I'm born and raised in San Francisco and have been wanting a change of scenery for... a while. New York has been my "next stop" since 2003, but haven't pulled the trigger for various reasons along the way.

I just got an offer from a family member to come stay with them rent-free in Chicago, a place I've been and like, but am not in love with it. I'd have my own portion of the house with a private entrance, and a garage space, which is crucial for someone like me. I just got a 2006 M Coupe a few months ago. It's my baby, and wherever I do end up, it's coming with me. So obviously NYC would be prohibitively expensive to keep a car.

Chicago, on the other hand, would not, since it'd be rent free with a garage space. I'm also a big Chicago House Music nerd, so I'm already sold on the nightlife. So the question(s) I have would then be:

What / where are the good places / tracks / events to drive?
Is there a rich driving / car / BMW culture?
I'm from a liberal, progressive background and environment, will Chicago be too old fashioned for a Cali girl?

tracks - Autobahn country club in SW Chicago area, Blackhawk farms is probably an hour or so NW of Chicago and Road America is 3 hours north. For all your other concerns just remember that Chicago has a winter, which sucks.

Chicago sucks... i used to live there...

Move to A-Town!

www.euroteknik.com

Chicago sucks... i used to live there...

Move to A-Town!

www.euroteknik.com

:(

Hey I told her my opinion. Then told her where the Euro crowd is :)

but still.... :(


you know you miss us!

I miss some of the guys from eurotek yes... I do not miss Chicago

tracks - Autobahn country club in SW Chicago area, Blackhawk farms is probably an hour or so NW of Chicago and Road America is 3 hours north. For all your other concerns just remember that Chicago has a winter, which sucks.
yeah, it's damn cold in Chicago in the winter... Any hills within a 4 hour drive steep enough to ride a snowboard down, then??

no... midwest skiing/snowboarding is horrible. Nice if you like ice...

Colorado FTW

The last thing I remember about san fransisco was the game '2 extreme' back in 1996/97, cuz I remember that SF stage where u had to skate through all these thingys.

What does this have to do with the thread? Absolutely nothing.

chicago has awesome mexican food.

and a really good skatepark.

and awesome shoe shopping...

damn.. im going back this summer.

no... midwest skiing/snowboarding is horrible. Nice if you like ice...

Colorado FTW
sigh.

i'm not sold on Chicago yet then... So far all I have goin' for me there is free rent and house music, which are pretty strong influences. Just not sure they're strong enough to pull me all the way over there from here.

euroteknik.com for all your euro scene needs. Chicago has every single kind of culture anyone can imagine. We've got an amazing art scene (high art and modern art), every kind of music scene ever (jazz, house, breakbeat, rock, hip hop), lots of car events, track days, etc... great meets, great food, friendly people.

And yes, we're mostly liberal- except for the nutcases... I'm pretty sure those are conservative everywhere you go. ;)

A-Town is the answer... then just go to Colorado for Boarding. That is what I do.


damn liberals

The last thing I remember about san fransisco was the game '2 extreme' back in 1996/97, cuz I remember that SF stage where u had to skate through all these thingys.

What does this have to do with the thread? Absolutely nothing.

Congratulations on being the only other person in existence that knows about this game. I try and reference it with friends, but they just don't understand.

Remember road rash? I think that might have had something marginally to do with california. Ever play road rash while you had a rash? No? Neither have I.

Congratulations on being the only other person in existence that knows about this game. I try and reference it with friends, but they just don't understand.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4669/2extremetn4.th.png (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2extremetn4.png):buttrock

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4669/2extremetn4.th.png (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2extremetn4.png):buttrock

I remember that game! :eyecrazy

I remember that game! :eyecrazy

sweet ass game...:D

The last thing I remember about san fransisco was the game '2 extreme' back in 1996/97, cuz I remember that SF stage where u had to skate through all these thingys.

What does this have to do with the thread? Absolutely nothing.

I know exactly what game you are talking about.
I loved it.

If you're a lefty, just stay there. We're trying to confine all the nutso's to one area. So far it has the biggest consentration.:D

22 posts & NO PICS OF SAID M COUPE

or yourself
but frankly, id rather see the car :)

(nothing personal)

san francisco is a charming city, except for all the bums in Union square.

The leg humping in this thread is as apparent as the day is bright.

The leg humping in this thread is as apparent as the day is bright.

yeah, cuz everyone knows how much girls love to talk about 10 year old skateboarding games.

