I used to work in Kensington, right under the El train. Every morning we chased the crack whores out of the parking lot and in the first year we discovered four corpses there. Nice place.

Parts of it are good. I grew up for a bit in Kirkwood, had friends in Normandy and so on. Parts of it were absolute hell... every big city is like that.

I grew up in between two small towns in Western OK. The town I graduated in of about 1k and the town 5 miles away of about 8k. Yes it is very much who you know. I have been very fortunate that my dad and Grandfather are/were both respected businessmen in the community. There are very few people that don't at least know of my family. It has its pros and its cons... If I do something stupid in town in my car... Its rare that my dad doesn't know about it before I get home... But if I need anything in town its smooth sailing.