Choosing Chicago Part 3

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 3

We skipped visiting New York, as we’d spent a couple recent vacations there. I adore Brooklyn, where I’d gone to college at Pratt in the late 1980s, when the borough was a very different place. I still find the transformation of hopeless ghetto to desirable, leafy brownstone neighborhoods amazing. It also continues to worry me how quickly even the most desolate places can soar to exorbitant prices in less than a decade or two if it has good bones and somehow becomes the next darling.

Our next train stop was Philadelphia. The layover proved momentous. First, we took a break to reconnect with a couple of my childhood friends. But secondly, I fell in love.

Going in I knew Philly was a smaller city down on its luck, which made it reasonably affordable, even in the best downtown neighborhoods of Center City. I was happy to discover blocks of row houses, and other historical styles. It was Rittenhouse Square, specifically, where I became smitten. It was love at first sight.

It was as if someone had taken Newbury Street out of Boston and merged it with some brownstones of Brooklyn, with some French restaurants thrown in for good measure. I have never seen a more dog friendly neighborhood. Fido often went into the little stores. He didn’t have to worry about being regulated outdoors to the patio, even in some of the restaurants, if he fit into a purse.

Bicycles were everywhere. I watched laundry pickups by cargo bike. The neighborhood was free-spirited with young people drinking beers on their stoops in the summer evening, while mature folks drank wine on the sidewalks outside of cafes. People greeted each other on the streets.

I decided we should move to Philly. My husband’s company only has one urban location in the USA, within a mile of Rittenhouse Square. He would have the option of using an office instead of having to work from home. I was so sure this would be “The One” I bought my husband a Philadelphia 76s cap with his name monogramed on the back, which he now politely stores in the closet.

My daughter didn’t share my enthusiasm, declaring the city to be as sleepy as Boston. It didn’t matter. She would be heading off to college. Besides, both Washington, DC and New York City were train rides less than a couple hours away. Some people even refer to Philly as the sixth, affordable borough of New York.

Part 4 (Rittenhouse Square, Philly versus South Beach, Miami.)