the excitement of "coming of age"

What's the most exciting city in the US to live in? A subjectiv question, but to me it could very well be one that is "coming of age" at the time you live in it, that special time when it splashes on the global scene as a complete a through package, operating on all cyllindes, and offering its own unique impression of what a city should be. The earliest city in the US to truly come of age, of course, was New York. Paralleling the growth of the US, New York truly sprung onto the world stage in the early part of the 20th century, the American century, as business, commerce, entertainment, the arts, technology, etc., mixed with American optimisim and its new role on the global stage to create what is perhaps the greatest of all coming of age. If there ever was a city I wish I could have visited, it would be the New York of the first have of the 20th century....with Gershwin's Rapsody in Blue playing on my 21st century iPod. LA burst on the scene after WWII with the glamour of Hollywood mixing with that city's incredible industrial might (heightened by war) at a time when the American Dream was turning into California Dreaming. LA continues to come of age as it urbanizes that post WWII city in exciting and dramatic ways. On a smaller scale, Washington shed its sleepy southern past and became a major player with the growth of the US government and need for lobbyists and professional associations to gravitate to it. Buf if I were to look to 2006 and the era of years on either side of it, no American city, IMHO, is coming of age today like CHICAGO is. Chicago has had many years and eras of greatness...the industrialization era, the role of middle man in the US with its assent to the nation's transportation center, the architcture and city planning that followed the great fire, the birth of the skyscrapper, worlds fairs of note, the union between business and culture, mail order houses, the concept of a free and open waterfront, a city of neighboroods of every ethnicity, a hotbed of labor activism, the ultimate city machine, the world's tallest building, busiest airport, largest convention center, and all thos eother #1's we used to love. But today, more than any other time, we're putting it all together. The growth and deveopment of our spectacular core, the influence this growth has had on the peripheral areas north, west, and south of it, the energy the city is creating, the magnet it has become for midwesterners and those beyond, the extraordinary cross section of ethnicities today, the sense that a city can be planned (stronger here than anywhere)....it all combines to create a city reaching some kind of zenieth, some kind of special place in this world of ours. It is impossible to travel the streets of Chicago and not feel the change on a daily basis, the transformation that is taking place. That's what I'm seeing.....the coming of age of a great American city, unparrelled at this juncture in history anywhere in our nation. Do others agree or do you think I missed the mark on this one and see it vastly differently?>

Chicago Christkindlmarket location

well it is only one day away. These days they expect over one million to visit the market and it has grown in popularity since it first came around over ten years ago. It is not easy to get people to think of Chicago as a winter tourist destination (though some around the region surely do) but the unique experiance that Chicago offers with this festival is a rather unique and festive atmosphere (for North America at least). What ways can it improve? Could the market be part of a making Chicago a holiday destination around the Midwest or even the nation the way that the famous Stttutgart and Nuremberg (which get millions of visits per year) serve for Germany and central Europe? With Block 37 developed will it still be able to be as large and be able to grow? Should there be two markets and have one in Daley Plaza and one in perhaps Pioneer Court (where it was held the first year) or somewhere else near Michigan Ave. in order to attract Michigan Ave shoppers?>

Chicago Christkindlmarket location

well it is only one day away. These days they expect over one million to visit the market and it has grown in popularity since it first came around over ten years ago. It is not easy to get people to think of Chicago as a winter tourist destination (though some around the region surely do) but the unique experiance that Chicago offers with this festival is a rather unique and festive atmosphere (for North America at least). What ways can it improve? Could the market be part of a making Chicago a holiday destination around the Midwest or even the nation the way that the famous Stttutgart and Nuremberg (which get millions of visits per year) serve for Germany and central Europe? With Block 37 developed will it still be able to be as large and be able to grow? Should there be two markets and have one in Daley Plaza and one in perhaps Pioneer Court (where it was held the first year) or somewhere else near Michigan Ave. in order to attract Michigan Ave shoppers?>

What is needed to make the central area more exciting?

