 Heller House, 1897, Frank Lloyd Wright by Dabs | Neighborhoods-other tips and photos posted by real travelers and Chicago locals. • 68 Photos
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We were supposed to do a tour of Ukrainian Village as part of the Great Places and Spaces weekend but we were running late and skipped the tour, instead trying Sak's Ukrainian Village, one of the Ukrainian restaurants on Chicago Avenue, buying some pastries at Ann's bakery and stopping in for a brief tour of St. Nicholas' Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral (2238 W, Rice).
Ukrainian Village is located south of Wicker Park which together form what is known as "West Town". The boundaries are Division St. (1200 N) to the north, Chicago Ave (800 N) to the south, Western Ave (2400 W) to the west, and Damen Ave (2000 W) to the east. Obviously, the name suggests that many of the residents were originally of Ukrainian descent, the 1st wave came to Chicago from 1877-1914, the 2nd wave came after the end of World War II between 1945 and 1957, largely highly educated professionals that had been displaced by the war. Like many of Chicago's neighborhoods, the area underwent a period of decay in the 1906s and 1970s and then saw gentrification along with many other Chicago neighborhoods as people were looking for the new hot neighborhood ie affordable, as the older generation died off or moved, the area's population became more diverse.
In addition to the impressive St. Nicholas' Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, there is another cathedral at 1121 N. Leavitt, the Louis Sullivan designed Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, funded by the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, in 1903.
There's a good article from the Chicago Reader from May, 2008 if you want to know a little bit more about this area. Leave a Comment
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November 15, 2008 update, now that Barack Obama is our President elect, you can no longer get anywhere near his mansion, the street is closed off to non residents and there are police and secret service everywhere
As part of the Great Places and Spaces weekend, we did a tour of the southside neighborhood of Kenwood with a guide from the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The CAF gives a similar tour several times a year.
According to our guide, Kenwood became popular as a place for the wealthy to live after the area around 18th Street and Prairie Avenue fell out of favor. It was developed as a suburb around 1850-1880, it was annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889. Some of the areas famous former residents include Sears Roebuck executives Julius Rosenwald and Max Adler (as in Adler Planetarium), meatpacker Gustavus Swift, Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan (the Elijah Muhammad House) and boxer Muhammed Ali.
We started the tour at the K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple, 1100 E. Hyde Park Boulevard, which happens to be right across the street from Barack Obama's mansion on Greenwood (psst, Mr. Obama, you might want to get rid of some of those dead bushes on Mr. Rezko's, I mean your property), you could see all the cars filled with Secret Service agents. From there we did a 2 hour and 20 minute walking tour through an area filled with mansions of incredibly diverse architectural styles.
Most of the houses are mansions dating back to the late 1800s, early 1900s but Kenwood went through a period where it wasn't such a desirable place to live and many of the houses fell into disrepair and were eventually torn down and replaced, some with styles that integrate into the neighborhood, some that were definitely reflective of the time when they were built.
For me the highlight was the several examples of houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, two of which I never would have guessed were his designs, the George Blossom House at 4858 S. Kenwood (1892) and the Warren McArthur house at 4852 S. Kenwood (1892). The Isadore Heller house at 5132 S. Woodlawn (1897) which resembles the Prairie style architecture that he designed in the early 1900s. You will also see examples of many other styles including Prairie style by architects other than Wright, Tudor, Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, Italianate and several modern houses. Leave a Comment
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Lincoln Park
With one of the city’s longest stretches of traffic-free biking and designated bike lanes along many of the main streets, it’s no wonder Lincoln Park is a favorite Chicago neighborhood among avid cyclists and recreational bike riders alike. Paved paths crisscross the expansive namesake park, providing easy access to the site’s many attractions (such as the Lincoln Park Zoo, Conservatory and History Museum), and underground passes and a skywalk with ramps to North Avenue Beach make crossing busy Lake Shore Drive carefree. The bike trail along the edge of Lake Michigan has become a main artery for city cyclists heading south to downtown and beyond or north to Lakeview and other north side neighborhoods. Actually, the path is part of a continuous 18-mile-long lakefront bike trail that hugs the shoreline from the South Shore Cultural Center up to East Rogers Park.
The bike lanes in Lincoln Park are especially useful in areas like DePaul University where many students ride bikes around campus; Armitage Avenue, which is a popular boutique shopping district that is easier to walk or bike to than drive; and the Clybourn Corridor where a bunch of big box stores and chain retail options make for a parking shortage that bikers do not have to deal with. Lincoln Park residents who work in downtown have a quick commute to the business district in the Loop. Bikers can shoot down Wells Street and be in the midst of City Hall, Chicago Board of Trade, Sears Tower and other major office buildings in less than 10 minutes.
