Took my teenage grandson and two of his friends - all from farming area in Kansas - to Chicago about ten years ago for the Thanksgiving weekend. First time I had been in the city ever and was really impressed with the stores. The boys were really wide eyed the entire time.
Different era. People smoking in restaurants, bellringers collecting money on the street corners, lots of people saying Merry Christmas. They spent hours in North Face store and loved Mike Ditka’s restaurant. Wouldn’t go back now if somebody paid me.
My daughter attended the Chicago Institute of Art for a year at about that time and there were surely no go areas but it was still an exciting, fun city. Now there are repeated attacks by BLM and Occupy which are closing in on the Miracle Mile and other downtown attractions. It is a purposeful targeting.