Update: Oreo, Dog Thrown Off Building, Was Euthanized
The UWS Gets Its Very Own Apple Store
Emily and Sarah Kunstler, Filmmakers
People Wait For Tomorrow's UWS Apple Store Opening
Video: Close Encounters Above Central Park?
To heck with the old New York or LA fight (or even the once strong NY v. SF meme), USA Today is trying to stir up some trouble by pitting our fine Capital of the World against the Second City (the capital of the Midwest?).
"Chicago magazine got into the debate in its February issue with a statistical comparison of the USA's largest cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. The bottom line: Chicago has more per-capita murders, burglaries and bars then NYC, cheaper homes, higher property taxes and more golf courses."
The story, as you might suspect considering city rivalries mostly exist for these kinds of stories (this post included), is pretty even and makes sure to find people who are more than willing to insult and compliment both cities (to be honest, we kind of like the idea of New York's energy being created by the "too many rats in the box theory."). But it does point out some telling differences between the two cities, like the fact that we've got more than five million more people than them, we get more than 10 million more tourists then them, and so on. On Chicago's plus side? They've got a lock on conventions. But don't get us started on the dramatically overrated CTA (they make most of your complaints about the MTA seem forgettable).
Needless to say, we're going to have to land on the pro-NYC side of this argument. Anybody beg to differ?
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Sheesh.
More "than" willing. Not more "then" willing.
GRAMMER CHECK PLEASE.
AND SPELL CHECK WHILE YOU'RE AT IT. In case you didn't get the irony.
sheesh. grammar queen, have you nothing better to do?
with stories like these, i'm not sure anyone does.
I'm from New York, but currently living in Chicago. I've lived in Boston as well. New York will always be home to me, but I also feel like it's hard to compare New York and Chicago at all. (Boston is easier to compare: New York wins in every category.) The feel of the two cities is so different that any comparison is either quantitative and empty (more ethnic restaurants, more tourists, more conventions) or vague and hard to understand without already knowing the cities well.
As for the public transportation, New York wins big, but with a few caveats. The CTA subway coverage of Chicago is atrocious, but its express buses are better than the MTA's. And the Chicago Card, a swipeless pass that need not even be removed from the wallet to register your fare, has a slight edge on the Metrocard system.
Isn't the MTA starting a pilot program to replicate the Chicago Card in New York? Chicago does win on the express busses, but only because their train service sucks balls.
I'm from Chicago and I live in New York now. I agree that the cities are hard to compare. In fact, I have never been to a city that's anything like New York. Brooklyn, with its impressive downtown, beautiful waterfront, great art museum, interesting neighborhoods, tense racial history and segregation by neighborhood that persists de facto today, National League baseball nostalgia, and huge sprawls of low apartment houses and small homes, would be like Chicago ... if New York weren't right across the river.
from the vice guide to everything:
"DOs & DON'Ts—I heart NY
Don't compare cities, especially New York and L.A., because New York is better in every way. There is no comparison whatsoever. Most cities suck, but if you're with your best friends, even in a shithole like Cleveland, you will probably have a fucking blast."
http://www.viceland.com/issues_au/v2n3/htdocs/the_vice.php
... say what you want about vice, they got you there.
-fish
(groan)...if Manhattan weren't right across the river, Tim.
IMO, NYC's real competition is London & Tokyo.
NYC doesn't have Salonica. but Chicago doesn't have free Red Stripe on monday nights. oh the dilemma...
they have better hotdogs, but deep dish pizza is disgusting.
I don't think Chicago competes with New York on many levels, but 2 where it does are architecture (Chicago wins, imho), and sports (close). The density of landmark or just plain stunning architecture in Chicago took me by surprise, and I think a walking tour there well reveals it.
Chicago doesn't have *quite* as many sports teams (if you count all our New Jersey affiliates), but the fans are every bit as rabid and all the Notre Dame and Big Ten grads there flood the bars to support their teams.
It is a sign of inferiority complexes of those in other cities when they try to compare themselves to New York City. It is also rather silly, as New York is New York - something now other city can be!
I'm a lifelong Chicagoan, and I've always been intrigued by NYC (particularly the subway, which I could ride around for hours just for giggles). Hell, I went to college on the East Coast, so 95% of my close friends now live within 5 minutes of the F train. However, when I go and visit, I just can't help but be turned off by the ultra-aggressive attitude directed toward anyone outside the NYC bubble. Consider the following conversations I've had:
"Hey, do you live around here?"
"No, I'm just visiting. I live in Chicago."
"WHY WOULD ANYONE LIVE THERE????"
"Do you live in Brooklyn, too?"
"No, I'm from Chicago."
"I've always thought we should just get rid of the Midwest."
Look, NYC is a great city. We should be civic friends - hell, we're just as blue as you folks are, and Lord knows we could use more of that in this country. But it seems like a lot of New Yorkers believe that acknowledging the positive in others diminishes one's own worth, and that's just not the case.