The central area of Chicago is changing rapidly (Cermack(south), North Avenue (north), Ashland (west), Lake Michigan (east). North Michigan Avenue is thrivng more than ever. On weekends you can hardly walk because of the massive crowds, especially when the weather is good. State Street continues to see increasing crowds of shoppers including students from the adjacent colleges. It has become a trendy street that has the potential to out shine North Michigan Avenue. It may not have the top tier stores, although they are not lowest either, it continues to attract young people of every race. It may very well be the most cosmopolitan street in the central area. Once Block 37 is complete (the shopping portion) more people will flock back to the district. With all of the great development progress occuring in the central area, parts of downtown continue to empty out after 9 or 10 p.m. I believe that the city is on the right development track by supporting more college residential units, retail and entertaiment, but could more be done? Should there be more focus on other areas in the central area that have the potential to create a larger more energized central area? One area is the Fulton Market District. It could become a hub for nightlife because the way buildings are seperated from residential. Although residential project are encroaching upon the the Fulton Street strip there are opportunities to create something special. Please share your thoughts on what could be done to connect all of the points of activity in the central area to create a larger exciting 24 hour district.>

Chicago Signage

What do you people think of more signage in Chicago? I mean bigger ones that light up, not the tiny ones that are unlit and somehow wind up on an upscale store on Magnificent Mile. This is how I see it: -Chicago currently does not have much signage. With a few exceptions, downtown Chicago is fairly bleak, pretty much dies at night, and never seems to be as "hopping" as I would like it to be. Except for Mag Mile, which I can't afford, and Rush Street, which I and many others are too young/old to go to. -If Chicago had more signage, MAYBE it would be less bleak, generate more foot traffic, and die less slowly at night, because it would be both a more modern and inviting place. DISCLAIMER: NO, I am NOT saying we should turn a part of downtown into a Chicago version of Times-Square, because that's impossible on many levels. I'm just saying we should have more signage to make a great city skyline be equally great at the street level.>

NYE 2007 in Chicago: What to Do?

I'll be downtown for New Year's Eve this year with some buddies and am trying to develop a plan of action for the night. We're in our early 20s...but spending $100ish for the club parties is a little out of our price range. Any suggestions?>

Devon Ave. Fire

Chicago Fire Gutted Ethnic Culture Hub By SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press Sunday, December 3, 2006; 12:07 PM CHICAGO -- As businessmen huddle over tea in a dessert shop across from the charred ruins of their stores, families stop to console them and lament the scar in the heart of the South Asian neighborhood on Devon Avenue, widely recognized as the largest on this side of the globe. Nearly 20 businesses were ruined by the three-alarm fire on Thanksgiving Day: A jewelry store featuring 22-karat gold from Pakistan. A shop with hand-embroidered saris from India. A banquet hall. A Muslim travel agency. A video store with Bollywood's latest. "There is no word I can use to express myself," restaurant owner Abdul Wahid Butt said. "This is a loss which money cannot cover. " For 13 years his restaurant, Sabri Nehari, was one of the most popular on Devon's nearly 10-block stretch of Little South Asia, on the city's North Side. Customers drove all night from as far away as Nebraska, then waited more than over an hour just for a taste of his nehari, a soft stringy meat delicacy. "This is really a tragedy," said S.N. Sridhar, a professor of South Asian linguistics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. "It affects not only the local people, but there are a lot of small towns in the country, especially in the Midwest, where you cannot get Indian groceries, Indian sweet meats or saris easily." Parveen Mohammed, a computer engineer who lives in Springfield, Ohio, drives six hours at least once a month to buy groceries not easily found in her hometown. She said the loss of Sabri Nehari _ the only restaurant her family could always agree on _ was enormous. "It's my regular place," she said. "It's almost like you're a regular, like the coffee shop at the corner of your home. That's how Sabri Nehari is." The early morning fire remains under investigation. Devon Avenue was not just a marketplace, it was a cultural hub loaded with Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi businesses. Chicago's Little South Asia got its start around 1974, when the Patel Brothers grocery store opened as one of the first Indian groceries in the area. The store has expanded into a nationwide chain. "There is no match to the Devon market throughout the world," said Mohammad Nadeem, editor-in-chief of Pakistan Times. "Excluding India and Pakistan, nothing compares to it." Nadeem said Devon's scope is greater than Jackson Heights in New York City, Oak Tree Road in Edison, N.J., and even Gerard Street in Toronto. "It's not just the size of it, it is how it's the center," said Margaret Abraham, a professor at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. "It's the center where communities meet with each other. It's often how people shape parts of their identity. Devon Avenue is like that." Since the fire, Poshak clothing store owner Sohail Riaz said nervous brides-to-be from California, Florida and Nebraska have called about their wedding dress orders that were lost in the rubble of his shop. Fahmeeda Uddin, 49, drives 2 1/2 hours once a month from South Bend, Ind., to get halal meat _ ritually sanctioned under Islamic law _ for her family. "It's sad," she said of the fire destruction. "I feel so sorry." Syed Raj Mohammed of Chicago said his family had shopped at some of the now-ruined businesses _ Poshak, Noor Meat Market and Chandani Boutique _ as long as the stores had been open. "God, we lost so much over there," he said. "It's like losing a limb of your body. It hurts you so much." © 2006 The Associated Press>