You Know You're From Chicago When...
You say "Wanna go with?" when you mean "Do you want to come with me?"
You know what Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Edens, and Bishop Ford, have in common and curse one of them daily.
You know what "the Hillside strangler is."
You can name three or four extra taxes nobody else pays.
You know the difference between Richard J Daley and Richard M Daley.
You can use two or three Daleyisms in context.
You can imitate the Mayor's whine.
You say Chicawgo and not Chicaago.
You think going to a Bears game in single digit temperatures with a wind off the lake (and freezing rain) is fun.
Da is a proper definite article.
You expect corruption in local politics.
You go to the Dells in the summer to get away from the other 20 thousand that followed you.
You've been caught speeding in Wisconsin because you had Illinois plates.
You guard your shoveled parking space with an old chair and unusable broom.
You know why they call it "the Windy City."
You know dead people who voted.
You understand the Democratic machine and don't fight against it.
You've never ever considered the idea of hiring non-union laborers.
You've never been to Springfield.
You know a good gyros joint.
You know what Giordanos, Lou Malnati's, and Gino's have in common.
You know when the last time the Cubs won a pennant.
You know exactly how many cars are "legally" allowed to turn left after the light turns red.
You don't know which ethnic "fest" to choose on any given Summer weekend.
Your idea of relaxing and getting away from it all is Ravinia (with 10,000 others who have the same idea).
You can recite many of "The Blues Brothers" lines and know where they filmed certain scenes.
You consider paying someone to watch your car at a sporting event as just another "city tax."
The "Living Room" is called the "front room"
You don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do
You measure distance in minutes (especially "from the city"). And you swear everything is pretty much 15 minutes away
You refer to anything South of I-80 as "Southern Illinois"
You refer to Lake Michigan as "The Lake"
You refer to Chicago as "The City"
"The Super Bowl" refers to one specific game in a series of 35 played in January of 1986
You have two favorite football teams: The Bears, and anyone who beats the Packers!
You buy "The Trib"
You think 35 degrees is great weather to wash your car!
You know what goes on a Chicago Style Hot Dog
You know what Chicago Style Pizza REALLY is
You understand what "lake-effect" means
You know the difference between Amtrak and Metra, and know which station they end up at. You have ridden the "L"
You can distinguish between the following area codes: 847,630,773,708, 312, & 815
You respond to the question "Where are you from" with a side" example:"WEST SIDE", "SOUTH SIDE" or "NORTHSIDE."
You know what the phone number is to Empire Carpet!
You wear gym shoes, not sneakers.
Your favorite melody to hum is "Bang,Bang,Bang-Skeet,Skeet,Skeet!!!!"
You faithfully attended Lil Louis parties at The Bismarck.
You GOT to have spaghetti at your barbecue.
You are STILL a Bulls fan........
You think kicking it outside of White Castles parking lot, (79th and Stony Island) is the "Freak Nik"
You go to Harold`s and order 4 pc wing, mild sauce, salt and pepper.
You have a picture of Harold Washington in your kitchen, living room, family room or basement.
You have ever waited in line at Home of the Hoagy on 111th for 30-45 minutes for a steak samich wit cheese
You have ever been to the Tiki Room lounge in Hyde Park
You have Y made a special trip downtown because you had a craving for Garrett's caramel and cheese popcorn.
What!!! We don`t get a Fifty? Oh yeah....
You drink at bars called "Bud on Tap" or "Milwaukee's Best" -- no names, just beer signs out front.
It's January and you see someone's kitchen chair in the street, and you know that if you're a responsible citizen and bring it back to the sidewalk you will be shot on sight
You live two miles from work and it takes you two hours to drive there
You don't flinch when you pay the fifth toll of your 45-minute car ride on the highway
When you read a big story in the paper about mob ties in the city government, your first reaction is "So, tell me something I don't know."
You know Lincoln Towing is Satan incarnate.
You've paid $105 for towing, $30 for more than one "street cleaning" ticket, $58 for a city vehicle sticker, and $70 for a license plate sticker -- and chalk it all up to "neighborhood taxes."
You pluralize grocery stores and retail chains: "I'm going to Jewels"; "I bought it at Targets"; "I couldn't find parking at Wal-Marts"
You've taken the Red Line past the point where all white people get off and all black people get on -- or vice versa.
