Native Chicagoan here, and I do like Billy Corgan. Sure, he’s pretentious…but if I didn’t like everyone in the arts who was pretentious, my movie & CD collections would be pretty small! I like his music, and I like him because he’s a loyal Chicagoan like me!
I don’t know what neighborhood you are going to be living in, BlueKangaroo, but you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting around without a car. I’ve known a few people, including my sister, who never owned one when they were living in the city, even when they had jobs in the suburbs. Transit here is really pretty good.
Oh, an addendum to what Mr. Bus Guy says about pizza…the deep-dish pizza they call “Chicago Style” is really good, but there is another kind of “Chicago Style” which is probably eaten more as a regular meal by the folks here…it’s thin-crust, rather crispy and a little greasy, cut into squares. Yum yum.
Thin crust, crispy, slightly greasy pizza? That sounds like the perfect pizza to me. Unless it has sausage on it. GingerOfTheNorth says I have to eat pork if I move to Chicago (I don’t now, and I wasn’t planning to start again).
Thanks to Mr. Bus Guy and Missy2U. That makes life a lot easier, and $10 is very much a fee I can afford.
Yes, sausage is pretty much the standard Chicago topping. But it’s not a requirement or anything.
And, yes, the indigenous cracker-crust style of pizza, as exemplified and perfected by such pizzerias as Vito & Nick’s, Marie’s, Candlelite, Pat’s, etc., is far and away the dominant style of pizza in Chicago. We may be most well known for our deep dish and stuffed pizzas, but that’s not what we eat regularly. Our pizza is quirky in that it’s cut into squares rather than wedges (St. Louis style pizza is similar, except there’s is topped with the icky cheesy ooze called Provel.) I grew up in Chicago proper, and I didn’t have my first deep dish until late into my teenaged years.
Chicago is a wonderful pork town–hell, it’s a wonderful town for eating in general. Saveur just did an entire issue dedicated to Chicago’s culinary scene. I believe one of their sections was entitled “Chicago, City of Pork.” It’s a great place for unpretentious, authentic cuisines (especially regional Mexican), and it has its fair share of cutting edge cuisine (Alinea, Moto, etc.)
Thin is always my preference. Deep dish is too much like a meal and fills you up.
I’ve seen pineapple, I’ve also seen squid.
I myself am a plain sausage guy. Even mushrooms and green peppers seem like overkill. There’s a local place that makes a garbage pizza I’m growing fond of though. It’s loaded with all kinds of meats (sausage, pepperoni, canadian bacon, and bacon), 'shrooms, peppers, onion, and loads of other stuff.
Plus, if you don’t like the Chicago-style cracker crust and prefer a pizza a little lighter on the ingredients and perhaps a more European there has recently (over the last 5 or 10 years) been an explosion of wood- and coal-fired oven type places that produce a more Neapolitan pie (Spacca Napoli, Pizza D.O.C.) or a more East Coast pie (Coal Fire, Piece).
(as for pizza, I’m a sausage only or sausage-mushrooms-peppers guy).
Another good temp company I use is KForce Good people to work with.
If you are looking at UIC you are going to be a in a great “ethnic” area for food. Italian to your south along Taylor St, Greek north of you on Halsted. You can take the bus anywhere and have a blast.
That part of the city you are closer to the Sox so start buying the gear now. Also you can give the North Siders crap about blowing another season when the Sox have a World Series championship within this millennium :D.
Welcome to The City of Big Shoulders, Hog Butcher to the World! If you want a little historical entertainment, pick up The Devil in the White City. It will give you a little background on certain events in Chicago at the turn of the last century plus will introduce you to a lot of names you will hear around the city, like Burnham and Adler.
Erie774, I have a friend who is a Cubs fan from childhood and an Eagles fan as an adult. I can safely say that were I to become a Sox fan, I would be disapproved of. However, were I to make a comment about a World Series championship I would be sent straight to…
Well, let’s just say it’s a place none of us want to go, eh?
Also, I really appreciate all these suggestions for temp agencies. Thanks so much!
And don’t forget to get a traditional Chicago style hot dog - mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish (usually neon green), a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt; but never ketchup!
Also, get a Maxwell Street Polish sausage - grilled all-beef Polish sausage topped with grilled onions and mustard on a bun. If you ever saw the movie The Blues Brothers (and as a new Chicagoan, it is a requirement, not an option), the scene where Jake and Elwood go to the soul food restaurant takes place on Maxwell Street, just south of UIC. It used to be a great open market of street vendors selling everything and anything, great food and great music. But UIC expanded it’s south campus a few years ago so it’s just a memory.
