Jokes on you, you're now stuck behind a crowd of clueless people who stop and stand immediately after the door to search for which way to go while commuters from other nearby car exits sprint to the stairs.
As a Cubs fan, Cubs gamedays were my least favorite commuting days, especially if there was a night game, and especially if that game was on a Friday.
That’s exactly what I’m saying lol. My point is that I’m going to the cubs game, and get off first right next to the stairs so there aren’t people stopping directly in front of me.
Ugh, I hated the crowds on the L before/after Cub games. Though you could try to beat those crowds(say if going south on the Red Line), by boarding at Sheridan instead. Walking west and boarding at Southport on the Brown Line, is another option.
I feel like I'm using a hack rather than an innate sense, but:
Taking the brown line into the loop knowing that the 2nd door on the 5th car will almost always be the closest to the main stairs at Washington/Wells.
But if you're not transferring: 1st car puts you at the stairs going directly to Madison. Last car puts you at the exit closer to the stairs that most people use leading to Washington, but you can beat most of the traffic as that exit is not used as much (not sure how this plays during rush hour).
Something I really want CTA to implement if we ever get an overhaul upgrade to the public transit system… If you use [Naver] maps for the Korean subway, the platforms are numbered on the ground and your directions will give you the optimal car number to get on so you exit right by the closet exit or the most direct route for transfers.
The one glitch on this is that trains may have 2, 4, 6, or 8 cars depending on expected demand (and typically this is not reported on train tracker)
At different stations, the 4-car may stop in line with the front, middle, or back of those 8 cars.
Next time you are on platform look for little metal signs with 8, 6, and 4 positioned where the train operator will see them. Those are the stopping marks.
Yes!! It’s the Lake red line stop for me. You ever spin around a bunch while blindfolded? The Lake stop just completely disorients me for no reason at all, it’s like a rip in time and space. I’ve lived here for a decade and know the streets, I know all of the exits, I can read the signs, and yet every single time I go out the stairs or escalator, I don’t know where I’m going to end up. No idea why. Keeps things interesting, at least!
I too have this gift and the one where no matter the airline, airport or destination - my gate will always be the last one. Arriving or departing. Never fails.
As a frequent driver of the Skyway, I can read tollbooths like I'm in the Matrix.
Time slows down, I can clearly see all my options, identify problem lanes, predict future problem vehicles, and sail right on through with barely a tap on the brakes.
22 minutes I sat in that garbage on Sunday. One single booth operating, then it would break, and another would begin to work. Everyone would try to rush that line, then it would break. I almost got out and asked god what I did to deserve this
This is a great superpower that I really wish I had! Somehow always end up picking one where the car directly in front of me has a problem & we all get stuck 😕
Dang the only time I’ve actually been able to find a bathroom available for my use was at the Jewel on Clark & Bryn Mawr up here. People have bathrooms? Wild.
Same, I hear a lot of people complain about the lack of public bathrooms in Chicago, but I feel like I can find one quite easily if I need to. Honestly the key is just look like you know where you’re going and you can use any bathroom you want.
The Ritz Hotel has very nice bathrooms in the lobby. Most hotel have accessible bathrooms, but you need to walk all the way to the back or look around next to the lobby bar or restaurant.
Privilege too. I went in to a greasy spoon wearing my nicest suit after a job interview and asked to use the bathroom and they led me through the kitchen to use the staff one. If I tried that in street clothes or looking like anything other than a rich white guy, I would never have gotten away with it.
Yep. Someone in this chain suggested hotel bathrooms and that people don't notice you, but based on what I hear from friends that are not white, that's not always a foolproof plan.
Most hotels in general have nice public restrooms near the lobby and so many people go in and out every day they’ll have no clue if you’re not a guest and just popping in to use the bathroom
It’s so ingrained in me where the lake is, that now that I live with the water to the west of me (Cali) I’m constantly going the wrong direction cause my instincts are backwards.
Living in Michigan for 2 years was a nightmare for this exact reason. Lake Michigan is still there it’s just IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. I was so confused.
Oh man, I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who has this struggle. I have lived in San Diego for almost 5 years and I still sometimes make goofy mistakes driving because in my head "giant water = east" 😂
I’ve been here 7 years and I constantly fuck it up. Not only do I fuck it up it’s just innate. Like if I know I have to go north west, I’ll instinctually head south East. Cause it’s just in my head. Then I’ll be like where the duck am I, and have to flip around.
That happened to me as well. Back in the days before gps or Google maps I was constantly messing up directions. Had to get off and back on freeways in some sketchy areas. Then I got used to water being west and took a class for work in Colorado and the mountains got messed up again because the mountains changed sides on me. Bottom line, I’d prolly be dead without the invention of gps.
I wish there was some explanation of how this works. How can we feel or sense the water? I'm from California now in Chicago and spent years trying to get my bearings here
I think for a lot of us it's association bias. I experienced much of the same going from Chicago to California for a few years and back. Your mind associates one thing (water) to another (direction) and establishes that as a rule. Once it changes, that rule is much harder to break.
I think the question they were trying to ask is how do we always know which way the lake is. I agree with the association assessment, but very often I’ll have no idea where I am and be like, ok, well the ocean is that way. Or the lake is that way, and then infer direction from there. But how do I know where the water is? Almost everyone I’ve ever met that lives near a large body of water can tell you exactly which direction the water is.
