I live in the city of Chicago within 5 miles of the Loop (city center). My younger brother and sister live in the city as did my older sister until recently. We all have friends also living in the city within the same radius. However none of us were raised with the bustle of "L" trains. This is how I define "The City", any neighborhood with elevated trains with 2 and 3 flat houses. We all did a lot of growing up on the South Side and you would be correct in pointing out that
is Chicago and
is serviced by the Red Line "L", but honestly we were all told it was not a safe place for kids so it was avoided. We hailed from areas defined by tree lined streets and single family houses, suburbia or not. You would be hard pressed to find a single family home within 5 miles of the Loop or a tree lined street for that matter. The home my parents raised us in is relatively close to the south suburban towns they themselves grew up in. Never did they feel the need to call the city home. Go as far back as my maternal grandfather and you see even he grew up in a Chicago neighborhood that did not possess the traditional city hustle. A recent audit of all my friends' locale yielded a city setting weather it be in Washington D.C., Denver, Minneapolis, and they had an upbringing much like my own. So why this generational shift to metropolis? It is said "move to the city to meet other young people" "the city is where the action is so you should be close to it " and so on. Well the action has always been in the city, that never stopped suburbanites before. The grandparents of my generation came from all over to see the big bands play at the Aragon Ballroom.
As a teen living in south suburban Hazel Crest I frequently made the trip to the
Fireside Bowl on the north side for all ages punk rock shows. So just as the Greatest Generation, my Generation Xers found the city just as accessible. Eventually the allure of city life encompasses us. I think Sesame Street has a lot to do with it. Sesame Street is wildly popular as my generation is getting an early education. On the show we are taken to a city street that is eerily accurate to city life right down to the homeless guy living in the garbage can. My brother has a man living in his alley in real life. The alley dweller tells my brother not to work to hard as he heads off to work. It makes sense that as a child if you see grown-ups out on city stoops that when you are of age one moves to the nearest metropolis to stake claim on a life as an adult.
After all isn't that what childhood development is all about, giving you a solid foundation for making future decisions. It works out well though even if it is an unintended consequence. City life guides me to make environmentally sound decisions, such as riding my bike using the farmers market and public transportation. Of course this is strictly me thinking aloud and some economist could probably debunk all of this with a few great pie charts. I digress it would just be nice to know that a few cookie loving, compulsively counting, wishy washy, gigantic monsters helped us all get to a place called 18th, Damen, Western, Fullerton, Fulton, Pearl, or whatever your Sesame St. is these days.
