Friday, March 13, 2009

City of Neighborhoods

I don't think I'm gonna move for awhile--move cities, that is. Why go to the trouble of relocating to a new city when a move across town could accomplish much the same thing?

I'm not just talking about the obvious cultural, racial, and sociopolitical differences between wards. I'm talking about the way, if you ask any Chicagoan where in the city they live, they'll name a certain neighborhood--not side of town, not an intersection. Chicago is a city of many tiny cities. And because winters are cold and long, commutes seemingly endless, and because each neighborhood is fully capable of self-sufficiency, it's very tempting to stake out a corner in one of these tiny cities and never leave, except if you're unlucky enough to work elsewhere.

Perhaps, if your friends live in the next neighborhood over, you might pay them a visit one weekend a month. But more likely, you'll move to the neighborhood where your friends already live, or make new friends in your chosen 'hood, because, like it or not, geographic distance is the largest determining factor in who you see most often, especially if you don't own a car.

Think about it. Whether or not you're friends with he or she, your roommate is probably the person you see most. Followed by the clerk at your nearest corner store. Followed by the bar tenders at your corner bar. Followed by your neighbor friends. Followed by everyone else.

There are pros and cons to this kind of lifestyle. On one hand, every neighborhood in Chicago offers something unique and attractive, and it often takes getting to know your area pretty well before its best features are revealed. And hanging around your own 'hood makes you feel like part of a community, a precious feeling in a giant, sometimes impersonal city.

It's one of the reasons Chicago is considered so "liveable" compared to some major cities (soulless L.A., cutthroat New York), and also why nobody but Oprah Winfrey lives in the Loop. A friend of mine used to live in a beautiful condo near Millenium Park--a location some might consider ideal--but hated it. Almost nobody chooses to live downtown.

Yes, it's pricey, but a bigger reason the streets within the Loop empty after 7 pm is that it's not a neighborhood in the same way that Logan Square, or Lincoln Square, or Pilsen are neighborhoods. It's more a destination than a home base. And everybody needs a home base. So being a neighborhoodie is easy, and it's nice. Most of the time.

The major downside to getting too comfortable in your area at the expense of seeing what the rest of the city has to offer? The answer is in the question. If what you want is comfort, familiarity, and a small scope, there are plenty of mid-sized cities that can offer that, minus the crime, grime and exorbitant sales tax.

A city, at its best, is endless opportunity. The price we pay for these multitude opportunities to see, taste and experience is inconvenience. For that quirky slice of life you can't find anywhere but fill-in-the-blank, you have to be willing to wait for the bus for 15 minutes, ride it for 20, transfer to a train and then wait half an hour outside once you get to your destination. Some people would consider all that a waste of time. City life probably isn't for them.

We could all stand to travel a little farther, explore a new part of town every now and then. Winter makes most of us want to hibernate, at least if our survival instincts are still in tact, but now that warm weather is coyly toying with a reappearance, it seems the right time for me to make my yearly pledge. This summer, I pledge to see more of the city than I did last summer, to milk every penny from my monthly CTA pass, to dust off my "Not for Tourists" guide once again and to learn the city so well that I will finally be able to tell you where Back of the Yards is.