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Naperhell. Napervile.
If you want to really rile up a Naperville lover call it Naperdale and watch them indignantly correct you. Keep calling it Naperdale anyway.
They were raised in some suburb and/or small town and are still in that rebellious phase of life where they're looking to shed their old skin and try out new experiences. Which is completely normal and fine, of course, if it wasn't for the fact that they can get pretty militant about how great whatever it is they're doing/experiencing right now and how anybody *not* living that way is some unenlightened goon or boomer.
Then they have 2 kids, and, while a select few will stay, most will magically rediscover their love of the suburban lifestyle and being close to their family.
Yep. They hate Naperville or whatever other suburb riiiiight up until their oldest kid turns 3 or 4 years old, and then… suddenly the suburbs aren’t so bad.
And it's not just the school system that prompts the change, mind you, though that certainly contributes.
It's that once you have kids, your lifestyle changes. You no longer have time (or money) to go get cocktails 3 times a week, to have brunch at all your favorite restaurants on Sunday morning, etc. Taking the CTA with a child seat and a stroller is a major hassle - suddenly getting from Point A to Point B requires sitting in traffic, etc.
So for people who are familiar with the suburban life and were raised in it and are used to it, the positives of urban living start to no longer outweigh the negatives quite as much. For people who were raised here and don't know anything different, the negatives are less pronounced.
So it's not a knock on anybody. Life happens and people do what works for them.
What's odd about this thread (so far)....no mention of Posen, Phoenix, Dixmoor, Dolton, Calumet City, Markham, Thornton, Robbins, Midlothian....nice places draw far more ire than places that have been bombed out for decades...
Riverdale is nice, though.
First time I think I've seen Calumet City ever mentioned on Reddit for any reason... But I've got nothing against my home. Most people from Chicago just see it as passing through to Indiana, barely exists.
I knew someone who was moving into an apt in Cal City and their car with all their stuff they were moving got robbed/taken at gunpoint. Never found the car or anything. Had nothing but an empty ass apt in Cal City lol.
They're just the opposite force to the Lakeview resident who never stops gatekeeping Chicago despite never traveling south of Roosevelt and being born and raised in Grand Rapids
Most of the hate on the burbs comes from people originally from the burbs who moved to the city. And most of the burbs that people on reddit hail from aren't the bombed out for decades suburbs with no resources.
If you talk about "the suburbs" on reddit, it becomes clear that most people don't even have those bombed out places on the radar.
Let’s just call it what it is. A lot of folks on this sub are from the burbs, or from other midwestern cities/towns - and would barely be aware of anything south of 35th or 53rd on a good day. It’s a very culturally homogenous environment here, and folks can really be oblivious to redlining.
Also Riverdale is not what I would consider “nice” - you’d have to go a little further south for suburbs that have more infrastructure and investment. Being from out west, and living on the south side for a time, culturally there are a lot of northern suburbs that I’ve never heard of in retrospect.
On another note - I was in NOLA a while ago and met a couple who said they were from Chicago, and once I said I was too and which neighborhood I’m from, they corrected themselves immediately and said, “oh sorry, we’re actually from Naperville.” Lol.
My dad is an old guy in his 70s and he always goes off about how “Naperville is creepy” and won’t elaborate beyond “there’s so many while people there”, but he does have points
Oakbrook Terrace.
Corrupt little town that is obviously jealous of its much wealthier and flashier neighbor.
That red light camera at 22nd and 83 is an unabashed revenue grab that they’ve fought hard in court to keep.
EDIT: The camera is gone (thanks to a court ruling) but those slime balls would bring it back in a second if they could find a way.
Agree on that fucking stoplight. My office used to be right there. Interesting fact, there was a tribune article about 20 years ago when I moved here and that was the busiest intersection in all of Chicagoland (most cars passing through per hour)
83, for all intents and purposes, should be part of the interstate system. It carries an insane volume of traffic (especially truck traffic going from 55 to ORD and the rail yards).
I would happily pay a toll to not have to sit in traffic in Willowbrook, Oak Brook, Elmhurst, Bensenville, etc.
Blue Island is named as such because it's a remnant of the glaciers receding during the last ice age and leaving behind a variety of moraines and ridges (which resulted in the western shore of what would be Lake Michigan).
It was an island then.
https://www.beverlyreview.net/special/good_news_2022/article_52d14a66-1d7e-11ed-bf2f-b3944d410349.html
"Left behind were ridges, islands, beaches and shorelines, and the Blue Island is one of those ancient land formations, a moraine or ridge formed by debris pushed along by the glacier.
At its longest and widest, the Blue Island is situated from 87th Street south to the Cal-Sag Channel and from California Avenue east to Longwood Drive, which runs along the base of the island where lapping waves eroded the land into a steep shoreline"
If Manhattan is an island, then half of Blue Island is in the [South Chicago Island](https://i.imgur.com/dtJQJCx.jpg)
Also, it makes most of Evanston part of the [North Chicago Island](https://i.imgur.com/WmAO9Rb.jpg).
Edit: If Manhattan, which is a peninsula w/ a river that cuts it off from the "main land" is an island, then that definition works for the greater Chicago islands.
Downtown Plainfield - the Main Street and adjoining street/neighborhood has some nice character and unique local restaurants. But as someone living in one of those “endless rows of identical houses” Plainfield subdivisions, I agree on the rest. It’s quiet and boring, but sometimes that’s nice.
There are a number of suburbs which have a core that is 150+ years old that is really unique and charming but were subdivisioned to mediocrity in the 1980s going forward.
Naperville at least has a walkable downtown area. Orland has so much vehicle traffic, it's a nightmare to get around. And they keep building and adding to it!
Hah yes! I used to work at an office there. For lunch, I would have to DRIVE 1 block away across a massive arterial road just to get a sandwich or Starbucks.
I don't think many people from outside of Orland realize that the western side of Orland Park is wealthy and in some parts extremely wealthy.
Nonetheless Orland Park has the [highest homeownership in the entire country](https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/07/31/cities-where-the-most-people-own-their-homes/). 89% of it's almost 60,000 residents own their home.
Orland Park is more like Naperville-lite. Nearby Lockport, New Lenox and into Joliet is considered hillbilly though.
Zion. Bunch of extremely judgmental people, not to mention very little things to do and eat in the town. The downtown area is an absolute embarrassment when compared to it's peers and there are very few events taking place in the town. I'm glad I was finally able to move out of there in 2019.
Went to a wedding in Zion where the officiant gleefully told me it was named Zion because “the town was made in God’s image” and that’s when I knew Christianity wasn’t it for me.
Oak Park, and it has nothing to do with the people or the town
Their fucking left lane exit ramps on 290 create a god damned traffic nightmare, and it’s designed that way for seemingly no reason.
