Posted October 9, 201410 yr This past weekend I took a trip up to Chicago. It had been about 13 years since my last visit to the city. I had a blast exploring the city and seeing all of the changes that have occured, shout out to Hayward for the wonderful tour and hospitality. 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October 9, 201410 yr Looks like Hayward gave you..."the view." "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 10, 201410 yr Nice tour! With some notable exceptions, I find most of non-downtown Chicago to be kind of...boring. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of vibrancy and a level of activity not really found in Ohio neighborhoods, but I find the neighborhoods really blend into each other, and it's hard to know when you're in a new place. I think it's a complete lack of orienting topography besides Lake Michigan that contributes to this, but also the long commercial corridors that go on for miles and cut across multiple neighborhoods. The architecture also seems pretty similar within the various development 'bands' that radiate out from the core (hello, Chicago school of urbanism). I don't really get the sense of neighborhood business districts, more like business corridors. Idk, I think I might be alone in this feeling, but having been to Chicago countless times in the past 10 years, I just don't really love Chicago.
October 10, 201410 yr I've noticed that what's left of the due west side, and the south side near the lake have quite a bit different architecture than the rest of the city. On the west side there appear to be the remnants of many more east coast style Victorian row houses for instance. Problem is, as both areas have bad reputations people don't usually venture to those places so often.
October 14, 201410 yr Excellent photos! Great seeing them up as there was alot covered. Looks like Hayward gave you..."the view." Yeah, I'm lucky to get back there despite that I moved out of downtown 2 months ago.
October 14, 201410 yr Nice tour! With some notable exceptions, I find most of non-downtown Chicago to be kind of...boring. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of vibrancy and a level of activity not really found in Ohio neighborhoods, but I find the neighborhoods really blend into each other, and it's hard to know when you're in a new place. I think it's a complete lack of orienting topography besides Lake Michigan that contributes to this, but also the long commercial corridors that go on for miles and cut across multiple neighborhoods. The architecture also seems pretty similar within the various development 'bands' that radiate out from the core (hello, Chicago school of urbanism). I don't really get the sense of neighborhood business districts, more like business corridors. Idk, I think I might be alone in this feeling, but having been to Chicago countless times in the past 10 years, I just don't really love Chicago. I don't really see that. Then again, I don't know how much of Chicago you've visited. I would say Chicago is perhaps the most pronounced architecturally of ANY city in the midwest if not anywhere between the coasts. No other city has such a diverse spectrum of architecture outside of New York...no one. And it's not like it's episodic clusters of buildings on some must see street on a tour. Traveling the extents of the city in all directions and each neighborhood will seem like a different chapter of a book. If you're hanging around Gold Coast, Lincoln park and lakeview all the time...sure it's going to feel the same. But the city has 77 neighborhoods, and each one is most certainly different from one another, not only in building style but memorable urban vignettes at busy street corners.
October 14, 201410 yr Nice tour! With some notable exceptions, I find most of non-downtown Chicago to be kind of...boring. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of vibrancy and a level of activity not really found in Ohio neighborhoods, but I find the neighborhoods really blend into each other, and it's hard to know when you're in a new place. I think it's a complete lack of orienting topography besides Lake Michigan that contributes to this, but also the long commercial corridors that go on for miles and cut across multiple neighborhoods. The architecture also seems pretty similar within the various development 'bands' that radiate out from the core (hello, Chicago school of urbanism). I don't really get the sense of neighborhood business districts, more like business corridors. Idk, I think I might be alone in this feeling, but having been to Chicago countless times in the past 10 years, I just don't really love Chicago. I don't really see that. Then again, I don't know how much of Chicago you've visited. I would say Chicago is perhaps the most pronounced architecturally of ANY city in the midwest if not anywhere between the coasts. No other city has such a diverse spectrum of architecture outside of New York...no one. And it's not like it's episodic clusters of buildings on some must see street on a tour. Traveling the extents of the city in all directions and each neighborhood will seem like a different chapter of a book. If you're hanging around Gold Coast, Lincoln park and lakeview all the time...sure it's going to feel the same. But the city has 77 neighborhoods, and each one is most certainly different from one another, not only in building style but memorable urban vignettes at busy street corners. If we're talking "diverse spectrum of architecture," Washington DC, Boston, and Philadelphia all equal Chicago overall. Bungalows, rows, stone vs. brick vs. wood vs. steel vs. glass, American Foursquares, Tudor apartments, Terra Cotta commercial streets, Mies, whatever usage of variety. But I agree with you, Chicago has many neighborhoods with distinctive feels. Pilsen, for example, does not look like MLK down in Bronzeville nor anything like, say, Norwood Park on the city's NW side. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 14, 201410 yr Yeah, I'm lucky to get back there despite that I moved out of downtown 2 months ago. So they finally put the trash out! Took them long enough! HA!
