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by kristii
Chicago Warnings or Dangers: Parking tips posted by real travelers and Chicago locals.
Parking
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Parking: Cars get broken into when parked by "El" stations
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  • I had a friend whose car was broken into twice when parking in one of the CTA parking lots near the Orange Line of the "El" train. I have also seen plenty of broken glass in these parking lots. If you do have to park in one of these lots, do not leave anything on the seats. I once had my car broken into because I left an open box in the back seat.


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    Parking: Parking
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  • Updated 6/19/07 Parking in Chicago is expensive, especially during the week. Sometimes you can get early bird specials on the weekdays if you come early enough. If you are coming in by plane, you should not need to have a car. If you are lucky enough to find a free or metered spot on the street, check all the signs very carefully. There are resident only parking zones, there are rush hour/business hour tow zones, no parking if it's snowing zones, leaf cleaning, etc. If you need to park near Michigan Avenue or in River North, try the Sterling Self Park on Kinzie between LaSalle and Clark. Last time I parked there it was $8 after 3:00pm on weekdays and on weekends. If it's the weekend, you might check some of the garages in the downtown business area or in River North since their customers are mostly downtown only Mon-Fri during the day, some of the garages have weekend/evening specials. The Millennium Park garages at Columbus and Monroe used to be a bargain but their 24 hour rate has risen to $23. Hotel parking is the worst, they seem to range around $30-40 per day. One of the few hotels that has free parking is the Best Western River North at Ohio and LaSalle, also Howard Johnson River North. If you are downtown on a major event day such as a Bears game, Taste of Chicago, Chicago Marathon, etc., the garages will hike the rates even higher calling it "Special Events Parking". The closer you are to the event, the higher the rate will be.

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    Parking: Parking at Cubs Games
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  • Wrigley Field Parking Nightmare - Chicago
    Wrigley Field Parking
    Nightmare
    by grkboiler
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    Unless you have no choice, avoid driving to Cubs games. Parking is expensive ($25 - $50 and sometimes much higher), the streets are jam packed after the game, and in some cases you will be trapped into your spot and not be able to leave until the people around you leave. Some places will ask you to leave your keys. And if you decide to try your luck at street parking, you will probably get towed. Also, avoid parking on Clark at all costs - you will sit there in traffic forever. I would recommend taking the CTA Red Line to Addison Station. If you must drive here, there are 2 decent options I always use: 1. If you are willing to pay the price for good parking and easy-out privileges, there is a lot on Addison directly across from Wrigley Field. You can follow the alleys to the south when you are ready to leave. 2. If you don't mind a walk, you can find a couple cheaper lots east of Wrigley Field on Addison at a school, or a few up and down Halsted near Addison. In the picture, my car (left) was sandwiched between 2 cars, was backed up against a brick wall, and had an SUV parked an inch in front. I waited 45 minutes before the person to my left showed up to leave, then another 2 hours before the SUV left. This is why I urge you to take public transportation.

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    Parking: Parking fees
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  • The thing that you can pick about is the parking fees. Itīs usually 10-15$ for parking or per hour. When we were going around in Chicago we parked the car about 3 or 4 times and paid together about 40$ - thatīs quite alot for the city trip. If you find a place where to leave your car and it will not cost so awfully lot, then walk around and use the cab. It will be cheaper in the end than just park alot and pay like crazy.

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    Parking: Parking dibs
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  • If are you driving into Chicago and parking out in any of the neighborhoods in the snowy winter months, in addition to watching out for all the snowfall tow signs and resident sticker only parking signs, you also need to watch out for objects such as lawn chairs, milk crates, buckets or cones marking the parking spot for a local resident who shoveled out the spot for their car. There's public debate about this practice every year after the first big snowfall but as it's a long standing tradition, some say endorsed by the Mayor, and it's not likely to go away anytime soon. It's technically illegal but then again so is ghost payrolling and dead people voting ;-) So don't move those items littering the streets and try to park there, you may return to a nasty note if you are lucky, slashed tires or a broken window if you're not. One of the worst stories I've heard was about a poor clueless suburbanite who dared to move a cone, they returned to find their car buried in snow and buckets of water poured over their car. Needless to say, it was there for awhile. But the worst is from the 2007 Darwin Awards: "A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space...understandably, he shot her."

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    Parking: Parking for Chinatown
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  • Street parking is very difficult to find in and around Chinatown. You could pay at the official Chinatown lot but it is expensive and there's no guarantee there'll be space. Why waste time looking around for parking??? Drive two and a half blocks south on Wentworth street (which runs through the heart of Chinatown) and park in a huge lot that is never full under the Dan Ryan expressway. This lot was opened to alleviate the double and triple parking that used to take place in front of RicoBenes restaurant on 26th St. This, by the way, is a Chicago landmark restaurant well worth a trip by itself. Take Wentworth south out of Chinatown to 26th, turn right (west) and immediately turn on your left blinker to enter the lot marked "for Ricobenes". Don't worry, they don't own it. The city made the space available and it is open to all, for free!!!!


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    Parking: Avoid the Chinatown parking...
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  • Avoid the Chinatown parking lot. There are never any spaces there anyway. They charge a huge fee and it is easy to get 'trapped' in there. People park anywhere and you often find the only way out is to back out, which is hard when there are more cars behind you in line. Find a spot on the street, which is free or just a few quarters (make sure you have a few with you.)

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    Parking: Parking. Make sure you pay...
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  • Parking. Make sure you pay close attention to the parking signs. DOn't think you can get away with parking illegally for just a few minutes. Towing companies are paid by how many people the tow, so they are usually just around the corner waiting to tow you. It's pretty expensive and a big hassle to get your car out of the impound lot (~ $150). I've had a sister that was parked for about ten minutes in one spot and was towed. WHile they were trying to figure out what happend to their car, another car illegally parked in the same spot for a few minutes and was also towed! Two cars in a half hour from the same spot. Also, be careful of the rates that the downtown parking lots charge. A lot of the rates posted are only 'early bird' rates which only apply if you park before a particular hour of the day. The best bet for parking is the Monroe parking lot below Grant Park (between Madison and Monroe and about a block East of Michicago Ave). The rate have recently went up, but it's usually ~ $8 for all day parking. The Grant Park lot (about a block closer to michigan) is similar, but it costs a few dollars extra. I always park the Monroe lot since it's cheap, for the entire day and is a self park lot.

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    Parking: Parking Tickets - Downtown
    Beware of extra-wide parking meter attendents riding their Segway. Would it really hurt them to walk a bit?

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    Parking: Best way to find cheap garage and street parking
    I recently started to use www.ParkingAnyTime.com to look up parking information in Chicago. They are the most comprehensive parking information site, free of charge, that provide information on garage location, garage hours, and street parking rules. They will soon be rolling out garage prices - specials, validation, etc- for over 600 garages in Chicago. Best way to find cheap parking!

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  • Website: www.ParkingAnyTime.com

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