areas around msi (Chicago, Calumet Park, Fisher: home, university, live)

[jeffaj01]

Was curious of what the names of all the areas around MSI are called? We've been to Chicago several times through the past several years. We took my parents this past weekend for 3 days as a Christmas present. Had a great time, my dad was very surprised as to how clean the majority of the city was. Was a very fun and enjoyable trip. We always stay nw of the city, haven't stayed in the city to date yet (will get there I'm sure)...
Anyway, on our way home (we drive; live within a few hours) we stopped by msi for the day. On our way out (southish) we ran into some less then safe *feeling* parts of town. Was just wondering what some of these parts are, so I can avoid them next time...
We were in the city into the evening and didn't feel uneasy two nights, great tourist bus tour around the city seems to get anywhere you would need/like to go. Beautiful parks, awesome fountains, overall nice people.
Negative - dirty restrooms (if you can find them) ..this is understandable though with the amount of people.

Thanks Chicago for a great time!

[ToriaT]

What is MSI? If you come to Chicago as a tourist generally stay on the north side of the city and stay away from the west side and south side. There are some good areas in these parts but its easy to go into the wrong parts if you do not know your way around. East is better generally as is north. Major parts of the south side are a vast ghetto and dangerous. If you went south on your way leaving the city perhaps you went through some of these parts. Mostly tourist stay in the downtown area, river north, or Michigan avenue area.

[marothisu]

Museum of Science and Industry. The "shady" area you're probably referring to is Woodlawn. Not the most dangerous place in Chicago, but shadier than many other areas.

Woodlawn, Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The area MSI is in though is pretty safe though (Hyde Park) as it is where the U of Chicago is. Also if you go north of there you can get to Kenwood, which is where Obama lives when he's not at the White House. There's a number of real nice old mansions in the area.

[Thepreacherswife]

You probably drove down Lake Shore Drive and wound up on South Shore Dr (if you stayed on US 41). It goes through South Shore, which is gentrified in bits and pieces. If you went all the way through South Shore past 79th St then you got into South Chicago, which I would say is less gentrified than South Shore.

But if you can handle the not-too-scary drive down to 95th the next time you come, you can get some fabulous smoked fish or shrimp to go at Calumet Fisheries (95th St and Calumet River Bridge) then drive over to Calumet Park and sit on the lakeshore and enjoy a feast.

[Larry Siegel]

The OP might have gone south on Stony Island. It is a good bit less attractive than South Shore Drive.

[It'sAutomatic]

It's not even worth worrying about bad parts of Chicago if you're visiting in a car. No sites or places you'd want to visit are dangerous, and if you're just cruising and end up somewhere too funky for you, just turn around.

[jeffaj01]

Yes, stony island is one of the places we wound up.

[Larry Siegel]

Next time you're on the South Side, visit the University of Chicago. It's beautiful, mostly safe, brimming with history, and a 5 minute drive from the Museum of Science and Industry.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Next time you're on the South Side, visit the University of Chicago. It's beautiful, mostly safe, brimming with history, and a 5 minute drive from the Museum of Science and Industry.

How slowly do you drive? The UofC campus is practically adjacent (and by "practically adjacent" I mean "literally nearly touching") to the museum.

[snoylekim]

In theory, yes ..If you want to start the tour at I-House and Breckenridge .. but , with the traffic lights , and respecting pedestrian traffic crossing the Midway ..it's about 5 minutes from MSI to,say, Harper Library and the main Quadrangle.