Visiting Chicago - a couple initial questions....thanks

[LookingAround]

It is the Aqua. There is no tower in Chicago like that named Azur.

[rvwnsd]

...the Chicago Historical Society, up on the Near North Side in Lincoln Park is a superb repository of Chicago history and artifacts...[/QUOTe]

The Chicago Historical Society is now called The Chicago History Museum. The current exhibition is "Out in Chicago." I'm leaving tomorrow and haven't made it over there. Hope to next time.

[+ azdr0710]

thanks rvwnsd.....

 

here's the info for locals and anybody visiting.....

 

http://chicagohistory.org/planavisit/exhibitions/out-in-chicago

[+ azdr0710]

thanks again to Karl and all the others for the advice.....I just finished watching PBS's "Chicago: City of the Century" and the "bonus disc" had a quick modern tour of all the L lines and the neighborhood history of each line....good production....as suggested, I have a copy of the Eyewitness travel guide....glad I got the Hyatt downtown - looks like it's in a perfect location for the Loop and the Mag Mile stuff....only common complaint, I read, is thin walls....hmmmm.....will have to turn on the TV, I guess, when things get busy.....

 

1. Oak Tree and The Third Coast Cafe were mentioned....are these breakfast and/or lunch (soup, salad, sandwich) spots?....casual?....not planning to bring much more than clean jeans and a polo-style shirt.....

 

2. any other locally popular breakfast and lunch joints?.... I like old-fashioned, old school, casual, non-chain stuff.....

 

3. very subjective, I know, but are Uno and Due the best for downtown pizza to go?....was told the best pizza is not in downtown by a poster, but in outer neighborhoods.....will want to grab a pie to go back to my room with for dinner.....

 

will be biking and walking a lot....arch. boat tour, the Lincoln Park area stuff, all the lakeshore parks and walks, Navy Pier, Jackson Park for site of the 1893 fair, old 'hoods.....the Chicago neighbor I mentioned has suggested Berghoff, Italian Village, and Miller's Pub (was/is in Palmer House??)....any comments on those?....I know there are a million great food places.....I can look at yelp and ask the locals, too.....

 

I will post a complete trip report when I return.....very windy weather today, I see......Indian summer will arrive when I do, I'm sure

[+ azdr0710]

hey all...promised I'd give a recap of my Chicago visit....fantastic city....I want to go back in the spring when the fountains are turned on and other things are at full speed..... here's a not-in-order summary of what I saw: Wrigley Field, Boystown/Steamworks, Evanston, N Michigan Ave (Mag Mile), Wrigley/Tribune Bldgs, former Playboy Mansion, C'go Arch. Fndtn. boat tour and walking tour (both are excellent), old Marshall Fields and Carson Pirie Scott bldgs, Millennium and Grant Parks, Printers Row, famous outside art on S Dearborn, the great historic skyscrapers in the Loop, Mrs. O'Leary's barn site, the old stockyards site and firefighter monument, Biograph Theater where Dillinger was killed, Hull House, Greektown, Navy Pier (just OK), free Friday noon concert at Fourth Presby. near Water Tower, and probably other stuff I forgot....

 

as recommended by the hotel, had great pizza from Lou Malnati's and Pizano....good breakfasts at West Egg and Original Pancake House.....found a great little mini grocery store, Bockwinkel's, behind my hotel for a quick snack, beer, sandwich....

 

never rented a car as the CTA system is excellent....nice midwestern-vibe people....as one here suggested, it doesn't feel like a big city, but rather a group of neighborhoods, even downtown....very cool hearing the L trains rattle overhead...you can practically look into peoples' apartment bedrooms four feet away from the trains and shrewd businesses advertise to the passing passengers on nearby windows....a few posers and fashionistas on N Mich Ave, but mostly tourists....those under-street streets in the Mich. Ave/river area are great....did NOT go into the cheezeborger-cheezeborger place.....biggest complaint? drivers have very little regard for pedestrians legally in the crosswalk....

 

any self-respecting Chicogoan (or history nut like me) should watch the PBS series "Chicago: City Of The Century".....excellent production (and, since it's a big part of C'go history, you get to see graphic footage of a pig being butchered!).....

[orbital sander]

Wow, you really made some good progress there azdr, it has been a long time since I was in Chicago, but you make it sound great, perhaps I will have to make a trip. Thanks for sharing!

[+ Axiom2001]

I tentatively plan to travel to "Chi Town," "The Windy City," the once "Hog Butcher of the World" sometime during the spring of next year. The poster's recap of some of his experiences will definitely be taken into account! Thanks, man!

[rvwnsd]

...biggest complaint? drivers have very little regard for pedestrians legally in the crosswalk.....

 

Chicago drivers, and pedestrians for that matter, are quite aggressive. I still scare friends eleven years after moving away.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. Did I recommend West Egg? If not, I should have. I LOVE that place. Did you go to the one in Streeterville? Evanston is a very cool city and I'm glad you visited. Visitors often overlook that little gem just across Howard street. As a kid I always wanted to live there and finally did for my last five years in Chicago.

 

You are making me homesick!

[+ azdr0710]

Chicago drivers, and pedestrians for that matter, are quite aggressive. I still scare friends eleven years after moving away.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. Did I recommend West Egg? If not, I should have. I LOVE that place. Did you go to the one in Streeterville? Evanston is a very cool city and I'm glad you visited. Visitors often overlook that little gem just across Howard street. As a kid I always wanted to live there and finally did for my last five years in Chicago.

 

You are making me homesick!

 

you're right about the peds being aggressive, also....if there's no traffic, go for it!....walk/don't walk light be damned....

 

I think it was the hotel staff that recommended West Egg and I think it was in Streeterville....was on a corner (SW one, I think) and you walked down an interior hall to get to the check-in stand....

 

in Evanston, I only did a quick walk, getting off at the Main St station, walking down to the lake, N thru a residential area, and back up to the next station N of Main (starts with a "D", I think)....

[down_to_business]

This thread was very helpful, thanks!

 

I enjoyed the pizza at Lou Malnati's and I had a blast at the Billy Goat Tavern (cheeseborger cheeseborger from the old SNL).

I also recommend taking an architectural boat tour and/or a walking tour, seeing the 'bean' in Millennium Park, and going to the Lincoln Park Zoo. There is a cool stained glass display at Navy Pier. Some of these activities were even free.

Chicago was full of great restaurants, fsacinating skyscrapers and museums, entertaining theatre, and some really hot guys. The mass transit was awesome and getting around was easy (even from the airport - just under $5 round trip)!!!

 

Only negative, there were lines to almost everything good. They did move quickly for most things.

 

And a final warning: Don't bring a car unless you absolutely need it. Be prepared to pay $$$ to park! Luckily, I didn't rent a car this trip.