!!Chicago!!
bassie
11,710 Posts
Hi Friends - There's a chance Man and I will be going to Chicago in a couple of weeks. Can you please recommend a good area to stay in? We'll have the car, but would prefer to walk around, so any areas where there are decent places to eat, record stores, galleries/museums, near the subway....that kind of thing. We're pretty hardy people; ideally the area won't be too gentrified/bougie/money.I did a quick search on the Board for Chicago eateries and record stores, but nothing came up. If we confirm the trip, I'll rpobably come back and ask for your suggestions for the foods and the musics.Thank You very much.
Comments
I guess no records in Chicago either? lol
MADE YOU LOOK
The Art Institute of Chicago is a must. They are opening their new modern wing sometime this spring or summer. Regardless of whether you can be here for that, their collection is incredible.
Also check the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Touristy as it is, I would recomend some sort of architecture tour. Chicago is still very much a destination point for architecture and a bus or boat tour will give you a great broad view of what it has to offer. On this tip, might be worth a quick trip west for a walking tour of Frank Lloyd Wright galore in Oak Park, are Earnest Hemmingway's birthplace. You can pay for a tour here, too, but probably can sort it out on your own.
Also downtown, I know you are a film buff -- the Gene Siskel Film Center is a great little arthouse theater if you are inclined to catch a movie.
Foodwise, I am not the best person to ask. Don't really eat out a ton.
Records:
--Dusty Groove
--Reckless (has a location right by Macy's downtown and other better stores in the neighborhoods)
--Jazz Record Mart (right downtown on the Gold Coast)
I hope this helps. I just moved from downtown (South Loop area) to the suburbs (Oak Lawn -- eek!)
Magnificent Mile keeps popping up as I look around for hotels - is that an OK area for getting around? Gold Coast, Streeterville, too?
After almost 24 hours of thinking, I still don't have an answer to this.
If you figure out where you are going to be staying I might be more help. I'm in bucktown, where there is a lot going on as far as records/music/food which also means a helluva lotta of gentrified/bougie/money people.
The fam stays there when they visit, I was going to recommend but it really is just OK. I'd say stay as close to downtown as possible if you want to use public transpo wisely.
Yeah -- that is the place as far as hotels and restaurants go. The only reason I didn't mention anything on that subject because it was also fairly rich/bourgie. But it's centrally located, with several options (subway, elevated train, bus, cabs, rental cars, etc.) available for you to travel. You can get where you need to go, no problems, from right there.
Same here, Bass. I wasn't trying to hide information from you, I was just trying to get a better feel for what you're looking for and where you're gonna be. And hopefully someone else would have answered before me!!
In the South Loop, President Obama was holding many of his press conferences in the Hilton right across the street from Grant Park. Right across the street from that hotel is the newly-remodeled Blackstone Hotel, which looks very nice; that place was the site of many political conventions back in the day and is the source of the saying "smoke filled room."
In a sloppy way I'm trying to say we don't have to be in a touristy area, a little off the beaten track in an actual neighbourhood would be great. We're cool with having to jump on transit to get to places, too.
As far as staying in the actual neighborhoods, there are not so many hotels. Probably some really nice B&Bs. Might be able to find something on Time Out Chicago or the Chicago Reader.
Ill be in LA that week though.
It will be warmer there
Send me a PM when you know the dates of your trip. Chicago's a short drive for me, and I have plenty of friends who know the time.
oh cripes - we better go. all that stands in our way is the border police and their mood that day.
You might could have some fun at this place -- I did!
What is that
I've never been to Chicago but I heard about this place on a "history of the milkshake" special on The Food Network years ago. I've been craving one ever since! (I made my own but I seriously doubt it would match up to theirs.)
lol I saw the reviews, maybe we'll just walk by.
the Wicker Park Inn sounded dreamy, but they want all the money upfront which I'm not really feeling.
I got a pretty good deal at the Dana Hotel in the touristy area which is pretty much everything I don't want in a hotel but time is getting tight.
If you want to get all neighborhoody with your hotel choice, head for the Heart O Chicago Motel at the intersection of Ashland and Peterson. This motel provided the model for the "Heart O the City" motel that was featured in the Matrix. (Gotta Love the Wachowski bros chicago pride) And it's just north of Andersonville - the old Swedish neighborhood that is now popular with the lesbians (my old neighborhood).
Andersonville features: Erickson's Deli around 5400 N. Clark if you want the authentic Swedish experience. Svea is a great breakfast/lunch place for Swedish food, too (cash only). Simon's is there (dive bar that has been around since forever), as is the Hopleaf (one of the best beer bars in the country). Women and Children First bookstore (feminist bookstore at its finest). Sunshine Noodle Cafe -- if that place is still open (I heard rumors that the woman who ran it fell ill and had to go back to Japan for treatment (??)), it is awesome. Homestyle japanese cooking (no sushi) that almost always has elderly japanese folks eating there -- especially after church on Sundays.
As for record stores, it seems like a lot of them are gone. You can still go to Dusty Groove, Hyde Park Records, the Reckless outlets, and maybe one place up on Clark street just south of Fullerton -- Mike's or something like that (used to be the vinyl section of Second Hand Tunes but the dude bought them out -- that place is kinda overpriced, but he has some records).
Eating.
My god is Chicago good for eating.
Take the red line north to Argyle (I think it's Argyle) and you'll be in the middle of little vietnam. Tank Noodle on the corner of Broadway and Argyle is great for pho -- there's a banh mi shop across the street that is wonderful as well.
Two or three more stops north to Granville and you'll be at Metropolis Coffee -- the finest coffee shop in Chicago, and among the finest in N. America. Roast their own beans, sustainably sourced, take all that shit really seriously, and the coffee tastes excellent. Creamy mouthfeel and errything.
If you want to eat high on the hog, I can't recommend Blackbird highly enough. Or its downtempo neighbor (co-owned) Avec. It's in the West Loop and delicious. Spendy, though, but worth it.
The soulstrut massive usually gets their indian buffet on at Gaylords. Strangely appropriate.
The Chitilla regulars can counsel you on the latest and best taco carts, but if you want to get upscale on that Mexican ass, you can go to Rick Bayless' restaurants (delicious, BK endorsement be damned), Chilpancingo (one of Bayless' chefs offshoots -- if it's still open), or that other place over in Logan Square that is really good but whose name I always forget.
Hot dogs. Chicago is a hot dog town. The hipsteurs all go to Hot Doug's, which is a pain in the ass to get to but is pretty much unbeatable in the encased meats--all comers department (alligator sausage with moutard remoulade anyone? vegetarian corn dog anyone?). Also available at Hot Doug's -- French fries cooked in duck fat (only on the weekends). Sweeter and deadlier than regular french fries.
So that's a little rundown of what I remember of America's finest livable metropolis. You should go. And enjoy!
Oh yeah, if you're there on a Saturday night, do jet up to the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge for some live jazz. It's just totally worth it. Five dollar cover after midnight. Music until 4 a.m.
...but check the hours, because the place is so popular that it can have a line goin' out the door five minutes to closing. I'd still suggest you go...
And here's another place which is equally well-known, and has been around for 70 years, but doesn't get hipster-kissed as much: Jim's Original Polish Sausage, which has two locations:
The Union location is closer to downtown, the center of the city...
And this is over on the south side.