Gee, you guys certainly aren't looking for a job with the Chicago Tourist Bureau!
Not too fussed by the South Side, been there before during the daytime and found the locals friendly and polite (might not want to be there after dark, though). Like most places with 'history' I find the history lives long after the threat.
And if beggars bothered me I wouldn't go the the US. <_<
Konrad, the truth is that most of us who live here love Chicago. We also know the dangers that exist in
some areas of Chicago. The South Side is very large and while one neighborhood could be great, a Chicago native would not go a few blocks away where the area is dangerous, or at the minimum be
extremely wary. Please don't think that daytime is always safe, because that's definitely not true.
The Metra that John Breden wrote about sounds like a safer way to go than the train/bus combination.
Bad news everybody, we went to Pullman and survived!
As we were at the Ambassador East the most convenient connection was from Clark/Division station on the Red Line. I considered the Metra service but found the website impenetrable so we resigned ourselves to the Red Line and rode it out to Dan Ryan/95th. Not the most inspiring trip - tunnel and the centre of a freeway - but it was uneventful, non-threatening and quick.
Maybe because it was Good Friday (Australia, probably the most godless country of them all virtually shuts down for Easter - the USA has 'business as usual :huh: ) Dan Ryan was very quiet, just a lot of people trying to connect with their buses. The 111 bus was waiting and we boarded for a rather long ride to Pullman.
Although the surrounding area is rather run down the town itself is quite charming but still in need of a lot of restoration. As the houses are all privately owned renovation is proceeding in a piecemeal fashion - a pity there isn't some economic stimulus money available (don't laugh, it's available on this side of the Pacific). Probably the biggest, and most worthwhile, project would be to get the Hotel Florence up and running again and give the town a focal point. As it is there are no shops, restaurants or bars to speak of. The shell of the factory would be too big a project for anyone to tackle without a commercial interest (build the new Amtrak cars, possibly
).
The preservation group are housed in an eyesore of a building just across from the hotel. We arrived just as a student group from the university were leaving on a guided street tour and we were invited to tag along. This was just too good to be true and gave an invaluable insight into the history and architecture of the township. The preservation society also has a very limited display of Pullman memorabilia, photographs and posters. There is also a video presentation outlining the history of the area and company and outlining the recent preservation attempts.
Caught the bus back to Dan Ryan and had the most convoluted journey back to the station - we even passed our bus stop again - and survived the journey back into town. We did notice that the residential streets running back from the main roads seemed to be very ordered and maintained with quite some pride, not the image we had been told to expect. No drug deals, no shootings and not even any antisocial behavior.
Although it is more of an interest to those who are interested in town planning rather than railways I would recommend a visit to anyone with even a passing interest in history. But if you can work out how to use the Metra service it might be a bit quicker
.
