Monday, December 18, 2006

You Silly Rabbit - Trixies Are In Chicago...


A quick note from Geno Petro:

'Okay, here's the dealio. I'm in NY for the day doing my blog thing there while Carollo Real Estate's Christine Forgione
{pictured and posted below} from NYHouses4Sale in Queens is posting her repartee here. And it's not just CF and me. It's the First Annual Real Estate Yankee Blog Swap (other national participants are linked at the end of the post). So without further adieu, folks...analyze this'.....

Just to set the record straight - These words are from a Female Blogger from NY Queens, at this point I would like to apologize for what I might say, will say or have said to anyone that could be offended.

While I was searching around Geno’s blog – I realized that he lives and works in one of the areas that I found quite interesting, Lincoln Park. My New York friends who think that they pay a lot of money to buy a home here, should check out the prices in Chicago - Woohoo, they are not cheap either. I almost felt like I was back in my town of Whitestone. Look at this listing which is an “Oversized (30x125) lot with 2-Flat on beautiful Lakeview Street. Zoned R3.5, with an asking price or $750,000." Now, us New Yorkers know about zoning and building. So while I was venturing into Chicago, I found an area the I fell in love with. It seems like it is so “close to home” for me, and it has history, major history. I want to first give you some history points that I found quite interesting.

Lincoln Park had one of the biggest growth periods after 1871; this would be because of the Great Chicago Fire. This fire burned for two days and three nights, and stretched up Clark Street to Fullerton, burning down all the original homes that spanned over 34 blocks. The original story of how the fire started was that a lantern was knocked over by a cow in the O’Leary’s' barn. The original address was 137 DeKoven Street - It was later declared that this story was untrue. Ironically, today there is a fire academy located at what is now called 558 W. DeKoven Street. But while the fire blazed through the city, the residents ran to seek shelter in Lincoln Park.

Today the area seems to have a lot of newly built or refurbished Condos making it a very sought after neighborhood. If you are in your twenties - then this is the place that you NEED to live. When I started looking into this affluent area, I started to wonder if maybe this New York Italian Chic was maybe at heart, a Trixie? Maybe if I had been in my early to late twenties I could have been.... Nahhhhh

How do you know if you are a Trixie?


  • You work in a PR firm or a Marketing Firm (failed).
  • You rent or own a condo in the Lincoln Park area, (ugh, failed).
  • You drive a Jetta (failed).
  • You get manicures (one for me) .
  • You drink lattes with no foam (failed again).
  • Your real goal is to have more so you search to date and then (hopefully) marry a Chad (failed).
  • You wear your hair in a ponytail with a Cubs hat (I failed there).

(oh, and practice "GO CUBS!" - you will need that).

Ok - I failed. How about you? I think while I was reading up on the Trixie, I found that I liked them. If I had a daughter would I allow her to be a Trixie? Umm - perhaps no. While most people find the Trixies to be "gold diggers", I did find them quite interesting. My New York Friends are scratching their heads and saying – “Huh, what”? Well let’s just say fellow New Yorkers, that the Trixies and Chads would be equivalent to our Guido and Guidettes from Howard Beach. But the difference is that the Trixies work – don’t get me wrong, they either rent or own a condo (one bedrooms start in the low $300,000 range), Ok - so maybe daddy is paying for it lets give them some credit.

But the fact of the matter is most "Trixies" have a bachelor’s degree and they went to college. Guidettes did not go to college - unless you consider beauty school a college education. Now, one important factor that a Trixie needs is they need to know how to scream "GO CUBS" while attending a Cubs game at Wrigley’s Field, with their Chad.

My first impression of a Chad is that he would be a white collar worker, who wants and could make a lot of money while climbing the corporate ladder. A Chad will only work Corporate - and his goal is to drive the blackest BMW, have the HOTTEST Trixie and make it big as a trader. Where as a Guido does not work, but he thinks that he has a job and he thinks earns a lot of money by staying under the wing of “Uncle Vinny” or "Uncle Tony", if ya know what I mean. Now the true Guido’s signature fashion statement would be gold chains around the neck, a "wife beater" T- shirt and a trademark pinkie ring. (Watch "GoodFellas" or "A Bronx Tale" to understand).

