Pizza, Nails, Tattoo...Repeat

As one might expect after forty years, I have a love-hate relationship with my hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois. I love the location. I hate that it's boring.

The location is an indisputable asset. We have three stations on a major urban commuter train line and are bordered by three expressways. In 30 minutes (assuming no traffic) you can be in downtown Chicago or in the middle of a cornfield. Downers Grove has other positives. There are a lot of lovely trees. The library is stellar (disclosure: I used to work there). And our residents are the type of well-educated, genuinely nice people that are the Midwest's best export.

Now for the hard stuff. Despite all of the above, we have a hard time attracting interesting businesses and cultural amenities. Considering that we are the home of teachers, scientists, financiers, IT professionals and other propellers of the economy, we don't have a nonprofit community arts center. Considering that we are more than 150 years old with stories to tell about the development of the Chicago area, our museum is small and staffed mostly by volunteers. And our dull businesses seem to replicate their dull selves in a disheartening way.

Take the pizza, nails, tattoo mercantile triumvirate that has infected Downers Grove. If you wanted to have a 16-inch cheese, get a French manicure or carve a dragon on your bicep, there is no better place on earth than Downers Grove, Illinois. I am convinced that there is some alien spore that impregnates mini malls, causing a nail salon to bloom. These salons then asexually germinate pizza places. The two shops then mate, producing a tattoo parlor. Either that, or these businesses do not need a lot of square footage but do need high visibility locations, both of which are plentiful in my hometown. (And this is clearly a problem elsewhere).

Now, our village staff does a good job of making businesses keep themselves tasteful and tidy (the photo I chose above was NOT taken in Downers Grove). Nor do I fault business owners for choosing Downers Grove for their commercial endeavors. There must be a reason these three businesses seem to do well here, and I admire anyone who tries to make a buck providing services people seem to want.

Yet, I admit to having crushes on other suburbs that seem to have broken free of the pizza-nails-tattoo cycle. Suburbs where you can walk multiple blocks and encounter delightful little shops that all have their own personalities. Places with a strolling focal point, so that you don't have to just spend money to have a good time (but probably will buy something, even if it's just an ice cream). Towns that have engineered a way for pedestrians and transportation to coexist safely. I am not going to mention any names, because I don't want Downers Grove to feel bad.

The real facts of life are these: people need to eat, wear clothes, entertain themselves, buy gifts, and get their cars fixed. They need vacuums and earrings, dry cleaning and yoga, insurance and caramel java pumpkin skim lattes. A good place to live may not always be pretty, or crime-free, or layered with ample parking. But it should be clean, safe, and pleasant. My hometown is mostly that, most of the time. But we could always use a touch-up, a fill-in, or a whole new set.