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Attractions:
Navy Pier, the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Sears (Willis Tower), Hancock Tower, Signature Room at the 95th, the Bean/Millennium Park, Wrigley Field, Water Tower, Architectural Tour, Magnificent Mile, Chinatown, Lincoln Park Zoo, suburbs Schaumburg(Medieval Times), Naperville, Northbrook/Glenview and Lincolnshire area, etc. A Cubs game is on the agenda eventually, but obviously, not on this trip.
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I'd recommend adding on a Bulls or Blackhawks game. You might like to check out the Garfield Park Conservatory - you'd have to take your feared Green Line west, but the Conservatory stop is literally a block from the Conservatory and is kept quite safe for visitors. It's a huge greenhouse, and I like visiting year-round. Certain seasons have better or less-better flowers blooming, but in the winter at least it's warm.
Other museums you might enjoy are the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen near the 18th Street station on the Pink Link, the Museum of Surgical Science on Lake Shore Drive a few blocks south of North Avenue, both of the Ukrainian National Museum and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, both on or near Chicago Avenue in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood between Western Ave and Damen Ave. If you're in that neck of the woods, it can be fun to stop in at Alcala's Western Wear at 1733 W Chicago Ave to see real spurs, Western shirts, cowboy boots, etc. it's a trip to see such a shop in the center of a city like Chicago.
I also second the recommendations for free or inexpensive museums in Hyde Park near the University of Chicago, in particular the Oriental Institute, the Smart Museum, and the Dusable Museum. Seeing the UofC main quad is nice, plus there are bunch of great architectural sights near there, including Rockefeller Chapel, the Robie House, the Mansueto Library and the Regenstein Library and others.
If you like art, you could also spend half of a day walking around galleries in River North, centered around Franklin and Superior, a few more hours in the West Loop, and maybe an hour or two in East Pilsen centered near Halsted and 18th Street, maybe stopping in at the old-school Skylark tavern on Halsted for part of it. Lots of history there, very old-school.
For theatre, seeing any of the "Broadway in Chicago" shows can be great - Hamilton is still in town, and there are at least a half-dozen other musicals at any given time. Both the Steppenwolf and the Lookingglass Theatres have excellent shows, and the Steppenwolf has multiple stages, so it can put on a selection of shows at any given time.
Spending part of a day walking along Devon Avenue and seeing all the Indian and South Asian shops can be fun. There are sweets shows, clothing shows, ethnic grocery stores, and, of course, ethnic grocery shops with interesting and unusual products and more than a few Indian/South Asian restaurants.
If you spend time in Andersonville as someone else suggested, you'd be not only close to the restaurants on Clark Street, and the Vietnamese and asian places on Argyle, but not far from several authentic Ethiopian restaurants mostly on Broadway in Edgewater and Uptown neighborhoods.
Speaking of Broadway, the part that goes through East Lakeview has many shops and restaurants, including a great bookstore called "Unabridged" just north of Melrose St, and a bit south of there is a Japanese/sushi place where the dishes come out on a conveyor belt that snakes through the restaurant and you just take what you want and pay by the color of the dishes at the end, called Suchi + Rotary Sushi Bar.
And the Old Town area is good. The Second City and Zanies are both good, but very different. Standup and improv are both comedy, but very different. The benefit of Second City is that you may end up seeing some of the players on SNL or in movies in a decade. That happens less at Zanies (although they do have national acts there sometimes). Great restaurants on Wells there, plus a really nice Spice House spice shop and a good tabacco shop, too, if you like spices and/or cigars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlwaysBeachin
Bars/Restaurants:
I'm a big steak guru and deep dish pizza fan so I've been to Lawry's (loved it), David Burke's Primehouse (now closed, wasn't impressed), Wildfire (love it), Pizzeria Uno (the original and my favorite), Lou Malnati's (2nd place), Giordanos, Connies, Big Bar at the Hyatt, Redhead Piano Bar, Sabatino's (Irving Park), Portillos, Webber Grill, Billy Goat Tavern, a few places in Chinatown I can't recall, among many others. I'd like to try Chicago Blue or the best blues bar in town.
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I don't know what a "steak guru" is, especially one who loves chain steakhouses, but if you want to try some real old-school Chicago steakhouses that aren't on your list, check out "Gene & Georgetti's" at Franklin and Illinois Streets, or "Erie Cafe" on Erie St at the River just west of Kingsbury. A non-traditional one that is very loved locally, but not much known outside of Chicago is "Tango Sur" on Southport, an Argentine steakhouse that's been around for decades. A place with Southern/comfort food that I like is Wishbone on Lincoln Ave (if you're taking the 'L', go to the Paulina stop on the Brown Line). If you made a day out of exploring Southport and Roscoe Village and maybe Lincoln Square, you could start early with breakfast at Wishbone, have lunch somewhere in Lincoln Square or Roscoe Village, and then dinner at Tango Sur on Southport. It'd make a very full, but fun city day.
Oak Park and Evanston both make nice little self-contained day trips from the Loop. For Oak Park, one starting point is the architecture tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright House & Studio.
Speaking of architecture tours, the Chicago Architecture Foundation has a lot of rotating tours that explore different neighborhoods, as well as downtown. Some of the downtown ones are even mostly indoors, which is good for the winter.
-I second walking around Lincoln Square, which others have recommended.
-One place that hasn't been recommended is the Shakespeare Improv show at IO Theatre. I take EVERY single visitor here and all of them have asked to go back.
