[marothisu]

I love Flushing because the Chinese food there is vastly superior to that of Manhattan and some places are very legitimately authentic and even considered good if they were located in China (though Manhattan in the last few years has gotten a handful of legit non-Cantonese Chinese places - I'll give them that. Mostly in East Village area too). Last summer, I had an intern of Chinese descent from Flushing who told me when he was growing up, it was all Irish bars and stuff like that, but now where his parents live is mostly Chinese. I think in a way it's similar to Bridgeport in that it went from being pretty white European to not too much. Though Flushing is a lot more Asian and Bridgeport is still a lot more White (30% White in Bridgeport versus 10% in Flushing), but there are other ethnicities in Asia there. I have a few coworkers who are originally from Bangladesh and India who live there too, and I've eaten at Korean restaurants in Flushing, and know there are a number of Koreans there too.

My girlfriend (again who is from China) looooves Flushing and all her friends do too, but none of them live there. Why? I just asked her, and she said first of all it's too far away from the job (Manhattan). She also loves Manhattan for hanging out in various areas, like East Village and Soho, so there's that. She said "If you come all the way to NYC, then you want to hang out with non Chinese people too. If you move to Flushing then it's just all Chinese people and what's the point? You might as well just stay in China." She used to live in Astoria which is kind of halfway between Flushing and Midtown Manhattan. Not many of her friends from China live in Manhattan, but inside of NYC most of them live in Queens - Astoria, Rego Park, Long Island City, Elmhurst, and one lives in Roosevelt Island. A handful of others live in Jersey City, NJ and a few others in places like Union City, NJ. These places in Queens are kind of a compromise between Flushing, their jobs in Manhattan, and areas of Manhattan they love like East Village, Soho, etc. I've almost never hung out with any of her friends in Chinatown - they aren't really big fans of it other than getting cheap groceries at a few markets (which they have in Queens anyway). Inside of NYC at least, Queens is a massive port of entry right now and you will find people from other countries who can afford Manhattan sometimes opt for Queens because of it. I just had a coworker originally from Sri Lanka move from my neighborhood in Manhattan to Queens partially because of this.

In my opinion though, the growth of areas in this regard in Chicago versus NYC is different and more economic. As I've stated before, my girlfriend has told me on numerous occasions "Chinese people love Chicago." By that, I really think she means downtown and some surrounding areas. She has told me that living in a nice high rise for Chinese people, at least younger ones, is much more of a status symbol than say it is for people from India. This type of thing is much more attainable in Chicago downtown than it is in Manhattan. I do believe that a lot of the younger people from China moving to Queens would probably love to live in Manhattan if they could afford living in a luxury high rise, but like most people, can't afford it. Queens or Jersey City is a complete compromise. On the other hand, these same jobs in Chicago will afford way more people the ability to live in a high rise downtown. I think as a result, this is why you see that population opt more for downtown than somewhere like Bridgeport or Chinatown. I see Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Chinatown, etc more as where either families who aren't making a ton of money (i.e. who cannot afford a $700K 3 bedroom condo downtown comfortably) move or where people with not a ton of money move. If the prices in Chicago went up a lot more downtown, you might see some of these areas increase even more. However, I think you'd also see a larger increase in areas like Lincoln Park, Lakeview, West Town, etc to be honest.

If you hang out enough though in areas like East Village, you'll see a lot of Chinese people around. Like yes, they want a taste of home but a lot are just foodies in every sense and love trying new things. A lot of ingredients for home cooking can be found in the markets in Manhattan (and they can be cheap, though they're even cheaper in Flushing). My girlfriend cooks at home a bit as do her friends, and they don't CLAMOR for just any Chinese restaurant. It's usually just the ones that have things they can't make at home or find easily where they end up going out to. I at least get the sense from them that they would totally live in Manhattan if they could and I think in Chicago that type of thing (luxury high rise) is way more attainable.