The leg humping in this thread is as apparent as the day is bright.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f127/bmwmaffoo/leghump1.jpg

Euroteknik FTW!!!

Thursday Meets FTW!!!!

Chicago FTW!!!!!

5:30 am FTL!!!!

yeah, it's damn cold in Chicago in the winter... Any hills within a 4 hour drive steep enough to ride a snowboard down, then??

yup. there certainly is. Wis. is full of them.

snowboarding rocks, if you are looking for someone to hit the slopes with, I or one of the other Euroteknik members would be glad to show you 'round.

euroteknik.com for all your euro scene needs. Chicago has every single kind of culture anyone can imagine. We've got an amazing art scene (high art and modern art), every kind of music scene ever (jazz, house, breakbeat, rock, hip hop), lots of car events, track days, etc... great meets, great food, friendly people.

And yes, we're mostly liberal- except for the nutcases... I'm pretty sure those are conservative everywhere you go. ;)

hi Ilia :wave

no... midwest skiing/snowboarding is horrible. Nice if you like ice...

Colorado FTW

sigh.....


such negativity towards chicago. :nono

Yeah Chicago sucks - brutally cold winters. You can live outside nyc and travel in.

nyc > SF > Chicago

you cant compare chicago and NYC...like seriously....at all

haha if the OP was a guy who mentioned he was a liberal, the thread would be singing a different tune :rofl

For a Mid-West city, Chicago is great. Lots of great food, shopping, culture, etc. You have to get out of the city for good driving.

If you don't like the cold and snow, don't do it.

Putnam track is near Indianapolis, a great track to start with.

http://www.putnampark.com/

awesome, thanks for the driving and snowboarding info... sorry for no pics. i made a quick web album so you can check out my car:
picasaweb.google.com/alisonicook

For a Mid-West city, Chicago is great. Lots of great food, shopping, culture, etc. You have to get out of the city for good driving.

If you don't like the cold and snow, don't do it.

Putnam track is near Indianapolis, a great track to start with.

http://www.putnampark.com/

Great driving? Where is there great driving? At a track maybe but certainly no place for spirited driving.


yup. there certainly is. Wis. is full of them.

snowboarding rocks, if you are looking for someone to hit the slopes with, I or one of the other Euroteknik members would be glad to show you 'round.

She is coming from Cali. She has the Rockies. You are being a little misleading. I think I could better give her how the snowboarding is since I go 2-3 times to Snowmass, CO every year.

I bought into the "oh there is great boarding in WI". So I went. Well that is a complete load of crap. If you enjoy fake snow that has melted during the day and then froze into ice at night, then covered with more fake snow in the morning then WI is for you! Oh yah. And there are 8 runs covered with a bunch of idiots that think they are shawn white on this pimple that is called a "mountain".

No Thanks.

Yeah Chicago sucks - brutally cold winters. You can live outside nyc and travel in.

nyc > SF > Chicago

hell yah +1 to that

sigh.....


such negativity towards chicago. :nono

Um, because I lived there and it sucked ass. She wants to know how people will react to moving there. Let's see what happened when I moved there for high school from Georgia.

Oh yah! I was told that I should go beat my slaves. Or I was a redneck because I had a jeep wrangler that was lifted. Or better yet my family was poor because we were from Georgia!!! Yah what a great City. So friendly! There was 1 person. 1 damn person who talked to me when I first moved there. And to this day he is my best friend.

Um, because I lived there and it sucked ass. She wants to know how people will react to moving there. Let's see what happened when I moved there for high school from Georgia.

Oh yah! I was told that I should go beat my slaves. Or I was a redneck because I had a jeep wrangler that was lifted. Or better yet my family was poor because we were from Georgia!!! Yah what a great City. So friendly! There was 1 person. 1 damn person who talked to me when I first moved there. And to this day he is my best friend.

You must have moved to Naperville.

No, actually shithole Northbrook... The "upper crust" of the Chicago Suburbs... filled with BS... kids out of control. Parents buying booze for kids, parents getting drunk with kids. Getting arrested etc

All this gets swept under the rug...

Remember Glenbrook North High School made international news? Yah... parents bought girls booze and then they beat the ever living shit out of each other for "powder puff"... THEN the community plays like they had NO IDEA it was going on... BULL SHIT! I was not in the popular crowd and even I knew it was going on...

