Trip to Chicago. (Addison, Lincoln, Irving: neighborhoods, buy, university)

[hazelnutmom]

Hello All, I know there are a ton of discussions about this subject but I am hoping to get a little more information. My 24th birthday is coming up in August and my husband told me that he is taking me to Chicago!! First time there for both of us so dont really know what to expect, but overly excited. We are driving from Toledo,Oh on a Friday night staying the whole day Saturday and leaving sometime Sunday afternoon. I pretty much have some things planned out to do during the day on Saturday but I was wondering about night life. This is me and my husbands first trip and really first over night stay away from our 2 year old daughter, granted we are going to miss her terribly, but we are pretty excited for some "adult time". I use to live in Arizona and there is a strip called Mill Ave. (dont know if anyone is familiar with this) but it is a block or so long with bars and clubs and people are on the street performing and it is really just a good time, is there anything like this is Chicago? Thanks in advance.

[carnelian]

There are many streets with bars and nightclubs on the north side of the city, but I don't know of any with performers outside. I usually see them in the subway by the trains. You need a performing license of some sort to perform and that discourages.

On the other hand, find a neighborhood music festival on the northside (not northwest) of city in a somewhat safer area and that is your best bet. They are free or a few dollars and usually have rock bands performing, food and lots of people hanging around--on the weekend during the day and night. Sometimes Grant Park in city has a city wide bigger music festival with food. Free.

[rparz]

There's NearNorth nightlife, the RiverWest nightlife, Wrigleyville nightlife, Bucktown/Wicker scene.

There's so much available on the weekend, you'll need to be more specific to help guide you. Each of these (and some I forgot) are quite happening social scenes in their own right.

[linicx]

I don't think you will find anything like Mill Avenue. Some of the more popular things to do is the lake cruise. Lake Park Zoo is free and it is an interesting neighborhood. Grant Park has the enormous fountain.There is also Shedd Aquarium or the Museum of Science and Industry. One of my personal favorites is Chinatown. It is a large and fully functioning city within the city where meals are inexpensive and you might find a surprise or two.

The Magnificent Mile is a must see for first time visitors. Since you are coming in August you might want to plan to come during the second annual Magnificent Mile Shopping Festival. In any case bring a camera. If you've never seen anything like this you should do it once in a lifetime. Welcome - The Magnificent Mile Shopping Festival presented by MasterCard®

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[marothisu]

Originally Posted by hazelnutmom

Hello All, I know there are a ton of discussions about this subject but I am hoping to get a little more information. My 24th birthday is coming up in August and my husband told me that he is taking me to Chicago!! First time there for both of us so dont really know what to expect, but overly excited. We are driving from Toledo,Oh on a Friday night staying the whole day Saturday and leaving sometime Sunday afternoon. I pretty much have some things planned out to do during the day on Saturday but I was wondering about night life. This is me and my husbands first trip and really first over night stay away from our 2 year old daughter, granted we are going to miss her terribly, but we are pretty excited for some "adult time". I use to live in Arizona and there is a strip called Mill Ave. (dont know if anyone is familiar with this) but it is a block or so long with bars and clubs and people are on the street performing and it is really just a good time, is there anything like this is Chicago? Thanks in advance.

I have never been to Mill Avenue so I can't 100% comment on that, but I can help for other stuff. First of all, there's bars everywhere in Chicago, even in sections of town with not a ton going on and far away, you're still going to find bars, restaurants, etc. Most people stay on the North and West sides for night life, but also part of the south sides in little areas. Some areas:

* River North - I guess you could consider it downtown. Typically a little more expensive than a bar in Toledo, but most might be nicer. Pretty much full of bars and clubs.

* Gold Coast - Two sections here. One is Rush Street which is mostly known as Viagra Triangle. Gold Coast is a rich section of town, and the drinks aren't any more expensive than River North, but you will find a lottt of gold digging here and the whole "I have a Lamborghini, look" game. Then there's Division Street which is full of bad looking college places where a bunch of 21 year old type of people go and drink and be obnoxious. I usually stay away from Division.....only when i'm REALLY drunk and can be convinced to go, I will go.

* Lincoln Park - A lot of recent grads live here and Big 10 alum. Number of bars and restaurants. There's also a few legit blues clubs here like B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted and Kingston Mines. Kind of Fratty in many areas.

* Lakeview - Semi like Lincoln Park, but semi more eclectic than Lincoln Park. Wrigley Field is here, so you have a lot of packed bars. Fratty in some areas like Lincoln Park, but more eclectic overall.

* Wicker Park - Semi more alternative scene although it's becoming less alternative than it was. You have an eclectic mix here. One of the best cocktail lounges is here and then 500 feet later you have a bar that might be playing Slayer with wall paintings (amazing ones actually) of a hand with a knife coming out of a wolf's head. There's a lot of both rougher around the edge bars and nice bars here. There's also some music venues.