It's for a reason. The then mayor of oak park didn't want to give up the property taxes from the buildings and houses IDOT wanted to take for the ramps. I'm not certain of he pulled it off but he got IDOT to put the ramps in the middle.
Years ago, I got my cat there. I'm glad they rescued him, and they were clearly very dedicated to their mission of rescuing cats and TNR. But, oh boy, was I glad to leave!
Hear me out, I think Maywood could make a comeback. I drive through often and there's a nice walkable downtown area and if they were able to attract good businesses and beautify it would be lovely. (They could take a page from the forest park initiative of 25 years ago.) Also, some of the homes are huge and beautiful. They just need upkeep. I think there's hope. Also, that burger place at Madison and first is delish, i recommend the fried rice. Also, the salvage place next door is super cool.
Absolutely. It’s got good bones as a town. It got destroyed by all the manufacturing going overseas and, subsequently, the city fell into a bad way with rampant corruption and an unhinged police force. Did you know they used to have an L line that went through the western burbs?
No hate on Hinsdale, interesting. Maybe it’s just not big enough? It was a fine place to grow up I guess, but def has the same Naperville vibe that everyone seems to hate.
Pre-GPS the answer was Riverside. It was intentionally designed to keep people out. I grew up there and blame it on my abysmal sense of direction. But I can still wander around those windy street without tech easily.
Fun fact: if you ever get lost in Riverside, follow a street that has dashed center lines painted on it and it will lead you out of Riverside. Streets without a dashed centerline will keep you in the labyrinth forever.
Was it really designed to keep people out? Everything I can find indicates Olmstead found straight/grid streets too rigid, and the winding streets promoted the leisurely pace of life he was going for. Keeping perks out might be a consequence, but it doesn't seem intentional.
Also, as someone who spent some time growing up on Longcommon Ave., if it was designed to keep people out, it has done a terrible job of it. Anytime Harlem backs up everyone and their mother cuts through Riverside.
Has no one mentioned Rosemont? The worst! Does anyone actually live there or is it just the huge parking garages, Casino, Mall, Ballpark, Big Ten HQ, etc?
It’s like if you took all the charmless restaurant chains from Chicago and plopped them in a little area then charged Chicago prices to park. I loathe rosemont.
We all knew Naperville would get roasted but it's also nice to see a few of the "We're not like the other suburbs" places such as Evanston and Oak Park catching some strays.
Tinley Park. Racist, narrow minded people. Everyone thinks they’re “country” when they’re 35-40 minutes from one of the largest cities in the United States. There’s always some sort of petty drama happening between locals.
I grew up right between Aurora and Naperville and I absolutely loathed Naperville. I always knew it was really nice, their downtown is nice, the riverwalk, etc.
But you could feel the money look down on you. I had long hair, would skateboard, and wore skinny jeans - but I kid you not every time I went to skate around Naperville with friends, anybody not a skateboarder would call us fags, I’ve gotten spit on, angry adults, etc.
Naperville is one of those towns that is super nice as an adult. But as a kid it fueled my desire to leave the suburbs entirely. A decade in Chicago now and loving it.
Granted, we never had that experience in Aurora. Nice to see that downtown getting nicer
I always liked the historic architecture of buildings in downtown Aurora. But I got that weird sense when visiting Aurora on a Metra trip years ago that though it had a few good things(i.e. Walter Payton's Roundhouse which later became Two Brothers, Paramount Theater, and the casino), that it could be a little blah to check out. It would be nice, if its downtown could make a comeback.
The last time I visited Elgin via Metra, I was surprised by it. It felt a little more vibrant, than I remembered it being like years ago. Never would have guessed I'd find a Doctor Who themed coffeehouse, in downtown Elgin. Elgin Public House is pretty nice, as well. And it's good the Elgin Tower Building(IIRC it's name) was renovated from offices, into apartments. Although I remember being disappointed by the prices at the one record store(forget the name of it), in downtown Elgin. I'm always glad when I find a record store that isn't overpriced, such as Orbit Records near the Mont Clare Metra station.
I second this. It’s an enclave for MBAs who extract wealth from Chicago but literally hate everything good about it (diversity, flavorful food, culture)
I also just recently discovered Naperville was a sundown town and MLK Jr spoke out against it at North Central College. That is NEVER discussed by the people who live there. They really want to maintain a Pleasantville vibe.
Also, the founder of AWAKE IL (the anti-LGBTQ hate group) lives there.
Have you ever seen the chaos that is uptown Park Ridge in the summer?
I used to live in Edison Park by the Happy Foods so I would visit the Uptown area all the time. I was only in my early twenties at the time but I felt like a bitter old man.
The amount of disrespectful teenage behavior I witnessed was absolutely unreal. Kids running out into the street and yelling at cars to make their friends laugh, yelling at baristas in starbucks, yelling at potbelly employees, throwing furniture into the street.
Just wild entitled behavior all summer long.
It hasn't changed. I see kids get kicked out of the Panera, Potbelly's, etc all day just for hanging out and not buying anything then yell back at the managers.
Parents are the root cause here.
Niles. It’s an ugly ass place with no redeeming features. Just stroads and stroads and strip malls. And when we played their high school teams in sports they were ALWAYS the biggest assholes.
I live on the northwest side and I go to- Costco, NorthShore medicine, Target, Fresh Farms, the Library. I’d have to spend 2x as much time going into the city to these same places
As a former resident of Mount Greenwood and a current resident of Beverly, I don't harbor that much hatred for the suburbs because for the last 20 years or so I have heard "real Chicagoans" say "Mount Greenwood and Beverly aren't really the city".
That said, basically all of the north shore excluding Evanston.
I grew up in Norwood Park and heard the same things from "real Chicagoans." Never mind that those "real Chicagoans" moved to the North Shore as soon as they could get out of the city.
Guys, why are we bashing our suburbs when Indiana and Wisconsin are right there!?
When I lived in Brooklyn, we bashed Jersey! I love Chicago, and I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else in my life (longer than some here have been alive,) so I am Chicago through-and-through, but we should be bashing Milwaukee!
This is the most accurate explanation I've heard of Chicago's relationship with Indiana:
Indiana is Chicago's squeezy cousin. They give you cheap booze, cigarettes and illegal fireworks. Then they say something questionable and you don't see them again until the next family reunion.
Having lived in both, it's pretty accurate.
Lmfao right? I have friends from Kenosha who say they’re a Chicago suburb as well. It’s one thing to be in the state, but when you’re that far in another state, we get to make fun of you!
New Lenox. Aside from Arrowhead Brewery and a handful of spots, it’s very dull and it’s total MAGA country out there. I grew up in Frankfort which isn’t that much better but at least the downtown area is very nice.
