Always fun to have someone over who knows the city. We'll spend 20 minutes pointing to all the buildings we've worked in, places we've eaten, or where The Bear or The Fugitive were filmed.
Not clear why this is hitting HN today, but these are popular enough in Chicago to be kind of a cliche. No matter how convincing the poster is, I think you'll be disappointed if you plan a trip to visit scenic Galewood.
Hey! I live in Galewood! OK, Mont Clare really. But you would not be wrong in either case.
People see/hear about Chicago (the city, not burbs) and think it is just deep dish, The Bean, and crime. But out here in the bungalow belt, it is working class schlubs just living quiet lives. Aka, the REAL Chicago. If you want a better picture, look up "Blues Brothers Mrs. Tarantino". Yes, I know that's Cicero, but close enough. If you drove that street today, nearly 50 years later, you'd think no time has passed at all.
This was bait enough that I jumped into Google Maps to look at a few random Galewood streets via street view. Obviously very suburban, but looks like it'd make for a nice stroll until you tired of the cookie-cutter layout. Hugh Hefner's childhood home as a bonus.
I live across the street from it. It's fine! It's just one of the most boring neighborhoods in Chicago. Walking distance to Johnnie's Beef, though, which is the best beef spot in the city.
Of Galewood itself? Yeah, no, though it's across the street from one of the most famous architectural areas in Chicagoland. But the posters? They're deliberately an homage to WPA style.
For some less serious Chicago bulletins, there was SquirrelTruth[0]. A kickstarter was created to post signs in the CTA about the danger of squirrels. I am not sure how many variations there were, but the only one I ever saw was, "Statistically speaking, at least one 'person' on this train is actually 7 squirrels wearing a human suit. Don't be a victim."
My personal opinion is that all of San Francisco is best avoided, so I feel comfortable with my assessment even stipulating, arguendo, what you just said. :)
I lived in Chicago for about a decade, and around 2017 to 2023 I set a goal of biking to every one of the 76(?) neighborhoods. I made it to about 63. There are definitely neighborhoods rougher than others. But tbh every neighborhood has good food, and, you know, normal people living there. Like, in Garfield park I remember buying ribs from a guy that was just sorta cooking them outa the back of his truck. They were terrific. Pilsen has great Mexican food, and Devon has nuts Indian food (Ghareeb Narwaz is by far my favorite). Yeah, in some neighborhoods, on a couple of blocks there are guys out on the corner selling. But no one's bothering anyone. There's nowhere you can't go on a Saturday at 1PM. Basically, what I'm saying is, the Chicago you see on the news isn't the one I live in. So, you know, keep your wits about you, take care, but I think everyone in Chicago should go to a random neighborhood and get some food.
I've lived in some of the roughest neighborhoods there and never felt particularly unsafe walking around at all. A couple of times people dumped bodies in my yard, but I also had that problem when I lived in a really nice area too :D A couple of other times I took to my basement while there were gang shootouts happening outside my house.
There is lots of great food in Chicago. Downtown is nice to me. You can get around the whole city on bike + El (subway).
It's still my least favorite major city, though. I have no urge to live there again.
How can someone talk about a trivial experience of exploring food while acknowledging that they had bodies thrown into their yards? In both countries in Europe I lived I have never in my life seen a corpse outside of a funeral and even then. I also never heard gun shots except for hunting and never in an urban setting.
I can’t imagine having my little children suffering seeing the corpse of a dead human being and I would curse and never set foot on a land where that is normalised.
I grew up here and have lived here for the last 20 years and I have never met anybody here who could tell either of those stories. It sounds pretty made up.
Later
I should add, I have friends who grew up in Lawndale, Gage Park, and Auburn Gresham. They don't tell these stories either. Witnessing violence, lots of property crime, being fucked with by the cops, feeling threatened by gang activity, sure. Bodies dumped on their lawns? Hiding in their basement from gun fire? Not so much.
Bullshit. You could drop every Chicago murder victims body for a year in east Chatham and the chances of it landing in any particular yard would be small. And clearly most murder bodies don’t end up in any yard. For it to happen multiple times is a ludicrous claim.
