I'm in the town that i grew up in.. Blue Island..  They call it the 'historic town" mostly because it has seen better days. It seems that in the last 20-30 years that thing have gone downhill. Building are the same but worn, not much had been kept up, or improved.. and there hasn't been much of any new development... well there is a popeye's fast food chicken place, and a few new hispanic commerical businesses.... . but not much else.

I though I would check online to see if there was a Starbucks nearby. And i noticed one, a few miles away, just in the city limits of Chicago, at 103 and Longwood Drive. So I went to check it out. It is a new starbucks and one of best ones that I  have seen. It is huge, with chaise lounge chairs, and 3 rooms of seating almost like a large country house.

So although my hometown of Blue Island might not be the hippest place to hang out, there are places nearby in the swanky far southside neighborhood of Beverly in Chicago.