I'm born and raised in San Francisco and have been wanting a change of scenery for... a while. New York has been my "next stop" since 2003, but haven't pulled the trigger for various reasons along the way.

I just got an offer from a family member to come stay with them rent-free in Chicago, a place I've been and like, but am not in love with it. I'd have my own portion of the house with a private entrance, and a garage space, which is crucial for someone like me. I just got a 2006 M Coupe a few months ago. It's my baby, and wherever I do end up, it's coming with me. So obviously NYC would be prohibitively expensive to keep a car.

Chicago, on the other hand, would not, since it'd be rent free with a garage space. I'm also a big Chicago House Music nerd, so I'm already sold on the nightlife. So the question(s) I have would then be:

What / where are the good places / tracks / events to drive?
Is there a rich driving / car / BMW culture?
I'm from a liberal, progressive background and environment, will Chicago be too old fashioned for a Cali girl?

I grew up in Northwest suburbs of Chicago, then moved away 2 years ago after I graduated college. And honestly, if I could find a fulfilling engineering career in Chicago, I'd probably return.

Here's my 2 cents: Chicago-ians tend to be proud of their city, and a lot of that pride comes from the culture and history the city offers. The food is great, with just about every ethnicity represented. If you're into the arts, the city has art, science, and natural history museums as well as 2 zoos and the Shedd Aquarium. Lot of comedy clubs and performing arts centers if you're into that sorta thing. We've got every major league sport (including 2 major league baseball teams, and major league soccer). The night life both in the city and suburbs is awesome with great bars, pubs, clubs, and resturants.

In the summer time, you've got Lake Michigan for watersports. Makinac Island, Door County WI, etc are all good weekend destinations if you need a change of pace. Granted, in the winter time, you won't have the great skiing and snow boarding that you have in Colorado and on the West Coast. But, honestly, its a good excuse to take a winter vacation.

Moreover, even if you're in the suburbs, getting to downtown Chicago is usually as easy as hopping on the train. Chicago's public transportation system really is pretty decent. You also have 2 local airports so flight options are decent, both direct flights w/ major airlines at O'Hare, and low-cost flights with budget airlines at Midway.

Whereas many midwestern cities struggled in the '80s and '90s as blue-collar manufacturing jobs fled the U.S., Chicago's economy has remained pretty strong, and crime has fallen significantly since then as well. The cost living is a bit more reasonible than NY and SF as well.

Car culture has been pretty well covered by everyone else.... its pretty strong in Chicago, with plenty of enthusiasts in the NW suburbs. You've got plenty of BMW dealerships to choose from, and several independant service centers as well. Several nearby tracks as previously mentioned as well (Blackhawk Farms near Rockford, IL, Road America in WI, Putnam Park in IN, Grattan in MI, and also Waterford Hills in MI).

Does Naperville suck? I think that is the name of the 'burb I will be staying... hm. I've been once before to Chicago during Christmas, so I have experienced the bitter winter cold there. I would miss Tahoe and the Pacific Ocean, for sure. I think I'm starting to form the impression that I shouldn't move to Chicago and just leave it as a good place to visit. I guess I will just fly out for a couple days to see how I feel when I'm there.

Naperville is one of the nicer suburbs of Chicago. Sure, the winters can be on the cold side, but it does make you appreciate spring and summer that much more.

I kinda feel the opposite of you: Chicago is a good place to live, but places like Denver and West Coast are great places to visit. When you live in places like those full-time, you tend to take it for granted. When you visit them for a 1 or 2 week vacation every year, you appreciate them more.

You should take a visit to Chicago... run up to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, take the train downtown and catch a Cubs game, walk around Michigan Ave, then go grab some Chicago-style pizza at Gino's.

yeah, cuz everyone knows how much girls love to talk about 10 year old skateboarding games.

It's good that you learned from your mistake.

Does Naperville suck? I think that is the name of the 'burb I will be staying... hm. I've been once before to Chicago during Christmas, so I have experienced the bitter winter cold there. I would miss Tahoe and the Pacific Ocean, for sure. I think I'm starting to form the impression that I shouldn't move to Chicago and just leave it as a good place to visit. I guess I will just fly out for a couple days to see how I feel when I'm there.
Let us know when you come in.

Great driving? Where is there great driving? At a track maybe but certainly no place for spirited driving.




She is coming from Cali. She has the Rockies. You are being a little misleading. I think I could better give her how the snowboarding is since I go 2-3 times to Snowmass, CO every year.

