I want to make a small correction to your comment. I can’t speak for other Asian communities, but I do know that the Chinese community in Chicago goes back to the 1890’s. The original Chinatown was located in what is now downtown around the intersection of Clark and Van Buren. In the early part of the century, as downtown encroached, most of the Chinese population migrated south to the intersection of Wentworth and Cermak, which at the time was an Italian and Swedish neighborhood. Today the Italians and Swedes are gone, and Cermak and Wentworth is the center of Chicago’s Chinatown.

The other major Asian community in Chicago is on Argyle, which I guess would be considered part of Uptown. It’s sometimes referred to as “New Chinatown” but most of its residents are Vietnamese. I’m not too sure how old this community is though, but I’d imagine not as old as Chinatown.

Historically, Chicago is ethnically diverse in large part due to immigration in the early 1900s from eastern Europe – Polish, Hungarian, German, etc. The immigrants settled into neighborhoods within the Chicago area pretty much by country of origin (and by language) and, as Ben says – developed de facto segregation. African-Americans also settled into their own communities. These days, of course, there are many other cultural communities – including Asian. But, there was no Asian community in Chicago when I was living in the midwest in the 1960s.

California is different. Most of the immigrants are Hispanic and Asian and most have come in the last 50 years. De facto segregation exists to some degree but because there are so many Hispanics and Asians, they exist throughout the main population areas – the bay area (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose) and southern California (LA, San Diego). I’ve lived in northern and southern California for 40 years, and I’ve seen California develop into a state where, according to the US Census (2006 Census information) white persons not Hispanic are 43% of the population, Hispanics are 36%, Asians are 12% and African Americans are 7%. Although this is the picture state-wide, the degree of cultural diversity is even greater in the major population areas and less so in the rest of the state.

Also, politically Midwesterners by and large are on the conservative camp. They tend to be more religious and believe that the U.S. should be the global leader. Lots of manufacturing jobs were located in the Midwest when they were outsourced to China and other 3rd world countries. This is just an impression from a Chinese living in the U.S. for many years. Somehow I love Midwesterners and have made some great friends. I live in the South now.

I second what Mark says. The Midwest is not a very multi-cultural (by American standards) place. It is very down home American, and has comparatively few foreigners and little foreign influence. California would be the opposite end of the spectrum. This is actually why I often recommend to Chinese friends that they add a random midwestern city to their American travel itineraries, in addition to seeing New York and San Francisco.

@Mark

Good overview of the Midwest. As a side note, I’ve always felt that continuing to call the middle of the country the “midwest” could be very confusing to foreigners, but I don’t think there’s any turning back now. When I say “Midwest” in Chinese I usually translate it to 美国中部 (the middle part of the US) rather than 美国中西 (literally American midwest) to avoid any confusion.

As for being cosmopolitan, Chicago very much meets your definition. It is one of the major US ports for immigrants, and easily the most ethnically diverse American city outside of the coasts. The funny thing about Chicago though, is that due to de facto segregation, one can easily spend a weekend here without encountering a single person from a different race or social class. Once you get out and explore the neighborhoods though, there are people and communities from just about every corner of the world here.