The Rough Guide to Chicago 3

315 Pages·2009·52.54 MB·English

by  Rich McHugh

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About this book
Rough Guides are designed to be good to read and easy to use. The book is
divided into the following sections, and you should be able to find whatever you
need in one of them.
The introductory colour section is designed to give you a feel for Chicago,
suggesting when to go and what not to miss, and includes a full list of contents.
Then comes basics, for pre-departure information and other practicalities.
The city chapters cover Chicago in depth, giving comprehensive accounts of all the
attractions, while the listings section gives you the lowdown on accommodation,
eating, shopping and more.
Contexts fills you in on history, music and literature, while individual
colour sections introduce Chicago’s architecture and cuisine.
The book concludes with all the small print, including
details of how to send in updates and corrections, and a
comprehensive index.
Color maps covering the city can be found at the back of the book.
This third edition published July 2009.
The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and
currency of all the information in The Rough Guide to Chicago, however, they
can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or inconvenience sustained by
any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide.
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Contents
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Colour section 1 Listings 147 |
Introduction ...............................4 H Accommodation ................149
What to see................................7 I Eating ................................162
When to go ..............................11 J Drinking.............................187
Things not to miss ...................12 K Nightlife and
entertainment ......................196
Basics 17 L Performing arts and film ....204
M Galleries ............................214
Getting there ............................19 N Gay and lesbian Chicago ...218
Arrival ......................................24 O Shopping ..........................225
Getting around .........................26 P Sports and outdoor
The media ................................30 activities ............................234
Travel essentials ......................31 R Kids’ Chicago ...................241
a Festivals ............................244
The City 39
Contexts 251
1 The Loop .............................41
2 South Loop and History ...................................253
Near South ..........................64 Chicago blues ........................267
3 The Near North Side ...........76 Books ....................................278
4 Old Town and Lincoln
Park ....................................89 Small print & Index 285
5 Lakeview, Wrigleyville
and Andersonville ...............98
6 Bucktown, Wicker Park and Architecture colour
section following p.80
Ukrainian Village ...............106
7 The West Side ...................114
8 The South Side and
Food colour section
Hyde Park .........................121
following p.176
9 Rogers Park and the
North Shore ......................133
G Oak Park ...........................140 (cid:56)(cid:66)(cid:84)(cid:73)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:80)(cid:79)
Colour maps following
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(cid:80)(cid:71)(cid:1)(cid:36)(cid:73)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:66)(cid:72)(cid:80) p.296
3
(cid:2)(cid:2) The Cloud Gate (cid:2) Lake Michigan shoreline
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I
N
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R
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D
U
C
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IO Introduction to
N Chicago

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W
H
A
T

T
O

S
E
E

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W
HE Soaring skyward from the pancake-flat prairies of the
N
T Midwestern heartland, Chicago has the feel of the last
O
G great American city. With its vibrant architecture, ethnic
O
neighbourhoods and extremes in temperature, Chicago
offers a microcosm of what is most interesting about
American cities. Having come into its own during the late
nineteenth century, the city remains an economic and
cultural hub and still evinces its traditional blue-collar
roots. Chicago has the buzz of a large metropolitan area,
combined with a small-town spirit and refreshing lack of
pretension. Over 44 million visitors flock here annually,
seduced by its pioneering architecture, world-class
museums and galleries, vibrant nightlife, Michigan Avenue
shops and the bustle of the Loop.
Founded in 1833, Chicago was a raw frontier
outpost on the sharp edge of civilization and
wilderness. Owing to its strategic position
as a mid-continental hub, Chicago soon
became the engine of the growing nation’s
westward expansion, reaching its zenith
during the industrial age. The grain, lumber,
meatpacking, steel and railroad trades all took turns dominating the
economic landscape, bringing hitherto unbridled opportunity for
thousands of immigrants and fostering a can-do spirit. Capitalism ruled
4 with a fist comprised of crisp bills, pork-belly futures and railroad
stocks.
(cid:3)
Fact file
D
o
wntow • Chicago covers approxi- IN|
n T
C mately 228 square miles, of R
hica which 5 percent (7300 acres) OD
go at nig iTsh deerev oatreed 1 t9o8 p naerikglahnbdo.u r- UCTIO
ht hoods, 26 miles of lake N