The Loop
Living in the Loop, you are already in the heart of Chicago and close to many of the city’s main attractions and its thriving business center. That’s exactly why a good number of Loop residents ride bikes around the neighborhood: everything is nearby and it sure beats sitting in traffic or waiting for the “L” train to come by. The inner blocks of the Loop are fairly congested with cars, taxis, buses and pedestrians, so cyclists should be cautious when riding through these hectic downtown streets (wearing a helmet and reflective gear is always recommended). Just west of the Chicago River, Canal and Clinton streets have bike lanes, which make for quick and safe north-south routes that pass by both Union Station and Ogilvie Center (Chicago’s main transportation hubs). Ride east pass Michigan Avenue and you’ll be in the sprawling park grounds of Millennium and Grant parks, which offer several outlets to the extensive lakefront bike trail—a wildly popular means for travel by city cyclists.
Once on the lakefront trail, bikers enjoy well-maintained, paved paths with mile markers and lane designations for orderly riding and directional assistance. From the Loop, bicyclists can head down the trail 5 minutes to the Museum Campus to spend a day at the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium or Adler Planetarium, or see the Chicago Bears play at Solider Field. And, instead of paying through the nose for parking, bikers can lock up their bikes outside for free!
Lakeview
Bike riding is such a common form of transportation in Lakeview that you’re bound to see bicyclists coasting down the streets even during winter! The strong cycling interest in this north side Chicago neighborhood has prompted the establishment of bike lanes and shared lanes on several of Lakeview’s major thoroughfares. Halsted Street, which divides East Lakeview and Lakeview proper, has handy bike lanes that provide a north-south travel route right by loads of dining options, trendy night clubs and comfy neighborhood watering holes. During the summer, Cubs games are always cause for bottlenecks around Wrigley Field, but bikers never get caught up in the traffic jams. Those swift two-wheelers can fly right by the line of cars backed up at lights and diverted by barriers set up for the crush of fans flooding the ballpark grounds.
Chicago’s well-traveled 18-mile lakefront bike trail makes a tour through Lakeview East with easy access from the neighborhood streets to the path via three Lake Shore Drive underpasses at Barry, Roscoe and Waveland. Bike riders can take the vehicle-free trail north a few minutes to the Sydney Marovitz Golf Course and Montrose Harbor and Beach, or south past the Belmont Harbor Dog Beach to Lincoln Park and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. And, Lakeview residents who work in downtown might just find this picturesque trail to be the fastest way down to the Loop (roughly a 20-minute ride). Try to beat that time in a car during rush hour!
South Loop
The South Loop is a budding Chicago neighborhood that has the right idea when it comes to “bikeability.” As one of the lucky communities with public parkland along Lake Michigan, the city’s extensive lakefront bike trail runs right through the South Loop, connecting it with 18 continuous miles of scenic shoreline cycling. On the north end of the neighborhood, bikers can hop on the path from Grant Park. Cruise by Buckingham Fountain and watch the impressive water jets shoot 50 feet in the air then take the paved trail south through the Museum Campus and right past Burnham Harbor. Further down, bikers can easily cross Lake Shore Drive at the overpass/ underpass at 18th Street and another elevated skyway at the massive McCormick Place convention center on Cermak Road.
Students at Roosevelt University and Columbia College (both located on Michigan Avenue in the South Loop) appreciate the convenient bike routes through the park and the designated bike lanes along the neighborhood’s high-traffic streets. Wabash is useful for north-south travel and Roosevelt provides bikers with a safe east-west avenue to cross the Chicago River. Just west of the waterway, Roosevelt meets up with Canal Street, which also has bike lanes and allows cyclists to head up to the business district in the Loop from a less-congested west side approach.
Bucktown
Unlike Chicago’s other top neighborhoods for biking, Bucktown is inland from the water and does not share in the popular lakefront bike trail that runs practically the entire length of the city shoreline. Nevertheless, this ultra-trendy community shows a fondness for cycling that has spurred neighborhood-wide measures to provide safe and convenient bike routes within the Bucktown borders. Streets with designated bike lanes are concentrated in the center of Bucktown, where most of the area’s business and entertainment are focused. Damen is a north-south running thoroughfare that bisects the neighborhood and intersects all the other main avenues in Bucktown with bike lanes or shared lanes. From Damen, riders can pick up Armitage to the west or Cortland to the east, which crosses the Chicago River and hooks back up with Armitage in Lincoln Park and takes bicyclists directly to the waterfront (about a 10-minute trip from the heart of Bucktown).