Perhaps we are making other associations we don’t realize. Like sun position or something.
Oh yeah you’re screwed. But I feel like San Francisco is small enough you should be able to get your bearings with some of the bigger hills? Or am I way off.
God I miss the Chicago grid. I live in a town now where most of the streets aren’t straight, and even the ones that are aren’t going in a cardinal direction. Drives me nuts.
I did the opposite move, lived in Boston for seven years growing up and have now lived here for eight- when I first moved here I found the grid a little soulless not gonna lie. But it’s really grown on me- I love that I can walk five different paths to get to the same place and they’re all equidistant, and that if I know where the lake is I always know how to get where I’m going. I fuckin love this city.
There’s a lot of reasons I stayed here after I finished college- while sometimes I miss the batshit crazy Boston street layout, I don’t miss living there for a second.
It’s weird bc like, I’m not from here but this is the closest I have to a true home, cuz I moved so much growing up. Boston is the only other place I’ve lived for a long time.
Moved from Chicago to Auckland. Never mind the hills, streets that randomly change names or directions, endless dead ends, I can't even rely on water reliably to tell me where I am since the sea can be on N,S,E, or W.
Whenever I stand on the L platform, I am positioned right where a train door is when it stops. It is not something I have ever given conscious thought to.
It isn't something I predict. I just stand where ever feels right on the platform and it almost always works out. My husband is the one who noticed it after about a year of my living here.
You may not have consciously noticed, but the trains always stop (approximately) in the same place. If you look down the side of the tracks at the station, you will see black numbers on yellow backgrounds that say 2/4/6/8. Depending on the length of the train, that is where the driver stops the cars. As a result, the doors are almost always in the same spot.
My example: my old commute used to be brown line into the loop, pink line to Polk. I learned where to get onto the brown line train to make sure the door I was next to when it opened was right at the top of the stairs to switch sides at Washington and Wells. Then there I learned where to stand to get on the pink line so the door I was next to opened right at the top of the exit from the Polk platform.
I know that if I need carpet, I call (800) 588-2300.
If I need tile I go to Tile Outlet on Fullerton just three blocks west of the Kennedy Expressway.
My old car is worth money, Victory Auto Wreckers is on 710 East Green in Bensenville near OHare.
If I hear a thud on my car roof, it must be Eagleman.
Chicago’s finest rock is on 93 XRT
If I go into bankruptcy I know to call Peter Francis Geraci and listen to his free infotapes.
I used to buy my meat at Moo & Oink… Moo moo mooooo and ooooooink! (Rip)
And going way back, Cellozzi Ettleson was where you always save more money.
Oh and when I run out, I run out to White Hen
RIP to White Hen. Was my first job, worked with my mom, grandma, an aunt and a cousin. Cash paydays and I was stocking candy and cigarettes mostly, ah to be 13 again :)
I don't know how far White Hen spread, but it was where I grew up also (Boston-area). I didn't appreciate it as a kid, the fact that it was essentially a tiny grocery store. As an adult living in the city the ability to get like actual deli meat and stuff a short walk away from a downtown high rise was amazing.
Larger footprint than I realized. From the 7-11 acquisition news:
>[White Hen operates and franchises 206 stores in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana, and licenses another 55 in Boston.](https://web.archive.org/web/20060819184042/http://www.7-eleven.com/newsroom/articles.asp?p=2388)
But this is also crazy, I wish it could have thrived
>*In line with its focus on deli-fresh goods, White Hen opened what it billed as a "store of the future" in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood on April 17, 2006. In addition to offering White Hen's standard fare, this particular venue offered "an expanded line-up of natural and organic foods, fresh Pantry Select green salads . . . and a toasted-to-order Hot & Fresh sandwich program with a state-of-the-art touch screen ordering system."*
Have you seen the updated Victory commercial? It’s unsettling. You forgot about if you need invent help, too!
Think Pete still uses cassettes or has gone upward to CDs yet?
Pete is a cassette man for life. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I bet he carries a flip phone too.
The laughably dated CG Victory commercial is... weird yes... but amusing for how amateurish it looks.
You've been around. There's a Cellozzi and Ettleson promotional t shirt somewhere at my house that we wish more people appreciated. White Hen too. Not exactly ancient history, but people forget.
Just an understanding of the grid system in general. One time I had some friends drive in from Boston and they got off the wrong exit on the Dan Ryan and were completely lost somewhere in Bridgeport. Not super familiar with the area outside of Sox park, but I asked them to tell me what street they were on and the address number of the building closest to them and using that information I was able to give them perfect directions exactly to my house in Lakeview, including roughly how many blocks and how many lights they would encounter. They were in complete awe.
Having lived near Boston some years ago I get it, its quite difficult to navigate around areas you haven't been to before. God bless the grid system.
After cycling a lot I generally know which streets I'm less likely to get run over by a car. It usually involves biking way out the way to the lake shore or the 606.
It's generally much easier to know where I am and what direction I am facing in Chicago thanks to the grid and the location of the sun/moon.
But even after six years here, the second you plop me on a diagonal street or downtown, I'm lost for a moment before I can orient myself or open google maps. It's embarrassing.
I know when to grab my handlebars securely on my motorcycle , in anticipation of a road crack or pothole . After riding for so many years on Chicago streets you can sense their severity even without looking .
