Visiting Chicago this weekend. (Addison, Lincoln: hotel, neighborhoods, theater)

[bradjl2009]

Hello everyone in Chicago. My two friends and I are visiting from Saturday to Tuesday and I have some questions about what to do in Chicago. For a little background info, all three of us are guys who are 21 and we're visiting from Pittsburgh. This is my friend's first time to Chicago and this will be my first time visiting since I was 12.
I was wondering about what there is to do in Chicago besides some of the more obvious things (the Navy Pier, Michigan Ave, etc).

1. Here in Pittsburgh on the South Side, we have East Carson St. which is a street for a few miles which has a very large amount of bars, restaurants, and stores. Is there a similar neighborhood bar district in Chicago? Also, what time is last call in Chicago? Here in Pittsburgh it's a little early at 2 AM.

2. What is the city like on a Sunday? Most places in suburban Pittsburgh close by 8 to 10 PM on Sunday here and Downtown Pittsburgh is rather dead on Sundays here. Is it the same way in Chicago? Are there major places open in the Loop on Sunday? We were thinking about going to a casino Sunday night since they never close.

3. What are some neighborhoods that are worth seeing besides the Loop?

4. Any local restaurant suggestions? Nothing too expensive. I'd say we wouldn't want to spend more than $20 a person on a meal.

5. Since the Steelers are playing at 3 on Sunday, are there any Steelers bars anyone knows of in Chicago?

Thanks for answering any questions!

[jwaiter]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

1. Here in Pittsburgh...is a street for a few miles which has a very large amount of bars, restaurants, and stores. Is there a similar neighborhood bar district in Chicago? Also, what time is last call in Chicago? Here in Pittsburgh it's a little early at 2 AM.

There's a few stretches like that. Clark Street near Addison is maybe the most well known, it's a bit trashy, but if that's what you want, there it is.

Division from Leavitt to almost Ashland is another stretch. Nice mix.

Also, Division near Rush Street, again, a little trashy.

Bars close at either 2 or 4 M-F and 3 or 5 on Sat, depending on their license, there aren't a lot of 4/5am bars.

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

2. What is the city like on a Sunday? Most places in suburban Pittsburgh close by 8 to 10 PM on Sunday here and Downtown Pittsburgh is rather dead on Sundays here. Is it the same way in Chicago? Are there major places open in the Loop on Sunday? We were thinking about going to a casino Sunday night since they never close.

Everything will be open on Sunday, some bars do a brisk business during football games. Overall at night the bars will be less populated, but I'm sure a few get busy.

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

3. What are some neighborhoods that are worth seeing besides the Loop?

Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Andersonville, Wicker Park.

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

4. Any local restaurant suggestions? Nothing too expensive. I'd say we wouldn't want to spend more than $20 a person on a meal.

You might enjoy our cheap eats, liek Gold Coast Dogs or Al's Italian beef, Gino's or Lou Malnati's pizza.

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

5. Since the Steelers are playing at 3 on Sunday, are there any Steelers bars anyone knows of in Chicago?

I'm sure there are some bars for Pittsburgh fans, a little google research should turn them up.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

1. Here in Pittsburgh on the South Side, we have East Carson St. which is a street for a few miles which has a very large amount of bars, restaurants, and stores. Is there a similar neighborhood bar district in Chicago? Also, what time is last call in Chicago? Here in Pittsburgh it's a little early at 2 AM.

There's bars everywhere in Chicago, even in places you wouldn't expect. The big areas would be River North (downtown) around say Hubbard Street (start at Hubbard and State), and then all through there to the west are a bunch of clubs and such.

Then there's Lincoln Park, Lakeview, South Loop, Wicker Park, Logan Square, etc. Wicker Park is my favorite, and parts of Lakeview and Lincoln Park aren't bad, but they can be oddly fratty in some areas (which is not a bad thing if you like that). Division Street between State and Clark/LaSalle, etc.

Pittsburgh is pretty small compared to Chicago, so there's not just one or even two areas with bars here. They're almost everywhere.


2am bar closing is the standard in most cities across the US. Fortunately, in Chicago on Friday and Saturday nights some bars don't close until 3am, 4am or 5am. A lot still close at 2am, but there's a number of late night bars/clubs.

2. What is the city like on a Sunday? Most places in suburban Pittsburgh close by 8 to 10 PM on Sunday here and Downtown Pittsburgh is rather dead on Sundays here. Is it the same way in Chicago? Are there major places open in the Loop on Sunday? We were thinking about going to a casino Sunday night since they never close.

First of all, the Loop is not the grand place to be. It's the central business district, meaning a ton of it is office space..meaning outside of a few areas, it's dead on weekends and nights except a few places like State Street and around some of the theaters.

On Sundays it's a crap shoot. Some of the places on Michigan Avenue (stores) will close down early, but as a whole most places don't close until 10pm (maybe 9pm if they suck). There will still be bars open and whatever until 2am on Sundays.

You don't have to go to a Casino, but if you do it's near the airport which is like a 30 minute drive from The Loop.

3. What are some neighborhoods that are worth seeing besides the Loop?

See above.

4. Any local restaurant suggestions? Nothing too expensive. I'd say we wouldn't want to spend more than $20 a person on a meal.

Loaded question. There's thousands of restaurants in Chicago. What type of food are you looking for?

[It'sAutomatic]

1.) There are a lot of clubs/bars scattered around downtown, and some in a district near Division and State Streets. There's also Clark Street in Wrigleyville and Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park, and Milwaukee+Division Streets in Wicker Park, west of the river. Nightlife downtown is generally more expensive and fancy but you can find bars/clubs like that in other areas. There are 2AM bars and 4AM bars, and they're all open an extra hour later on Saturdays.