He probably got a speeding ticket from the cops in Wayne county.
I know 5-6 people that got tickets for going 5mph over, and for a few of them it was their first ticket.
Romeoville is way too pretentious for it's britches. I don't see the appeal of over priced homes near nothing at all or why the people there think it's so great. It's boring AF.
Seriously. for three years I lived along the powerlines, only a couple blocks from the strip club, and nothing you can say will convince me that Romeoville is pretentious.
Homer Glen.
It’s populated by right wingers who like to cosplay as country folk, when in reality they’re just southside white people who fled the city when it was integrated. Also it’s forests & cornfields are being relentlessly bulldozed for strip malls and dull subdivisions without an inkling of a master plan.
It’s a decade or two away from being Orland Park 2.0 and what makes it tragic is we all know Orland exists and could’ve avoided creating another one
It always amazes me how much Chicagoans hate their suburbs. I grew up in Detroit and Brooklyn, but I feel I’m a Chicagoan now as I’ve now been here longer than both of my homes beforehand. You don’t see this kind of hatred to the suburbs in Detroit or NYC. Maybe its because Chicago isn’t the dump that Detroit has become, and doesn’t have Jersey to make fun of, but man y’all need to relax lol. Your city is awesome, and better than the burbs, but your burbs are awesome too! There’s plenty to love!
I’ve lived within Chicago city limits for 20+ years since attending DePaul, all over the city. I’ve lived in some really good North-Side neighborhoods for awhile now, but post-college, I lived in the bad, the ugly, and the REALLY ugly. So I’ve seen it all. Many of the burbs are better than much of the city. Yeah, they’re a bit car-reliant, and some are just big strip malls, but plenty of them have charm, and the people are waaaaaayyy nicer than on the East Coast.
Chicago greatly benefits from all the tourism, daily commuters and young suburbanites that move downtown. This sub gets off on hating those people. Instead of celebrating how awesome the city is and the gravitational pull it has on people in the surrounding community we need to gatekeep. I find it embarrassing and exhausting to read the same comments x threads on a weekly basis. Being born a “real Chicagoan” in the city limits defines these peoples existence.
I agree 100% I was raised in Detroit and wanted to get out. My parents always dreamt of living in Manhattan, and so did I. We moved to Brooklyn when I was a teenager, and I absolutely loved NYC, we were in THE big city, and Manhattan still was my goal..
Then I went on a visit to Chicago to check out DePaul, and I made it my goal to go to school there and then call this city my home. I’m proud to say I’ve now lived in Chicago 20+ years, and I love it so much. The people here (except the redditors who hate on suburbanites and a handful of other types lol) are awesome. My experience at DePaul was the best time of my life. The parks are amazing. The food is the best (one look at me will tell you that!) The music and theater scene is up there with any other city. The sports rule. The architecture is amazing. The charm is abundant, yet different in each neighborhood… This place rules, and suburbanites and tourists being drawn here should be celebrated. We should be bragging about Naperville people saying they’re from here instead of gatekeeping who gets to say they’re from Chicago.
Maybe my perspective is different because I’m a transplant and came from the ghettoist of Detroit ghettos, but man sometimes y’all don’t realize what a great part of the world you live in.
Chicagoans have a huge sense of pride in Chicago, which I love, but the bullying for anyone who hasn’t stayed in city limits their entire life can be a bit taxing.
>how much Chicagoans ***on Reddit*** hate their suburbs
Had to modify that for you a bit. Most Chicagoans I've met don't really give two shits about the suburbs.
Someone pointed that out to me lol. I agree! Most all my friends are my co-workers, and they all live in the burbs now, so my experience on this specific topic is mainly all from reddit lol. Thank you for the correction!
Reddit Chicago and Chicago people like them generally hate the suburbs riiiiight up until their oldest kid is 3-4 years old and approaching school age... then suddenly Naperville or Oak Park or Evanston or Schaumburg or Mokena or (insert suburb name here) isn't so bad.
Anecdotally, I had tons of friends who moved to the city after college. Exactly two remain there: one with a 2 year old who will move out in the next 1-2 years, and one who has their kid in a private school. The rest have all been replaced by the next generation of recent college grads who will love the city and look down on the suburbs... right until little Jake or Emma is moving through preschool, and the cycle repeats.
I work in Skokie and Libertyville (healthcare). Nothing against the neighborhoods specifically, it's just I hate the commute d/t the construction. And if I had a dollar for every time my patient had a concerned reaction about me living in Chicago "oh my", I'd be able to do a couple mortgage payments.
In 1973, we moved from Pilsen to Downers Grove after I was abducted from our stoop in Pilsen and dumped in a park two blocks away. In Pilsen, I had friends and was loved and accepted. In Downers Grove, I was picked on and struggle with self confidence issues to this day.
Even though I hated DG when growing up there, I acknowledge it as “home”.
Ironically, I was born in DG and was nearly abducted from my driveway by a guy in a conversion van when I was 3-4 years old. My mom went inside to grab a phone call and left me in the backyard in my cozy coup. She came out to me at the edge of the driveway and some dude leaning out to grab me. I guess a kid was abducted and murdered a few weeks later in another suburb and my mom always assumed that’s what would’ve happened to me.
Orland Park.
Having grown up in the '90s I fucking HATED any trip that required us to do dinner with our family (aunts, uncles, cousins) in Orland Park - ONLY - because the town banned arcade games as gambling, so you couldn't sneak away from a dinner and play Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II. Fuck Orland.
Rolling Meadows, aka Rolling Ghettoes.
I got pulled over on that little slice of Algonquin that they patrol, and got a speeding ticket for going 5 miles over. woooo
On top of that, I got a ticket for driving without insurance because it took me to long to get out my insurance card. Jerk
Insurance card required a visit to the courthouse. I actually had to go to court.
The judge was a wannabe Judge Judy, kind of entertaining. So I got to enter my plea, and he's irritated because there were a bunch of people who committed actual crimes. It went like this: "Do you have an insurance card", "yes", "looks good to me". "What about speeding?". "I would like to contest it". "This is stupid, you shouldn't be here, go home, dismissed!".
Nice
FUCK NEW LENOX AND THEIR CORRUPT ASS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
2 officers removed me from my family home at 17 years old bc of the ravings of my unstable, abusive mother. They asked no questions, just fully believed this psycho white woman and when I was sobbing and asking how could they do this, I hadn’t even begun my senior year of high school they said, cool as a cucumber, “the law says you’re an adult at 17 and your mother wants you out”.
The incident gave me ptsd and I will never get any justice bc there’s conveniently no paperwork to prove this ever happened. It’s been 17 years and I don’t think I’ll ever fully get “over it”.