The Chad in my opinion would be a savvy dresser. He most likely wears top of the line suits (and say a blue/periwinkle shirt?) for work and the classic polo shirt for his going out attire.Ken and Barbie – Eh, I mean Chad and Trixie seem like they have a lot of fun. Their Friday and Saturday nights are pure night life. You might be able to hang out with them at one of the local bars like the Max Bar, Blu and or Raven's or perhaps even catch them at Wrigley Field during game season. (Seeing as the last time that the Cubs played in the World Series against Yankees was in 1938--Cubs Lost), I think that the Chads and Trixies still wait for THE DAY that the Cubs actually make it into the World Series, let alone maybe win it (yeah, ok - that'll happen).

You see much like my home in Queens NY - you can only be either a Met Fan or a Yankee Fan - there is no crossing over and there is NO common ground. Chicago is very similar - You can not be a White Sox fan and a Cubs fan (in my opinion they both stin.. Never mind). You just can't have it both ways. I am sure, much like in my town the Yankee fans and Met fans can be best of friends but when the Subway Series is going on - us Yankee fans would much rather take our own cars to the game, and we will meet up after the Yankees win!

Pictures on the Great Chicago Fire.

Posted by
Christine Forgione, Queens

The Whole 'Yankee' Gang... (with a special thanks to Mary McKnight, RSSPieces.com for booking the gig)

Transparent Real Estate’s Pat Kitano vs. Zillow’s Drew Meyers
RSS Pieces’ Mary McKnight vs. Future of Real Estate Marketing’s Joel Burslem
St Paul Real Estate Blog’s Teresa Boardman vs. Phoenix Real Estate Guy's Jay Thompson
3 Ocean Real Estate’s Kevin Boer vs. SLC Real Estate’s Nigel Swaby
Issaquah Undressed’s Larry Cragun vs. Maury Properties’ Andrew Maury
Chicago Home Weblog's Geno Petro vs. NY Houses 4 Sales’ Christine Forgione
Phoenix Arizona Real Estate Blog's Jonathan Dalton vs. Real Estate Snippets Bonnie Erickson
The boys of Sellsius vs. Real Estate Tomato’s Jim Cronin
ML Podcast’s Michael Price vs. FamousAgents.com’s Elise Wright
My Tech Opinion’s Reggie Nicolay vs. Ubertor’s Steve Jagger
Redfin's Glenn Kelman vs Rain City's Ardell DellaLoggia
CondoDomain's Anthony Longo vs. miOaklandCounty's Maureen Francis
The San Diego Home Blog’s Kris Berg vs. Urban Dig’s Noah Rosenblatt
The Property Monger's Jon Ernest vs. XBroker's Jeff Corbett
Realty Blogging's Richard Nacht vs. The Mortgage Reports' Dan Green
Christian Real Estate Network's Justin Smith vs. Wanna Network's Tony Senna
Sacramento Voice's Gena Riede vs. Max Sell's Brad Nix


7 comments:

  1. Can I just say I LOVE the photo. Nice homage to the host. Headed over to NYC to check out how Geno looks in a white blouse.

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  2. LOL Maureen - I just got here. Chicago is just very trendy!!LOVE IT.

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  3. Christine, I loved the photo and your writing, welcome to my old hometown, you really got it.

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  4. Thanks Christine, for the great take on my 'hood. People here are loving it. It's really funny when you hear a Trixie say, "She's such a Trixie." Kinda like when one 'Yuppie' refers to another 'Yuppie' with disdain. All I can say is "I knew a Trixie, Mrs Forgione...and you are no Trixie...!"

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  5. LOL Geno! I hear ya. I totally "get ya". ROFL.

    Charleston - LOL - I was hoping to catch it. You are right, Geno was a great partner for me. He is so lite and ... "airy"...

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  6. Chicago's got the deep dish pizza while New York's got the thin crust. That's one reason I can't be too far from NYC.
    Nice Geno latte pose Christine :)
    Where I grew up in SI there were many Guidos.

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  7. Christine, you and Geno were perfectly matched in the blog swap. That hat and coffee thing...now that's funny!

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