I’m from Chicago and love it here.
It’s a big city but has a small-town vibe.
Very Clean and alot of parks & recreation. Very dog friendly.
The best comedy (Second City, Improv-Olympic, Chicago Improv Festival). These guys write for the Daily Show, SNL, Mad TV. If you like comedy this is the place.
The local theater is great as well.
Chicago supports the arts and you can find some great artists around the city.
Summers are great, only an ocean beats the lakefront. If you bike, there is a path all the way up and down it, beautiful women/men all the time on the lakefront.
There are neighborhood festivals all summer and each one is different. You really get a good idea of the wide range of people and cultures here.
I’m not sure what/who you fancy, but Chicago is also very gay friendly. We are definitely a diverse city.
The Music. It’s the blues capital and you can walk into any club any night of the week and a blues legend will be playing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stumbled into a club to hear the most awe inspiring music being played to a group of 20 people.
Great Jazz clubs. If you like electronic music, well we and Detroit created it (with help from London) and you can still find some great clubs and places to hear it.
The local music scene is coming back around, but Chicago draws everybody so it’s not hard to find what your looking for.
Food. I don’t need to tell you about our pizza. You can find great Thai food anywhere and well it’s like New York in the fact that you can get anything delivered to your door.
The CTA (public transportation) is good. It takes you within walking distance of everywhere. The bus system is great as well.
Some drawbacks are the weather. Winters are sometimes brutal, this year has been surprisingly warm though. It can get humid in the summer as well. It’s not as bad as it seems, I like winter so I really don’t mind. It can be a shock to someone who has never seen snow or a good blast of lake effect snow/cold. You won’t die from it.
The women can be a bit trendy and judgmental and there are your meat-head/jocks, but you find them anywhere so that’s nothing new. You can find your kind of peeps though, so don’t think we are all ESPN crazy. It just takes time to find your niche. But once you find it, people love it here.
Parking is hard the closer you get to the Loop and you will get towed alot if your not careful where you park.
Seriously, they love to tow people hear and they got new trucks that can move your car without the guy even getting out. I saw a car towed in 30 seconds.
When it comes down to it your going to have alot of the same problems any city has. If you want trouble it will find you. As long as you have a good head on your shoulders you should be fine. It is a City and people will take advantage of you so you need to keep that in mind. Don’t walk home alone at 3 in the morning. That kind of stuff. There is a place for everyone here though.
I was born here so I’m biased. There is so much to do and alot of opportunities depending on what you want.
I would recommend visiting any place your thinking of moving to. If you come around here I would be glad to give some ideas of where to go and neighborhoods to look into . There are some nice hoods to live in and each is VERY different.
If I can give you any advice, DON"T MOVE TO MILWAUKEE! Unless you are looking to settle down and live a quiet life. There is not alot to do and the winters are far worse then Chicago’s. The only thing they got going is Summer-fest.
I would recommend looking at Denver. That’s a great city.
Visit us here in Chicago & go to Denver. Those are your best bets. I’d even recommend Seattle or Portland.
Good Luck.