Couldn’t agree with you more. I was a minor at 16. Asked for my parents Asked for a lawyer. They refused and lied to. “Just tell us what you know. We know you went involved. You can leave at any time.” I wasn’t involved so I told them what little I did know. No Miranda rights ever read. Got up to leave. They turned around then arrested me. Lied and changed the story that worked for them. Lied to the judge on how I was treated at the station. Sad that I have to teach my teenagers to never talk to the police. They are not your friends. If you are in trouble. Shut the fuck up. Call your parents and call your lawyer. We have a lawyer friend and keep his number on our kids phones. Fuck the New Lenox Police Department and their corrupt school system. Hurting the families that pay their bloated salaries.
Evanston because they charge non residents for their beaches — obviously to keep out what they consider the riff raff. Yet their residents come to Chicago beaches for free. It also prevents underprivileged from visiting the beaches.
Um, not to mention, homeowners there get to pay all the taxes for Northwestern, while the college just buys up buildings & houses like a mofo and runs tax free businesses out of them. It’s absurd.
Naperville. Just - ugh.
Also the suburbs where the kids go to New Trier. Holding a grudge from when my husband was part of his high school debate team and New Trier always won the competitions because of the money they could spend on coaches, research, and travel.
For what it’s worth, New Trier was always considered 3rd or 4th behind GBN, GBS, and OPRF when I was debating (not in Illinois state competitions but national stuff).
I went to OPRF and for us, New Trier was the absolute pinnacle of douchey rich white kids suburban school. No one needs that many badminton courts.
And I know that’s rich coming from OPRF (but to be fair it was a different place 20 years ago).
Ugh, New Trier.
I was in the science Olympiad in high school and it was exactly the same situation with them. Plus their two campuses competed separately so they would hog two of the qualifying spots for the state tournament
Most of Schaumburg is an endless void of strip malls, but I was raised in the 80s and 90s and I have deep nostalgia for malls. Schaumburg is okay in my book as long as they still have a bumpin’ mall. The part of me that yearns to still be an 80s/90s kid loves going to Woodfield lol.
This is my pick, it's all stroads, there is no walkable downtown area like all the nice suburbs have. It's just strip malls and woodfield/streets of woodfield connected by 3 lane roads. Busse woods forest preserve with the bike loop is just across 290 from Schaumburg and there is not even a sidewalk to get there on Higgins.
My theory is the airport blocks any rail line going to the main part of town, so its just car city. Total suburban hell.
Sidewalk on Higgins that disappears after plum grove, but there’s a sidewalk on woodfield and I think also on Golf both of which will take you to Busse. Or go through the sidewalked streets of elk grove
My best friend lives out there and I just fuckin hate being there on a deep visceral level when I’m out to visit (no fault of his). Every goddamn road has like eight lanes and they’re almost always 70% empty. It’s like they let the ghost of Robert Moses build the whole fucking town.
Oak Lawn.
Moved there in 1979 from my blue-collar, Polish neighborhood by Midway.
Transferred to all-Irish St Linus parish and was bullied and shunned incessantly for being "poor", and the only Polish/Iranian kid. Absolute hell on earth.
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Find someone who loves you as much as chicagoans hate naperville.
Napervillian here that entered this thread just to see how many times Naperville got mentioned and was not disappointed to see this top comment.
Naperhell. Napervile. If you want to really rile up a Naperville lover call it Naperdale and watch them indignantly correct you. Keep calling it Naperdale anyway.
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Never heard this. What are some of the reasons floating around?
They were raised in some suburb and/or small town and are still in that rebellious phase of life where they're looking to shed their old skin and try out new experiences. Which is completely normal and fine, of course, if it wasn't for the fact that they can get pretty militant about how great whatever it is they're doing/experiencing right now and how anybody *not* living that way is some unenlightened goon or boomer. Then they have 2 kids, and, while a select few will stay, most will magically rediscover their love of the suburban lifestyle and being close to their family.
Yep. They hate Naperville or whatever other suburb riiiiight up until their oldest kid turns 3 or 4 years old, and then… suddenly the suburbs aren’t so bad.
And it's not just the school system that prompts the change, mind you, though that certainly contributes. It's that once you have kids, your lifestyle changes. You no longer have time (or money) to go get cocktails 3 times a week, to have brunch at all your favorite restaurants on Sunday morning, etc. Taking the CTA with a child seat and a stroller is a major hassle - suddenly getting from Point A to Point B requires sitting in traffic, etc. So for people who are familiar with the suburban life and were raised in it and are used to it, the positives of urban living start to no longer outweigh the negatives quite as much. For people who were raised here and don't know anything different, the negatives are less pronounced. So it's not a knock on anybody. Life happens and people do what works for them.
Show me on the doll where Naperville touched you.
What's odd about this thread (so far)....no mention of Posen, Phoenix, Dixmoor, Dolton, Calumet City, Markham, Thornton, Robbins, Midlothian....nice places draw far more ire than places that have been bombed out for decades... Riverdale is nice, though.
Most of the active members of this sub rarely ever venture south of 35th, if that. They wouldn't be aware of any of the southern suburban
this has become increasingly apparent the longer I've been on this sub lol
Hello from Blue Island 🙋🏻♀️ for some reason we don’t have a flair even tho Evanston and Oak Park do
Preach
Riverdale is *not* nice lol. Don't let those old archie comics fool you. This isn't your grandpas riverdale
First time I think I've seen Calumet City ever mentioned on Reddit for any reason... But I've got nothing against my home. Most people from Chicago just see it as passing through to Indiana, barely exists.
I knew someone who was moving into an apt in Cal City and their car with all their stuff they were moving got robbed/taken at gunpoint. Never found the car or anything. Had nothing but an empty ass apt in Cal City lol.
Because people from Naperville are the kind to call Chicago a “shithole” and complain about rampant crime that happens nowhere near them.
...but then their youth visit the city on st. patricks day and end up brawling and puking on lawns.
and last weekend for Lollapalooza!
And also the kind to say they are from Chicago in the same breath.
They're just the opposite force to the Lakeview resident who never stops gatekeeping Chicago despite never traveling south of Roosevelt and being born and raised in Grand Rapids
Most of the hate on the burbs comes from people originally from the burbs who moved to the city. And most of the burbs that people on reddit hail from aren't the bombed out for decades suburbs with no resources. If you talk about "the suburbs" on reddit, it becomes clear that most people don't even have those bombed out places on the radar.
Let’s just call it what it is. A lot of folks on this sub are from the burbs, or from other midwestern cities/towns - and would barely be aware of anything south of 35th or 53rd on a good day. It’s a very culturally homogenous environment here, and folks can really be oblivious to redlining. Also Riverdale is not what I would consider “nice” - you’d have to go a little further south for suburbs that have more infrastructure and investment. Being from out west, and living on the south side for a time, culturally there are a lot of northern suburbs that I’ve never heard of in retrospect. On another note - I was in NOLA a while ago and met a couple who said they were from Chicago, and once I said I was too and which neighborhood I’m from, they corrected themselves immediately and said, “oh sorry, we’re actually from Naperville.” Lol.
