I decided to end this series of anecdotes and photographic explanations with a comparison of America's two largest cityscapes. Los Angeles is so spread out, and their "downtown" of large buildings would ultimately compare if it somehow included the "downtowns" of Santa Monica and Pasadena, et al, so I feel justified in my comments about NY and Chicago.
One of the main differences noticed immediately is the sheer population factor. Brooklyn alone is short of Chicago by a few hundred thousand people (2.8 million to 2.4 million), so people everywhere in most parts of New York City at any hour of the day in any weather is commonplace. On Michigan Ave, where Joey's condo resides, walking along the sidewalk yields some people, many in fact, but less so than in downtown Brooklyn. But still, walking inside the Loop, in Chicago, is similar to the most crowded places in NY, besides of course, Times Square, which is a gross anomaly anywhere.
Chicago has wider streets than New York in almost all cases. Corrie says that this is a good way of bringing a pedestrian feeling even when surrounded by ridiculously large buildings, and I could feel this. Chicago has nice pedestrian walkways in the Loop, with the tightest streets still wider than most of New York's. The effect of the wider streets in Chicago is that overall, it is more car-friendly than New York. New York is a car city, let's not forget, and that's, I believe, a defining characteristic of American cities. But here it's not as friendly as Chicago.
Also, in Chicago they have alleys. Here's a picture.
In New York, it's slightly different; check out this picture.
The effect of alleys is to keep the streets cleaner and less putrid smelling, something we have a great problem with here in NY, by having the garbage pick-up behind establishments. Deliveries can also be made from behind, so traffic congestion diminishes.
This ultimately leads Chicago to be a far cleaner urban environment that New York.
Chicago is connected within by a public train system, known locally as the "El", as in elevated train, even when some are underground like our subways. This is fine, since here we still call them subways when they're occasionally elevated. The train system is efficient, clean, and affordable. When compared to New York's subway system you notice that the train cars are not as long, not as wide, and usually there are four cars running at once, while here there are usually eight cars. The New York subway system more far more people more distance, which is not fair to hold against Chicago. New York's system is probably only comparable to Mexico City, Shanghai, Tokyo, or Sao Paolo. Here's a shot from inside the a Chicago train car.
Compare the next two photos, one from underneath the El in Chi-town and one from underneath the J Train over Broadway in Brooklyn. Chicago somehow figured out how to make the areas that exist under the trains not a scuzzy, scummy dive neighborhood. Kudos.
Noticeable are things like the tracks in Chicago are not as high and the painting is brighter.
Here is a shot of Corrie in Chicago that you'd be hard pressed to find in New York: sitting on a public sculpted bench. Public benches in New York are not totally obsolete, but they're not as easy to find as the multitude of clean sitting spots offered by the Chicago municipality.
Another aspect to consider would be the characteristics of the row houses in certain neighborhoods that developed very early in a city's history as a type of suburbia. In Chicago this is the Gold Coast, and in New York this is many places at once. Some of the nicest can be found in Brooklyn Heights, but the row houses here have very little character compared to even some Bed-Stuy row houses. The following pictures are the Gold Coast, and then Bed-Stuy.
The character of the Gold Coast neighborhood is still eclipsing that of Brooklyn's. The Gold Coast 'hood, though, with wider streets, has room for planters and beautiful flowers dotting the sidewalk in a manner you'll never find in New York.
So far all I've done here is name off things that are different, in such a long winded style that may make this an extremely long entry on a blog where I try to keep things short and sweet. I haven't offered any judgments, maybe because everyone will have different opinions on what "does it" for them when it comes to dense congregations of people, or what really chafes people. I know Corrie prefers Chicago. To me, picking between Chicago and New York can be like one of two things; 1) going with grievances and comparing it to picking between Sacramento and Stockton; or 2) going with perceived pleasantries and comparing it to picking between Paris and Prague.
I'd like to finish with an anecdote that I feel collects the one difference that I haven't mentioned yet between Chicago, New York, and the people that decide to live within one of those cities' boundaries and call it home: brain setup.
After walking around all day the first day, Corrie and I put on nice clothes to go eat at Joey's restaurant, then we came back to his neighborhood and stopped in at a local watering hole. We were having a Smithwicks, watching some baseball highlights (Chicago's as crazy about sports as NY) when I needed to use the restroom, and got up to head in that direction. A very drunk, very large young man was animatedly telling some story, and as I approached, his flailing elbow smacked my chest. It didn't hurt, he apologized profusely, and I brushed it off, because I went to college, and I know how it can get.
While I was washing my hands in the bathroom, my brain started to say things in some kind of bitter response to this guy, things like "I don't know what kinda podunk, shitkicker town you got here, but where I'm from, people are a little more careful." See, then I had a laugh, since it was then, after that phrase ran through my head, that this "podunk" town I'm insulting is the next-biggest deal in America (beside the octopus of LA). This is certainly not a podunk, shitkicker town.
It only took three years, but now I resemble those other New Yorker schmucks, those who instantly feel like where they live is the center of the damn universe, and that anyone not living there is some kind of hill-billy. I wouldn't say that I believe all those things, but I'm starting to resemble that, I guess.
I think ultimately (third time) that comes from the cut-throat nature of New York that is absent in Chicago. If you trip and fall off a curb in Chicago, the feeling I got spending only a few days there would be that somebody would help you to your feet. If you trip and fall off the curb here, in New York, somebody would help you to your feet, but the feeling you get would be that somebody would step on your face and curse you for making them five seconds later for whatever it is they're off to do.
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