Neighborhoods

The Loop

Downtown  in Chicago is synonymous with the Loop. The Loop refers to a core of primarily commercial, governmental, and cultural buildings contained within a looping of elevated train tracks in the center city,

Downtown

Greater downtown Chicago extends beyond the Loop and is bounded by the Chicago River to the north and west, by Michigan Avenue to the east, and by Roosevelt Avenue to the south.

The North Side

North Michigan Avenue is known as the Magnificent Mile, from the bridge spanning the Chicago River to its northern tip at Oak Street. Many of the city's best hotels, shops, and restaurants are to be found on and around elegant North Michigan Avenue.

Old Town West of LaSalle Street, principally on North Wells Street between Division Street and North Avenue, is the residential district of Old Town, with some of the city's best-preserved historic homes.

Chinatown, Chicago

Chicago's large Chinese neighborhood is full of popular restaurants, nightclubs, and shops displaying Asian wares.

Lincoln Park

Chicago's most popular residential neighborhood is home to two major museums and one of the nation's oldest zoos. The area also contains many of Chicago's most popular nightclubs, restaurants, retail stores, and off-Loop theaters, including the nationally acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Wrigleyville is the name given to the neighborhood in the vicinity of Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.

The South Side

South Loop was Chicago's original "Gold Coast" in the late 19th century, with Prairie Avenue (now an historic district) as its most exclusive address. Cermak Road (where Chinatown begins), and from Lake Shore Drive west to the south branch of the Chicago River is one of the fast-growing residential neighborhoods in the city.  

Attractions

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum 1300 South Lake Shore Drive 312-922-STAR (7827) The first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, Adler has hands-on and historical exhibits as well as sky shows.

Art Institute of Chicago 111 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago 312-443-3600 Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday Admission charged. Masterpieces from Monet and Degas are housed in a vast, world-class collection that also features African, American-Indian and Asian works, decorative arts and sculpture, photography, prints, textiles, and contemporary American painting. Free lectures are open to the public on Tuesday evenings.

Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture 6500 South Pulaski Road 582-6500 Dedicated to the preservation of Lithuanian art, history, customs, and traditions, Balzekas also has a Children's Museum of Immigrant History.

Brookfield Zoo  First Avenue and 31st Street Brookfield 708-485-2200 Admission charged.

Located 14 miles west of the Loop, it is accessible by Metra. A number of large

exhibits. Includes dolphin shows.

Buckingham Fountain, Chicago

Chicago's landmark is considered one of America's finest fountains due to its Beaux-Arts-style design, finely wrought bronze sculpture, and innovative use of technology.

 Burnham Skate Park 31st Street and Lake Shore Drive 312-742-PLAY

Admission is free; the park is closed in winter. This 20,000-square-foot park for skateboarders and in-line skaters features benches, curbs, rails, and smooth, curved metal surfacing for protection.  

Chicago Children's Museum 700 East Grand Avenue 312-527-1000 Located on Navy Pier.

The exhibits encourage children to look, touch, and explore.

Chicago Architecture Foundation Address: 224 South Michigan Avenue Phone: 312-922-3432 Free admission to enter More than 40 different architectural tours, varying in price.

Clarke House Museum Address: 1827 South Indiana Avenue Phone: 312-326-1480 Chicago's oldest surviving building, and the only place to see how an early Chicago family lived.

Chicago Botanical Gardens 100 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe 847-835-5440 Admission charged per car.

Hours: 8 a.m. to sunset daily Whatever your taste in gardens, you will find it here. The 385-acre property includes a suitably romantic English Garden, a thoughtful Japanese paradise, and indoor greenhouses that duplicate the atmosphere of the desert as well as the rainforest. A 45-foot waterfall cascades through the Waterfall Garden and the pools in quiet areas.   A visit to the Chicago Botanical Gardens is a learning experience as well.   Courses and lectures are almost always available, and a walk through the Endangered Species Garden teaches about preservation of plant species.

Chicago Public Library  Harold Washington Library Center 400 South State Street The world's largest public library has more than two million shelved volumes available to the public.

Chicago Cultural Center

78 E. Washington St., Chicago

Phone: 312/346-3278 or 312/744-6630

The Loop          

Elegant, ornamental details abound in this building, including sparkling mosaic tiles, sculptured ceilings, inscribed literary quotations, and a sweeping white Carrara marble staircase.

The Preston Bradley Hall, on the third floor has the world's largest Tiffany stained-glass dome. Another magnificent stained-glass dome is on the second floor in the GAR rotunda. The structure was constructed in 1897 to serve a dual purpose.  The Randolph Street and Washington Street sides are different for this reason One was the entrance to the  city's central library, and the other to the  Grand Army of the Republic museum. The Cultural Center houses public spaces, with free concerts and performances of all kinds, including live music every weekday at 1 in the Randolph Café.

Citicorp Center

500 W. Madison St., Chicago

Near West Side

Across the Chicago River from the Civic Opera House, the functions of commuter train station and office building unite. The center combines a boxlike office tower with glass half-cylinders rising from the lower levels.   Horizontal and vertical bands of mirrored and smoked glass alternate up the building for a ribbon effect.  It looks very much like the grand old European railroad stations.   The gates to the tracks are elevated above street level to allow traffic to proceed east and west via underpasses.

Daley Center

Bounded by Washington, Randolph, Dearborn, and Clark Sts., Chicago           

Named for the late mayor Richard J. Daley, the father of the current holder of the office, this boldly plain high-rise is the headquarters of the Cook County court system, but it also draws visitors' attention because of what stands outside: a sculpture by Picasso. Known simply as "The

Picasso."DuSable Museum of African-American History 740 East 56th Place 947-0600 The DuSable Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent. The museum sponsors a film series, jazz and blues concerts, and film and theater events geared to children.  

