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Chicago-GAF OT of Not the Second City, the BEST damn city.

I saw Opeth last night. It was phenomenal of course but it got out pretty early. Does Chicago have strict curfew laws that force all ages shows to end by 10:30?
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Okay I'm having trouble finding good places in Pilsen, but I did find two promising places I'm going to check out tomorrow, on the edge of Uptown and Ravenswood. How's that area?
 
Okay I'm having trouble finding good places in Pilsen, but I did find two promising places I'm going to check out tomorrow, on the edge of Uptown and Ravenswood. How's that area?

I'm in Lincoln Square near Ravenswood. It's a great area but it can be a pain to get into work in the Loop in the morning sometimes.
 

Viewt

Member
Okay I'm having trouble finding good places in Pilsen, but I did find two promising places I'm going to check out tomorrow, on the edge of Uptown and Ravenswood. How's that area?

As Laevateinn mentioned, depending on where you are, getting downtown can sometimes take a while, but the neighborhood itself is pretty nice. Bang! Bang! just opened up a new location in Ravenswood, and you'd be pretty close to one of my favorite bars in Chicago - Hopleaf.

Uptown has kind of a weird reputation as being permanently on the precipice of gentrification (kind of like Pilsen, honestly), but I've always found it to be a pretty interesting area. And if you like Vietnamese food, you'd be pretty damn close to Little Saigon.
 
I visited Chicago last month for a week and had an absolute blast. I've been wanting to move for awhile and got some friends there already so I'm seriously considering it. Getting depressed living in the same place and would love to move out of the suburbs. How welcoming of a city is it for newcomers? What's the job market look like these days?
 

Viewt

Member
I visited Chicago last month for a week and had an absolute blast. I've been wanting to move for awhile and got some friends there already so I'm seriously considering it. Getting depressed living in the same place and would love to move out of the suburbs. How welcoming of a city is it for newcomers? What's the job market look like these days?

Chicago is VERY welcoming. At least, compared to the East coast. The job market largely depends on your industry. If you're just thinking hourly stuff, it's a pretty great city to be a waiter in.
 
I visited Chicago last month for a week and had an absolute blast. I've been wanting to move for awhile and got some friends there already so I'm seriously considering it. Getting depressed living in the same place and would love to move out of the suburbs. How welcoming of a city is it for newcomers? What's the job market look like these days?

I moved here recently. People here are surprisingly friendly. I'm extremely happy with it. It's very different from back in Seattle where we were only friendly to get you away from us.

As for the job market, it seems good. I had my job 4 months before I moved there but my wife was able to find a job in the medical field extremely quickly. I believe Soka is in an extremely similar position.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
As Laevateinn mentioned, depending on where you are, getting downtown can sometimes take a while, but the neighborhood itself is pretty nice. Bang! Bang! just opened up a new location in Ravenswood, and you'd be pretty close to one of my favorite bars in Chicago - Hopleaf.

Uptown has kind of a weird reputation as being permanently on the precipice of gentrification (kind of like Pilsen, honestly), but I've always found it to be a pretty interesting area. And if you like Vietnamese food, you'd be pretty damn close to Little Saigon.

Good to know. I'm looking at a place right by Horner park, I like it a lot but there doesn't seem to be a ton around to do. Its close to the brown line though, it looks relatively quick to get to where the nightlife is

Where are the better bar and nightlife districts in the city?
 

Viewt

Member
Good to know. I'm looking at a place right by Horner park, I like it a lot but there doesn't seem to be a ton around to do. Its close to the brown line though, it looks relatively quick to get to where the nightlife is

Where are the better bar and nightlife districts in the city?

Gotcha. Yeah, Horner Park's a bit quieter, so if you want an energetic nightlife, you'll be spending a bit of time on the CTA or in an Uber.

As far as nightlife districts, it really depends on what you're looking for, but no matter where you are in Chicago, you're not far from a bar of some kind, and there are enough strips full of bars and clubs and venues that you never have to travel terribly far. And with a new "hot neighborhood" popping up every 3-6 months, even relatively quiet streets are becoming hot spots. I live off Armitage Ave, and when I moved there nearly four years ago, there were a couple trendy bars and a nice restaurant or two, but now it feels like people are actually traveling to Armitage to have a night out - it's kinda bizarre. They hit up Osteria Langhe for dinner, then Parson's for drinks and outdoor ping pong, they go to Scofflaw for the $8 cocktails (that are actually really good, to be fair) and free midnight cookies, then they end up at Go Tavern (or Dorothy's, if you've lived around there a while) to drink Dead Guy Ale for $2.50 and eat convenience store food drunkenly while hoping nobody barges in on them in the bathroom (no locks).

So in you end up in Horner Park, the nearest strip around you is probably gonna be Lincoln Ave, which has craft beer bars, pubs (both higher-end and dumpy), Half Acre brewery, and some restaurants scattered around (Bad Apple has great burgers). Or you could jump on the Brown Line down to Boystown, where you'll find plenty of clubs and bars of various stripes (some trendy, some low-key, some very very loud and gregarious). Or you could take the Brown Line to Damen and then take the #50 bus down to Wicker Park where pretty much any nightlife option exists.

