I always hear people say they love Chicago. It is supposedly a great city. I’ve never been there, and I wouldn’t want to live there- but that’s only because if I were going to live in a huge city, it would be NY. And plus the wind and cold. But I would definitely visit.
What, to you, makes Chicago fantastic? Or maybe not so much?
Hi Mr. Bus Guy!
The smell. :eek:
Have ye not heard of the Chicago Reader, ye heathen?
It ain’t the weather, that’s for damn sure.
I will be there in August. Someone plan a Chicago Dopefest…I want to meet you people. Scary but true.
I lived there as a boy.
All the advantages of New York, but spread out a little more, with more mabageable traffic & a gorgeous lakefront park.
Chicago was founded by a group of New Yorkers that liked the crime and brashness but agreed that New York just wasn’t cold enough.
I can’t really answer this since I’ve never lived there.
However, I have had several assignments in the area, and the one thing that stands out in my mind are the people. They are really nice people and seem to have a sense of “community” that is much like Manhattanites, but of a different flavor, if you will.
Just off the top of my head…
The summer festivals.
The architecture. And not just the skyline. There are masterworks scattered in odd and interesting places, and it’s breathtaking.
The fact that for a large city, Chicago’s rather clean.
Beautiful lakefront.
Actual workable public transportation.
NOT the weather. 
Of course, having lived here almost all my life, I am insanely biased. I do reserve a measure of pity for those poor souls that consider Anything Not Coastal to be worthless flyover country. You’re confusing us with Kansas. 
The theatre is better and cheaper, less broadway, more original stuff.
I love the weather.
The architecture
The fact that you can drive as little as ten minutes and be outside the concrete jungle and into a lush suburb.
50 times cheaper than New York
100 times friendlier than New York
WGN morning news
the restaurants
the dog parks
the Lake
Michigan Avenue
the cultural neighborhoods
The Gay Games will be here next year
Chicago Sport and Social Club
Brookfield Zoo
Dog friendly
Old trees
Field Museum
Shedd Aquarium
Uncle Fun
Art Institute
The beginning of Route 66
that’s all I can think of right now
Y’know, I hear this weather complaint a lot, and I have to say I don’t get it. OK, the tall buildings make the Loop a wind tunnel, but we have four gorgeous seasons. Yes, even the snow is gorgeous, especially when reflecting all the white sparkly lights that are everywhere in the winter. Right now, we’re enjoying beautiful 70 degree weather with the bulbs in yards blooming and a sweet gentle breeze off the lake. It’s only gets hot enough to need air conditioning for about a week every year (though lots of people run theirs all summer). The trees are amazing in the fall, when wood is burning in the fireplaces and there’s just enough cold in the air to make the corner coffee shop a cozy haven.
There’s a lot of beautiful lakefront and hundreds of parks for exercise and children’s play alike. There’s concerts and plays for free every time you turn around. You’re never more than four blocks away from an ethnic market, vendor or trinket store - there’s always something new to look at, learn from or experience. Street festivals in the summer offer bargains and funnel cakes. People talk to each other here on the street or in the park - it’s not so busy and fast and rude as New York. I’ve been to a dozen Broadway shows in New York, and the Chicago ones are, without exception, better.
The only thing I don’t like about Chicago is the traffic and the noise from the traffic. And the parking, in most neighborhoods.
I’ve never really been there (drove thru once heading North), but I would guess that its the Blues that make Chicago a sweet home.
I can’t wait…
The Navy Peir
Museums!
Diversity and the different ethnic food (I can’t wait to try Swedish food)
The suburbs
Michigan Ave and good shopping all over
Trader Joes
Whole Foods
my seminary
Yeah, I can’t wait.
Food, glorious food.
cry
Damn, you guys are makin me miss Chicago.
(Native Chicagoan, living in Dallas, Texas, which is nothing like Chicago. 
)
Um, Trader Joe’s started in Southern California MANY MANY years ago. Only now are they expanding to eastern cities, so TJ’s is NOT a particular reason to go to Chicago.
It’s funny you should ask that. Only a few days ago I heard someone being interviewed on radio. I don’t know who it was as I was just making a short trip in the car. He was obviously an Aussie returning from years overseas. The interviewer asked him how he liked living in New York, along with so many Aussies. He remarked that while it was nice he thought that Chicago was the most livable big city in North America. I was surprised because I know people who have lived there and they have never expressed similar sentiments. I’ll have to ask next time I see them.
Great people, great weather (except for winter, but it’s no worse than any other northern city), great shopping, great world-class museums, great world-class restaurants, great world-class architecture, colorful history, Millennium Park, Grant Park, jobs, transportation, night-life, diversity, Lake Michigan (which doubles for an ocean in Brooke Shield’s mind), big-time sports teams, Wrigley Field, neighborhoods that are interesting and distinct. I don’t know anyone who’s been to Chicago that didn’t like it.
Reasons I love Chicago
The Sears Tower can kick the Empire State Building’s ass
The L train and bus system
Friendly people
The lake
Dog friendly
chicago pizza is better than new york pizza
The Whitesox and The Cubs
O’Hare and Midway are easier to deal with than La guardia and JFK
art institute
great theater district
Diversity
Close knit neighborhoods yield small town charm within a huge city
Restaurants
SHOPPING!
Second City Comedy
Oprah and Springer
Museums
great night life
I lived in Chicago for two years (okay, Evanston, but spent a ton of time in Chicago and met my wife there). I live just outside NYC now and am a Californian born and bred (Bay Area).
Chicago is great - culture, sports - nothing is like seeing baseball at Wrigley. But I am surprised it took this long to get to pizza - Chicago deep dish is wonderful. A Carmen’s Pesto? A Geno’s East? Be still my heart!
And the hot dogs! So different - not better, different - than NY dogs. Gold Coast Dogs - just amazing. Or even the Weiner Circle at 3am on a Saturday night - not nearly as good as GCDogs, but at 3am, they are wonderful.
The only food that Chicago is known for that didn’t blow me away was ribs. The Twin Anchors is good, but not super-amazing standout…
The Art Institute is probably my favorite art gallery, with many of my favorite works in it.