Cheap or Free Parking in Downtown Chicago (Irving, Garrett: sale, safe area)

[nvedia]

you can see around lakeshore drive...i get parking there all the time....
i can give you guest pass for three days if you want......

[OrangeAndBlue]

see if you can return the car to the rental agency for the time you are in the city and then get a new one when you leave. Depending on the rates, that may be cheaper than coughing up $ for parking.

[Ghengis]

It's not nice to keep secrets! I just saw a reference in TA to free parking on Recreation Drive and believe it's near the Loop or Michigan Mile near the lakefront. Haven't had much of a chance to find it but I will! And then I will post it here. Never did like those Wite Sox fans.

Dave from Minniesooooooooooduh

[Avengerfire]

Buzz off.

[Ghengis]

“the best and most promising park lot is located at Lakeshore Drive (LSD outer) and Addison on an unofficial street called “Recreation Drive.” You can only get onto it from Northbound LSD (North of Belmont but South of Irving Park). Enter the off-ramp onto Recreation Drive, come to a stop sign. Rather than turning left with the traffic, go straight into the back lot. It’s far away but free and plentiful… and a nice view… and safe. Parking on Marine North of Fullerton and South of Diversey might also work for you”

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

“the best and most promising park lot is located at Lakeshore Drive (LSD outer) and Addison on an unofficial street called “Recreation Drive.” You can only get onto it from Northbound LSD (North of Belmont but South of Irving Park). Enter the off-ramp onto Recreation Drive, come to a stop sign. Rather than turning left with the traffic, go straight into the back lot. It’s far away but free and plentiful… and a nice view… and safe. Parking on Marine North of Fullerton and South of Diversey might also work for you”

You know the city too well.

[Drover]

Do you know where you're staying yet? If so, have you asked the hotel if their lot is free or if not what the parking rate is? What do you intend to do/see when you get here? Like others have said, depending on where you stay and what you intend to do, you might not want to bother with a car.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

You know the city too well.

Heh. This made me chuckle.

Besides being super far from downtown, aren't the spaces on Rec Drive metered? Memory is failing me at the moment.

A better idea would be to park in a permit-free neighborhood along, say, the Brown Line and take the train in.

Or, seriously, skip the car.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

It's not nice to keep secrets! I just saw a reference in TA to free parking on Recreation Drive and believe it's near the Loop or Michigan Mile near the lakefront. Haven't had much of a chance to find it but I will! And then I will post it here. Never did like those Wite Sox fans.

Dave from Minniesooooooooooduh

I live near that Recreation Drive parking, and it's about five miles from the Loop. And it is metered. You're better off just finding non-metered non-zoned street parking near an "L" stop somewhere.

Don't you have anything better to do than give bad advice about a city you know relatively little about?

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

“Parking on Marine North of Fullerton and South of Diversey might also work for you”

This TA post should be entirely ignored. There is no Marine Drive south of Irving Park Road (and Fullerton and Diversey are both quite far south of Irving Park Road). It's called Inner Lake Shore Drive once you get south of Irving Park--and then south of Diversey there are a bunch of roads that meander through the park, including Stockton, Canon, etc.