Comments on: Scary Hyde Park

By: Eunomia » That’s The Chicago Way

Eunomia » That’s The Chicago Way — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:52:14 +0000

[...] Scary Hyde Park 7 Daniel Larison, KXB, vanya [...] [...]

By: Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:13:55 +0000

I’m sure that’s true, and it’s not as if the place is exactly overflowing with a lot of places to go even now. Almost everything closes around 10:00, so you’re right that it’s pretty boring. But then I suppose I don’t mind living in a boring area.

By: KXB

KXB — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:52:13 +0000

I graduated from U of C in 1995, but lived there for one additional year. The problem with Hyde Park is not its left leaning politics, which had little practical impact on day to day life in town, but for a young college guy, it was a pretty boring neighborhood. In the years since, high end dining has entered the area, along with the re-opened Checkerboard Lounge blues club. Current students at U of C have far more social options than I did.

By: vanya

vanya — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:22:54 +0000

I agree with Ferguson that Brookline is certainly not a typical American suburb – most American suburbs don’t celebrate Israeli independence day as a major event. But Dukakis is hardly a typical resident of Brookline so it’s a weird juxtaposition for Ferguson to make. For an “East Coast” pundit Ferguson’s understanding of Massachusetts seems as shallow as his understanding of Illinois.

By: Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:41:23 +0000

Good point about the liquor. There is an upside there, I suppose.

“The Right” isn’t trotting out Dukakis as a symbol of anything. Ferguson is. I didn’t know whether Dukakis was typical of Brookline or not, but the point here is to challenge the claim that Brookline is so very odd and bizarre.

A larger point that I ought to have made is how these sorts of anthropological field trips are condescending and often inaccurate when they are carried out somewhere the country by some East Coast pundit, whether it is Hyde Park or somewhere in rural Kentucky.

By: vanya

vanya — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:33:18 +0000

Once again the Right bizarrely trots out Dukakis as a symbol of something he wasn’t. Dukakis is in no way a typical Brookline resident – the typical Brookline resident is Jewish for one thing. Brookline is not Cambridge or Berkeley – it votes heavily Democratic sure, but these are mostly limousine liberals not leftists – wealthy attorneys, psychologists and hedge fund managers, with an admixture of 20-something yuppies enjoying a last safe taste of city life before they move out to the suburbs. Joe Lieberman would, and does, feel very comfortable in a place like Brookline. Denis Kucinich would not.

By: dan

dan — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:34:58 +0000

Yeah, the wine selection is worse, but now we don’t have to go downstairs for liquor!

By: nathancontramundi

nathancontramundi — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:13:46 +0000

To the extent that it remains un-yuppified, Lincoln Square is still a pretty good neighborhood. Cute, quaint family-owned shops include a toy store, an amazing German delicatessen/butcher shop, and an apothecary filled with smells divine (that, I contend, one need not be gay or female to appreciate).

Sorry to hear that the wine selection had declined!