"uh, that's not where the REAL Chicago people eat. The REAL Chicago people eat at X" X being just one of the other places that Chicago people like to eat at but isn't one of the ones the tourist named.
Chicago and Philadelphia are the only two places left in the US that are largely functional cities where people can live an actual urban lifestyle that's still affordable for a normal person with a normal job
Which is always crazy to me. I came to the city at 30 and live outside the city now, but we can't get into the city enough. It's so common for folks out here to view Chicago as another universe. But its right there and there's sooo much to do.
technically speaking, if you start at the whole foods on caldwell & speed a bit, milwaukee is an hour outside of chicago.
less technically speaking, most of what’s an hour away from chicago is more chicago. i’m certain i’ve spent 45 min+ getting from lsd to western ave at least once
You simply say "I'm from the Chicago suburbs" or "I'm from [town] it's about [#] minutes outside of Chicago." That's what I did when I wasn't in the city.
My dad changes his Facebook banner to a different picture of the city of Chicago daily. Could be a skyline, a bridge, anything. My dad fucking LOVES Chicago, so obviously I do too.
I genuinely unfollowed someone on twatter many years ago because I got like 10-20 tweets a day about "man I love Chicago" on my timeline from them alone, and then all the retweets from other Chicagoans on top of that
No hate to the love
There was just too much of the same thing over and over
I keep meeting or hearing about people love living in Chicago. Maybe I should visit the place. Only I’m afraid I’ll fall in love with it and I don’t think I can survive the winters there.
Climate change made our last few winters milder (well, less snow, but it still got cold) but January up through the first two weeks of February were terrible. It didn’t help that I got some sort of multivirus AND moved apartments. Climate change is actually making the weather more erratic.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve met someone at a bar and asked which neighborhood they live in because we hit it off and they reply with Schaumburg
they're both great. i prefer chicago because there are multiple different trans communities/sub-communities, trans-friendly nightlife is more available and the public transit makes it super easy to get around.
boystown and andersonville are the most well known ones, there's a great scene in Buena Park and my personal favorite so far is in Logan Square+Avondale
Comments
same person who lives 1 hour away from chicago [talking to someone from elsewhere]: “i live in chicago”
less technically speaking, most of what’s an hour away from chicago is more chicago. i’m certain i’ve spent 45 min+ getting from lsd to western ave at least once
Also it's on a big lake that looks like the Ocean
https://youtu.be/32ANKu6HWpc?si=IQlrLUPiX8ZEEfpi
I live in the suburbs currently so yeah.
No hate to the love
There was just too much of the same thing over and over