2.) Chicago gets quieter on Sundays but not exactly dead. The Loop proper is pretty dead outside of working hours, but the Near North Side (right next to it) is like a downtown extension that's always busy because it's got more stores and restaurants to bring visitors. Neighborhoods outside of downtown get a little quieter.

3.) It depends on what you're looking for. I think every neighborhood is interesting. Areas more dense with things to do and see are most of the areas on the North side and a few on the NW side, they're centered along the nightlife districts I mentioned. Dearborn/State/Astor from Division to North form the Gold Coast, the real old-money section of Chicago.

4.) I never eat out.

5.) Durkin's.

[Jandur]

Durkins for Steelers game. You can get a meal for under $20 at almost any bar/pub in Lakeview or Lincoln Park, but you wont get anything of note. Decent fried food etc.

[Drover]

Chicago has many bar/nightlife districts; our equivalent to the Carson Street mob scene would be Clark Street from Wrigley Field south to roughly Belmont.

For most bars, last call is 1:30am and closing time is 2:00am. A small handful of bars have a 4:00am license and last call will be roughly 3:30am. On Saturday nights, bars can stay open one hour later, so most bars will have last call at roughly 2:30am on Saturday while the 4am bars will have last call at roughly 4:30am on Saturday (Sunday morning technically).

Downtown Chicago is much like downtown Pittsburgh: not much going on when it's not normal business hours. Downtown will be positively dead on Sunday. In other parts of town it will be business as usual, just with smaller crowds.

Other parts of town to see besides downtown: well, honestly there's not a lot going on downtown. It has a busy vibe during weekday working hours, other than that it's not that happening. River North directly north and West Loop directly west are a little more lively. Most of the action is happening in various north and northwest side neighborhoods: Wicker Park/Bucktown, Logan Square, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Square, Andersonville are the usual top contenders. There's also the area near State/Division just north of River North, but it's very touristy. I suppose as a tourist that's not a bad thing in your case.

Good, cheap eats: too many to name. If you have a smartphone, get the Yelp app, and when the mood strikes you, look for nearby cheap eats using Yelp. As long as you're not in a part of town tourists have little business being in, you'll have plenty of options nearby.

Best place to watch a Steeler's game: Joe's on Weed.

[bradjl2009]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer my questions and give me suggestions of what to do! I'll pass all of this along to my friends. I'm excited to visit since I really liked Chicago when I visited as a kid. We first were coming to Chicago for the Pens vs. Blackhawks game Monday, but since Chicago is a big city with a lot to do, we decided to still go anyway. I should have been a little more specific with Downtown and "the Loop". I was more referring to River North and Loop West when talking about Downtown. I remembering going to both and enjoying both places.

jwaiter- What makes you think Clark and Addison and Division and Rush are a little trashy? Are those the bar areas full of the "bros"?

marothisu- For food, I was think places that serve more in the way of American, Italian, or local specialties.

Also, the hotel we're staying at is in the suburbs since it was a lot cheaper and it's in Bridgeview. Will taxis drive us from the city to there and is there an el train/subway station near by we can use and when do they stop running for the night?

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer my questions and give me suggestions of what to do! I'll pass all of this along to my friends. I'm excited to visit since I really liked Chicago when I visited as a kid. We first were coming to Chicago for the Pens vs. Blackhawks game Monday, but since Chicago is a big city with a lot to do, we decided to still go anyway. I should have been a little more specific with Downtown and "the Loop". I was more referring to River North and Loop West when talking about Downtown. I remembering going to both and enjoying both places.

jwaiter- What makes you think Clark and Addison and Division and Rush are a little trashy? Are those the bar areas full of the "bros"?

marothisu- For food, I was think places that serve more in the way of American, Italian, or local specialties.

Also, the hotel we're staying at is in the suburbs since it was a lot cheaper and it's in Bridgeview. Will taxis drive us from the city to there and is there an el train/subway station near by we can use and when do they stop running for the night?

The Blue Line, which runs to/from O'Hare, runs 24/7, and I believe that the Red Line is also on this schedule; other lines are a little more constrictive ( Yellow, Purple, etc).

A good place for American cuisine/ribs, etc would be the Fireplace Inn, on North Wells, but there are numerous others, just too many to mention, and you can find these by just walking around. For Italian cuisine, there's always Pizzeria Uno, or Lou Malnati's or Pequods ( the latter two being popular among Chicago CDers), and none of these places will break the bank.

Use the subway as much as possible, although I should add that cabs are MUCH cheaper than those in Boston, NYC, etc..

[hindukid]

I would think that it will cost a small fortune to use cabs from the burbs to the city. I'd guess at least $100 round trip. I really think if you are gonna be out drinking it makes way more sense to pay to stay in the city. I am seeing rooms on hotwire in downtown for as little as $90 this weekend. The cab alone will probably cost you more than that. Looking at a map it does seem that bridgeview is close to midway so I guess you could cab it to midway and then hop on the orange line from there. But the Orange line closes late night. If you party long enough maybe you can make it until it opens back up.

I'd spend one night in Lakeview on Clark st, one night in Wicker park at milwaukee/damen and also division/damen, and one night in downtown. It will give you a taste of 3 of the 4 biggest areas with Lincoln Park being the other. Or you could sub in Lincoln Park if you prefer your scene to be a little more fratty.

For cheap eats I'd go with local favorites such as deep dish pizza, hot dogs and italian beef.

[jwaiter]

Trashy meaning you're more than likely going to be in or witness a fight and someone vomiting on or near you.