The Field Museum 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 312-922-9410 Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Admission charged.

The Field is Chicago's crowning museum of natural history, with exhibits on everything from dinosaurs to African culture to gems and minerals. Visitors can observe as geologists work on a million-year-old fossilized dinosaur, painstakingly removing its bones from the rock and assembling them for display. The "Life Over Time" display documents the changing weather patterns that contributed to the formation of the earth's environment, and other exhibits explore the various cultures of the world's population.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation  Address: 951 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park Phone: 708-848-1976 Admission charged. This building served as both the Wright family residence and Wright's studio around the turn of the century.

Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust

931 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park 60302

708-848-1976

The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust operates two historic house museums: The Robie House in Hyde Park and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park. The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio was the architectural laboratory for the architect. The Preservation Trust offers guided architectural tours of these buildings daily, along with special educational programs for youth and adults.

Robie House

5757 S. Woodlawn St., Chicago 60637

773-834-1847

Robie House represents the culmination of Wright's renowned work in the revolutionary architectural genre known as the Prairie Style. This spectacular structure features 174 exquisite art glass windows and doors. Tours offered daily, as well as public programs and special events-all of which focus on Wright's legendary creativity.

Glessner House Museum

1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago 60616

312-326-1480

Glessner House Museum is a National Historic Landmark, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1887. Guided tours of Glessner House and the neighboring Clarke House Museum are available, Wednesday-Sunday at noon, 1 and 2pm. Museum programming examines the architecture, art, history and culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through lectures, discussions, performance events and exhibits.

Grant Park, Chicago

Dedicated in 1844, this park covers 319 acres along Lake Michigan and is home to the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum and the Art Institute.

Attraction type: Park

The Hancock Observatory 875 N. Michigan Avenue John Hancock Center, Chicago 888-875-8439 Admission charged.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. daily It's not the tallest building in Chicago, but the 100-story Hancock Tower is worth a visit for its magnificent cityscapes and the interesting interactive exhibits on its 94th floor. Visitors take a speedy elevator ride to the observation level, where "Soundscope" viewers give a narrated account (in one of four languages) of what you're seeing through the telescope. Adults will enjoy the Signature Lounge, a 96th-floor watering hole with a lakeside view. 

Harold Washington Library Center

400 S. State St., Chicago

Phone: 312/747-4300

The Loop

The center's holdings include the Chicago Blues Archives, the Jazz/Blues/Gospel Hall of Fame, and the Balaban and Katz Theater

Hull House Museum 800 S. Halsted Street, Chicago 312-413-5353 Cost: Free Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday; 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday Honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, Jane Addams did what no one before her had thought to do. She moved into one of Chicago's tenement neighborhoods and opened a "settlement house" to help meet the economic and social needs of her neighbors and to encourage their involvement in improving their own community. During the height of its activity, Hull House included a library, gymnasium, theater and an art gallery. The museum, snuggled in the heart of the University of Illinois-Chicago, consists of two of the original 13 buildings, one an Arts and Crafts-style dining hall built in 1905.

Hyde Park, Chicago

This neighborhood, located south of the downtown area, is best known for being the home to the University of Chicago.

John G. Shedd Aquarium 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 312-939-2438 Hours: June-August, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily; September through May, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Admission charged.

Visitors to the Shedd Aquarium should be sure to stop by around feeding time to watch divers distribute dinner to the various eels, rays, sea turtles and fish that make its Tropical Coral Reef home. Nearly 8,000 aquatic animals - fresh and salt-water alike - are part of the Shedd's collection, and nearly 2 million visitors make the journey to the world's largest indoor aquarium each year. 

Kohl Children's Museum  165 Green Bay Road Wilmette 847-512-1300 Admission charged. Children ages 1—8 can touch and explore the exhibits and participate in planned daily activities.

Lincoln Park Zoo 2001 N. Clark Street, Chicago 312-742-2000 Admission charged per car.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily The oldest zoo in the country, Lincoln Park Zoo is still free to visitors. But its greatest asset is its vast collection - 1,200 animals - and its dedication to teaching conservation and protection of wildlife. The zoo's Lester E. Fisher Great Ape House is considered one of the finest gorilla exhibits in the world. Other visitor favorites include the Sea Lion Pool, the Bird House (where feathered friends surround their homo sapiens visitors) and the Penguin and Seabird House. And of course, there are plenty of elephants, giraffes and rhinos

Magnificent Mile North Michigan Avenue, Chicago 800-232-5558 A mecca for shoppers, Magnificent Mile runs along North Michigan Avenue to Lincoln Park and rivals Rodeo Drive and Worth Avenue for world-class shopping and restaurants. Comforting names like The Gap accompany upscale Armani on the list of 60 well-known retail establishments to line this spending paradise. Three shopping malls are also nearby, and each is worthy of the Magnificent Mile's high-class shopping reputation, and magnificent restaurants and five-star hotels.

Millenium Park

Located in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe Streets, the 24.5-acre park is an unprecedented center for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design, where you can experience everything from interactive public art and ice skating to al fresco dining and free classical music presentations by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. Among the park’s prominent features is the dazzling Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States, designed by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s greatest living architects. A pedestrian bridge, also designed by Mr. Gehry and spanning Columbus Drive, provides access to the pavilion, acts as an acoustical barrier between the audience and traffic noise, and links Millennium Park to the rest of Chicago's lakefront park system.

The park also is home  to one of the world’s largest outdoor sculptures by the British artist Anish Kapoor; the tradition-setting Lurie Garden designed by the team of Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel; and the Crown Fountain designed by Spani