'Of' vs. 'In'

Yesterday in class we talkeda bout Culture of Chicago. Initially, I was kind of confused about the conversation we were having. Because my understanding was that we were talking about the culture of Chicago. But most of the things people were coming up with were what I saw as culture in Chicago. And yes, to me, there's a difference. Here's how I see it:
Culture of Chicago means things that are partial to Chicago, which is why I brought up the Chicago Style Hotdog and the Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Those are both things that Chicago is notorious for. Maybe people just see them as trademarks of Chicago, but to me, that's part of Chicago's culture. Culture in Chicago is, as people were saying, the neighborhoods, the variety of restaurants we have, etc. And the museums would also fall into that category. Now, were the museums full of things exhibiting Chicago, then it would fall into the "of" category. I know, it's confusing. I was even a bit confused about my classification, but I can't help it--my brain defaults to it.
When Ms. Sherry asked us about what other cities would we say has a lot of culture, I immediately thought of New Orleans (I know, my range of cities is real narrow, but Chicago and New Orleans are the only two cities that I know fairly well). But when I thought about why I thought about New Orleans, I thought about the overwhelming feel of history that just eminates off of the sidewalks, the buildings--everything. The architecture is partial to New Orleans. You can't just up and go somewhere else to find the same style of houses. And Café du Monde, the all-year-round-24-hours-a-day café that overlooks Jackson Square and sits just off of the Mississippi River, that in itself is a huge piece of culture right there. Basically, I started to think about the state as a whole. I feel that Louisiana--and the rest of the South, for that matter--has way more culture than Chicago. Why? Because of the history that that land holds. Over in Vacherie, Louisiana sits Oak Alley, the aboslutely gorgeous plantation house that has two rows of 14 200-year-old Oak Trees lining the walkway to the hill the separates the houses from the river.
So, in that little stream of consciousness, I realized that, in a sense, I measure a place's level of culture based on its historic appeal.