(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Okay, world. We need to have a talk about Chicago.

Places Chicago is not:

Des Plaines.
Rosemont.
Lombard.
Mount Prospect.
Oak Park.

I might give you that last one on a technicality because Frank Lloyd Wright lived there, but if you say you know of a great burger joint in Chicago, you cannot then link to a burger joint in DES PLAINES. And much as I hate to say it, Chicago TARDIS, you are not in Chicago. You are in Lombard. I don't care if you have a Metra station. It's still Lombard.

Here's a rule of thumb: if you can't get to it on the El, OR if it costs more than $30 to get to it from the Loop by taxi, it's not Chicago. Yes, you can get to Evanston on the El, but I've never caught Evanston claiming to be Chicago, because Evanston is Chicago's plucky little brother who has really good self esteem and doesn't need to be Chicago.

I realise Des Plaines doesn't have the cachet of Chicago, and neither does Lombard. I know both stand right on the border. I get that it's easier to say "Chicago" when you mean "anywhere in Illinois where you can't see a farm".

But you don't get to be Chicago if someone who lives in Chicago, ie me, cannot get to you. Either move to Chicago and put up with the expense and the coyotes and the humidity, or shut the fuck up.

I might be having an Angry Day, but this has been festering for a while. It's not that I think the suburbs aren't worthy of being Chicago, it's that they taunt me when they say something really awesome is in Chicago and it turns out it's in Des Plaines.

Comments

[reebchan.livejournal.com]

Groupon needs a "within city limits only, stop giving me deals for the suburbs/anything more than 1 mile from the El" option for Chicago. It's ridiculous that they list 20 or so deals per day, and 18 of them are in the suburbs. (Also, being on the South Side, most of the Chicago deals are nigh-on inaccessible anyway. Le sigh.)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

FOR REAL.

I understand why they do it, because the suburbs are where the real money and likely repeat business is. But it's really, really annoying to have to scroll through a bunch of suburbs to get to the one or two things that might actually be in the urban area.

I had high hopes for Groupon Now, but it's the same tired eight coupons for a week at a time. Max's has had their groupon running for like a month now.

[andelku.livejournal.com]

Evanston wouldn't be caught dead pretending to be Chicago, also known as The City, with the slight raising of eyebrows so we all know what the terrifying world south of Howard Street is all about.

e.g.

"Do you live here in Evanston?"

"No, I work in Evanston. I live in the city."

"Ohhhh! The City." (pause) "Isn't that ... far away?"

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

LOL.

Long Island is also not New York City.

Neither are Westchester or Rockland counties.

Don't get me started on Northern Jersey.

[allectofromlj]

Although to be fair, Northern Jersey is more NYC than Staten Island is.

As a Manhattanite, I'm totally unbiased and able to make that ruling. ;-)

[darkchan.livejournal.com]

I thought that both Queens and Brooklyn were on Long Island? I know the entire island isn't part of the city, but isn't the city made up of the 5 boroughs and nothing else?

[(Anonymous)]

THANK YOU. As a born and bred NYC-er (from within city limits, thank you very much), I get ticked off when people from Westchester or LI are all "I'm from the city!" No. You're not.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

I've never known northern NJ people to pretend to be from NYC. Does that happen? (NYC pretending to own the Meadowlands is another matter. :P)

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

And much as I hate to say it, Chicago TARDIS, you are not in Chicago. You are in Lombard.

Nods. And for those who don't drive it's a dickens of a job to get to. It's a wonderful con in terms of lobbyconning and hanging out with fans in my experience, BUT. ORD-Lombard and return is pretty much limo service or nothing.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Yeah, over the years I've had a couple of people ask me about stuff to do in Chicago while they're at the con, and I've had to reply "You should maybe googlemap the hotel..."

[kevin-hy.livejournal.com]

Bosotn kinda has it both ways, due in large part to Brookline saying in 18-whatever, "hell no, you can't annex us." If Brookline had cooperated, the City of Boston proper would probably encompass the modern-day cities/towns of Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, Arlington, Dedham, Somerville, Chelsea, Revere, and Milton.

But because of the metropolitan congestive diaspora that is greater Boston, it's often a hell of a lot easier to say "I'm from Boston" when in fact you mean "I live in Davis Square in Somerville". Some of us actual Bostonians (Jamaica Plain, baby) get uppity when Inman Square Cambridge-ites describe themselves as being from Boston, but we kinda get why they do it.

[ataralas.livejournal.com]

Also, when I tell people that I live in Cambridge, they usually think I mean England. What. Note that I do not have an English accent!

So to locals and tourists, I live in Cambridge. When I am elsewhere, I live in Boston. I sort of figure that as long as I'm on a subway line, I mostly count, despite usually only crossing the river once a week.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

Sad but true fact: Despite living in the city, I've got a dr's appt this afternoon in Des Plaines.

Which makes me want to try the Paradise Pup place. I think a shake might do nicely.

Groupon does need to have a 'public transit' option on it's stuff. Just to make clear what is where. And a 'parking available' one as well.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Report back on whether it's worth the trip!

I honestly wish I could tell Groupon "only coupons near these two zipcodes" (home and work). I like that you can map stuff out with Groupon Now.

[kitaloon.livejournal.com]

Fact. I remember when Neil Gaiman came to "Chicago" (i.e. Downers Grove) my freshman year and I had to come to terms with the fact that the suburbs might as well be another country. Although he made up for it this year, so that was lovely.

[thalia]

I live in Downers Grove and was out of town when Gaiman was here. Life isn't fair. (And as suburbs go, it really wasn't that bad to get to--the theater he was at was across the street from the Metra station.)

[beadslut.livejournal.com]

It's even worse when it's in Naperville.