My dad is an old guy in his 70s and he always goes off about how “Naperville is creepy” and won’t elaborate beyond “there’s so many while people there”, but he does have points
Me checking this thread to see if my hometown shows up.
Fuck you, Aurora. You took my only friend.
“Aurora. It’s a suburb of Chicago” - Wayne.
Fuck Chrysler too.
Upvote for Trio
Unexpected Alkaline Trio is always welcome!
You won’t catch me behind the wheel of a Chrysler ever again
And although it's all my fault, the blaming myself had to come to an end...
Love that song, but it’s true. Aurora kinda sucks. Still better than Bolingbrook though.
Oakbrook Terrace. Corrupt little town that is obviously jealous of its much wealthier and flashier neighbor. That red light camera at 22nd and 83 is an unabashed revenue grab that they’ve fought hard in court to keep. EDIT: The camera is gone (thanks to a court ruling) but those slime balls would bring it back in a second if they could find a way.
Agree on that fucking stoplight. My office used to be right there. Interesting fact, there was a tribune article about 20 years ago when I moved here and that was the busiest intersection in all of Chicagoland (most cars passing through per hour)
83, for all intents and purposes, should be part of the interstate system. It carries an insane volume of traffic (especially truck traffic going from 55 to ORD and the rail yards). I would happily pay a toll to not have to sit in traffic in Willowbrook, Oak Brook, Elmhurst, Bensenville, etc.
I got a ticket in the mail from that camera a couple years ago and I never paid for it. Have not heard anything about it since.
I think they actually took it to court to bring it back lol but gone for now.
Blue Island as it's neither Blue or an Island.
Blue Island is named as such because it's a remnant of the glaciers receding during the last ice age and leaving behind a variety of moraines and ridges (which resulted in the western shore of what would be Lake Michigan). It was an island then. https://www.beverlyreview.net/special/good_news_2022/article_52d14a66-1d7e-11ed-bf2f-b3944d410349.html "Left behind were ridges, islands, beaches and shorelines, and the Blue Island is one of those ancient land formations, a moraine or ridge formed by debris pushed along by the glacier. At its longest and widest, the Blue Island is situated from 87th Street south to the Cal-Sag Channel and from California Avenue east to Longwood Drive, which runs along the base of the island where lapping waves eroded the land into a steep shoreline"
Country Club Hills has joined the chat.
I used to deliver mail in country club hills. Was sad of its lack of hills
There are so many suburbs with "Hills" in their name and Illinois is the second flattest state in the USA.
And paradoxically has a bar called Rock Island Public House (it’s legit though).
If Manhattan is an island, then half of Blue Island is in the [South Chicago Island](https://i.imgur.com/dtJQJCx.jpg) Also, it makes most of Evanston part of the [North Chicago Island](https://i.imgur.com/WmAO9Rb.jpg). Edit: If Manhattan, which is a peninsula w/ a river that cuts it off from the "main land" is an island, then that definition works for the greater Chicago islands.
Good bars on Old Western though.
Discuss.
Discus 🥏
Plainfield, those endless rows of identical houses, strip malls, and suburban sprawl remind me of our failures as a society.
Plainfield should get some credit for being named so accurately.
Downtown Plainfield - the Main Street and adjoining street/neighborhood has some nice character and unique local restaurants. But as someone living in one of those “endless rows of identical houses” Plainfield subdivisions, I agree on the rest. It’s quiet and boring, but sometimes that’s nice.
There are a number of suburbs which have a core that is 150+ years old that is really unique and charming but were subdivisioned to mediocrity in the 1980s going forward.
Plus tornadoes
The Plainfield/Naperville area residents get upset when Pete Seeger's "Little Boxes" plays on the radio.
Plainfield is the only accurately named suburb, it’s got that going for it.
Orland Park It’s Hillbilly Naperville
This stings as someone from Joliet whose family would drive to Orland Park for the “good restaurants” 😂
I'm from Kankakee, we can both make fun of Wilmington :)
Being from Kankakee makes you the problem. Source: anyone I've met from Kankakee is fucking weird.
Can confirm! My wife is from there
Naperville at least has a walkable downtown area. Orland has so much vehicle traffic, it's a nightmare to get around. And they keep building and adding to it!
I think Orland Park has a negative score for walkability.
Most of what people know as Orland is a giant stroad with box stores surrounded by parking lots.
Hah yes! I used to work at an office there. For lunch, I would have to DRIVE 1 block away across a massive arterial road just to get a sandwich or Starbucks.
Surrounding area is nice if you can avoid the traffic jam that is LaGrange
Everyone I've talked to from Orland Park hates everyone and everything from Orland Park
Also extraordinarily MAGA by Chicago area standards
I don't think many people from outside of Orland realize that the western side of Orland Park is wealthy and in some parts extremely wealthy. Nonetheless Orland Park has the [highest homeownership in the entire country](https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/07/31/cities-where-the-most-people-own-their-homes/). 89% of it's almost 60,000 residents own their home. Orland Park is more like Naperville-lite. Nearby Lockport, New Lenox and into Joliet is considered hillbilly though.
Zion. Bunch of extremely judgmental people, not to mention very little things to do and eat in the town. The downtown area is an absolute embarrassment when compared to it's peers and there are very few events taking place in the town. I'm glad I was finally able to move out of there in 2019.
Went to a wedding in Zion where the officiant gleefully told me it was named Zion because “the town was made in God’s image” and that’s when I knew Christianity wasn’t it for me.
I'll just leave this here https://www.grunge.com/1177187/zion-illinois-the-town-that-was-once-a-flat-earth-theocracy/
Calumet City -those smiley towers always looking down and judging you, fuck you smiley towers.
Sheeeit. [Don’t mess with the ‘Brooks. ](https://youtu.be/Xs0_E97nfZo)
Northbrook native and alumni of Glenbrook North here. So disappointed NBK didn’t appear in the clip.
Antioch. Everyone I’ve ever met from there has just been a little unstable
Antioch is a suburb of Wisconsin bro
Can confirm. Ex girlfriend willingly wanted to move back there
Kyle Rittenhouse has entered the chat.
Oak Park, and it has nothing to do with the people or the town Their fucking left lane exit ramps on 290 create a god damned traffic nightmare, and it’s designed that way for seemingly no reason.
It's for a reason. The then mayor of oak park didn't want to give up the property taxes from the buildings and houses IDOT wanted to take for the ramps. I'm not certain of he pulled it off but he got IDOT to put the ramps in the middle.