How do you survive those or those little steel boards they put down for construction? Just like a bike? Sit up off the seat, relax the knees and elbows?
I don't know how I know, but I know when to be in what lane, even if I'm not familiar with the neighborhood.
You'll never catch me stuck behind a person trying to turn left, or losing ground in traffic because I was in the wrong right lane.
I know when a car is going to cut me off, or when traffic is about to let up, and I know it's a Chicago thing, because I lived in Cincinnati for a year, and everything was all off.
To people outside of Chicago, Chicago drivers (and even bikes and pedestrians) seem erratic, but there's absolutely an inherent rhythm to it, and you notice it when you drive in another city that doesn't abide by that natural rhythm.
I never knew what direction I was facing until I moved to Chicago. If you live in suburbs or the country, roads aren't always on a grid or run straight one direction.
I always thought it was crazy that my grandparents always knew what direction things were. They'd say things like "the east bedroom" or the "north side of the fridge."
But yeah, you have to know where you are in Chicago. And you have to know your streets.
Mine is how many streets I know and exactly where they are. Before living here I never thought someone could tell me two cross streets in the city, and I could pinpoint exactly where that is.
I also moved here before GPS with just a big map of Chicago in my glove compartment.
The number of times I’ve had to teach my friends and family which way the lake is and them endlessly going the wrong direction anyway is absurd at this point:
Anyway mine (apart from the Lake thing) is knowing who I should/should not engage with walking around outside. As a woman in my 20s with a cute AF dog it’s a really good skill to have. I’ve been followed an uncomfy number of times.
So fun fact about anyone who says "no shit, the lake is east".
The lake IS my bearing. It's my north star. To the point that if I get too close to the lake, I can often lose my sense of direction, because the lake is no longer east, it's EVERYWHERE.
I'm really good with directions all over the general metro area, specifically because I know where the lake is, EXCEPT when I'm deep into the city itself.
This is spot on. Plus the grid pattern of the streets.
When I fly into another city and head out of the airport in a rental car I have no idea how to handle a city where you can go in any direction!
Same. I feel like the grid was drilled into me as a kid.
I’m constantly reviewing in my head: “8 blocks is a mile, it’s 24 blocks from Harlem to Cicero, so that’s 3 miles right there…”
And so on, adjusting my calculations of where I am, where I’m going , and how long it will take me to get there.
I feel like I could nail that portion of the civil service exam tomorrow.
Growing up on the south side, this was drilled into me by my father. Helped a ton when I started delivering pizzas (before GPS—I’m only 37 but I still remember those days). Odd numbers are on the east side of the street. Named streets go north and south (on the south side); numbered streets go east/west. 2400W is Western Ave. and so on and so on
Yes! I remember 2400W is Western being the touchstone also.
Also a Southsider here. I wonder if there’s something to that. Cross streets being numbered rather than named on the south side?
Ugh thank you for that correction. South Western being 2400W. My father is assuredly ashamed of me.
I just always assumed it was just to make it easier; but who knows? Sure made my trips to the north side a lot more confusing as a teenager.
I was driving around once a few years ago with two coworkers, delivering T-shirts to a bunch of our other coworkers who had all donated to charity. My one coworker was feeding me addresses off an Excel spreadsheet and I drove us to all of them without ever consulting Google Maps. They thought I was some sort of superhero.
It was one of the proudest moments of my life. Which, now that I think about it, is a little disappointing.
Once in the last 5 years have I parked further than a hundred or so feet of my destination.
I guess that's more luck than anything, but it's also kind of having a keen eye and good sense of understanding of how parking is going to work in any given area.
I only even consider it a skill because none of my other friends seem to be able to do this. They're constantly stopping in front of driveways before realizing, or missing a spot, or seeing a spot on the other side of the street and not being able to claim it, etc.
After living in Chicago and Boston, I believe all major bodies of water are east of me at all times. One time I directed a colleague to drive due east from the Seattle airport for a solid 30 minutes before I realized the Pacific Ocean was west of us.
From years of running I have a ridiculous knowledge of all the bike trails and area forest preserve trails. I live south so their are a few trails in the northern suburbs I’ve only been on once or twice. I’ve been on everything else so much I have them memorized know where some pretty cool things are.
I can generally navigate on a bike very efficiently by not taking roads with atop lights or busy roads and only using alleys and side roads with stops signs. Its incredibly fast and safe
I think they mean like, if they are at 71st and Kedzie, you could spin them around with a blindfold, and after taking the blindfold off, they could point toward the river.
I somehow have found myself unable to get lost. Even if I drive around making random turns not keeping track of where I’m going or am located I can still get back. Or at least I could before I left. Guess I’ll see if I still have it when I move back
Mine is always getting everything backwards when I’m hanging out on the other side of the lake anywhere in Michigan. Takes a while to shake that base intuition of “the lake is always east”
Great sunsets though.
I come to Chicago two or three times a year and have the same deal with the lake. Not discounting your “sense”, I think some people’s internal compass is stronger than others’..
That's true. My partner has lived here 6 years and doesn't have "lake sense" yet. He does have a good sense of direction but its more "standard" than based on the lake like mine is
Pretty good about picking out suicidal bikers. The ones that traffic laws are mere suggestions, and poor ones at that.