[r-ganymede.livejournal.com]

Seriously. It always drives me nuts when I meet someone from Naperville saying they're from Chicago. Naperville isn't even *close* to being Chicago.

[lokifan]

Yep! I've seen worse - at a uni interview I met a girl who claimed she was from London. When I said I was from St Albans she said she was actually from there. St Albans is a dorm town, twenty minutes by train from King's Cross. But it is a seperate, medium-sized town. NOT EVEN CLOSE TO LONDON NOT EVEN A SUBURB. Fail.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

O_o. Epic fail indeed. I know not everyone is going to know where St Albans is, but substituting London is definitely :/ inducing.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

You'd almost think Groupon was run out of LA, where All Suburbs are as One Suburb ... cuisine here really can be as good as they say, sometimes, if you don't mind driving forty-five minutes in one direction for lunch. :P

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh god, WORD.

I actually think Oak Park is kind of like Evanston in that it has enough identity of its own that it doesn't have to pretend to be Chicago. Also it's an older suburb where it's OK to be a pedestrian, and you can get there on the El.

With a couple exceptions like that, I am totally with you: if CTA doesn't go there, it is not Chicago. And if you absolutely need a car to get there, it is certainly not Chicago.

[blushingflower.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem in DC. I live (unfortunately) in the suburbs, work smack in the heart of the District, and don't have a car. If you can't get there on Metro, I'm not going, unless someone wants to drive me. And yet Groupon/Living Social try to give me deals for things that are technically close to my house but not actually possible for me to get to without a ZipCar.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

I still can't get my hand around how huge Chicago is. Back home, if it said Knoxville, it was in fucking Knoxville. It would take you a half hour by car at the very most. Now Hyde Park's practically a village and another area attached by the trains is another city.

[rhi]

:;wincing:: A friend of mine came in to visit Memphis one winter, and didn't ask me about places to stay. West Memphis is not Memphis; it's in Arkansas, not Tennessee, and there's this Mississippi River ensuring that never the twain shall meet.

[knitchick1979.livejournal.com]

That's why I tend to say Chicagoland when I'm talking about places fairly near Chicago. Plus I live in a suburb half of Chicago hasn't even heard of let alone people elsewhere. But you can get to me via CTA buses ;) I'm two blocks from Chicago proper, so I feel like I'm Chicagoan but I'm a suburb kid technically.

But yeah Des Plaines isn't Chicago, it's just pretty darn close.

[blue_ant]

I will be honest, when people ask me where I live, I say Detroit/Detroit metro area because almost no one (not even people in surrounding cities) has heard of my tiny little town (I like it that way, too). 20 minutes from Detroit isn't Detroit, but if you don't live in SE Michigan, we're all Detroit. Though it's also a good way to freak people out. I've gotten "omg, you live in DETROIT???" which makes me laugh.

Though my grad school is literally in downtown Detroit (though I'm finished there), which made people worry about me going to classes. I have also ended up on 8 mile and driving down a lot of roads in Detroit is as depressing as you think it'd be.

[gershwhen.livejournal.com]

Telling people you work BELOW 8 Mile when they live in a suburb totally freaks them out. It always makes me think you need a passport when you cross over from Oakland county. Saying I walk around in Detroit seems to merit some sort of battle recognition. Yes, parts are sad, but the whole thing is NOT a burned out, infested war zone.

[florahart]

This is probably the fault of sports teams and their, what do they call them? Catchment areas? Something like that. The area that they broadcast and advertise to and expect to sell tickets in. Which, if the ballclub is in Seattle? may very well include Eugene, Boise, Missoula, and probably Kamloops and Ketchikan while we're at it. CLOSE ENOUGH OKAY.

[alibi-factory.livejournal.com]

I feel like 'can I get to it by public transportation?' is a good litmus test for whether something is In The City. If I need use regional rail (or, God forbid, a car) to reach a place then it might as well be on the moon. Pay attention, Yelp.com.


I am also forever disappointed when I find someone in fandom who's 'from Philly' and then I check and they're from, idk, south Jersey, or Media. Philadelphia does not even have any cache why would you pretend to be from here.

[steeldreams.livejournal.com]

Yes. This.

"It's in Phoenix!"

Uh, guys? Phoenix? Is actually a fairly small funny-shaped city full of a lot of old neighborhoods and really sketchy areas where you wouldn't wanna be after dark unless you have a personal Brute Squad - including the area that comprises what little culture we have. The Phoenix METRO* area, however, is HUGE and VAST and you can tell me that I live in Phoenix and that X nifty thing is in Phoenix, but I will be damned if I drive for an hour and a half and cover 70 miles to get there and still call it "home."

If you drive a mostly straight shot across "Phoenix" on the freeways from east to west, starting where it stops looking like desert and starts having housing developments, and then stopping when the housing developments stop and it starts looking like desert again, you will have driven 55 miles. This is to say nothing of the north-south run. No way is that a single city.

*This is strictly meant to mean "metropolitan" as in a delineated area in which humans congregate and live, and not in any way to suggest that we have anything resembling an organized public transportation system that might help you to cross it. Example: If I were to take our public bus system to work, I would have to drive 10 miles to the closest bus stop, catch one bus, transfer to another bus, and then walk 5 more miles (in 100+ degree weather for a good chunk of the year), and it would take me SIX TIMES longer than it does to drive myself to work.

[kidsis.livejournal.com]

I live in Oklahoma and there is a serious lack of public transport here as well. I live in the suburbs of Tulsa and it is considered part of the "Tulsa Metro area" even though we are 20 mins away from downtown or the airport (which is a very long time in an area where the average commute to work is less than 20 miles).

[veryshortlist.livejournal.com]

haha, i cringe when people say they're from albany, ny, and it turns out they're from saratoga. it's an hour away, by highway, that is not even close.