Bottom line Chicago is a mere provincial capital. It should be compared to other provincial capitals like Dallas and Atlanta. Even the architecture is overrated. It is not in the same league of cities as NYC. Consider the source of this, USA Today, the newspaper for 10 yr olds.
And fish you biatchee Cleveland freaky rocks guy, it's vice that's for played out rich kid loosahs. Jigga!
Chicago wins on at least one level: its magnificent waterfront. NYC's waterfront has always been put to manufacturing and industrial use, and barbed wire and empty lots are still the rule here. Even with inmprovements, future waterfront development will probably be in multimillion dollar ghettos for the wealthy, not in waterside public land NYC desperately needs.
www.forgotten-ny.com
I'm a born and bred Midwesterner, raised in Detroit, and grew up loving Chicago, seeing it as symbolizing everything glamorous and invigorating about city life (read: everything Detroit lacks). I moved there after college and spent five years there and loved every minute of it. Chicago is a fantastic city and will always have a special place in my heart.
But.
It is no New York. It's been said enough that it's almost become a cliche, but Chicago is a (the?) quintessentially American city, a capital of American culture of sorts. New York is a world city, a global capital (not saying the capital OF the globe--there's a difference), with a global culture completely unique to itself. The two are completely different, and not particularly comparable, beyond the fact that they both have big buildings, lots of traffic, and iconic public transit systems (albeit one better known than the other). Beyond the obvious similarities, there's not much comparison.
And does New York even care anyway? As my best friend, a Manhattanite for the past decade since we gradated, says, "If New York took a shit, it would be Chicago." It seems as though Chicago is constantly jumping up and down saying "look at me! look at me!," whilst New York looks at Chicago with an unassuming smile and perfunctory handshake and says, "I'm so sorry, tell me your name again?..."
And in so doing, doesn't Chicago undermine itself by seeming overeager? Doesn't it automatically prove its status as an also-ran by constantly needing to assert that it's just as good as a city that's too busy to care one way or the other?
I recently read a novel narrated by a lifelong Chicagoan who said (and I'm paraphrasing): "Chicagoans are possessed of a civic pride unparalleled in other cities, a pride borne of a neurotic paranoia that every other city in the world is laughing at them."
As much as I love Chicago, it's a description that's pretty apt.
New York, Tokyo, London and Paris are the top tier world class cities. And that’s that.
And there should be no other discussion on that matter.
As for Chicago, it is mostly on the same level as Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Singapore. You can point to statistics suggesting that Chicago may be a better place to live, and maybe that could be the case. But Chicago is in no way on the same footing as a city such as NY or London when it comes to culture, uniqueness, and what people best identify as a world class city.
I've spent an equal number of years in Chicago and New York, moving back and forth between the two cities twice. When I was in my early 20s, I was exhilarated by the comparative worldly sophistication and fast pace of NY. In my early 30s, I now miss the ease and beauty of Chicago--my car, the simple bars on every corner, the waterfront, the hot dogs. I agree with those above who say that the whole issue of deciding which city is better sort of misses the point.
London may be nice, but for god's sake have you eaten there? Gag me with a spoon! New York's food is A LOT BETTER, by far.
I like Capital City: the Windy Apple.
Three words: Lake effect snow.
I had the chance to visit Chicago for the first time this year and was very impressed. It is a beautiful city and absolutely immaculate (so clean it freaked me out a bit). Let's face it though, no one wants to live in a place where the weather kills.
-Well, about 9 million people live in the Chicago metro, so I wouldn't say no one wants to live in a place where the weather kills.
-Chicago is a bit more important and famous than Dallas or Atlanta.
-Chicago is best classified as a second tier world class city. It's not NY, Paris, London, or Tokyo (the first tier), but it definitely falls into the next 'list'. However, as has been stated plenty of times, city rivalries are pretty retarded.
-This "we should just get rid of the whole midwest" sentiment isn't a total exaggeration. If that's how people in NY think and feel, then they really need to grow up and perhaps get themselves an education. This country, espectially east of the rocky mountains, very heavily relies on the other regions in the country.
-And the author of that book, with the Chicagoan civic pride quote, wasn't exactly a lifelong Chicagoan. He now lives in New York City. I believe he left Chicago pretty much right after high school.
Calling Chicago a "Provincial Capital" along the lines of Dallas or Atlanta ignores the historic, and current, importance of the city. Chicago is one of America's three Alpha World Cities (GaWC). Yes, New York falls into the first-level of Alpha World Cities, along with London, Paris, and Tokyo, but Chicago follows in the second level of Alpha World Cities, along with Los Angeles, Milan, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, and Singapore. Other American cities, including San Francisco (a Beta city), and Dallas and Atlanta (Gamma cities), fall far behind Chicago in the scheme of things.
In my life, I've lived in Chicago, San Francisco, and Paris, and I've visited New York many times. I would be happy to return to Chicago from my current home in Paris, but I would think twice about returning to the United States if it meant going to New York. New York is nice enough, but I just prefer Chicago.