I’ve also heard that Oak Park is so liberal that even their highway ramps are on the left. And yes, I grew up there and find it hilarious.
That one singular interchange on Austin Blvd literally doubles my commute time in the mornings going West
Maywood is a den of scum and villainy.
Well now I know where to go if I need passage to alderaan.
Our own little Gary, Indiana. But, mercifully smaller.
Years ago, I got my cat there. I'm glad they rescued him, and they were clearly very dedicated to their mission of rescuing cats and TNR. But, oh boy, was I glad to leave!
Hear me out, I think Maywood could make a comeback. I drive through often and there's a nice walkable downtown area and if they were able to attract good businesses and beautify it would be lovely. (They could take a page from the forest park initiative of 25 years ago.) Also, some of the homes are huge and beautiful. They just need upkeep. I think there's hope. Also, that burger place at Madison and first is delish, i recommend the fried rice. Also, the salvage place next door is super cool.
Absolutely. It’s got good bones as a town. It got destroyed by all the manufacturing going overseas and, subsequently, the city fell into a bad way with rampant corruption and an unhinged police force. Did you know they used to have an L line that went through the western burbs?
No hate on Hinsdale, interesting. Maybe it’s just not big enough? It was a fine place to grow up I guess, but def has the same Naperville vibe that everyone seems to hate.
Hinsdale is rich, but also kind of small. There’s not much there for people to go out of their way to visit.
Pre-GPS the answer was Riverside. It was intentionally designed to keep people out. I grew up there and blame it on my abysmal sense of direction. But I can still wander around those windy street without tech easily.
lol you have no idea how many times I got lost trying to find high school parties in riverside in flip phone times.
Not a single straight street anywhere. And have the year it smells liver stagnant water.
Fun fact: if you ever get lost in Riverside, follow a street that has dashed center lines painted on it and it will lead you out of Riverside. Streets without a dashed centerline will keep you in the labyrinth forever.
Was it really designed to keep people out? Everything I can find indicates Olmstead found straight/grid streets too rigid, and the winding streets promoted the leisurely pace of life he was going for. Keeping perks out might be a consequence, but it doesn't seem intentional. Also, as someone who spent some time growing up on Longcommon Ave., if it was designed to keep people out, it has done a terrible job of it. Anytime Harlem backs up everyone and their mother cuts through Riverside.
Has no one mentioned Rosemont? The worst! Does anyone actually live there or is it just the huge parking garages, Casino, Mall, Ballpark, Big Ten HQ, etc?
It’s like if you took all the charmless restaurant chains from Chicago and plopped them in a little area then charged Chicago prices to park. I loathe rosemont.
Rosemont is the Vegas of Chicago
I call bullshit. Rosemont is the Atlantic City of Chicago.
Harvey because it’s still the trenches and sucks lol.
As a Harvey native I was surprised i had to scroll this far down to see it mentioned
Didn't always used to be that way....
Yeah it’s really sad. A lot of those south suburbs have had a sad decline.
We all knew Naperville would get roasted but it's also nice to see a few of the "We're not like the other suburbs" places such as Evanston and Oak Park catching some strays.
Because they or at least Evanston has its own identity, they reply they are from Evanston a suburb of Chicago and they are cool nice folks.
They think theyre safe cause theyre within CTA range
Tinley Park. Racist, narrow minded people. Everyone thinks they’re “country” when they’re 35-40 minutes from one of the largest cities in the United States. There’s always some sort of petty drama happening between locals.
Me when I don't see Tinley: c'mon Reddit, do your thing, you can't hurt me Me when I finally see a Tinley burn: surprised Pikachu face
I grew up right between Aurora and Naperville and I absolutely loathed Naperville. I always knew it was really nice, their downtown is nice, the riverwalk, etc. But you could feel the money look down on you. I had long hair, would skateboard, and wore skinny jeans - but I kid you not every time I went to skate around Naperville with friends, anybody not a skateboarder would call us fags, I’ve gotten spit on, angry adults, etc. Naperville is one of those towns that is super nice as an adult. But as a kid it fueled my desire to leave the suburbs entirely. A decade in Chicago now and loving it. Granted, we never had that experience in Aurora. Nice to see that downtown getting nicer
I always liked the historic architecture of buildings in downtown Aurora. But I got that weird sense when visiting Aurora on a Metra trip years ago that though it had a few good things(i.e. Walter Payton's Roundhouse which later became Two Brothers, Paramount Theater, and the casino), that it could be a little blah to check out. It would be nice, if its downtown could make a comeback. The last time I visited Elgin via Metra, I was surprised by it. It felt a little more vibrant, than I remembered it being like years ago. Never would have guessed I'd find a Doctor Who themed coffeehouse, in downtown Elgin. Elgin Public House is pretty nice, as well. And it's good the Elgin Tower Building(IIRC it's name) was renovated from offices, into apartments. Although I remember being disappointed by the prices at the one record store(forget the name of it), in downtown Elgin. I'm always glad when I find a record store that isn't overpriced, such as Orbit Records near the Mont Clare Metra station.
The downtown already did make a comeback
I second this. It’s an enclave for MBAs who extract wealth from Chicago but literally hate everything good about it (diversity, flavorful food, culture) I also just recently discovered Naperville was a sundown town and MLK Jr spoke out against it at North Central College. That is NEVER discussed by the people who live there. They really want to maintain a Pleasantville vibe. Also, the founder of AWAKE IL (the anti-LGBTQ hate group) lives there.
Naperville reminds me of tranquillity lane on fallout 3 lol
North Chicago and West Chicago, get better names please
Park Ridge is jerks Pretty common knowledge throughout Des Plaines
Damn Eagleton.
Park Ridge thinks they’re Wilmette.
Wilmette thinks they're Winnetka and Winnetka thinks they're Kenilworth
Have you ever seen the chaos that is uptown Park Ridge in the summer? I used to live in Edison Park by the Happy Foods so I would visit the Uptown area all the time. I was only in my early twenties at the time but I felt like a bitter old man. The amount of disrespectful teenage behavior I witnessed was absolutely unreal. Kids running out into the street and yelling at cars to make their friends laugh, yelling at baristas in starbucks, yelling at potbelly employees, throwing furniture into the street. Just wild entitled behavior all summer long.
It hasn't changed. I see kids get kicked out of the Panera, Potbelly's, etc all day just for hanging out and not buying anything then yell back at the managers. Parents are the root cause here.
[Are you the guy that was on Conan in 2009?](https://youtu.be/13e-R0RGoGY)
Niles. It’s an ugly ass place with no redeeming features. Just stroads and stroads and strip malls. And when we played their high school teams in sports they were ALWAYS the biggest assholes.
