Fun Things to Do in Chicago
Spots Diner—cute black&white diner
The galleries and paper shop downtown under elevated, just a few blocks N & W of main skyscrapers.
Ear Wax Cafe
New World Resource Center–for weird books
Haley’s Comix
Musicbox Theatre. 3733 N. Southport. 871-6604. Wonderful old original. Velvet, mosiac, clouds’n’stars ceiling, organ.
2ndHand Shop next to Musicbox
The Beach and Lakefront Parks and Marinas. Everybody, everything. Good swimmin. Jump off overlook platforms for an honest summertime refresher if you dare.
Canoe/Rowing Club—cheap access to 50 different kinds of boats, kid you not.
Cute holeinwall 20-something bar down Irving from C&S’s
Real old nice lunch place downtown all the fancy newspaper people go to.
Maxwell Street Market—real cross section of folks buyin sellin everything, music, food, too.
La Cocina de la Santa Rosaura. Halsted and Canalport. Veggie family run Mexican
Corner of Milwaukee/Damen/North. Heart of Bucktown. Best corner in city.
Favorite Building: Cark Schurz High School. Milwaukee and Addison
Architectural Boat Tour. $12. N. Pier Market.
Tiffany Mosiacs at Cucago Cultural Center (formerly City Library) on Wash. @ Mich.
Marshall Field Store has incredible ceilings. (I believe it also has a Chicago Center of Self-Taught Artists Museum on one of the middle floors!)
Music Festivals every weekend. Avoid if you don’t like beerdrinkin crowds.
Best sushi: Kyoto. Lincoln off Fullerton.
Garfield Park Conservatory 300 N. Central Park Blvd 746-5100 Admission: FREE A huge conservatory that is almost 100 yearls old and sadly under-visited. It has a fern room to end all fern rooms.
Leo’s Lunchroom 1809 W. Division 276-6509 Tues.- Sun. 8 am – 10 pm closed mondays Dive like atmosphere with excellent food. It’s affordable and the portions are large enough that you can share with a friend and still be satisfied. When ever I go to Leo’s, I ask myself “why would I ever want to go anywhere else?
Udupi Palace Restaurant 2543 W. Devon Ave 338-2152 A vegetarian indian spot. Interesting food. The first and only time I have ever had rice and coconut together.
Kopi Cafe 5317 N. Clark 989-5674 Some of the best coffee in town. It’s in Andersonville and there’s lots of Swedish chotchkie (sp?) shops and small groceries.
The Village Tap 2055 W. Roscoe 883-0817 A neighborhood bar with a good beer list. Friendly.
The Green Mill 4802 North Broadway 878-5552 One of Al Capone’s old hangouts. They have the famous poetry slam on Sunday nights. The place is a trip. Worth seeing just for one drink and some juke box spins. Cover goes down after midnite.
Club Lucky 1824 W. Wabansia 227-2300 Yuppy bar, but best vodka martinis. Blue cheese stuffed olive is a must. You think ‘eww gross’ but it’s the perfect combo of stinky, bitter and alcohol.
Shangri La Thrift Shop. 1952 W. Roscoe. Great used records. Cheap clothes from 60’s, 70’s.
Ark Thrift. 3345 N. Lincoln. Some say greatest others say expensive. You judge.
Uncommon Ground Cafe. 1214 W. Grace. Hot chocolate better than the coffee. Cozy. Good cafestyle food.
Uncle Fun. 1338 W. Belmont. Tons of great toys—like you used to order out of comic books.
Top of Hancock Tower. Wow! Watch sun set, have a fancy beer.
Jim’s Grill. 1429 W. Irving Pk. 525-4050. He’s moving to Southport, so look it up for new address. Veggie Asian. Unusual and fine. Best bee bim bop. Billy Corgan, of Smashing Pumpkins, is a regular. Tiny, almost friends only. In fact his hours are custom, so calling ahead is good.