October 14, 201410 yr Nice tour! With some notable exceptions, I find most of non-downtown Chicago to be kind of...boring. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of vibrancy and a level of activity not really found in Ohio neighborhoods, but I find the neighborhoods really blend into each other, and it's hard to know when you're in a new place. I think it's a complete lack of orienting topography besides Lake Michigan that contributes to this, but also the long commercial corridors that go on for miles and cut across multiple neighborhoods. The architecture also seems pretty similar within the various development 'bands' that radiate out from the core (hello, Chicago school of urbanism). I don't really get the sense of neighborhood business districts, more like business corridors. Idk, I think I might be alone in this feeling, but having been to Chicago countless times in the past 10 years, I just don't really love Chicago. I don't really see that. Then again, I don't know how much of Chicago you've visited. I would say Chicago is perhaps the most pronounced architecturally of ANY city in the midwest if not anywhere between the coasts. No other city has such a diverse spectrum of architecture outside of New York...no one. And it's not like it's episodic clusters of buildings on some must see street on a tour. Traveling the extents of the city in all directions and each neighborhood will seem like a different chapter of a book. If you're hanging around Gold Coast, Lincoln park and lakeview all the time...sure it's going to feel the same. But the city has 77 neighborhoods, and each one is most certainly different from one another, not only in building style but memorable urban vignettes at busy street corners. Admittedly, I have spent the majority of my time in Chicago in Downtown and the north side, and I haven't gotten to see too much of the west and south sides of the city. I agree with you that Chicago has some really great architecture, and that you can find nearly any style and period represented in the city. However, I still don't feel that, in my experience, Chicago neighborhoods have the distinct personalities that you find in other cities. I think that even the downtown neighborhoods kind of blend together. I think the contributing factors are: 1) No topography. No hillside neighborhoods, no valleys, no ravines ala Toronto. Neighborhoods are separated by lines on a map. 2) Dominant downtown. One of the best parts of Chicago is it's undeniably big city downtown. Outside of NY, Chicago has the most vibrant, active downtown in the country. However, I think this also can contribute to the lack of identity in other neighborhoods. In an area as large as Downtown Chicago (roughly Willis to John Hancock), I would expect there to be some interesting sub neighborhoods with distinct personalities, but I don't really experience that. 3) Sharp drop off in density and building height between Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. In most cities, there is a build up of density approaching the core. In Chicago, you literally go from super tall buildings to 3-4 story residential streets. Any aerial pic or shot from one of the observation decks in the city will show this pretty clearly. Very few high rises exist outside of the core (not counting the string of high-rises north along the lakefront parks), and the drop off is startling, especially on the NW side of downtown. 4) Lack of ethnic neighborhoods compared to similarly sized cities. I know Chicago has a ton of ethnicities represented in the city. The Latino population is very high, and historically, I know there were many European enclaves and neighborhoods throughout the city. However, I don't think the ethnic neighborhoods that exist in other cities are as prevalent or as VISIBLE as they are elsewhere. The fact that there is such a huge Italian population in Chicago without a real Little Italy ala Cleveland or NY is weird. There is a Chinatown, but nothing on the scale or visibility of San Francisco. No Little Tokyo, Armenia, Thailand, etc as exists in LA. There's my spiel on Chicago. Great city, lots of people love it- just not for me.
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