Other areas are Ukrainian Village, Logan Square, and Bucktown (all near Wicker Park). Both have nice places and rougher around the edges places. They're both "up and coming" areas of the city. Then there's also the South Loop, University of Ill-Chicago area, Pilsen, South Loop, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, Old Town, Bucktown, etc etc etc.


I don't see a lot of street performing on the weekend nights, but the closest you're going to get to that is Wicker Park. I have seen people playing guitar, street magic, and rap battles on the street. It's not organized, but it's your best bet and on nice nights there WILL be someone performing something out there whether it's good or some cracked out drug addict trying to make his next drug money. Personally, it's my favorite area of the city for night life along with certain sections of River North.



One more thing. Plan on keeping your car somewhere that weekend. Chicago is very public transportation reliant in a number of areas and you don't even need a car (I sold mine 3 years ago and don't miss it). There's a lot of bars in many neighborhoods right around train stops. There's also cabs everywhere and all the attractions you're going to want to see -- same story. If you go up to Wrigleyville for example, take the Red Line and get off at Addison. Tons of buses too, so yeah...keep your car somewhere. You won't need it unless you plan on going to some random areas of Logan Square or something, but then again you can cab it. Please take special note of this advice. Parking in some areas is either expensive (i.e. River North, Gold Coast, etc) or very hard to find on the street (i.e. Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park).

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by linicx

I don't think you will find anything like Mill Avenue. Some of the more popular things to do is the lake cruise. Lake Park Zoo is free and it is an interesting neighborhood. Grant Park has the enormous fountain.There is also Shedd Aquarium or the Museum of Science and Industry. One of my personal favorites is Chinatown. It is a large and fully functioning city within the city where meals are inexpensive and you might find a surprise or two.

The Magnificent Mile is a must see for first time visitors. Since you are coming in August you might want to plan to come during the second annual Magnificent Mile Shopping Festival. In any case bring a camera. If you've never seen anything like this you should do it once in a lifetime. Welcome - The Magnificent Mile Shopping Festival presented by MasterCard®

.

LOL you make it sound as if there's no nightlife or something. We all know Chicago has an amazing number of bars and numerous large nightlife areas. As far as street performing goes, you're right on that front if that's what you're implying, but you probably haven't been to Wicker Park lately to drink. I see someone performing everytime I'm there on a night - good or not.

[PacificWest]

Originally Posted by hazelnutmom

Hello All, I know there are a ton of discussions about this subject but I am hoping to get a little more information. My 24th birthday is coming up in August and my husband told me that he is taking me to Chicago!! First time there for both of us so dont really know what to expect, but overly excited. We are driving from Toledo,Oh on a Friday night staying the whole day Saturday and leaving sometime Sunday afternoon. I pretty much have some things planned out to do during the day on Saturday but I was wondering about night life. This is me and my husbands first trip and really first over night stay away from our 2 year old daughter, granted we are going to miss her terribly, but we are pretty excited for some "adult time". I use to live in Arizona and there is a strip called Mill Ave. (dont know if anyone is familiar with this) but it is a block or so long with bars and clubs and people are on the street performing and it is really just a good time, is there anything like this is Chicago? Thanks in advance.

As many have said there are a ton of bars & club in Chicago. Hopefully, you're staying Downtown, many bars & club, specifically your best place compared to the Mill, would be Navy Pier, at least a 3 block stretch.

You want find clubs at Navy Pier, but there is place where you can buy beer, street performers, live entertainment & fire works on the weekend.

Magnificent Mile, downtown, if you're lucky you might catch some street performers.

Navy Pier is located Downtown, so if you're staying Downtown you have easy access to what you're seeking.

[hazelnutmom]

Thank You Everyone!! Your responses were very helpful.

[Attrill]

So I assume when you say Arizona you're talking about Tempe and the strip around ASU? If that's the case, I get what you're saying and I think you're looking more for a good strip of bars and restaurants and not so much street performers. If that is the case, Chicago has LOADS of areas that have that, and all of them stretch for blocks and blocks.

Navy Pier is a bit contrived, and is basically a constructed tourist area. I think people are mentioning it because there are some performers along it, but it's a generic tourist area. Marothisu gave a good overview, and I do think your best bet would be to get out to a neighborhood, or hang out around River North downtown. The Blue or Red Lines on the L will get you to some major restaurant/bar strips in 15 minutes. I'd suggest checking out Metromix or LTHforum.com to find a restaurant that looks good to you, and then base your activities around that area.

[aragx6]

There's probably a neighborhood street fest going on the weekend you're there -- check into that; those are usually a lot of fun if the weather is nice.