Slicing diagonally through Bucktown is Milwaukee Avenue, another heavily-traveled Chicago road that passes through numerous neighborhoods and is the site of countless shops, restaurants, bars and other businesses. Up in Bucktown, Milwaukee has shared lanes (marked by chevron and bike symbols on the pavement and yellow diamond warning signs). At Division, the shared lanes change to bike lanes (indicated by solid stripes on the pavement and signage alerting motorists to its existence), which continue to Grand Avenue where Milwaukee dead-ends in the River West neighborhood. Because Milwaukee angles straight towards the Loop, it provides a great way to transverse downtown from the near northwest side community of Bucktown. Leave a Comment
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You might think for a minute that this DePaul Concert Hall (800 W. Belden) belongs in New England. The structure was built in 1963, and is reputed to have excellent acoustics. The DePaul University School of Music regularly features concerts here. Leave a Comment
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We have passed by this beautiful Italianate building for years on our way from Chicago back home when we take the Lake Shore Drive/route 41 option and we always remark that we should stop in someday to see what's there. Well, today was that day and it is an incredible building not only on the exterior but on the interior as well.
As you pull up, you can see the beautiful garden in front and the surrounding 9 hole golf course. The building is open to the public, there was a wedding going on so we only got to peek into the grand ballroom but the Solarium was open for viewing as was the main hallway. Out back, you can see Lake Michigan.
The building was originally the South Shore Country Club, built in 1906 as a play ground for Chicago's rich and famous. In the 1960s, the building was abandoned and fell into disrepair. In 1974 it was purchased by the Chicago Park District and is now used for park district programs and the occasional social function.
There's a restaurant inside the building, the Parrot Cage, which is run by the Washburne Culinary Institute. It would be a great place to have dinner when the sun is still out as you'd have a great view of Lake Michigan.
The attached website has some cool old photos from the Chicago Daily News. Leave a Comment
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If you want to buy some Feng-Shui stuff or Chinese food, this is the place. It`s pretty small and is not worth a visit as a landmark. We went there to look for some good tea and have a Chinese dinner.
RESTAURANT: We went to the Triple Crown at 22nd Place (first street on your right, after you enter Chinatown). The place was OK (3***). Spent $35 for 1 soup and 3 entrees. Loved the 'Hundred Flavours Beef' dish ($9.95). It was spicy and indeed had a lot of flavour. Portions were big, we wished we ordered less.
TEA: Found one store and were shocked by the prices. I mean $140 for a pound of good green tea is way too much!!! When we asked to taste some tea ($44 per pound) to make sure it is a good one, a girl said they do tea ceremovies by appointment only. Yeah, right.
TOUR: The Chinatown Chamber of Commerce offers 1 hour walking tour (in English) and for groups of 10 or more. Tour highlights include an introduction to Chinese culture, several Chinatown landmarks, and history of the Chinese community in Chicago.
Price: $2 per person for school groups, $4 for everybody else.
DIRECTIONS: By underground: Red Line stop Cermak-Chinatown.
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Logan Square is another gem of a neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago. Take the blue line to the Logan Square stop, and you'll be at the intersection of Logan Blvd, Kedzie, and Milwaukee. The square itself is not very inviting. It can feel particularly chaotic when there's a lot of traffic. However, Logan Blvd to the east of the square and Kedzie Ave to the south of the square are wide boulevards lined with glorious late 19th/early 20th century mansions and grand apartment homes. The tree-lined side streets are also worth exploring. If you have the opportunity to take a walking tour of the neighborhood, I strongly recommend it. The Chicago Architecture Foundation (www.architecture.org) offers a tour a couple of times a year, and the Logan Square Boulevards District House, Church & Garden Walk happens once a year. As with most Chicago neighborhoods, there is some wonderful history behind the development, decline, and rebirth of this great neighborhood. There's a lovely tapas restaurant called Azucar directly across the street from the blue line subway stop at 2647 N Kedzie. Great food and lovely outdoor dining. We ate outside on a Friday evening at around 8pm, and I was pleasantly surprised by how tranquil it felt, even though we were on a main street. There's another popular restaurant on the south side of the square called Lula Cafe at 2537 N Kedzie.
