, high crime and predatory parking makes for a sophisticated cosmopolitan.

DP. You are really showing how provincial you are by proclaiming that somehow DC is more world-class than Chicago. Chicago has better architecture, neighborhoods, public transportation, shopping, cultural events and nightlife compared to anything in DC. The restaurant scene is unmatched, especially compared to DC. You have a far greater cultural history in Chicago than anything in DC, which results in more authentic ethnic foods like Italian, French, Greek, Indian, Polish, Vietnamese, and other. Not to mention, Chicago does comfort foods much better than anything in DC with better burgers, pizza, and street food.

As for crime, DC has a much higher crime rate than Chicago: https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?city1=51150000&city2=51714000

While outside of the city, the Chicago suburbs have far more old-money wealth than anything in DC. Compare Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest or Hinsdale to North Arlington, Bethesda, or McLean, and the former makes the latter look like a wasteland.

What exactly does DC offer? Mediocre restaurants? Neighborhoods that all look the same? UVA graduates who act like they went to an ivy-league school? Dowdy women wearing Ann Taylor Loft? People who work for a defense contractor? None of these things make DC sophisticated or world-class by any means.

I lived in Chicago for 10 years and have now lived in the DMV for 20.
+1 to all of this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the east coast (Fairfield county) and I’ve lived in chicago for 6 years. I cried moving here but I’m never leaving now. Why? Because it’s such a livable city. The economy is good and housing is so cheap in comparison to where I’m from. People tend to have more kids here because they can. I’ll take my 400k HHI with mg 550k 5 bedroom home any day. Plus the public schools are decent here! Even if I’m around mostly ppl who grew up in unsophisticated Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin lol.

Yeah, Chicago is great.

But people in Chicago get really bent out of shape about whether everyone else also feels it. Take your HHI and your nice neighborhood and be happy (not you, you sound like you're doing it) and stop worrying about what people in Boston and NYC think of you.

I live in the Chicago area with high HHI and the lower COL and it’s fine, like most other ok to well off suburbs in the country. It’s cheap to live here because most people here don’t make as much and let’s be real, most people wouldn’t want to live here. Even people FROM here question why I moved here and many people insist on knowing my connection to Illinois (family? Grew up here?), because people don’t just move to Chicago, according to the locals.

It's a great city and beats living in Cleveland. Or Omaha.

But yeah, it's not a global elite city like NYC or DC or LA. And, like it or not, Boston is one of the cities. People anywhere in the world know about it. It's half white-trash American, and half-European in nature. Chicago is just white-bread American normalcy with a nasty urban violence problem.

Wait, you think DC is a global elite city. Are you serious?

Are you insane?? DC is the center of the world. We are literally housed in the corridors of power.

It is some government buildings and monuments surrounded by generic office buildings and rundown neighborhoods and mediocre restaurants. It is a real embarrassment compared seats of power in other countries like London, Paris, and Rome. The seat of power in this country should have been NYC, not swampy backwater DC.

You clearly are not included in the power circles. DC is the capital of the world. We are very fortunate to live here.

Keep convincing yourself of that, O Member of the Self-Proclaimed “Power Circle.”

And you keep convincing yourself a hot dog with tomato, a pickle and celery salt is haute cuisine. And nitwit state school hicks from Michigan and Wisconsin, grey skies, blizzards, high crime and predatory parking makes for a sophisticated cosmopolitan.

lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the east coast (Fairfield county) and I’ve lived in chicago for 6 years. I cried moving here but I’m never leaving now. Why? Because it’s such a livable city. The economy is good and housing is so cheap in comparison to where I’m from. People tend to have more kids here because they can. I’ll take my 400k HHI with mg 550k 5 bedroom home any day. Plus the public schools are decent here! Even if I’m around mostly ppl who grew up in unsophisticated Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin lol.

Yeah, Chicago is great.

But people in Chicago get really bent out of shape about whether everyone else also feels it. Take your HHI and your nice neighborhood and be happy (not you, you sound like you're doing it) and stop worrying about what people in Boston and NYC think of you.

I live in the Chicago area with high HHI and the lower COL and it’s fine, like most other ok to well off suburbs in the country. It’s cheap to live here because most people here don’t make as much and let’s be real, most people wouldn’t want to live here. Even people FROM here question why I moved here and many people insist on knowing my connection to Illinois (family? Grew up here?), because people don’t just move to Chicago, according to the locals.

It's a great city and beats living in Cleveland. Or Omaha.

But yeah, it's not a global elite city like NYC or DC or LA. And, like it or not, Boston is one of the cities. People anywhere in the world know about it. It's half white-trash American, and half-European in nature. Chicago is just white-bread American normalcy with a nasty urban violence problem.

Wait, you think DC is a global elite city. Are you serious?

Are you insane?? DC is the center of the world. We are literally housed in the corridors of power.

It is some government buildings and monuments surrounded by generic office buildings and rundown neighborhoods and mediocre restaurants. It is a real embarrassment compared seats of power in other countries like London, Paris, and Rome. The seat of power in this country should have been NYC, not swampy backwater DC.

You clearly are not included in the power circles. DC is the capital of the world. We are very fortunate to live here.

Keep convincing yourself of that, O Member of the Self-Proclaimed “Power Circle.”

And you keep convincing yourself a hot dog with tomato, a pickle and celery salt is haute cuisine. And nitwit state school hicks from Michigan and Wisconsin, grey skies, blizzards, high crime and predatory parking makes for a sophisticated cosmopolitan.

DP. You are really showing how provincial you are by proclaiming that somehow DC is more world-class than Chicago. Chicago has better architecture, neighborhoods, public transportation, shopping, cultural events and nightlife compared to anything in DC. The restaurant scene is unmatched, especially compared to DC. You have a far greater cultural history in Chicago than anything in DC, which results in more authentic ethnic foods like Italian, French, Greek, Indian, Polish, Vietnamese, and other. Not to mention, Chicago does comfort foods much better than anything in DC with better burgers, pizza, and street food.

As for crime, DC has a much higher crime rate than Chicago: https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?city1=51150000&city2=51714000

While outside of the city, the Chicago suburbs have far more old-money wealth than anything in DC. Compare Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest or Hinsdale to North Arlington, Bethesda, or McLean, and the former makes the latter look like a wasteland.

What exactly does DC offer? Mediocre restaurants? Neighborhoods that all look the same? UVA graduates who act like they went to an ivy-league school? Dowdy women wearing Ann Taylor Loft? People who work for a defense contractor? None of these things make DC sophisticated or world-class by any means.

I lived in Chicago for 10 years and have now lived in the DMV for 20.
+1 to all of this

PP - well said!!!!

[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.

What a bunch of losers. Living in or near tall buildings doesn't make you sophisticated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I come from Europe and all I know is that Chicago is supposed to be cold and windy.

To put it bluntly, where I come from, the US in general is thought of as slightly awkward and uncultured.

+1

US is overall pretty unsophisticated and uncultured. I would not call the East or the West coast “sophisticated”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I come from Europe and all I know is that Chicago is supposed to be cold and windy.

To put it bluntly, where I come from, the US in general is thought of as slightly awkward and uncultured.

+1

US is overall pretty unsophisticated and uncultured. I would not call the East or the West coast “sophisticated”.

This is a weird insecurity. Being like Europe /= sophisticated. There are cultured and sophisticated people living everywhere, and there are people that aren't everywhere. Just because you live in or near old buildings does not make you sophisticated. Neither does eating at 10 p.m.