Cosmo Goes to Chicago:
My Top Ten List of Interesting Chicago Activities
(that you may not find in your tourist books)

Given that I’ll be moving out in August (after five years in Cosmo House), I think it’s time to share my acquired wisdom with future Cosmonauts. As most of you know, I love Chicago, and studied there before coming here. For all of you exchange students and visiting scholars looking to spend a day in the Windy City, here’s my top-ten list of things to do or see. And while you’re busy with this list, I’m going to start developing a new personal top-ten list for Southern California! Hope to see you there…

10 — A German friend of mine who studied architecture pointed out to me once how interesting it is to have fire escape staircases on the outside of the older skyscrapers. I guess it has to do with fire safety regulations established after the skyscrapers were built. Don’t forget to look up at them as you walk around. By the way, did you know that the tallest church in the world is in Chicago! See http://www.chicagotemple.org/.

9 — All the fancy boat tours of the harbor and the Chicago River are expensive and crowded (but worthwhile if you have a chance). But a quick and easy way to have a similar experience is a water taxi (http://www.chicagowatertaxi.com/ or http://www.shorelinesightseeing.com/taxis.php).

8 — The big museums are easy to find, but here are two smaller ones that are off the beaten path. The Jane Adams Hull House Museum (http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/) is devoted to the immigrant resettlement in Chicago and some of the social programs from the late 19th c. There is (or at least was) a letter to Jane Adams from Tolstoy on display. I’ve been there several times and like it each time. (And it’s free.) And if you like American architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright lived in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park (easy to get to on the Lake Street el.) His home and studio are there, and you can go on a walking tour of the neighborhood to see other homes he designed. See http://www.oprf.com/flw/index.html.

7 — Chicago has great ethnic neighborhoods. Some of my personal favorites (mostly for the Slavic connections) are: Devon Avenue (Russian/Jewish/Indian/Pakistani) and “Ukrainian Village.” Devon and California is about the middle of the area on Devon Street. See http://www.devonavenue.com/. And go west from there to get to the Russian Jewish area. (Get fresh khachipuri at a Georgian bakery.) Ukrainian Village is on Chicago Ave. See http://www.ukraine-observer.com/articles/208/661. There are some great Ukrainian churches. (And a really interesting Russian Orthodox cathedral, too, but it’s hard to find unless you know what you’re looking for.) The center of the neighborhood is Chicago Avenue and Oakley Blvd, and you can get there by bus (which would be another interesting cultural experience in itself).

6 — I just listed a couple of ethnic neighborhoods, but there are other cool neighborhoods that have little to do with ethnicity. Start on Clark Street at Andersonville (formerly a Swedish neighborhood), which has fun shops and restaurants. See http://www.andersonville.org/. Directly south (stay on Clark Street) is New Chinatown, which is actually Vietnamese and Cambodian, where the immigrants settled after the Vietnam War (as opposed to Chinatown, which is on the south side of Chicago and is historically Chinese). It’s got really good authentic Vietnamese food, and a huge Vietnamese supermarket. And keep walking south and you’ll come to Uptown, a historically upscale neighborhood that saw some really hard times, but is now coming back. It’s unusual for its diversity (most of Chicago is pockets of people who are really similar). It’s an interesting mix of black and white and Asian and Latino, and also quite wealthy along with quite poor.

If you keep going south, you’ll eventually come to Wrigleyville (where Wrigley Field is, where the Chicago Cubs play). That’s another really interesting, lively neighborhood, including at night. And if you keep going south, you’ll come to Fullerton Avenue (sometimes called Boys Town), a gay neighborhood and center of night life. It’s a lot of fun. (I don’t expect you to do all of these at once, by the way!) And keep going south from there and you’ll get to Lincoln Park and Gold Coast, and eventually head over the Magnificent Mile. (These last three are all pretty ritzy, high-class, and fun.)

5 — Ride the el, just to see where it goes! Make sure to take a line that stays above ground. Underground it’s just loud and dark. Also, I don’t suggest going south of Chinatown unless you’re going somewhere in particular. There are some neighborhoods you wouldn’t want to get lost in. And there are a lot of neighborhoods on the West side that I wouldn’t get off at in the evening or at night. But just looking out the window watching people and neighborhoods is great.

4 — A cool blues bar is B.L.U.E.S. (http://www.chicagobluesbar.com/) And there are others. Halsted Street is the place to be for live music at night. And not too far away is Howl at the Moon Piano Bar (http://www.howlatthemoon.com/chicago_tonight.html). I’ve actually never been there (I don’t think it existed when I lived there), but some friends really like it, and I’ve been to a similar piano bar elsewhere and it was really fun.

3 — Lincoln Park Zoo (free!), http://www.lpzoo.com/, and North Avenue Beach (info at http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/resources/beaches/). Both are great activities, free, and not touristy. It’s easy to do both the same day. Take a pedestrian bridge over Lakeshore Drive to get from the zoo to the beach. They are not particularly convenient on public transportation, so expect to walk a ways, but the walk is so nice that it’s not a problem.

2 — Chicago in the summer has lots of outdoor neighborhood fairs and festivals and films and concerts and markets and dance classes and chess tournaments and (you get the idea). Some are better than others, but it’s fun to see the amazing diversity of what’s doing on. For a schedule of events see http://www.cityofchicago.org/special events (The website is hard to use, though. Don’t trust it if it tells you there’s nothing to do. There’s ALWAYS something to do!)

1 — Rent a bike and ride on the trail along the lake. The trail is about 20 miles and really pretty. This is a MUST. www.bikechicago.com/. You don’t really need a map of the path (it’s along the lake), but to get an idea of it, go to www.mikebentley.com/bike/lakefrontmapnorth.jpg.

And a few tips:

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has a trip planner that lets you enter your starting and ending location and it tells you how to get there. http://www.transitchicago.com/

You can get a 1-day, 3-day, or 7-day visitor’s pass for the CTA if you order it online in advance. See http://faremedia.chicago-card.com/store/main.aspx?DepartmentId=34. I don’t think you can buy it when you get there, so it pays to think ahead.

The Chicago loop is generally pretty empty after 6 p.m. Don’t go looking there for nightlife (except for the concerts and films in Grant and Millennium Parks).

The south side of Chicago (south of Chinatown) tends to be less touristy and more dangerous. Don’t just wander around there unless you know where you’re going and how to get there. But there are some great places to go there—DuSable Museum of African American History, University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, Museum of Science and Industry—so don’t avoid it altogether, either.

The lake is always to the EAST. (And yes, people give directions in terms of North, South, East, West, not just left and right!)

Chicago is known for its Maxwell Street Polishes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Street_Polish) and its Deep-dish pizza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_pizza). I personally like the atmosphere at Pizzeria Uno or Pizzeria Due (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uno_Chicago_Grill) better than Giordano’s or Gino’s East. Expect a long wait, but that’s part of the fun, since the neighborhood is so nice.