Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
Well, my adoration of Chicago definitely was rekindled a bit this weekend when we stayed downtown for my wife's conference. Albeit it was a token family oriented weekend (swimming pool, Shedd Aquarium, taking kids to the arcade, etc) but the city felt as vibrant as it has been for a long time since COVID.
I am disappointed in the loss of stores to COVID/rioting scumbags and ecommerce that we may never get back (thanks, techie douche bros! ) but either way we had a really nice time.
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The biggest difference, despite tourist numbers, is business/employee numbers. The weekend/evening numbers are likely as high as ever, but the weekday numbers are still lower even though there are some offices opened up again.
Plus, outside of downtown, recreational numbers are low. I've been to Boystown on several Thursday, historically a big night out, where only the Lucky Horseshoe seemed busy, but not Roscoe's or Sidetrack.
And even the Lucky Horseshoe only had two out of three bars open.