Thanks everyone. It will be in the single digits next weekend. Hoping for some snow, but looks like that's happening this weekend. I definitely want to jump off the L and walk around the random nice little neighborhoods. Since we're staying downtown near Grand/State, we'll be right next to all the prime stuff. Might skip Gibson's since it's pricey and just go to my old faithful Wildfire for a steak. Never had a bad one there. I've never been to Wicker Park, Bucktown, or any of those neighborhoods. Seems like I stopped off near/in Andersonville once on on a prior trip. The person I was with wanted to go to a specific shop there. Neat little area.
Off topic question, the beautiful brownstones with the fence/gates in front all over the city--I'm guessing most of those are subdivided into 2-3 apartments? I always envisioned myself living in one of those and walking my husky through the neighborhoods.
Thanks everyone. It will be in the single digits next weekend. Hoping for some snow, but looks like that's happening this weekend. I definitely want to jump off the L and walk around the random nice little neighborhoods. Since we're staying downtown near Grand/State, we'll be right next to all the prime stuff. Might skip Gibson's since it's pricey and just go to my old faithful Wildfire for a steak. Never had a bad one there. I've never been to Wicker Park, Bucktown, or any of those neighborhoods. Seems like I stopped off near/in Andersonville once on on a prior trip. The person I was with wanted to go to a specific shop there. Neat little area.
Off topic question, the beautiful brownstones with the fence/gates in front all over the city--I'm guessing most of those are subdivided into 2-3 apartments? I always envisioned myself living in one of those and walking my husky through the neighborhoods.
Most of them likely are multi unit buildings, though some have probably been converted to SFHs.
Oak Park and Evanston both make nice little self-contained day trips from the Loop. For Oak Park, one starting point is the architecture tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright House & Studio.
Speaking of architecture tours, the Chicago Architecture Foundation has a lot of rotating tours that explore different neighborhoods, as well as downtown. Some of the downtown ones are even mostly indoors, which is good for the winter.
Building on the notion of going up to Evanston, I'd suggest extending that trip into what would prove to be an incredibly great day..
Now this is assuming a summer visit when the concert venue is in season, so consider this:
In Evanston, definitely hit the downtown area (http://downtownevanston.org), a locale that will offer you endless good restaurants for lunch) and the adjacent Northwestern campus on the lakefront. (northwestern.edu) If you drive out to the far east end of the campus, there are fantastic views of the Chicago skyline down the lake.
From Evanston, drive north on Sheridan Road (https://gozamos.com/2010/05/day-trip...sheridan-road/) which will take you through the southern end of the North Shore suburbs: Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, and Glencoe. Shortly after leaving Evanston, you'll pass the Bahai Temple in Wilmette, one of only two of such buildings in the world. Google Bahai Temple if you want to see what a spectacular sight it is. (https://www.bahai.us/bahai-temple/) (not suggesting going in, per se, but just seeing it by driving past is cool)
Sheridan Road is like no other.....always staying within blocks of Lake Michigan, it is a continuous string of large, beautiful homes, some estates mixed in. It is one of the most pleasing (and relaxing) rides you can take. And there are even some "elevation changes", rather welcome by Chicago standards...notably driving through the ravines between Winnetka and Glencoe. Vintage homes of the era when commuter rail generated the homes for the wealthy, Sheridan has seen quite a few tear downs, replaced by (even larger) homes that are often built in more traditional styles so they actually blend in well. For better or for worse.
When you reach the Glencoe-Highland Park border on Sheridan Rd, continue west and you'll end up at the Chicago Botanic Gardenshttps://www.chicagobotanic.org. This is a major, major attraction, beautiful grounds with a variety of different gardens. Tremendous use of water, islands included, giving you a Japanese garden and along the shore, a man made waterfall. Restaurants, shops, etc. at the core. In all honesty, I haven't done justice to all the things can see and do there. I would highly (HIGHLY) recommend this.
And since I prefaced this by saying "in season", Ravinia, the nation's oldest outdoor concert venue (https://www.ravinia.org), is less than a mile away from the botanic gardens....though you'll be crossing from Glencoe to Highland Park. The Ravinia Festival gets top ranked talent throughout the summer and is the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Seating is either on the grass or, closer to the stage, in an open air pavilion. Boxed dinners on the lawn are a must. Book well in advance.
The botanic gardens and Ravinia are close by to the Edens Expy (I-94) at Lake Cook Road, so it is an easy shot down the Edens and Kennedy back downtown.
Shortly after leaving Evanston, you'll pass the Bahai Temple in Wilmette, one of only two of such buildings in the world. Google Bahai Temple if you want to see what a spectacular sight it is. (https://www.bahai.us/bahai-temple/) (not suggesting going in, per se, but just seeing it by driving past is cool)
You can go into the Bahai Temple or even just walk outside in the Rose Gardens. My Evanston Walking club walked from Dempster and the Lake to the Bahai on Sundays. The building is open to visitors as long as there is no event going on. They have a lovely little bookstore and you can also go into the Temple and the visitors center. It's a spectacular piece of architecture.
You can go into the Bahai Temple or even just walk outside in the Rose Gardens. My Evanston Walking club walked from Dempster and the Lake to the Bahai on Sundays. The building is open to visitors as long as there is no event going on. They have a lovely little bookstore and you can also go into the Temple and the visitors center. It's a spectacular piece of architecture.
Indeed it is. My wife went to New Trier. When JFK was killed, she and some friends drove over to Bahai and just walked in. She never actually figur dvout why they did that.
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