You've cursed at a cyclist, pedestrian, or in-line skater on the lakefront path.
You know the significance of State and Madison.
You wonder if the fries will taste the same at Sammy Sosa's Restaurant.
You don't miss Planet Hollywood.
You're not ashamed of wearing a big fur Russian hat, or a headsock with one hole in it, in public from November through March.
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Also,
when someone says they live in wild 100s, you know what they mean.
you miss "jewtown"
you don't understand how people in other cities can get together and there is no food involved
you know about that guy on State Street with the microphone and speaker who tells everybody who passes him that they're going to hell
You understand the differences between the color lines... meaning red, brown, blue, green and yellow.
You ever shopped at Carson Pierie Scott, Marshall Field's, or Woolworth's.
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
You know where they are and what they are doing in "Ferris Beuler's Day Off"
You know somebody who went to shcool where they filmed "the breakfast club"
You can name any part of the city by it's street numbers, street names, and the ethnic group that lives there, as well as by its real "neighborhood" name. Bonus if you can also name a major tourist attraction or other landmark.
Calling a neighborhood "jewtown" "Boys town" "Little Mexico" or even "beantown" is not an ethnic or other slur, jsut a way to identify a place. Heck, "Bronzetown" really IS the neighborhood name!
You know that Bartman has nothing to do with the simpsons
You understand the cosmic meaning of "wait til next year"
You think people who live west of I-294 wear cowboy hats and speak with a drawl
Any town NOT in Chicago or the immediate vicinty is "downstate." You can take I-290 North to "Downstate Rockford"
As a kid, you thought the farm in the lincoln park zoo was something exotic
You can drive on lower Wacker, Lower Michigan, Lower Grand, Lower Lakeshore, etc, without getting lost
You know the difference between the green they put in the Chicago river for St. patricks day, and the normal green color it is all year round
You have ever been unable to drive in the city on March 17 because there was a parade in the way
You eiterh know who Bud Billikin was and why he gets his own special day and parade, you you have been wondering about it for years
You know what season it is and what is going on in the city by what the lions at the art institute are wearing
You know LSD stands for something ohter than a drug
You can name several novelty songs written about the city, that, to your knowledge, nobody outside of Chicago has ever heard ("Moo, moo, I love you" "Under the El tracks")
You know who "SUE" is
You grew up watching Ray Raynor, BOzo, and Garfield Goose
You celebrate the 20th anniversary of the year your team won the super bowl.
You know what baseball has in common with chewing gum
You know Fannie Mae, Fannie Farmer, an Ferrera Pan
You know the difference between Noreth Side Irish and South Side Irish
You can tell your way around the nortwest side by what letter the streets begin with.
You remebmer when all the peep shows were named after fairy tales: Puss in Booths, Little Bo Peep, Little miss muffet
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
The best thing about it, would be seeing it in the rearview mirror...
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
lol, i thought it was actually CALLED boystown.... what is it really, just wrigleyville?
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
It's a helluva town.
I was there for two weeks one night. In fact that's when I knew I'd been there one too many times.
Youse guys think you got lake-ffect? Look over here!
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
First off, where does someone on the West Coast get off starting this post? Second, what's that crack about "jewtown"?
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoneyHITZ
lol, i thought it was actually CALLED boystown.... what is it really, just wrigleyville?
I think its andersonville. By Clark and belmont. Wrigleybille is north, by clark and addison.
RElax, CE. She seems to have a pretty good handle on it, maybe seh is from here originally. As far as Jewtown is concerned, it's on the northwest side, almost in the burbs. Lots of people like it for the food. That is where I got my first challah bread and that heavenly candy thing made out of seseme seeds. Best latkes on earth, too.
BTW, I was engaged to a Jew for 3 years, and my father worked for the Goldblatt family my entire childhood. I have never met a Jew who was offended by a reference to Jewtown. YOu can realx you PC kneejerk reflexes, really.
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chicagoeditor
First off, where does someone on the West Coast get off starting this post? Second, what's that crack about "jewtown"?
hmm well maybe because I'm from Chicago... yeah that might be why :P
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Actually, Boystown is part of Wrigleyville. It's just a "location" of Wrigleyville that a lot of gay men prefer to live. Andersonville is actually more north. Haven't you ever driven down Halsted to Wrigleyville and noticed the "rainbow spires" on the sides of the street? The shops there even have rainbows in the windows. I lived in the "boystown" section for about a year...and I never felt safer. Heh...I would walk home by myself at 10pm and I was just fine.
