Going to Chicago. What do I need to do? Avoid?

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Man that train system looks good. Easy to get around without paying a fortune in cab fare or messing with parking a rental. Anyone ride the trains?

For sure. The locals bitch about CTA all the time, but its great for getting around and fairly easy.

You're only problem coming from O'hare will be that there's no easy transfer to where you need to get on the red line. Your stop is Chicago - RED, which is just north of the loop. The earliest red connection with blue isn't until the south of the loop and you'll then have to go back north on red for 5-6 stop, with luggage, on one of the busiest parts of the El. But you could take it in and hop off right around the loop and walk if its nice or grab a taxi/bus. Still save some money.

To Midway you'll be fine. Just hop on the Chicago-RED, and take that south to Roosevelt. Then you'll transfer there to orange for a straight shot to Midway.

Parking and driving is a bitch. Don't rent a car. Taxis are great and everywhere. Especially when cold. Buses are great too, and a lot of times quicker than the el. Great for museum hopping.

[gblowfish]

I've been lightly reading over this thread, just a few observations:
Rush Street: Did anybody mention Rush Street?
Ditka's Restaurant or Harry Caray's?
Giordano's Pizza gave me wicked food poisoning, and had to fly at 6am the next morning. A pox on them!
Ed's is very fun. Food is decent. Wait staff is a hoot.
Billy Goat Tavern is underneath the Chicago Tribune building. Cheeseburger is nothing special, but atmosphere is pretty cool. And they have beer.
Museum of Science & Industry is great, but its in SOUTH CHICAGO. And the L does not go directly there. It's about a mile away. NOT A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD to be in, so take a cab if you go there.
Second City Comedy Club rocks. Lots of guys & gals from there end up on SNL.
Have a Vienna Hot Dog and an Old Style Beer.
Frank Lloyd Wright stuff in Oak Park.
Art Institute is awesome (if you like art).
Have fun, be prepared to spend money.

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

Museum of Science & Industry is great, but its in SOUTH CHICAGO. And the L does not go directly there. It's about a mile away. NOT A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD to be in, so take a cab if you go there.

This is kind of true, kind of not.

You don't want to take the El there because it isn't close there. But from where you are, they run tons of buses that run there and are more than safe. The #10 runs on weekends right to the front, and two others drop you off right by I think. Tons of tourists on all of these buses. Also, you'll find the University of Chicago straight west of there, which is absolutely safe and beautiful like I said earlier. Some cool places and architecture to check out in Hyde Park.

Don't let people scare away from getting out of the loop area. A lot of beautiful neighborhoods north and south. You just have to be smart. I've stumbled home drunk from bars in south Chicago and never had a problem. You just can't be a dumbass, like in any city.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

This is kind of true, kind of not.

You don't want to take the El there because it isn't close there. But from where you are, they run tons of buses that run there and are more than safe. The #10 runs on weekends right to the front, and two others drop you off right by I think. Tons of tourists on all of these buses. Also, you'll find the University of Chicago straight west of there, which is absolutely safe and beautiful like I said earlier. Some cool places and architecture to check out in Hyde Park.

Don't let people scare away from getting out of the loop area. A lot of beautiful neighborhoods north and south. You just have to be smart. I've stumbled home drunk from bars in south Chicago and never had a problem. You just can't be a dumbass, like in any city.

Having lived in Chicago for many years, I absolutely disagree with this statement. Sure there are pockets of nice areas, but mostly, Chicago outside the touristy areas sucks, and you can pass into a dangerous neighborhood very quickly. Chances are nothing will happen to you, but why take the chance just to see a little extra bit of urban blight?

And for the love of God (and your own life) don't ever ride the red line train south of 35th Street.

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by frazod

Having lived in Chicago for many years, I absolutely disagree with this statement. Sure there are pockets of nice areas, but mostly, Chicago outside the touristy areas sucks, and you can pass into a dangerous neighborhood very quickly. Chances are nothing will happen to you, but why take the chance just to see a little extra bit of urban blight?

And for the love of God (and your own life) don't ever ride the red line train south of 35th Street.

Like I said, you have to be smart. But saying that Science and Industry is in South Chicago so BE CAREFUL and avoid the streets is ludicrous. You can go from good to bad quickly like you said, so me saying "I stumbled home drunk" is crass. But the area around Science and Industry is neither blighted nor unsafe during the day. In fact, it's really beautiful.

Would I go there? If I'm only in Chicago for four days, no, unless you're real into architecture.

I'm not sure what you define as a "touristy areas", but that seems pretty narrow to me. On most my trips to Chicago, I rarely go anywhere near Michigan Ave or the loop area. I guess that's a factor of where my friends and family live, but I don't know. It's a pretty big city that functions outside of tourists. If you're visiting for only four days, hell yeah do all the typical stuff. But the rest of Chicago certainly doesn't suck.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

You just can't be a dumbass, like in any city.