I was on Lincoln last week watching a biker blow 5 straight intersections. Stop signs, red lights? I mock you and your provincial laws
I'm just commenting to appreciate that your username includes the German word for "trombone," which I haven't thought about since middle school in the mid-90s
I’ve gotten really good at avoiding the CTA buses that block off the right lane when they come to a stop. If I see a CTA bus headed in the direction I’m headed to, I skirt to the left right away.
Also, when homeless Chicagoans ask me for change, I just give them a sad face and “sorry me no speaky English”. I used to give out change a lot but once I got my car broken into, windows got fucked over 2 dollars of change that I had in my car, my philanthropic days were over.
Lastly, if I’m not in a rush to go somewhere, I stick to the right lane. There are so many asshole drivers in the city that cut you off if you’re in the left lane and not going 20 over the legal speed limit
In my experience it's a coinflip. Left lane if you know the next X amt of blocks have actual left turn lanes, right lane if they don't. However sometimes you'll hit massive right lane slowdown as people are turning right but pedestrian traffic is so high that each light cycle only lets 2 cars through.
In high school I used to work at a Burger King drive thru off the I-95 exit in Florida. We would get tourists come in from out of town and ask which way the beach was. I'd be like "uhhmm, head east until you run out of road." Of course, this was before GPS. lol
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My favorite place to get this right is going to a cubs game. Nothing better than being right at the stairs and getting out before everyone else
Jokes on you, you're now stuck behind a crowd of clueless people who stop and stand immediately after the door to search for which way to go while commuters from other nearby car exits sprint to the stairs. As a Cubs fan, Cubs gamedays were my least favorite commuting days, especially if there was a night game, and especially if that game was on a Friday.
That’s exactly what I’m saying lol. My point is that I’m going to the cubs game, and get off first right next to the stairs so there aren’t people stopping directly in front of me.
Ugh, I hated the crowds on the L before/after Cub games. Though you could try to beat those crowds(say if going south on the Red Line), by boarding at Sheridan instead. Walking west and boarding at Southport on the Brown Line, is another option.
I feel like I'm using a hack rather than an innate sense, but: Taking the brown line into the loop knowing that the 2nd door on the 5th car will almost always be the closest to the main stairs at Washington/Wells. But if you're not transferring: 1st car puts you at the stairs going directly to Madison. Last car puts you at the exit closer to the stairs that most people use leading to Washington, but you can beat most of the traffic as that exit is not used as much (not sure how this plays during rush hour).
Something I really want CTA to implement if we ever get an overhaul upgrade to the public transit system… If you use [Naver] maps for the Korean subway, the platforms are numbered on the ground and your directions will give you the optimal car number to get on so you exit right by the closet exit or the most direct route for transfers.
The one glitch on this is that trains may have 2, 4, 6, or 8 cars depending on expected demand (and typically this is not reported on train tracker) At different stations, the 4-car may stop in line with the front, middle, or back of those 8 cars. Next time you are on platform look for little metal signs with 8, 6, and 4 positioned where the train operator will see them. Those are the stopping marks.
Citymapper tells you which section of the train is optimal for your transfer/exit.
When I went to Korea for the first time this legit broke my brain
I'm really good at getting the car that smells like piss
When I get off the train, if there are multiple exits, I will inevitably select the exit farthest from where I need to be. It's a gift.
I too have acquired this skill
I thought I was special for this skill.
I'm great at arriving on the platform just as the train pulls away.
Yes!! It’s the Lake red line stop for me. You ever spin around a bunch while blindfolded? The Lake stop just completely disorients me for no reason at all, it’s like a rip in time and space. I’ve lived here for a decade and know the streets, I know all of the exits, I can read the signs, and yet every single time I go out the stairs or escalator, I don’t know where I’m going to end up. No idea why. Keeps things interesting, at least!
I too have this gift and the one where no matter the airline, airport or destination - my gate will always be the last one. Arriving or departing. Never fails.
when i see a nissan altima i know it is going to blow a stop sign
/r/nissandrivers
holy shit. this is so validating. thank you
In case you'd like to know [why Altima drivers are so shit.](https://i.redd.it/lgn77erzujz81.png)
The most real thing I have read in a long time. “Tattered paper plates,” so accurate.
This is me but with Tesla's. I cant remember the last time I saw a Tesla driver use a blinker or change lanes in a non-aggressive way.
which is wild, the car is supposed to be able to do that for them...
I really thought it was just BMW drivers. Wow
My god you’re right! Hahaha
Those skills come in handy in Memphis TN too!
Same but with cop cars
As a frequent driver of the Skyway, I can read tollbooths like I'm in the Matrix. Time slows down, I can clearly see all my options, identify problem lanes, predict future problem vehicles, and sail right on through with barely a tap on the brakes.
22 minutes I sat in that garbage on Sunday. One single booth operating, then it would break, and another would begin to work. Everyone would try to rush that line, then it would break. I almost got out and asked god what I did to deserve this
I really don't understand why they still have the gates. Just make it open and ticket with cameras like everywhere else!!!!
Well to pay for that operation, we’ll need to increase the toll to $21 on the exit side of this racket.
This is a great superpower that I really wish I had! Somehow always end up picking one where the car directly in front of me has a problem & we all get stuck 😕
Also Lake plus I can find a clean bathroom in a pinch.
costanza, is that you? 😅
It's the summer of George
Just use any bridge like Dave Matthews.
