Let's start with a simple one. You have probably heard Chicago referred to as "the Windy City" before. Many outsiders think this is because there is so much wind in Chicago. Chicago natives will rush to tell you that this is not because of the wind levels but because of our "windy" politicians. The truth is maybe a bit of both, as well as some other things.


Whatever the case, we actually do get a lot of windstorms. And Chicagoans have embraced the nickname, so the Windy City it is, now and forever.

Bozo the Clown is one of the most famous clowns worldwide. And yes, technically many other cities had their own versions of Bozo, but Chicago's very own "Bozo's Circus" was a hugely popular show that was syndicated nationwide in America and became the face of Bozo.


Have I ever mentioned that I was on the Bozo show as a child? And I won a board game. Go me!

Concrete and…

...metal. Two of the major components of skyscrapers. Chicago is known for its skyscrapers, and for a time (1973-1996, to be exact) it held the record for the world's tallest building with the Sears (now known as the… ug… "Willis") Tower.


The Willis Tower has been bumped down to #24 on the list in the years since it lost the title (Asia dominates the world's tallest buildings lists nowadays), but Chicago still has 5 of the 100 tallest buildings in the world. Just look at that skyline!


(And yes I know most skyscrapers use steel, which is an alloy not a true metal, but you can't make steel without metal, so shut it.)

If you ask a Chicagoan how far something is, you'll often get a response like "10 blocks". That's because Chicago streets were (more or less) built on a grid running exactly north / south and east / west with 8 blocks to a mile. Also, we can be very precise, because all of our streets have numbers. You're at 79th street trying to get to 95th street? Well, that's 16 blocks away, or 2 miles.


I know that Chicago isn't the only city that was built like this, but I can tell you a city that wasn't built like this: Toronto. It took me awhile after moving here to realize that street numbers could be just about anything, anything at all. Look at this and tell me that there is a god.


Why are you like this, Toronto?!

You may or may not know that I like trains, but did you know that Chicago is the largest train hub in America? This tends to happen when most of your other largest cities are on the coasts.


Chicago is also know for the "L" (elevated) train, which covers much of the city and even a bit of the suburbs.


Speaking of the L, I made a pixel map of it for my game In Retrospect!


Go me!

Ok this is another obvious one, but you may have heard that Chicago winters can be pretttttttty brutal. I can concur. I have spent many, many hours digging my car out after a particularly bad blizzard.


Because digging your car out is a long and laborious process, no one wants to come back from their drive and have to do it again in a new spot. This has led to the unofficial "dibs" system in the city, where Chicagoans on the go put out chairs, crates, whatever else they may have handy to hold their spot until they return again.


It's not strictly legal but everyone does it and if you try to park in a spot someone else dug out and placed dibs on well… good luck! Let me know how that turns out.

Sure, all of America loves baseball, but how many other cities have two MLB teams? (The answer is only two cities, if we want to be technical, and I do.) In Chicago it is very common to be asked whether you like the White Sox or the Cubs more, and this isn't just an innocuous question, your answer carries with it a hint at where you probably grew up (White Sox = southside, Cubs = northside). This in itself can carry a lot of (sometimes unwarranted) assumptions about class, blue collar versus white collar, etc. When the two teams play each other, the White Sox / Cubs rivalry (aka the Crosstown Classic) is one of the biggest sporting events in the city. Chicago baseball is serious business!


(To be honest I don't personally care about baseball at all, but it deserves a spot on the list.)

If you have never heard of Jewel-Osco, that is because you are not from Illinois, Northwest Indiana, or the one random place in Iowa that apparently has a Jewel.


Jewel-Osco may be largely unknown outside of Chicagoland, but with over 150 locations, it dominates the Chicago metropolitan grocery store market, beating out big names like Walmart and Costco to consistently be Chicago's #1 most popular grocery store.


(This doesn't mean it is the best grocery store though. It's mediocre and overpriced if you ask me.)

Late one night, when we were all in bed,
Old Mother Leary left a lantern in the shed,
And when the cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said,
"There'll be a hot time, on the old town, tonight."
FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!

Do you recognize that song? If you're from Chicago you do, and were probably humming the tune while reading the words. Sure, Mrs. O'Leary was (eventually) exonerated, but the fact remains that in 1871 someone, (or something), started a fire that got out of control, ultimately destroying roughly one-third of Chicago, killing hundreds and leaving nearly 100,000 people homeless. It became known as the Great Chicago Fire.


We even named a sport's team after it! Because that is how you remember a tragedy, I guess.


Also there is this long-running TV show which I've never watched.


Suffice to say, the Great Chicago Fire is a monumental part of Chicago's history.