Important things to remember:
don’t be surprised in March when the Chicago River turns greener than usual. They dye it for St. Patty’s Day. You can go to the downtown parade but the South Side Irish Parade in the Beverly neighborhood is much more entertaining and rowdier.
Vote early and vote often. This is a Chicago tradition going back to 1960.
Lincoln Park Zoo is free! During the spring and summer it is a beautiful place to wander around.
Field Museum of Natural History, Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium (all part of the museum campus by the lake) have discount days on Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s worth it.
Taste of Chicago starts the end of June and runs until shortly after Independence Day. Slightly expensive, extremely crowded but you can sample some stuff from various Chicago restaurants.
If you’re going to be standing at bus stops, Longjohns are your friend. When it’s really cold, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an uncovered face in the Loop. Get a scarf and hat and gloves.
I’ve used those instant handwarmers you can buy in the sporting section of Wal-Mart. Last for hours and keep you toasty. They also have a kind you can put in your boots.
Oh, and don’t forget that all those high rises that close together SERIOUSLY mess with any kind of predictability in the wind. It comes from 6 directions at once, including straight up, or straight down.
I think you’re making the right decision. I made a very similar one nine years ago and haven’t regretted it. I had just finished my MLIS, had no job, hated Texas, and needed a place to go. I came to Chicago, shortly got a job, fell in love with the city, and am still here.
Something I noticed (and love about the city) it’s a city with all that entails, but the people are nice and friendly.
Sorry about the gender mix-up, I do (now) remember your struggles in the slob club. The only difference is that, as a woman, I’m going to add to me recommendations either thick tights, long johns or leggings underneath skirts in the wintertime. Sometimes on the really cold days, I’ll even wear them under jeans. Other than that, we’re a fairly unisex lot from November to April!
UIC is in the area known as the Near West Side - it’s just west of the Loop, the downtown area with the really tall buildings you know from skyline pictures. The area you’re moving into is one of recent gentrification, which means there’s old, slummy buildings that have recently been torn down to make room for new, expensive buildings. There may be some good deals left, but most of the poor (read: black) people in the area are being pushed out as yuppie-types move in. Taylor Street (“Little Italy”) and Greek Town will provide more amazing restaurants than you can shake a stick at, from the cheap counter only places to 5 star places with sommeliers and snooty waiters. If you’re downwind of Fulton, you’ll be tortured nightly with the smell of chocolate wafting through the air from the chocolate factory.
It’s a nice place to live if you can afford it, although my guess is that when you outgrow your room, you’ll be moving up north by me where the rents are a little more reasonable and the streets a little quieter.
Thanks Big_Norse. I’m really looking forward to the move, but not so much the wind and the winter. I loathe the cold and yet I’m moving at the beginning of December to Chicago anyway. I may never live this down.
The reason I can afford the room is because it is exceptionally inexpensive, and I’m aware of this. I’ve no doubt that I will have to move at some point, but sometimes wonderful coincidences happen that make everything a bit more smooth in your life. And, trust me, after the last couple of years I could use a few breaks. I guess part of it is that I’m making my own breaks. Or at least trying.
I have some winter clothing, but not enough. I do have long johns and I basically do not wear skirts. I’m okay with unisex/androgynous in general, but especially if it keeps me warm. I’m just worried about money. I still have to find and hire a lawyer here to look over the paperwork once my ex’s lawyer draws it up. I’m not really worried about it, being as we’re still pretty good friends, but I don’t know “legalese” and I don’t want to miss something important. Even if it’s something as simple as how to change my name (something that, unfortunately, happened to a friend of mine). And I have to get winter clothes and move. Luckily, I’ll be selling all my furniture, and hopefully paring down quite a bit, so that should help.
Yet, through all of this, my excitement is unabated. Some of that, though, is because I do have housing lined up now. I’d be a lot more insane if I had a hair-brained scheme and nothing lined up at the other end. (Or if it falls through for some unexpected reason.)
I had a little bit of an advantage in that I had lived in New England before and I actually like cold weather. A friend from Texas though, will never visit me in the winter because she knows she’ll freeze. The good news is that as others have said, they keep buildings well heated, you end up just limiting your time outside. After a long winter cooped up indoors Chicagoans go nutty at the first nice spring-like day, when the weather gets up to a balmy 50 degrees they break out the shorts!
I like his music, and I like him because he’s a loyal Chicagoan like me!