I bought into the "oh there is great boarding in WI". So I went. Well that is a complete load of crap. If you enjoy fake snow that has melted during the day and then froze into ice at night, then covered with more fake snow in the morning then WI is for you! Oh yah. And there are 8 runs covered with a bunch of idiots that think they are shawn white on this pimple that is called a "mountain".

No Thanks.



hell yah +1 to that



Um, because I lived there and it sucked ass. She wants to know how people will react to moving there. Let's see what happened when I moved there for high school from Georgia.

Oh yah! I was told that I should go beat my slaves. Or I was a redneck because I had a jeep wrangler that was lifted. Or better yet my family was poor because we were from Georgia!!! Yah what a great City. So friendly! There was 1 person. 1 damn person who talked to me when I first moved there. And to this day he is my best friend.

Well, let's not be misleading to her now. Just because you were ridiculed and taunted does not mean that everyone is. Chicago is a great city for me. Much better than HOTlanta. I've been there once. Don't think I'll ever go back.

Well, let's not be misleading to her now. Just because you were ridiculed and taunted does not mean that everyone is. Chicago is a great city for me. Much better than HOTlanta. I've been there once. Don't think I'll ever go back.

Why, it is the truth... I guess if I was a girl from California I bet it would have been different.

Chicago is full of close-minded elitist with noses in the air.

Specifically Northbrook, Lake Forest and the surrounding areas.

California ----> Chicago...doubt you'd like living there too much

euroteknik.com for all your euro scene needs. Chicago has every single kind of culture anyone can imagine. We've got an amazing art scene (high art and modern art), every kind of music scene ever (jazz, house, breakbeat, rock, hip hop), lots of car events, track days, etc... great meets, great food, friendly people.

And yes, we're mostly liberal- except for the nutcases... I'm pretty sure those are conservative everywhere you go. ;)

Euroteknik for the car gigs. Simply the best crowd .....

If you need entertainment, you wont find any better than around here. I lived in Cali, south Florida ... all nice .. but, I am stuck here, I just love it. :guitarist

All that crap about the weather .. SUCK IT UP! Put a coat on, throw a log on the fire, enjoy the change in seasons. You want 75 degrees, 50% humidity 24/7 ... move to Panama "Saludos desde Panama!" :violinist

Ciao ....

Why, it is the truth... I guess if I was a girl from California I bet it would have been different.

Chicago is full of close-minded elitist with noses in the air.

Specifically Northbrook, Lake Forest and the surrounding areas.

Come on ...... Palatine aint so bad! We all love our friends. :kiss

Palatine < ---- No stuck up, working/good people. Who just happen to love BIMMERS!!! :round

Naperville? OMG! If you end up working in downtown Chicago and driving in every day you will want to kill yourself or someone else after enduring I-55 or I-88 (as an alt) for a while. There's actually one stretch of highway nicknamed the Hillside Strangler which is listed as one of the Top 10 traffic bottlenecks in the nation where 34,000 cars are squeezed from multiple lanes down into one before spreading back out to multiple lanes again every morning during rush hour: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=2749173
What retard thought up that traffic pattern in the first place that even the current "improvements" are incredibly lame?!?!?! LOL

I was born and raised in Chicago, have lived in the city, in the NW and SW 'burbs and the traffic sucks worse than Bush as president. Doesn't even matter any longer if your commute is inbound or outbound from the city. Granted it's not as bad as NYC or LA but both inbound and outbound Chicago commutes suck. Additionally, from Naperville (a SW 'burb as well as the other western 'burbs) into the city there are often traffic hangups known as "sunshine delays" because people are driving E/NE into the city right into the glaring sunrise. That of course only happens during hot, muggy (i.e. typical) Chicago summer days. Then there's snowy/slushy/salty winters in Chicago! :mad Do you really want to subject your Bimmer to that?

Additionally, if you're interested in any kind of club/music scene you will have to go into the city for that 'cause you sure won't find it in sleepytown Naperville or surrounding areas. If you're lucky you might find an Elvis impersonator at a local "club" out in that bedroom community. :rolleyes

Late last year (just before another winter hit. LOL!) I finally moved to San Diego from Chicago and haven't looked back. Both California (and yes I also lived in the Bay Area years ago) and more specifically, SoCal rocks.
:D :buttrock

im trying to get OUT of chicago.

im trying to get OUT of chicago.

NICE!