waterfront, 15 miles of |
W
bathing beaches, over 7300 H
A
restaurants, 200 theatres T

and 53 inches of annual T
O
snowfall. S
E
• The city’s population has E

been declining since 2000. W|
The estimated figure for H
E
2007 was 2,836,659 – down N

just under 1 percent from TO
the 2000 census. Of this G
O
total 36 percent is black, 31
percent white, 28 percent
In 1871, the city emerged from the ashes
Hispanic, and 5 percent
of one of the worst fires in US history Asian. The population of the
to redefine American urban archi- greater metropolitan area is
tecture. Chicago became a crucible of 8,711,080 (2007 estimate).
innovation, where visionary designers, • The city boasts the
world’s largest public
ambitious industrialists and ingenious
library (Harold Washington
inventors could find their greatest
Library), biggest illuminated
expression. Prototypical skyscrapers soon fountain (Buckingham
rose gloriously along the shores of Lake Fountain), largest free
Michigan during the 1880s and 1890s. public zoo (Lincoln Park
Zoo), largest food festival
Meanwhile, Chicago’s cultural impor-
(Taste of Chicago), largest
tance bloomed following the creation
aquarium (Shedd Aquarium),
of the University of Chicago in 1892 largest modern art museum
and the city’s prestigious hosting of the (Museum of Contemporary
World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1893. Art) and busiest roadway
(Dan Ryan Expressway).
While the lurid legacy of Al Capone
and his empire of organized crime is still • Chicago is the birthplace
of roller skates, blood banks,
one of the city’s overarching associations,
malted milkshakes, the
most traces of the mob-run opium dens,
cafeteria, McDonald’s, spray
brothels and speakeasies that studded the paint, the winding watch, the
city during the 1920s Prohibition era zipper, the bifocal contact
have disappeared. Cleansing the deep lens, the railroad sleeping
car, the pinball machine and
stains of “machine” politics has proved 5
the steel-frame skyscraper.
a more difficult undertaking, however,
with allegations of corruption and fraud over city contracts tainting the
accomplishments of City Hall to this day. Contrary to popular belief, the
|
I name “Windy City” does not refer to the gusts that whip up over the lake
N
T
R but the city’s history of bellicose “windy” politicos, notorious for spinning
O
D a line.
U
C Along with a compelling history and a panoply of attractions, Chicago
T
I
O is also one of America’s great lifestyle cities. Visitors can cycle along the
N
| lakefront, saunter through parks, wander down hushed tree-lined streets
W
H punctuated by turreted brownstone mansions and chichi restaurants or
A
T delve into distinctive neighbourhoods. Here they will find the traditions

T
O of first-generation immigrants intermingling with the classic Americana of

SE hot dogs, pizza and baseball – each experience contributes to the dynamism
E
| and diversity of this formidable city. Chicago is America’s geographical
W
and cultural crossroads. It’s no exaggeration to say that modern blues was
H
EN invented here during the first half of the twentieth century, when tens of

TO thousands of African-Americans migrated from the South, bringing with

G them the music of their birthplace. With the relocation of legendary blues
O
clubs from the South Side to the more polished north, performances have
become a more diluted tourist spectacle. However, live music is something
Chicago does with aplomb, spanning every conceivable genre. Alternative
rock came of age here in the 1990s with the Smashing Pumpkins and
today the scene is one of the healthiest in the country. In more recent
years, the city’s R&B profile has risen with the success of artists like Kanye
West, Common, and the controversial musical stylings of R. Kelly. There is
a phenomenal array of venues ranging from jazz bars to Art Deco theatres
and edgy, hole-in-the-wall clubs.
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Immigrant Chicago
From the mid-nineteenth century, over 2.5 million immigrants, including I|
N
Swedes, Italians, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Greeks, Puerto T
R
Ricans, Chinese, Japanese and Mexicans, have flocked to this pulsating O
D
industrial metropolis, enticed by Chicago’s frontier spirit and endless U
C
opportunities in transportation, construction and manufacturing. T
I
Fleeing the devastating famine that started in 1845, Irish immigrants O
N
came here, rising from their humble beginnings digging canals to
|
dominate the urban linchpins of politics, police and religion – most W
H
Chicago mayors since 1933 have been of Irish origin. The mid-nineteenth A
T
century also saw the arrival of Poles and Ukrainians, who settled in
T
Bucktown and Wicker Park, and Swedes, who made Andersonville and O

