Those shootings aren’t occurring in downtown Chicago.
NYC is definitely much much bigger, has more options of things to do, is much faster paced. There’s zero mistaking you’re in a place where things are happening.
Chicago has good museums, cheaper and very good food, a beautiful lakefront, good comedy and one of the few blues scenes left in the US. If you’re looking for a comparison, NYC is definitely going to win unless the crowd and pace turns you off (it turns off a lot of people). You’ll have fun in Chicago though.
A friend of mine who went to chicago last month said it was NYC midwest. Now seeing these replies it doesn’t sound that way. I will still visit in the summer though
The overall crime rate in NY in recent years is far lower than Chicago’s. Chicago is now struggling with a murder rate close to the all time high in the 1990’s, NY’s is around 80% lower than its own peak in the 90’s similar to where Chicago was then. Some categories of major crime in NY have declined more than 90%.
I’ve been to Chicago in recent years and I well realize that in any city with a crime problem it’s never concentrated in the ‘nice’ areas. My brother lives in Baltimore and it’s not like you take your life in your hands walking the streets in his neighborhood either. But in fact there have been incidents in the ‘nice’ parts of Chicago, as in Baltimore, you rarely see in NY nowadays. And you have to be a lot more careful calibrating where you are in those higher crime cities. There are fairly few dangerous neighborhoods left in NY, you can roam pretty far and wide and not stumble into one. I don’t think it’s something to be brushed off. Although in fairness it’s more of a concern if you’re thinking about living in one of those cities or the other as opposed to visiting for a few days.
I’ve lived in the Chicago area for 28 years; I’ve visited Manhattan many times. There’s an energy level in NY that no other U.S. city really has, IMO.
Chicago is the biggest city in the Midwest; it might well be “closer” to NYC than any other Midwestern city, but that doesn’t necessarily make it really comparable to NYC, as I don’t think that any U.S. city is comparable to it. New York is considerably larger, and home to even more cultural happenings. This doesn’t mean that there’s little to do in Chicago – far from it. But, if you come here thinking that downtown Chicago is going to feel like being in midtown Manhattan, you’ll likely be disappointed.
I’m shocked to hear that because I didn’t think NYC was that much bigger than Chicago especially since they both have 2 baseball teams with two different stadiums like the Mets and Yankees.
Yes, they do but it’s just… different. Chicago doesn’t have the “open all night” feel or the fast paced feel of NYC. Even if they do have two baseball teams.
The last time I was in the Field Museum was in 1975. At that time, it was clear that the money had run out, and I was massively disappointed. Who has spent any money on it in the last 40 years?
Is that how you measure the size of a city, by how many baseball teams it has?
I lived in, or around, NYC for 25 years, and have visited Chicago many times. Chicago has many things going for it, but it’s no New York. There are many large cities that are similar to Chicago, but New York is unique.
The Field is definitely not my favorite Chicago museum (that would probably be the Art Institute), but to base an opinion on it from a visit of 42 years ago is pretty silly. Yes, of course a lot of money has been spent and changes have been made in the last 42 years.
I wonder if that was actually serious, but maybe it was… Anyway I’d say even if you compare NY and Chicago by population (NY is a little more than 3 times as big by that measure) it understates how much ‘bigger’ it really is in terms of different things to see/do. In cities the world over there’s a kind of skew where stuff gravitates disproportionately to the biggest city. China has 41 of cities >2mil population (Chicago ~2.7mil ) and many are just very big provincial towns. Chicago is not that, it’s at least a borderline ‘world city’, but IMO it’s considerably less than 1/3 as ‘big’ as NY in terms of things to do/see.
Also back to crime, as with other US cities with far higher crime rates than NY, their fans argue correctly you’re not in peril in their downtown centers. But that also compounds their smallness compared to NY. You can walk for hours in NY without walking into unsafe places now, with a little savvy and tolerance for areas which look scruffy but where you’re still safe. In Chicago it’s ‘well it’s very safe in the Loop’. But that compounds the effective size difference.
I’ve only been to Chicago a few times, but I work and have lived in Manhattan.
I don’t think you can really compare the two. I found downtown Chicago roughly comparable to lower Manhattan around the Wall Street / Battery Park / South Street Seaport area. Lots of big buildings full of finance people with a lot of restaurants and bars. But tends to get relatively quiet after work (relative to the rest of Manhattan that is).
Manhattan, OTOH, also has Midtown / Times Square / Hells Kitchen, SoHo, Flatiron District, and a few other districts each comparable to downtown Chicago.
Maybe LGA and ORD can have a “shittiest airport” contest.
Still a fan of the Field Museum here. Of course, I have a six year old and the Field recently finished their renovations of the dinosaurs exhibits so that helps. The other stuff is cool too but, c’mon, dinosaurs!
Several public beaches along the lakefront. Nearly the entire downtown lakefront is public land so it’s all jogging/biking paths, beaches, parks, museums, etc.
Lifelong Chicagoan here. I would say that Chicago is a user-friendly version of NYC. Definitely smaller, but with most of the city-ish stuff you might want to enjoy. I live in a safe, quiet neighborhood, but I can walk to the Loop on a nice day if I feel like it.
I agree there is far less street food here. But on the other hand, we have alleys so we don’t have to pile up our garbage on the sidewalks on trash day.
When you come, do yourself a favor and have an Italian Beef sandwich. Do it on your first day, so when you love it, you can have another one every other day.
Oak Street Beach. But don’t plan on getting any sun after 5 pm or so. It is just east of the high-rises on Lake Shore Drive, so you get shadows pretty early.
Yeah - Oak Street Beach just off Mich Ave, and another just S of the planetarium near Midway/Northerly Island.
Sports teams do strike me as one of many ways to assess a city. There are very few that have all the major sports, and fewer still w/ 2 baseball teams. Says something about the population and vitality.
One thing to remember about the Field is that it is largely a research institution - if that sorta thing is valuable to you. If natural history is not your cup of tea, then it won’t be your favorite. No biggie.
Re: Midwest cities, I have thought that Chicago seems considerably larger and more cosmopolitan than other midwestern cities like Cincy, Indy, Minneapolis, St Louis. I think it is more in the league of Seattle, SF, maybe Boston… LA and NY are in their own league (IMO).