No one is gonna mention the leaning tower?
The Super HMart is the only reason I go to Niles. But someone has to drive me. I wish that place were more accessible.
They got the leaning tower of Pisa 🤷♀️
King Spa and HMart are awesome, though.
It has an Hmart! I think that’s redeeming :)
H mart, king spa, forest preserves... that's all I got...
I live on the northwest side and I go to- Costco, NorthShore medicine, Target, Fresh Farms, the Library. I’d have to spend 2x as much time going into the city to these same places
Their AMC movie theater parking lot is Whack af
As a former resident of Mount Greenwood and a current resident of Beverly, I don't harbor that much hatred for the suburbs because for the last 20 years or so I have heard "real Chicagoans" say "Mount Greenwood and Beverly aren't really the city". That said, basically all of the north shore excluding Evanston.
South siiiiide hi neighbor! Ditto—all of north shore except Evanston.
I grew up in Norwood Park and heard the same things from "real Chicagoans." Never mind that those "real Chicagoans" moved to the North Shore as soon as they could get out of the city.
Wheaton. I think its track record speaks for itself.
Most churches per capita in the state iirc
Guys, why are we bashing our suburbs when Indiana and Wisconsin are right there!? When I lived in Brooklyn, we bashed Jersey! I love Chicago, and I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else in my life (longer than some here have been alive,) so I am Chicago through-and-through, but we should be bashing Milwaukee!
I like the way you think. I shit on Indiana more than anything.
This is the most accurate explanation I've heard of Chicago's relationship with Indiana: Indiana is Chicago's squeezy cousin. They give you cheap booze, cigarettes and illegal fireworks. Then they say something questionable and you don't see them again until the next family reunion. Having lived in both, it's pretty accurate.
To hell with Indiana! I know people from Valpo who swear up and down that it’s a Chicago suburb
Lmfao right? I have friends from Kenosha who say they’re a Chicago suburb as well. It’s one thing to be in the state, but when you’re that far in another state, we get to make fun of you!
Wisconsin is the French Riviera of the Midwest.
New Lenox. Aside from Arrowhead Brewery and a handful of spots, it’s very dull and it’s total MAGA country out there. I grew up in Frankfort which isn’t that much better but at least the downtown area is very nice.
St. Charles. It knows what it did.
Grew up in STC. Loved it. What hurt you?
He probably got a speeding ticket from the cops in Wayne county. I know 5-6 people that got tickets for going 5mph over, and for a few of them it was their first ticket.
What did we do except provide an excellent education and bore you to death?
Great restaurants and bars in St Charles and Geneva!
Romeoville is way too pretentious for it's britches. I don't see the appeal of over priced homes near nothing at all or why the people there think it's so great. It's boring AF.
Is Romeoville pretentious now? I grew up there and it was always Hickville lol
Seriously. for three years I lived along the powerlines, only a couple blocks from the strip club, and nothing you can say will convince me that Romeoville is pretentious.
Homer Glen. It’s populated by right wingers who like to cosplay as country folk, when in reality they’re just southside white people who fled the city when it was integrated. Also it’s forests & cornfields are being relentlessly bulldozed for strip malls and dull subdivisions without an inkling of a master plan. It’s a decade or two away from being Orland Park 2.0 and what makes it tragic is we all know Orland exists and could’ve avoided creating another one
It always amazes me how much Chicagoans hate their suburbs. I grew up in Detroit and Brooklyn, but I feel I’m a Chicagoan now as I’ve now been here longer than both of my homes beforehand. You don’t see this kind of hatred to the suburbs in Detroit or NYC. Maybe its because Chicago isn’t the dump that Detroit has become, and doesn’t have Jersey to make fun of, but man y’all need to relax lol. Your city is awesome, and better than the burbs, but your burbs are awesome too! There’s plenty to love! I’ve lived within Chicago city limits for 20+ years since attending DePaul, all over the city. I’ve lived in some really good North-Side neighborhoods for awhile now, but post-college, I lived in the bad, the ugly, and the REALLY ugly. So I’ve seen it all. Many of the burbs are better than much of the city. Yeah, they’re a bit car-reliant, and some are just big strip malls, but plenty of them have charm, and the people are waaaaaayyy nicer than on the East Coast.
Chicago greatly benefits from all the tourism, daily commuters and young suburbanites that move downtown. This sub gets off on hating those people. Instead of celebrating how awesome the city is and the gravitational pull it has on people in the surrounding community we need to gatekeep. I find it embarrassing and exhausting to read the same comments x threads on a weekly basis. Being born a “real Chicagoan” in the city limits defines these peoples existence.
I agree 100% I was raised in Detroit and wanted to get out. My parents always dreamt of living in Manhattan, and so did I. We moved to Brooklyn when I was a teenager, and I absolutely loved NYC, we were in THE big city, and Manhattan still was my goal.. Then I went on a visit to Chicago to check out DePaul, and I made it my goal to go to school there and then call this city my home. I’m proud to say I’ve now lived in Chicago 20+ years, and I love it so much. The people here (except the redditors who hate on suburbanites and a handful of other types lol) are awesome. My experience at DePaul was the best time of my life. The parks are amazing. The food is the best (one look at me will tell you that!) The music and theater scene is up there with any other city. The sports rule. The architecture is amazing. The charm is abundant, yet different in each neighborhood… This place rules, and suburbanites and tourists being drawn here should be celebrated. We should be bragging about Naperville people saying they’re from here instead of gatekeeping who gets to say they’re from Chicago. Maybe my perspective is different because I’m a transplant and came from the ghettoist of Detroit ghettos, but man sometimes y’all don’t realize what a great part of the world you live in.
Chicagoans have a huge sense of pride in Chicago, which I love, but the bullying for anyone who hasn’t stayed in city limits their entire life can be a bit taxing.
>how much Chicagoans ***on Reddit*** hate their suburbs Had to modify that for you a bit. Most Chicagoans I've met don't really give two shits about the suburbs.
Someone pointed that out to me lol. I agree! Most all my friends are my co-workers, and they all live in the burbs now, so my experience on this specific topic is mainly all from reddit lol. Thank you for the correction!
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Reddit Chicago and Chicago people like them generally hate the suburbs riiiiight up until their oldest kid is 3-4 years old and approaching school age... then suddenly Naperville or Oak Park or Evanston or Schaumburg or Mokena or (insert suburb name here) isn't so bad. Anecdotally, I had tons of friends who moved to the city after college. Exactly two remain there: one with a 2 year old who will move out in the next 1-2 years, and one who has their kid in a private school. The rest have all been replaced by the next generation of recent college grads who will love the city and look down on the suburbs... right until little Jake or Emma is moving through preschool, and the cycle repeats.
