Anyone aware there is a part of Downtown Chicago, where there is whole underground city? (live, restaurants)

[PacificWest]

Anyone aware there is a part of Downtown Chicago, where there is whole underground city? I heard there's a area of Downtown Chicago where there is a underground city with stores, shops, restaurants & maybe clubs.

Someone one mentioned it could be around Wacker Dr.

Would like to know exactly where's the underground city of Downtown Chicago?

Thanks

[myrc60]

Sure, it's called Lower Wacker...last I knew it was mostly seedy and it was easy for the homeless to hide down there. If you are driving however it is a great way to get from one end of Wacker Drive to the other quickly. Not aware of any shops. From time to time there are structural problems with parts of it.

[cdc3217]

Does he mean the Pedway?

[eevee]

sure you're not thinking of Toronto? I've heard the Pedway has a few shops connected it to it, but nothing on the scale of Toronto's underground city

[Attrill]

This?

[tb4000]

It's a walkway and parking area for the most part where the homeless chill. You want to shop down there, knock yourself out.

[myrc60]

Originally Posted by cdc3217

Does he mean the Pedway?

That could be too; but he is not going to find much shopping down there. A great way to avoid being outside during the winter months if it goes the way you need to go.

[via chicago]

Much of the downtown area of Chicago is built on 3 levels. This made it effective to have local traffic on the upper portion, and express/ deliveries on the underground. If you've ver watched the famous chase scene in Blues Brothers (or the chase scene in The Dark Knight), those were filmed on Lower Wacker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGwsI0gWAOQ



While there are technically some establishments on the lower portion (The Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Ave. probably being the most famous), its not like its some shopping haven.

[coldwine]

I have friends who were geniuses at using Chicago streets to get around.

Myself, I could never figure it out. It makes no sense to me. There are seven ways to get anywhere in Chicago using roughly the same streets, but... damned if I knew anything other than the L and surface streets.

That being said, the Pedway is one thing I was scared of. It just smacks of danger. I'm sure this is irrational but all the homeless people there at night, being so far away from anyone anyways... Not to mention the complete lack of an underground map to tell you where you are going...

In short, I'm aware of the underground/multi-tiered sections of Chicago, but other than a really clever cabi or an aforementioned transit-oriented friend, I'm not greatly familiar with it.

[Lookout Kid]

Macy Fields is connected to the Pedway, as it the Thompson Center. Other than that, the only shops are pretty marginal. I certainly wouldn't spend much time down there after dark.

Lower Wacker, Michigan, Randolph, etc. are pretty well known. They are confusing to newbies, but make a lot of sense if you know Chicago well. They are dark and gritty, and you don't really see people spending an afternoon down there. Most of the homeless were cleared out years ago.