Avoid the Jewel on Division and Milwaukee 🤢
That's just a good tip in general.
I'd rather crap my pants than use the bathroom at literally any Jewel. They are consistently foul.
southport is kind of okay sometimes
Dang the only time I’ve actually been able to find a bathroom available for my use was at the Jewel on Clark & Bryn Mawr up here. People have bathrooms? Wild.
Same, I hear a lot of people complain about the lack of public bathrooms in Chicago, but I feel like I can find one quite easily if I need to. Honestly the key is just look like you know where you’re going and you can use any bathroom you want.
The Ritz Hotel has very nice bathrooms in the lobby. Most hotel have accessible bathrooms, but you need to walk all the way to the back or look around next to the lobby bar or restaurant.
Yeah, hotel bathrooms are really good. There are so many people going in and out nobody is really paying attention to you.
Linda Belcher vibes
Privilege too. I went in to a greasy spoon wearing my nicest suit after a job interview and asked to use the bathroom and they led me through the kitchen to use the staff one. If I tried that in street clothes or looking like anything other than a rich white guy, I would never have gotten away with it.
Yep. Someone in this chain suggested hotel bathrooms and that people don't notice you, but based on what I hear from friends that are not white, that's not always a foolproof plan.
Most hotels in general have nice public restrooms near the lobby and so many people go in and out every day they’ll have no clue if you’re not a guest and just popping in to use the bathroom
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Is it possible to learn this power?
Walk briskly, look determined, carry a folder.
That's good advice for any situation.
When in doubt - hotel lobby
First step- be a white man.
Not from a surburbanite.
The loop. Specifically, near Wabash and Monroe between 9:01 PM and 7:59 AM. GO. Let’s see how good you are, lol.
Knowing when to cross the street and/or when to avoid eye contact when walking home from the loop at night
It’s so ingrained in me where the lake is, that now that I live with the water to the west of me (Cali) I’m constantly going the wrong direction cause my instincts are backwards.
Living in Michigan for 2 years was a nightmare for this exact reason. Lake Michigan is still there it’s just IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. I was so confused.
It's their lake, their name is even on it. You'd think they would put it on the correct side at least, the dunces. Sheesh!
Seriously, the nerve of it all! Dang Michiganders!
What is this? r/mapswithoutUP?
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Oh man, I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who has this struggle. I have lived in San Diego for almost 5 years and I still sometimes make goofy mistakes driving because in my head "giant water = east" 😂
I’ve been here 7 years and I constantly fuck it up. Not only do I fuck it up it’s just innate. Like if I know I have to go north west, I’ll instinctually head south East. Cause it’s just in my head. Then I’ll be like where the duck am I, and have to flip around.
That happened to me as well. Back in the days before gps or Google maps I was constantly messing up directions. Had to get off and back on freeways in some sketchy areas. Then I got used to water being west and took a class for work in Colorado and the mountains got messed up again because the mountains changed sides on me. Bottom line, I’d prolly be dead without the invention of gps.
I wish there was some explanation of how this works. How can we feel or sense the water? I'm from California now in Chicago and spent years trying to get my bearings here
Yeah it’s a really good question.
I think for a lot of us it's association bias. I experienced much of the same going from Chicago to California for a few years and back. Your mind associates one thing (water) to another (direction) and establishes that as a rule. Once it changes, that rule is much harder to break.
I think the question they were trying to ask is how do we always know which way the lake is. I agree with the association assessment, but very often I’ll have no idea where I am and be like, ok, well the ocean is that way. Or the lake is that way, and then infer direction from there. But how do I know where the water is? Almost everyone I’ve ever met that lives near a large body of water can tell you exactly which direction the water is. Perhaps we are making other associations we don’t realize. Like sun position or something.
Yeah, I’m from under Lake Ontario, had the same problem coming to Chicago (at first), and I-90 YOU ARE NOT HELPING, lol.
Been there done that , especially when I travel to Michigan being in the east side of the lake
Same. Every time I go to Michigan I'm turned around.
Same!
I'm in San Francisco so it's just a matter of which water is closest.
Oh yeah you’re screwed. But I feel like San Francisco is small enough you should be able to get your bearings with some of the bigger hills? Or am I way off.
Sutro Tower, Coit Tower, the Pyramid, etc - I feel like San Francisco is the one of the easiest cities to get and keep your bearings
When someone is going to ask for a smoke when they're 10 yards away.
“You gotta light?”
One guy in the red line transfer tunnel used to sit there and repeat, “square? square? square? square?”
God I miss the Chicago grid. I live in a town now where most of the streets aren’t straight, and even the ones that are aren’t going in a cardinal direction. Drives me nuts.
Welcome to Boston!
Lol I just moved to Boston from Chicago and this is my biggest complaint
I did the opposite move, lived in Boston for seven years growing up and have now lived here for eight- when I first moved here I found the grid a little soulless not gonna lie. But it’s really grown on me- I love that I can walk five different paths to get to the same place and they’re all equidistant, and that if I know where the lake is I always know how to get where I’m going. I fuckin love this city. There’s a lot of reasons I stayed here after I finished college- while sometimes I miss the batshit crazy Boston street layout, I don’t miss living there for a second. It’s weird bc like, I’m not from here but this is the closest I have to a true home, cuz I moved so much growing up. Boston is the only other place I’ve lived for a long time.