So wearing my Cardinals gear around town is not a good idea...

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

So wearing my Cardinals gear around town is not a good idea...

And people are complaining that South Chicago will be unsafe for you...

[petegz28]

I don't know about you guys who lived in Chicago, but as a person who only travels thee and doesn't know the neighborhoods I always tell people to stay around the loop or Rush St. at night. I know there are other places too. But south Chicago doesn't seem like a place a tourist needs to be at night. Nor hanging around train stations.

[MVChiefFan]

The wife and I are thinking about heading to Chicago for our anniversary in August. I've read through this whole thread but I just want to be sure about what I'm doing. We difinitely wanna hit the aquarium and museums on Lake Shore, but is it good or bad to stay in a hotel in that area?

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by MVChiefFan

The wife and I are thinking about heading to Chicago for our anniversary in August. I've read through this whole thread but I just want to be sure about what I'm doing. We difinitely wanna hit the aquarium and museums on Lake Shore, but is it good or bad to stay in a hotel in that area?

I think these questions are hard to answer. The area isn't good or bad. What else do you want to do?

If I was going in your position, I'd probably stay north of the river. It could be quite a bit more expensive though, depending on the hotel. Also, "to stay in this area" is a bit vague. Do you have specific area, or hotel I guess, in mind? If you're just hitting museums, by all means pick a convenient place you like.

Also, what else you do you plan on doing? Nice restaurants, theater, shopping? What kind of a hotel do you want? That factors in a lot.

If you want to look up neighborhood information, I think that area is "South Loop". I'm not positive on that though...

[MVChiefFan]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

I think these questions are hard to answer. The area isn't good or bad. What else do you want to do?

If I was going in your position, I'd probably stay north of the river. It could be quite a bit more expensive though, depending on the hotel. Also, "to stay in this area" is a bit vague. Do you have specific area, or hotel I guess, in mind? If you're just hitting museums, by all means pick a convenient place you like.

Also, what else you do you plan on doing? Nice restaurants, theater, shopping? What kind of a hotel do you want? That factors in a lot.

If you want to look up neighborhood information, I think that area is "South Loop". I'm not positive on that though...

Thanks for the reply. The problem is I really don't know anything about where things are or what to do about it. Here's what we want to do for sure...The Field Museum, Shedd's, the best pizza place and the best Hot Dog/Italian Beef place. I've taken notes on these from the rest of the thread but unfortunately I'm not sure what would be the best way to go about it. I don't have to stay in the museum district, I just noticed that there were, what looked like, decent hotels really close. If there is an area to stay in that would be better I'm all ears.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by MVChiefFan

Thanks for the reply. The problem is I really don't know anything about where things are or what to do about it.

This site has some damn good maps on it.

http://www.explorechicago.org/city/e...es___maps.html

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by MVChiefFan

Thanks for the reply. The problem is I really don't know anything about where things are or what to do about it. Here's what we want to do for sure...The Field Museum, Shedd's, the best pizza place and the best Hot Dog/Italian Beef place. I've taken notes on these from the rest of the thread but unfortunately I'm not sure what would be the best way to go about it. I don't have to stay in the museum district, I just noticed that there were, what looked like, decent hotels really close. If there is an area to stay in that would be better I'm all ears.

Okay. The Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium are right next to each other off Lake Shore Dr., just North of Soldier field.

For Chicago Pizza, most people will tell you (as you've read) Giordanos or Gino's East. Giordanos has several locations all around. I don't know Gino's as well, but the one location I know is just north of the loop.

Here's what I'd think about:

Your trips to Field and Shedd will be a day trip. They are right next to each other, so you could easily do both in one day really. So I wouldn't plan my trip around being close to them. And, the transportation from anywhere along Lake Shore or Michigan Ave. down to there is so good, whether that's buses or taxis for you, it doesn't matter being close. It's one trip.

So a lot of it depends on what else you want to do. The benefit of staying further north is that you'll be right in the heart of the dining and shopping areas. So walking distance vs. taking cabs/buses. If you're spending one day at Shedd and Field, and every other day somewhere else, that's worth remembering...

But, if the exact area you stay in isn't important, I'd focus on hotels. To be honest, I don't know the hotels around there that much, so I can't make much of a recommendation. Your real touristy, typical hotel section run along N. Michigan, probably from around Illinois St. and north. There are other great hotels though, but just different surroundings. Like I said, I'm not very good at answering these types of questions... Read some TripAdvisor reviews and see what they say.

[Spicy McHaggis]

Hey BRC, what college team do you cheer for?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Spicy McHaggis

Hey BRC, what college team do you cheer for?

Missouri State. I grew up in Springfield. I went back there for a few years, met the wife and at the time I was the editor of a local paper and also covered the sports for the paper. This was during the spoonhower era. Got to interview spoonhower and know him on a personal level. Got to see all the backstage "stuff" that goes on in college BB. But, I don't follow them religiously.