Chicago vs. Winnipeg

Winnipeg is often known as the Chicago of the north. I decided that assumptions were not good enough to judge a city, so on April 6 2009 my advertising classmates and I took a trip down to Chicago, Illinois to add validity to the old nick-name. We piled into a seven passenger van and began the long trip down to Chicago.

“I’ve never heard of that.” said Ryan Barrett, 23, a gas station attendant in Minneapolis. “But I have a friend in Canada.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked with a laugh. “Where does your friend live?”

“Vancouver.”

I thanked the young man and left the gas station, shaking my head all the way back to the hotel. The next day we arrived into Chicago, population approximately 9 million, in the early evening. Immediately I began to notice the similarities to Winnipeg. The buildings were oddly familiar. When we passed through China town, I could not help but see the Princess Street face of the Red River College down a lonely street. The sky scrapers looked like something out of a Winnipeg post card. Many of the architects who worked in Winnipeg had also been contracted to design buildings in Chicago.

I don’t know if it’s the media, or simply small town ignorance, but I always expect the worst kind of treatment from people in big American cities. I bumped into a man on my first day into Chicago. We hit hard enough to force us both to turn back toward each other. I was preparing to fumble out an apology when he shocked me by saying:

“Pardon me, sir!”
When I overcame my state, I cursed my traitorous tongue for not saying anything in return.

I have been to cities from London to Glasgow to Vancouver and the only other place where I have been treated with such respect was in Winnipeg and Chicago.

I had also heard that Winnipeg and Chicago have a booming music scene. Since Chicago is traditionally known for its blues music, I decided to gather up a few friends and visit two different blues bars… which turned out to be much easier than I thought. There were blues bars all over the city; you just needed to know where to look for it. There is always a concert going on somewhere in the two cities, and all the local acts know each other from performing in the same venue circuits.

“We play everywhere in the city. Sometimes we play the same place two nights in a row.” Said Jimmy Johnson, local blues musician. “I can’t say I’ve ever been to Winnipeg.”

I decided one day, since we were in the home city of the current President of the United States (and because of this assignment), that we would visit his old neighborhood. We rode the red line rapid transit train all the way to Hyde Park Township to do some exploring. The area is known for being a little rough, and the police cars every couple blocks gave witness to that reason. Despite being a small group of tourists, we were still treated with respect and kindness.

“Sit down and relax, man!” said the aptly known ‘Blade.’ He was named such because of his skill with the straight razor. He and I conversed for a good twenty minutes about Chicago. “Yeah, Chicago is pretty clean. Lots of street sweepers.”

That was the biggest difference I noticed between Chicago and Winnipeg, besides the obvious size difference: cleanliness. There was no snow, very little litter and the streets were in much better condition. They think that they have pothole problems, but I assure you that they have no idea what a pothole problem really is.

Winnipeg and Chicago certainly share their small town mentality. They developed in the same type of environment and share quite a few of the same interests, including being different from the unappreciative east coast. Another difference that I noticed was the panhandlers and street buskers. There are so many of them in Chicago that they have to hustle and entertain if they want to earn a living. In Winnipeg, it’s more likely that one of them will stab you than entertain you.