The takeaway here is that as long as you don't live out in the boonies (which Horner Park isn't), it won't take you terribly long to get where the action is. If you want some specific recommendations, though, what kind of scene are you looking for?
 

Sai-kun

Banned
Kisaya and myself are getting dinner in a bit, and then we wanna grab some drinks and hang out with folks!

We'll most likely stay local to Andersonville, and I assume we'll be ready to drink and hang out around 9 or 9:30! Y'all feel free to PM me and I'll give you my number so we can decide on a place to drink at or whatever :)

Impromptu meetup...go!!
 

Sai-kun

Banned
So glad I'm not near Wrigley tonight, and then my dad sends a cute selfie of him out walking Clark street lmfao. What a party animal
 

reKon

Banned
So glad I'm not near Wrigley tonight, and then my dad sends a cute selfie of him out walking Clark street lmfao. What a party animal

It's not really that bad, the Clark St wasn't really packed or anything around 12 AM. You could easily move around
 
Speaking of the Cubs, I was near Wrigley Sunday night and there was beer cans and trash everywhere. Absolutely disgusting. I can't understand why anyone would want to live near there.
 

Viewt

Member
Speaking of the Cubs, I was near Wrigley Sunday night and there was beer cans and trash everywhere. Absolutely disgusting. I can't understand why anyone would want to live near there.

Wrigleyville is the epicenter of bro activity in Chicago (though River North after 10PM gives it a run for its money). Every person I've known who's lived there has a "some guy puked on my door last night" story.

When I first moved to Chicago, I always thought it was kind of odd that the super-white, super-douchey neighborhood was right next to the seemingly free and welcoming Boystown. But from what my non-white gay friends have told me, the douche quotient can be quite high there as well if you're not white, male, and masculine.
 

Kisaya

Member
I'm planning on watching a game at one of the Wrigley bars this Sunday just for the experience. I kinda live for high energy spaces, but hearing the horror stories about the harassment from douchey whites I'm going to keep to myself as much as I can.
 

Viewt

Member
I'm planning on watching a game at one of the Wrigley bars this Sunday just for the experience. I kinda live for high energy spaces, but hearing the horror stories about the harassment from douchey whites I'm going to keep to myself as much as I can.

With everybody getting shitfaced and tensions high from the prospect of losing, I think staying cautious is (unfortunately) a good idea. Also, you might wanna look up where you're going beforehand, since a lot of bars in the area are charging ridiculous prices just to get in the door.

Seriously, fuck the Cubby Bear. $100 cover just to be there with zero drink/food perks.
 

Kisaya

Member
With everybody getting shitfaced and tensions high from the prospect of losing, I think staying cautious is (unfortunately) a good idea. Also, you might wanna look up where you're going beforehand, since a lot of bars in the area are charging ridiculous prices just to get in the door.

Seriously, fuck the Cubby Bear. $100 cover just to be there with zero drink/food perks.

Lmao yeah fuck outta here with those cover charges. Thankfully some bars are pledging free admission :)
 

RBH

Member
Anyone with a recommendation on a bar to go to in the downtown area to watch the Cubs game if I were to go tonight?
 
We just got back from Night of the Stripping Dead at the Admiral. They put on quite the show. I saw zombie juggle, a midget burst out from under a dress, a woman shoot a bow with her feet while balancing upside down on two polls and the weirdest version of The Exorcist ever. If you have time tomorrow (tonight?) you should go. Forget the Cubs.

Also, Nick Cave is coming to the Auditorium Theatre this June. I can't wait.
 

Viewt

Member
fireworks and screaming + car horns every 5 seconds in Logan Square right now

Haha, yup. It was the same for me over on Francisco & Cortland. There was literally a guy running up and down the block dance-walking and screaming at the top of his lungs. My girlfriend had to get up at 6AM this morning and was not pleased.

From the sounds of it, the parade's gonna be on Monday. It was, what, two million for the last Hawks parade? I wonder how many people are gonna be coming in from out of town for this. It's going to be insane.
 
Thanks to CPS being closed today, I had already asked for the day off. A good day to NOT be downtown.

How does that work? Are they counting it in the snowday budget?

Fuuuuuck. I'm about to get on the Blue Line towards Clark/Lake. This morning's gonna suck. :(

My job is practically across the street from Clark/Lake but because of the way the brown line works I have to go in via Merchandise Mart. Going through the whole loop probably adds about 20 minutes right? I wonder if winter gets bad if I'll just get up earlier and do that.
 

Viewt

Member
So the Blue ended up being fine, actually. The train was pretty crowded, but no more than it usually is during the morning rush. I've heard the Metra's a shit show, though.

My job is practically across the street from Clark/Lake but because of the way the brown line works I have to go in via Merchandise Mart. Going through the whole loop probably adds about 20 minutes right? I wonder if winter gets bad if I'll just get up earlier and do that.

From Merch Mart to Clark/Lake? Maybe 10, give or take a couple minutes. There are a handful of stops in between them, but they're all super close, so it's like 1-2 minutes stop-to-stop.
 
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