I lived in Woodlawn for 15 years and never heard a gunshot, more or less went to my basement.
I’m not sure what your goal is. Chicago has a gun violence problem, like many cities in the US but claiming it’s that common is just for tricking gullible Europeans or making political hay.
I assume Woodlawn was probably peppered with Shotspotters just like Chatham was, so it's odd that they would install the equipment if there were no shootings at all.
Dude there's a shotspotter a couple blocks from my house and our police discharged a sidearm in the line of duty for the first time in over 10 years last year. Nobody was dumping bodies on your lawn.
You get that we live here right? How is this argument supposed to work out for you?
If you want to do some FOIAs on the CPD to prove the veracity of my statements I might be able to find the dates since I texted my landlord both times. The police wanted the camera footage from my building, but the camera wasn't working, so it didn't help them. There was also a Shotspotter on my block, so if you FOIA all the recordings from that you'll be able to see how many times there were shots detected from it.
> “I mean, it’s exciting any time anyone says they like my art. Obviously, people buy it, but it’s still astounding to me that people like the stuff I make.”
Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square (called those 2 neighborhoods home) then Summer and Caldwell Lily Pond. I spent many a summer evening under the promenade in front of the Frank Gehry Bandshell; And the Lily Pond...those posters are stunning. Really evoked a sense of place and love for the city.
Good picks. If you didn't already know, Ryan Duggan did a print series of iconic neighborhood pizza places. I've had Fox's in Beverly on my wall twice and both times I ended up having to give the print away to someone who was one-shot by it when they came to my house.
what is sad, is that you an take the article, go to any LLM, ask to read and build an system prompt, from the images + text, and then you can replicate his work
I think what's more sad is someone going out of their way to NOT support the artist.
Art is, among other things, a conversation starter. If someone sees an LLM generated thing hanging in the home or office and strikes up a conversation, it goes something like: "Yeah, i saw it online and I ended up ripping it off"...or the person lies to save face (also sad).
Or, the conversation could be "Yeah, these were purchased directly from the artist...I bought them because....". (a much more interesting conversation)
Both of these evoke an emotional reaction with an interlocutor.
Always fun to have someone over who knows the city. We'll spend 20 minutes pointing to all the buildings we've worked in, places we've eaten, or where The Bear or The Fugitive were filmed.
https://viewing.nyc/new-yorker-cover-from-1976-accurately-po...
And I am typing that as I look at the Edgewater poster hanging right there over my desk.
And also, didn't realize he released a bunch of cool fonts, too: https://tomato-giraffe-jpm4.squarespace.com/fonts.
[0] https://www.squirreltruth.com/
Where in Chicago are you moving? It's really an amazing city.
There is lots of great food in Chicago. Downtown is nice to me. You can get around the whole city on bike + El (subway).
It's still my least favorite major city, though. I have no urge to live there again.
I can’t imagine having my little children suffering seeing the corpse of a dead human being and I would curse and never set foot on a land where that is normalised.
Later
I should add, I have friends who grew up in Lawndale, Gage Park, and Auburn Gresham. They don't tell these stories either. Witnessing violence, lots of property crime, being fucked with by the cops, feeling threatened by gang activity, sure. Bodies dumped on their lawns? Hiding in their basement from gun fire? Not so much.
I lived in Woodlawn for 15 years and never heard a gunshot, more or less went to my basement.
I’m not sure what your goal is. Chicago has a gun violence problem, like many cities in the US but claiming it’s that common is just for tricking gullible Europeans or making political hay.
You get that we live here right? How is this argument supposed to work out for you?
I love this.
posters on artist's site: https://www.thechicagoneighborhoods.com/shop
I guess this is for our own protection.
https://www.ryanduggan.com/
"This content is not available in your region"
Art is, among other things, a conversation starter. If someone sees an LLM generated thing hanging in the home or office and strikes up a conversation, it goes something like: "Yeah, i saw it online and I ended up ripping it off"...or the person lies to save face (also sad).
Or, the conversation could be "Yeah, these were purchased directly from the artist...I bought them because....". (a much more interesting conversation)
Both of these evoke an emotional reaction with an interlocutor.