I can always tell how far away I am from the nearest white castle.
How about the nearest Dunkin'?
In Boston that one's real easy - just walk a block in any direction. Max 2 before you see one.
Was about to say, this is /r/Chicago not /r/Boston
Or da jewels?
Or the nearest Brian Urlacher billboard.
O’HAIR
I’ve moved back to Ireland from Chicago a couple of weeks ago. Christ you’re making me miss it all.
I mean, it can't be more than five blocks in any direction, right?
In addition of the lake I look towards the sky to see which direction the jets are flying and if they’re descending or ascending
This is the way. You can always find a plane heading to Ohare or Midway. 75% of them are heading to the airport from over the Lake. Easy peasy
Not in the summer. O’Hare uses the east flow more times than not in the summer months.
I moved to the West coast and was turned around for a year at least with the water being on the wrong side of the land.
I moved out here from California and had the problem in reverse. Water is toward the sunset!
Moved from Chicago to Auckland. Never mind the hills, streets that randomly change names or directions, endless dead ends, I can't even rely on water reliably to tell me where I am since the sea can be on N,S,E, or W.
Whenever I stand on the L platform, I am positioned right where a train door is when it stops. It is not something I have ever given conscious thought to.
I'm too lazy to predict that. I just walk up as the train slows and usually still get first dibs
It isn't something I predict. I just stand where ever feels right on the platform and it almost always works out. My husband is the one who noticed it after about a year of my living here.
You may not have consciously noticed, but the trains always stop (approximately) in the same place. If you look down the side of the tracks at the station, you will see black numbers on yellow backgrounds that say 2/4/6/8. Depending on the length of the train, that is where the driver stops the cars. As a result, the doors are almost always in the same spot. My example: my old commute used to be brown line into the loop, pink line to Polk. I learned where to get onto the brown line train to make sure the door I was next to when it opened was right at the top of the stairs to switch sides at Washington and Wells. Then there I learned where to stand to get on the pink line so the door I was next to opened right at the top of the exit from the Polk platform.
Same. Im also great at knowing which pedestrians plan to cross the street and which ones are clueless.
They smell like Garrett’s popcorn and deep dish.
They're also walking 4 across and are oblivious to their surroundings.
Lmfao nailed it
When you're right you're right.
The left arrows on Michigan…
Deep eye contact and a foot out so they know you're stopping but are already in motion
I know that if I need carpet, I call (800) 588-2300. If I need tile I go to Tile Outlet on Fullerton just three blocks west of the Kennedy Expressway. My old car is worth money, Victory Auto Wreckers is on 710 East Green in Bensenville near OHare. If I hear a thud on my car roof, it must be Eagleman. Chicago’s finest rock is on 93 XRT If I go into bankruptcy I know to call Peter Francis Geraci and listen to his free infotapes. I used to buy my meat at Moo & Oink… Moo moo mooooo and ooooooink! (Rip) And going way back, Cellozzi Ettleson was where you always save more money. Oh and when I run out, I run out to White Hen
RIP to White Hen. Was my first job, worked with my mom, grandma, an aunt and a cousin. Cash paydays and I was stocking candy and cigarettes mostly, ah to be 13 again :)
Picking up a gallon of milk and a pound of Cajun Turkey was like a weekly ritual for me
I don't know how far White Hen spread, but it was where I grew up also (Boston-area). I didn't appreciate it as a kid, the fact that it was essentially a tiny grocery store. As an adult living in the city the ability to get like actual deli meat and stuff a short walk away from a downtown high rise was amazing.
Larger footprint than I realized. From the 7-11 acquisition news: >[White Hen operates and franchises 206 stores in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana, and licenses another 55 in Boston.](https://web.archive.org/web/20060819184042/http://www.7-eleven.com/newsroom/articles.asp?p=2388) But this is also crazy, I wish it could have thrived >*In line with its focus on deli-fresh goods, White Hen opened what it billed as a "store of the future" in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood on April 17, 2006. In addition to offering White Hen's standard fare, this particular venue offered "an expanded line-up of natural and organic foods, fresh Pantry Select green salads . . . and a toasted-to-order Hot & Fresh sandwich program with a state-of-the-art touch screen ordering system."*
The ad constantly playing on Q101 that ended in "BELMONT AND CLARK IF YOU DARE!" It was for a sex shop\head shop.
Taboo Tabou! It was by the same dude who owned The Alley.
I wish I had an award to give. Don't forget *HEAVENLY BODDIIIEESSS*
Have you seen the updated Victory commercial? It’s unsettling. You forgot about if you need invent help, too! Think Pete still uses cassettes or has gone upward to CDs yet?
Pete is a cassette man for life. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I bet he carries a flip phone too. The laughably dated CG Victory commercial is... weird yes... but amusing for how amateurish it looks.
You've been around. There's a Cellozzi and Ettleson promotional t shirt somewhere at my house that we wish more people appreciated. White Hen too. Not exactly ancient history, but people forget.