And, CE, jeezus...take a :chillpill
Jewtown is the section of Chicago where you can find the highest population of jews living/shops. Just like Little Italy is the place to go if you want authentic homemade Italian food and to have someone yell at you if you don't clean off your plate (it's insulting!). It's just an "identifier". ::)
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Sorry guys, most of you are wrong....
"Jewtown" is actually, by Halsted and Roosevelt -also known as Maxwell Street. It was called Jewtown because back in the 50s, even before, that's where the Jewish immigrants lived, worked, and owned shops.
If you guys are thinking that, "Jewtown" is up north, you could be right but technically wrong. That's more like Skokie.
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Venus, you got me on BOYSTOWN. I used to live in Edgewater, but it was a while ago. I wa trying to remember where the rainbow spire neighborhood ws in relatoin to Wrigly Field, and I got it wrong. OOPS.
Rican AsianMa, I do remember The maxwell Street area, and I know it used to be highly jewish. I knew people who immigrated from Russia, and owned a shop on milwaukee av. near roosavelt for years. Now, most of the jews live north, around Devon, and sort of overlappinto into skokie and lincolnwood. If you are going east on Devon, you first go through little India, then Jewtown. THere are synogogs, jewish restaurants, jewish bookstores, etc. The Hasidic Jews are easy to spot on the streets. even the baskin Robins has a big sign in the window proclaiming they have kosher ice cream. As I said, I went with a Jew for 3 years, and all the times I referred to that area of Devon as Jewtown, nobody once corrected me. I even bought my "Everything Jewish Wedding" book in a jewish shop on Devon.
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Quote:
Originally Posted by VenusGoddess
(snip) Actually, Boystown is part of Wrigleyville. It's just a "location" of Wrigleyville that a lot of gay men prefer to live. Andersonville is actually more north. Haven't you ever driven down Halsted to Wrigleyville and noticed the "rainbow spires" on the sides of the street? The shops there even have rainbows in the windows. I lived in the "boystown" section for about a year...and I never felt safer. Heh...I would walk home by myself at 10pm and I was just fine.
How could anyone forget that street with all the rainbows everywhere? The guys weren't ever very friendly to me though /:O
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
boystown is the only place that i will actually go downtown... im not a city girl, but its sooo nice there, i mean its the cleanest part of the city ive ever seen!
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Hmmmmmm A post about Chicago and nothing about Buddy Guy's Legends? The Palmer House? Soldier Field? Softball with a rediculously sized ball and no gloves? Beer vendors @ Cubs games who give you their business card with their home phone number on em? The entre that barely passes for pizza that they cook in a deep pan? Or even bars that close @ 3AM because their license only allows them to stay open till 2AM, versus the bars that close at 6AM because their licenses allow them to stay open till 5? ...or even one mention of the term "second city"????
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
don't forget..."Sasage" as in "giime a slice of dat sasage pizza"
Jewtown maybe started on maxwell, but it has been the Skokie area ever since I can remember. Oy veh!
Bumper sticker seen is spots crazed Chicago: "Da Bulls, Da Bears, Da Vorce"
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Like a couple posters have said, "Jewtown" was another name for Maxwell Street, and the reason we miss it is because it's Gone. All the property was owned or bought up by UIC; and has been converted to school facilities, condos, nice stores, etc.
The name "Jewtown" can have some derogatory meaning to it, but can also me meant as a term of enderment. The old Maxwell Street did have many Jewish vendors and stores; but eventually the neighborhood became mostly African-American; and Maxwell street mostly became a flea market and often a place to buy stolen goods ("Tube Socks!!! 10 for 5!!!"). Thus, it was often referred to as Jewtown (even after the Jewish shops left), as a reference that you could get things for cheap (thus the derogatory meaning). Anyway, there's still some Maxwell Polish vendors scattered about, and they're still tastey.
Also, as a lifelong Chicagoan, I will admit that which many won't...Chicago Style pizza is good, but not as delicious as a good thin crust (but not NY style thin crust of course).
Re: You Know You're From Chicago When...
Don't know if this was used yet...
If you know "It must be eagle man!" is...