(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

[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.

[blue_ant]

I know, seriously! Some of my patrons were scandalized when I said I got my master's from Wayne. Or when I said I was going to Detroit to see Jonsi by myself, people were all "!!!!!"

Oakland County has SUCH a complex. Granted, I love living here in my tiny-city-no-one's-heard-of, but they certainly do act like they're better than everyone else (*cough*West Bloomfield/Birmingham/Bloomfield Hills*cough*).

[fiveforsilver]

Hahaha I freak people out when I tell them you live in Detroit, too. It's hilarious, because people have this image of Detroit and...where you live is so not that.