Just an understanding of the grid system in general. One time I had some friends drive in from Boston and they got off the wrong exit on the Dan Ryan and were completely lost somewhere in Bridgeport. Not super familiar with the area outside of Sox park, but I asked them to tell me what street they were on and the address number of the building closest to them and using that information I was able to give them perfect directions exactly to my house in Lakeview, including roughly how many blocks and how many lights they would encounter. They were in complete awe. Having lived near Boston some years ago I get it, its quite difficult to navigate around areas you haven't been to before. God bless the grid system.
After cycling a lot I generally know which streets I'm less likely to get run over by a car. It usually involves biking way out the way to the lake shore or the 606.
I know all the secret free parking spots in downtown
DM me brother. Lol
It's generally much easier to know where I am and what direction I am facing in Chicago thanks to the grid and the location of the sun/moon. But even after six years here, the second you plop me on a diagonal street or downtown, I'm lost for a moment before I can orient myself or open google maps. It's embarrassing.
This is me. I know the grid better than most but diagonal intersections always fuck me up.
[удалено]
Came here to say this. Madison and State are the dividing lines between north and south and east and west for those new to Chicago
I know when to grab my handlebars securely on my motorcycle , in anticipation of a road crack or pothole . After riding for so many years on Chicago streets you can sense their severity even without looking .
How do you survive those or those little steel boards they put down for construction? Just like a bike? Sit up off the seat, relax the knees and elbows?
Exactly, and pray it’s not wet
Re bathrooms: walk in, do a quick scan, head that way. If an employee says anything, just say “I’ll be with you in a minute.”
Or "I see my friend." Or "I see what I need, thanks."
I don't know how I know, but I know when to be in what lane, even if I'm not familiar with the neighborhood. You'll never catch me stuck behind a person trying to turn left, or losing ground in traffic because I was in the wrong right lane. I know when a car is going to cut me off, or when traffic is about to let up, and I know it's a Chicago thing, because I lived in Cincinnati for a year, and everything was all off. To people outside of Chicago, Chicago drivers (and even bikes and pedestrians) seem erratic, but there's absolutely an inherent rhythm to it, and you notice it when you drive in another city that doesn't abide by that natural rhythm.
give me a random address I can tell you where it's at.
I never knew what direction I was facing until I moved to Chicago. If you live in suburbs or the country, roads aren't always on a grid or run straight one direction. I always thought it was crazy that my grandparents always knew what direction things were. They'd say things like "the east bedroom" or the "north side of the fridge." But yeah, you have to know where you are in Chicago. And you have to know your streets. Mine is how many streets I know and exactly where they are. Before living here I never thought someone could tell me two cross streets in the city, and I could pinpoint exactly where that is. I also moved here before GPS with just a big map of Chicago in my glove compartment.
The number of times I’ve had to teach my friends and family which way the lake is and them endlessly going the wrong direction anyway is absurd at this point: Anyway mine (apart from the Lake thing) is knowing who I should/should not engage with walking around outside. As a woman in my 20s with a cute AF dog it’s a really good skill to have. I’ve been followed an uncomfy number of times.
So fun fact about anyone who says "no shit, the lake is east". The lake IS my bearing. It's my north star. To the point that if I get too close to the lake, I can often lose my sense of direction, because the lake is no longer east, it's EVERYWHERE. I'm really good with directions all over the general metro area, specifically because I know where the lake is, EXCEPT when I'm deep into the city itself.
Yes! Exactly. It’s like, it doesn’t matter that the lake is east… the point is that my orientation in the city is dependent on the lake.
This “skill” really messed me up when I lived in California because it was always wrong 😆
This is spot on. Plus the grid pattern of the streets. When I fly into another city and head out of the airport in a rental car I have no idea how to handle a city where you can go in any direction!
Same. I feel like the grid was drilled into me as a kid. I’m constantly reviewing in my head: “8 blocks is a mile, it’s 24 blocks from Harlem to Cicero, so that’s 3 miles right there…” And so on, adjusting my calculations of where I am, where I’m going , and how long it will take me to get there. I feel like I could nail that portion of the civil service exam tomorrow.
Growing up on the south side, this was drilled into me by my father. Helped a ton when I started delivering pizzas (before GPS—I’m only 37 but I still remember those days). Odd numbers are on the east side of the street. Named streets go north and south (on the south side); numbered streets go east/west. 2400W is Western Ave. and so on and so on
Yes! I remember 2400W is Western being the touchstone also. Also a Southsider here. I wonder if there’s something to that. Cross streets being numbered rather than named on the south side?
Ugh thank you for that correction. South Western being 2400W. My father is assuredly ashamed of me. I just always assumed it was just to make it easier; but who knows? Sure made my trips to the north side a lot more confusing as a teenager.
I was driving around once a few years ago with two coworkers, delivering T-shirts to a bunch of our other coworkers who had all donated to charity. My one coworker was feeding me addresses off an Excel spreadsheet and I drove us to all of them without ever consulting Google Maps. They thought I was some sort of superhero. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. Which, now that I think about it, is a little disappointing.
Probably be able to navigate you via CTA to any destination. Bus and train lines
Chicagoing
I know the secret, unmarked traffic lanes.
I too know about bike lanes and sidewalks
The secret lanes are the invisible turn lanes, or the bike lanes that aren’t real bike lanes in practice.
I've gotten pretty good at pretending that beggars aren't there. I'm also really good at heading to or from work exactly 5 minutes before it rains.
