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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.

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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.)

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?"

LOL.

Long Island is also not New York City.

Neither are Westchester or Rockland counties.

Don't get me started on Northern Jersey.

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.

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. ;-)

Staten Island is Jersey without the excuse.

At least in Northern Jersey, the PATH train will get you into Midtown.

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..."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Yup! I mean, going to Target on Black Friday (if you're Tony Lee) and eating Greek food at the wonderfully-named "Omega" are two good things to do in Lombard Center, but if you're trying to get to Chicago during the con fugeddaboutit.

Limiting searches by zipcode(s) sounds like a very good idea! If GrubHub can do it...

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

I'm in Des Plaines all the time, and I have to go to drop off the extra keys of my late lamented Mazda. So I'm not sure that my definition of "worth the trip" is the same :)

This place isn't quite in Des Plaines. More like North Rosemont.

Either way, I'll report back.

I refuse to give Groupon my zip codes. I have a work in the burbs and apt in the city and don't want them to know that.

MEanwhile- have you been to Superdawg? http://www.superdawg.com/ Eight foot high Weiners wearing clothing on the roof, w/neon eyes. Take the Milwaukee bus from the Jefferson Park Blue line.

I was also seriously disappointed, because I like Chicago and was all, yay! That's the main reason NY TARDIS keeps getting cancelled, I think, people realize how far it is from NY, NY and go "Nah."

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

I'm sort of out of the loop on NY TARDIS, to my shame, but yes, the problem is that NYC's actual conference/convention-type facilities are either horrendously expensive, or just plain horrible places to be in, or both.

Well, they're losing my business because I don't even open the e-mails anymore, given that >95% of their deals are irrelevant for me. I used to check Houston groupons, as my fiance lives there (again, within city limits, though much closer to suburbia), but the vast majority of groupons we'd be interested in are across the city, over 50 minutes of traffic away...though that may be Houston.

Also, Groupon is doing some financial shenanigans and overstating their revenue stream in order to sell stock:

http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/groupon-groupon-ipo-tech-stocks-linked/6/3/2011/id/34936
http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/groupon-groupon-ipo-social-media-social/6/6/2011/id/34957

I'm assuming it will be gone/unrecognizable within eighteen months, honestly.

It's the same problem with Chicago, I imagine -- facilities actually in Chicago are too expensive, and Chicago TARDIS is already kind of on the ridiculous end of the scale admissions-wise.

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?

Yes, they are, technically, on Long Island; NYCers generally use "Long Island" as a shorthand for Nassau/Sussex/etc counties points east along the island outside the city limits.

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