"EVANSTON:" Geographical Place, Concept, Illusion, State of Mind......?

Imagine this: You're at an extended family function, school reunion or encounter an old acquaintence on the street....people who've lived in the Chicago area all of their lives and knew you well at one time-but you've lost track of one another.

After you exchange the last__ ( no. of years ) worth of information, the conversation focuses on the concept of your respective communities. The other party says to you, "Evanston,... how do you like it?......... kind of liberal ( "pretty progressive!, yes? ", "interesting community?", "lot of development going on there, huh ?" " Is Dave's Italian Kitchen still there? " " Still like the North Shore, don't you ? "You shop at Old Orchard ? " etc...whatever.)

Let's take an informal survey of the "tagline" ascribed to Evanston nowadays from the outside, in these kinds of conversations.. ( Outside could be someone who doesn't know what the Tower is, doesn't live here, but has lived in the Chicago area for sometime, etc )

How do their perceptions compare to ours ?