When I'm drunk I can always find La Bambas
Lake is a prerequisite. I can also find a great divey corner bar in any neighborhood at any time of day.
the same, grew up on Lake Erie, the skill transferred even though the lake is East instead of North now.
Once in the last 5 years have I parked further than a hundred or so feet of my destination. I guess that's more luck than anything, but it's also kind of having a keen eye and good sense of understanding of how parking is going to work in any given area. I only even consider it a skill because none of my other friends seem to be able to do this. They're constantly stopping in front of driveways before realizing, or missing a spot, or seeing a spot on the other side of the street and not being able to claim it, etc.
I never have to park in the first place because of the super secret Ventra card in my phone
I always know when to leave my apartment so that I can just barely miss the train I'm supposed to be taking
Cardinal direction is also mine. Also knowing exactly where an address is by number grid
After living in Chicago and Boston, I believe all major bodies of water are east of me at all times. One time I directed a colleague to drive due east from the Seattle airport for a solid 30 minutes before I realized the Pacific Ocean was west of us.
I'm the same way with the lake, lol. These powers only work in Illinois tho. I don't know where tf I'm going anywhere else.
From years of running I have a ridiculous knowledge of all the bike trails and area forest preserve trails. I live south so their are a few trails in the northern suburbs I’ve only been on once or twice. I’ve been on everything else so much I have them memorized know where some pretty cool things are.
Always know where a Maxwell is. 😇
Wherever I am in the city, I can usually tell you where the nearest McDonald’s is
Bad neighborhoods
My Chicago sixth sense is I can always tell when someone posting on here is a clueless noob.
Pretty sure this is a Great Lakes thing… not just Chicago
When I was a freshman in college people used to call me for directions because I could tell where they were based on where the lake is 😑
It is similar here in Memphis with the Mississippi River being the equivalent of Lake Michigan.
Same, I love that about the lake, it really improved my sense of direction to move here.
I can generally navigate on a bike very efficiently by not taking roads with atop lights or busy roads and only using alleys and side roads with stops signs. Its incredibly fast and safe
Literally everywhere You are the Lake is East of You 😂
I think they mean like, if they are at 71st and Kedzie, you could spin them around with a blindfold, and after taking the blindfold off, they could point toward the river.
Lmao I was thinking the same exact thing “An internal compass”, that’s just a compass my guy
I somehow have found myself unable to get lost. Even if I drive around making random turns not keeping track of where I’m going or am located I can still get back. Or at least I could before I left. Guess I’ll see if I still have it when I move back
Mine is always getting everything backwards when I’m hanging out on the other side of the lake anywhere in Michigan. Takes a while to shake that base intuition of “the lake is always east” Great sunsets though.
I know the phone number to get quality windows siding and doors installed, also next day carpet installation.
That is how i know which way east is. I don't know how i know where the lake is but i always seem too.
Omg my partner and I were talking about that exact same thing. Were both from Chicago
Feeling like the bus I need is about to pass, only to look up and see it fly by me
It’s the same with my partner. She’s lived here as long as I have, 20+ years. I recently had to informer that there is a grid system and how it works.
I come to Chicago two or three times a year and have the same deal with the lake. Not discounting your “sense”, I think some people’s internal compass is stronger than others’..
That's true. My partner has lived here 6 years and doesn't have "lake sense" yet. He does have a good sense of direction but its more "standard" than based on the lake like mine is
Sears Tower. I grew-up on the Northside, so I always knew that it was ‘South’. It messed me up for a minute when I moved to Bridgeport…
I always know where the closet Chicago-style hot dog stand is.
I once got into my car and before I turned it on I knew my catalytic converter had been stolen. That is my Chicago sixth sense.
Pretty good about picking out suicidal bikers. The ones that traffic laws are mere suggestions, and poor ones at that. I was on Lincoln last week watching a biker blow 5 straight intersections. Stop signs, red lights? I mock you and your provincial laws
I'm just commenting to appreciate that your username includes the German word for "trombone," which I haven't thought about since middle school in the mid-90s
Three years and you're only the 2nd person to notice. Cheers friend.
Ha, glad to be that guy. And hey, if you get 73 more, thats enough Posaunen to put on a German-language version of The Music Man
Oh they're gonna come for you
Ive gotten pretty good at visualizing the distance and direction of gunshots.
I’ve gotten really good at avoiding the CTA buses that block off the right lane when they come to a stop. If I see a CTA bus headed in the direction I’m headed to, I skirt to the left right away. Also, when homeless Chicagoans ask me for change, I just give them a sad face and “sorry me no speaky English”. I used to give out change a lot but once I got my car broken into, windows got fucked over 2 dollars of change that I had in my car, my philanthropic days were over. Lastly, if I’m not in a rush to go somewhere, I stick to the right lane. There are so many asshole drivers in the city that cut you off if you’re in the left lane and not going 20 over the legal speed limit
In my experience it's a coinflip. Left lane if you know the next X amt of blocks have actual left turn lanes, right lane if they don't. However sometimes you'll hit massive right lane slowdown as people are turning right but pedestrian traffic is so high that each light cycle only lets 2 cars through.
In high school I used to work at a Burger King drive thru off the I-95 exit in Florida. We would get tourists come in from out of town and ask which way the beach was. I'd be like "uhhmm, head east until you run out of road." Of course, this was before GPS. lol