Edgewater their home. Following the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, SE
E
Chicago became a truly international city, inspiring a new wave of
immigration. In the 1890s, impoverished Italian and Greek immigrants W|
settled in the West Side, which encompasses the neighbourhood of HE
Pilsen, currently home to one of the largest concentrations of Mexicans N

T
living outside of Mexico. While much of this area has suffered from O
Disneyfication, immigrant cultures are still preserved and nurtured G
O
through the much-vaunted Greek school system as well as the Mexican
Fine Arts Center.
With its rough and tough spirit and competitive zeal, Chicago is passionate
about sport. Baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey dominate the
sporting agenda and Chicagoans are fiercely loyal to their teams; the ever-
inconsistent Chicago Cubs’ games remain well attended thanks largely to the
atmosphere at the ivy-covered Wrigley Field, bastion of baseball tradition-
alism. Occasionally, as with the Michael Jordan-led Bulls of the Nineties and
the 2005 White Sox, local fervour is rewarded with championships.
What to see
T
he compact heart of Chicago is the Loop; from here the city
spreads to the north, south and west, bounded to the east by Lake
Michigan, which provides Chicago with some of its most attractive
open space and serves as a clear point of reference for getting your
bearings. The Chicago River, which cuts through the heart of downtown
Chicago to Lake Michigan, separates the business district from the shopping
and entertainment areas of the North Side, which merit, at the very least,
several days’ worth of exploring. Usually bypassed, Chicago’s dichotomous 7
South Side, which includes the leafy and bookish neighbourhood of
Hyde Park and increasingly gentrified (cid:4)

S
immigrant enclaves to the west, provides ho
IN| a rewarding and well-rounded insight pping
TR into Chicago’s history. on
O th
D The best place to start exploring e
U M
CT Chicago is the Loop, the city’s agn
ION downtown and birthplace and home ificen
W| to perhaps the finest display of t Mile
H modern architecture in the world,
A
T from the prototype early skyscrapers

T
O of the 1880s and 1890s through the

SE “Chicago School” period to Mies van
E
| der Rohe’s Modernist masterpieces
W
and his Postmodern successors. As well,
H
EN you’ll find here the quarter-mile-high

T Sears Tower, the Art Institute, the city’s
O
G premier art museum, and Millennium Park, an urban playground of
O
whimsical steel sculptures amidst landscaped gardens.
Chicago’s most commercial area – Near North – is where you’re likely
to spend much of your time. Just north of the river and divided into the
River North, N Michigan Avenue and Streeterville areas, near North is
where most of the city’s hotels and restaurants are concentrated and the
area is full of tourists and well-to-do locals and people-watchers. The
famed “Magnificent Mile” stretch of N Michigan Avenue cobbles together
a continuous stretch of fashion-
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able shops, designer boutiques
N
M and department stores on the
ic
h
ig famed Magnificent Mile. East of
a
n
Ave Michigan Avenue, on Streeter-
n
u ville’s lakefront, sitting squarely
e
on the edge of the neighbour-
hood, is Chicago’s most popular
tourist destination, Navy Pier.
Formerly a military facility and
a branch of the University of
Illinois, this elaborate complex
is marked by the hard-to-miss
giant Ferris wheel and contains
chain restaurants, shops and
concert venues. On the other
8 side of Michigan Avenue,
River North is to Chicago