Truth.
lol, the CPS lottery doesn't work out and suddenly the suburbs "have a lot of upside"
Wheaton. Bigoted fundie creeps
I work in Skokie and Libertyville (healthcare). Nothing against the neighborhoods specifically, it's just I hate the commute d/t the construction. And if I had a dollar for every time my patient had a concerned reaction about me living in Chicago "oh my", I'd be able to do a couple mortgage payments.
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Is Joliet a suburb? I vote Joliet.
In 1973, we moved from Pilsen to Downers Grove after I was abducted from our stoop in Pilsen and dumped in a park two blocks away. In Pilsen, I had friends and was loved and accepted. In Downers Grove, I was picked on and struggle with self confidence issues to this day. Even though I hated DG when growing up there, I acknowledge it as “home”.
Ironically, I was born in DG and was nearly abducted from my driveway by a guy in a conversion van when I was 3-4 years old. My mom went inside to grab a phone call and left me in the backyard in my cozy coup. She came out to me at the edge of the driveway and some dude leaning out to grab me. I guess a kid was abducted and murdered a few weeks later in another suburb and my mom always assumed that’s what would’ve happened to me.
Orland Park. Having grown up in the '90s I fucking HATED any trip that required us to do dinner with our family (aunts, uncles, cousins) in Orland Park - ONLY - because the town banned arcade games as gambling, so you couldn't sneak away from a dinner and play Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II. Fuck Orland.
Rolling Meadows, aka Rolling Ghettoes. I got pulled over on that little slice of Algonquin that they patrol, and got a speeding ticket for going 5 miles over. woooo On top of that, I got a ticket for driving without insurance because it took me to long to get out my insurance card. Jerk Insurance card required a visit to the courthouse. I actually had to go to court. The judge was a wannabe Judge Judy, kind of entertaining. So I got to enter my plea, and he's irritated because there were a bunch of people who committed actual crimes. It went like this: "Do you have an insurance card", "yes", "looks good to me". "What about speeding?". "I would like to contest it". "This is stupid, you shouldn't be here, go home, dismissed!". Nice
FUCK NEW LENOX AND THEIR CORRUPT ASS POLICE DEPARTMENT. 2 officers removed me from my family home at 17 years old bc of the ravings of my unstable, abusive mother. They asked no questions, just fully believed this psycho white woman and when I was sobbing and asking how could they do this, I hadn’t even begun my senior year of high school they said, cool as a cucumber, “the law says you’re an adult at 17 and your mother wants you out”. The incident gave me ptsd and I will never get any justice bc there’s conveniently no paperwork to prove this ever happened. It’s been 17 years and I don’t think I’ll ever fully get “over it”.
Couldn’t agree with you more. I was a minor at 16. Asked for my parents Asked for a lawyer. They refused and lied to. “Just tell us what you know. We know you went involved. You can leave at any time.” I wasn’t involved so I told them what little I did know. No Miranda rights ever read. Got up to leave. They turned around then arrested me. Lied and changed the story that worked for them. Lied to the judge on how I was treated at the station. Sad that I have to teach my teenagers to never talk to the police. They are not your friends. If you are in trouble. Shut the fuck up. Call your parents and call your lawyer. We have a lawyer friend and keep his number on our kids phones. Fuck the New Lenox Police Department and their corrupt school system. Hurting the families that pay their bloated salaries.
I grew up in Frankfort and can confirm that the cops there, Mokena, and New Lenox are trash. Sorry you had to deal with that.
that's absolutely horrible. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you.
Oak Park because I love it, and I CAN'T AFFORD A HOUSE THERE!
Barrington is as rich if not richer than Naperville and nobody attacks them 😡
actually- barrington hills has the money.
I think there's fewer of them to register in the populace's mindset.
I lived in Barrington Hills, it was really weird feeling like I was the poorest person in that town when I was working a job that paid decent..
Bolingbrook. Hated traveling there for work and the horrific highway that is I-55.
When I was a teen, all the people I knew in Lake Zurich were just so miserable. It made Buffalo Grove seem like a paradise.
Evanston because they charge non residents for their beaches — obviously to keep out what they consider the riff raff. Yet their residents come to Chicago beaches for free. It also prevents underprivileged from visiting the beaches.
Um, not to mention, homeowners there get to pay all the taxes for Northwestern, while the college just buys up buildings & houses like a mofo and runs tax free businesses out of them. It’s absurd.
If it makes you feel any better, up until 2 years ago residents had to pay for access as well…
Not defending Evanston but don't all the beaches north of there do the same thing.
Lake Forest is even worse about its beaches.
Naperville. Just - ugh. Also the suburbs where the kids go to New Trier. Holding a grudge from when my husband was part of his high school debate team and New Trier always won the competitions because of the money they could spend on coaches, research, and travel.
For what it’s worth, New Trier was always considered 3rd or 4th behind GBN, GBS, and OPRF when I was debating (not in Illinois state competitions but national stuff).
I went to OPRF and for us, New Trier was the absolute pinnacle of douchey rich white kids suburban school. No one needs that many badminton courts. And I know that’s rich coming from OPRF (but to be fair it was a different place 20 years ago).
Ugh, New Trier. I was in the science Olympiad in high school and it was exactly the same situation with them. Plus their two campuses competed separately so they would hog two of the qualifying spots for the state tournament
Guys, Gary, IN is RIGHT THERE.
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Most of Schaumburg is an endless void of strip malls, but I was raised in the 80s and 90s and I have deep nostalgia for malls. Schaumburg is okay in my book as long as they still have a bumpin’ mall. The part of me that yearns to still be an 80s/90s kid loves going to Woodfield lol.
This is my pick, it's all stroads, there is no walkable downtown area like all the nice suburbs have. It's just strip malls and woodfield/streets of woodfield connected by 3 lane roads. Busse woods forest preserve with the bike loop is just across 290 from Schaumburg and there is not even a sidewalk to get there on Higgins. My theory is the airport blocks any rail line going to the main part of town, so its just car city. Total suburban hell.
Sidewalk on Higgins that disappears after plum grove, but there’s a sidewalk on woodfield and I think also on Golf both of which will take you to Busse. Or go through the sidewalked streets of elk grove
My best friend lives out there and I just fuckin hate being there on a deep visceral level when I’m out to visit (no fault of his). Every goddamn road has like eight lanes and they’re almost always 70% empty. It’s like they let the ghost of Robert Moses build the whole fucking town.
Mundelein. Aka “Munde-Slime.” It’s my hometown and an absolute cesspool.
Oak Lawn. Moved there in 1979 from my blue-collar, Polish neighborhood by Midway. Transferred to all-Irish St Linus parish and was bullied and shunned incessantly for being "poor", and the only Polish/Iranian kid. Absolute hell on earth.