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Another wonderful residential area that is great for walking. Take the blue line toward O'Hare, and get off at the Damen stop. You'll be at the intersection of Damen (2000 west), North (1600 north) and Milwaukee. The first walk I recommend is in the area northeast of this intersection, bounded by Damen on the west, North Avenue on the south, Armitage on the north, and the Kennedy expressway on the east. If you wend your way to the northeast corner of this neighborhood, there's a great little restaurant called Jane's in an old house at 1653 W Cortland. Another area I like to walk is west of Damen, north of the railroad embankment, and east of Milwaukee. (By the way, there are plans afoot to convert this unused elevated track into a bike path. See www.bloomingdaletrail.org) If you find yourself near the intersection of Armitage, Western, and Milwaukee, you may want to check out Margie's Candies at 1960 N Western. An ice cream parlor since 1921, it's a Chicago institution. You can also pick up the L at this intersection to head back downtown.
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If you're coming from Ukrainian Village (see Ukrainian Village tip), walk north along Leavitt to Division. Head east on Division. There are lots of restaurants and boutiques along this street. For restaurant recommendations, check out the Chicago Reader's restaurant rater (www.chicagoreader.com, click on "restaurants"). You can enter neighborhood, cuisine, and price range, among other criteria. I've had nice meals at Enoteca Roma and Letizia's Natural Bakery (2144/2146 W Division). My favorite gelateria is Caffe Gelato at 2034 West Division. Crust, a pizza place at 2056 W Division, is Chicago's first certified organic restaurant. Mirai Sushi at 2020 W Division is popular. The closer you get to Ashland, the scruffier the neighborhood gets: more old-man bars, more plastic bags clinging to tree branches, fewer boutiques. Once you get to Division, Ashland, and Milwaukee, you can take the blue line back downtown. If you'd like to head up to Bucktown, you have 2 options. You can take the blue line toward O'Hare and get off at the next stop. Or, if you are interested in observing the evolution of a neighborhood from scruffy to swanky, walk northwest along Milwaukee from Division. You many notice one or two nice restaurants or hipster stores, but they are outnumbered by fast-food joints, dollar stores, boarded-up buildings, etc. As you walk further north, the balance shifts until you get to the intersection of Milwaukee, Damen, and North. This is the heart of Wicker Park. The Bongo Room, at 1470 N Milwaukee, is popular for breakfast and lunch. Myopic Books at 1564 N Milwaukee is one of my favorite used bookstores. The Flat Iron Arts Building at 1579 N Milwaukee is filled with artists' studios. The Double Door is a live music venue at 1572 N Milwaukee. If you head north on Damen, you'll enter Bucktown and see the transformation to swanky begin. Lots of precious boutiques and restaurants line this street all the way from North (1600 north) to Armitage (2000 north) and beyond.
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First, let me say that other than a few churches, there is very little Ukrainian left in this neighborhood. It's mostly Mexican immigrants and hipsters. The main business district runs along Chicago Avenue between Ashland (1600 west) and Western (2400 west). The blue line (O'Hare branch) stops at the intersection of Chicago (800 north), Ogden (approx 1200 west) and Milwaukee. Depending on how much of a walker you are, you can walk west on Chicago or take the Chicago Avenue bus. Flo is a great restaurant at 1434 W Chicago. Rotofugi is a "designer toy store" at 1953 W Chicago, and Permanent Records buys, sells, and trades used records at 1914 W Chicago. I love to walk the residential streets of Ukrainian Village, especially the quadrant bounded by Chicago (800 north), Damen (2000 west), Leavitt (2200 west), and Division (1200 north). I usually combine this walk with a visit to Wicker Park, the neighborhood immediately north of Ukrainian Village. (see Wicker Park tip)
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- Le Meridien Chicago (521 N. Rush Street at Michigan Ave )
521 North Rush St. at Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL - Crowne Plaza Hotel Chicago-Metro
733 West Madison (formerly Rodeway Inn), Chicago, IL - Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
2233 South Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, IL - Burnham Hotel
1 West Washington, Chicago, IL - Hilton Chicago Ohare Airport
O' Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL - Springhill Suites Chicago Ohare
8101 Higgins Road, Chicago, IL - Eccono Motel
7139 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL - Hilton Chicago
720 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL - Howard Johnson Inn - Chicago (720 North LaSalle Street.)
720 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL - Omni Ambassador East-CTB
1301 North State Parkway (formerly Omni Ambassador East), Chicago, IL - Raffaello Hotel
201 East Delaware Place, Chicago, IL - The Willows Hotel
555 West Surf Ave, Chicago, IL - Marriott Chicago Midway
6520 South Cicero Avenue, Chicago, IL - City Suites Hotel (933 W Belmont Ave )
933 West Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL - Days Inn Gold Coast
1816 N Clark Street (formerly Gold Coast Hotel), Chicago, IL
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on November 15, 2008
on October 10, 2008
on April 1, 2008
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on July 28, 2007
