Chicago

[whatthe]

I'm going to be there around my birthday this year... Is there anything to do in Chicago? restaurants?

I was thinking of Bulls game, not sure of how big of a pain it is to get tickets.

[rage2]

I fucking love Chicago. By far my favorite US city on the mainland. I've been there many times, probably making another 1 or 2 trips down there this year.

Tons of stuff to do in Chicago. Daytime stuff, the archetecture tour's pretty interesting, downtown shopping district (Michigan Ave). If you love to drive, take a 4am blast through lower Wacker drive. It's seriously like playing Ridge Racer. And dont' forget Lakeshore... nothing beats zipping thru lakeshore with the top down.

Food wise, everywhere is good. Deep dish pizza is fucking amazing almost everywhere, and it's soooo cheap thx to the exchange rate. Went to Fogo de Chao in downtown chicago, and it was dirt cheap cuz of the exchange, amazing food. Across the street is a huge ass Mcdonalds. 2 stories, a bakery upstairs, escalators, LCD screens everywhere, a historic tour, and carbon fiber seats.

At nights, it's all blues bars for me. I went to Buddy Guy's and Rosa's last year, amazing music. Stay away from House of Blues... they don't really play Blues.

Fuck, I miss Chicago already haha. When are you going? I'd avoid winter times, it's frickin' cold in winter there haha.

[whatthe]

Crap, I didn't realize that there was so much water there! My geography is crap! I'm checking out Google Earth and looks like it would be awesome in the summer. The problem is that it will still be cool when we head down (thinking March)

Any of those places with pools on the roof near lakshore happen to be hotels and are they open in the winter/spring?

[modded46]

Love Chicago as well.. great city lots to do.. Maybe catch a Blackhawk game.. Michigan Ave has the best shopping for high end stuff.. If you have a car rental head out to Schaumburg and the mall out there.. Absolutely amazing.. Gotta hit up the famous Gino's East while you're there.. Best chicago deep dish pizza ever.. Shouldn't be too hard getting sporting tickets.. Go do all the really touristy stuff like Sears Tower etc..

[Jlude]

Originally posted by rage2
I fucking love Chicago. By far my favorite US city on the mainland. I've been there many times, probably making another 1 or 2 trips down there this year.

Tons of stuff to do in Chicago. Daytime stuff, the archetecture tour's pretty interesting,

Incredible architecture... so amazing.. I'm planning a trip this year primarily for the architecture.

If you're into museums, they have many great ones!

[badseed]

I've been to Chi-town well over 10 times.

Chicago is full of things to do:

Museums - Natural Science Museum, Art Museum, Shedd Aquarium (Largest indoor aquarium).

Six Flags Great America (Located in Gurnee) Huge Roller Coasters.....gotta this up for sure if you like rides.

Shopping - Michigan Ave and Shaumburg mall..............

Personall I stick the outlets cuz you can find stuff you can't get here for less than 1/2 the price

Lots of outlets in the area, look for a Premium Outlet Mall (all higher end clothes for WAY cheaper than you could ever find here)

Also Philenes Basment is a an outlet chain out there, there is one on Michigan Ave, also wicked deals with selection we don't even see here. Howe dress shirts for $40!!

Off Saks Fifth (outlet to Saks Fifth) I bought a Juicy tweed blazer for a little over $100 regular $560!!!!! Get coupons over the internet site. Can buy Rocks or True Religions for $100 easy.

Nordstrom Rack (outlet to Nordstrom) kinda like winners, really got look through to find something decent. Ed Hardy belts for $30 when I went to Salt Lake City location.


Architectural tour is really cool and explains the history of Chicago.

At night hit up Division Street for clubs

and

Rush St. for nice shoppiong, pubs and wicked resatarunts.

Ohh SH!T almost forgot "Uno's" has wicked Deep Dish, can't go wrong pretty much anywhere you go.

Pot Belly pig has good Sandwiches.

Hope this helps you out dude.

[whatthe]

Thanks for all of the tips!!

[rage2]

Originally posted by whatthe
Crap, I didn't realize that there was so much water there! My geography is crap! I'm checking out Google Earth and looks like it would be awesome in the summer. The problem is that it will still be cool when we head down (thinking March)

Any of those places with pools on the roof near lakshore happen to be hotels and are they open in the winter/spring?

March huh?

Sun Mar 16, 2008 Flames @ Blackhawks 2:00 PM

Tickets are DIRT cheap. Hell, they give free tickets for buying pizza. You can wander off to the lower bowl, nobody cares. The place is 1/2 full for hockey games. Wear your flames gear, and you'll have a huge chance of getting on TV.

The lake is amazing in chicago. It's soooo clean. Fresh water lakes that look like oceans FTW!

Chicago folks have a huge food problem, therefore everone's overweight, so there's not a lot of eye candy out there. If you're gonna go gawk at hotties, the lake is pretty much the only place you'll find hotties. Lots of beach bunnies playing beach v-ball in the summers. I guess Michigan ave has a lot of hotties too, but they kinda look like high priced hookers hanging out with rich old guys.

[Mr. Burns]

Love Chicago. If you like pubs/sports bars check out Mother Hubbards. Great food, and you get free wings with every pitcher of moosehead you order.

[Pacman]

How does Chicago compare to New York?

I was just about to book flights to NY and the price tripled overnight. The wife is not talking to me and I may have to sleep on the couch tonight.

I'm looking at alternatives......Is Chicago going to suck compared to NY, or will there be enough to do over 5 days?

How about Boston?

[dannie]

Why dont you do Boston/New York? Fly into Boston, check it out, take the train to NY and fly out of NY?

I just did a quick expedia check for next month, fare is $560 pp.

My husband was a speaker at a conf in Boston, so we ended up flying to Boston, he did his thing, we toured around Boston, took the train to Grand Central and then toured around NY.

It was a blast.

[phreezee]

Chicago was basically Millenium park for me. Went to some chophouses, Lou Malnalti's for Deep dish, and that was about it.

Boston was Faneuil Market, Bruin's game, Boston Cream Pie and Clam Chowder, and Newbury Street for shopping.

NY would be my pick, everyone knows there's a ton of stuff to do in Manhattan.

[Pacman]

the prices on flights just dropped to NY so I booked them. I'll do some research on NY on the other thread.

[adamc]

Heading to Chicago memorial day long weekend, should be fun.

[lil*tymer]

I'm going to chi town this month, and this is what my friend who used to live there told me to do.


go to millenium park and have a stroll around there if you get a nice sunny day. for drinking and going out, if you like the traditional sort of young trendy post-college drinking go to lincoln avenue in lincoln park and you should be straight. if you like your shit a bit more bohemian hipster, go to the damen/north ave/milwaukee intersection in bucktown- theres a bunch of cool bars there and on the weekend the streets are packed.

if you like museums and the like, i would recommend the field museum and the art institute. for more interactive style learning go to the shedd aquarium (sick) or the museum of science and industry.

if you got a girl you want to impress go to the damen/north intersection i just told you about and walk south down damen for one block till you get to pierce street: there is a speakeasy there called the violet hour that is one of the best places in town to get a drink. you wont be able to see it because there is no sign and no advertisement whatsoever- its a speakeasy modeled off prohibition era chicago joints where booze was illegal so they hid the establishments where it was sold. just look for a big bouncer looking guy in front of what looks like a boarded up apartment building. they make all their syrups and mixers from scratch and the place is amazing. expensive but guaranteed to impress.

if youre into restaurants, go to west randolph street- its a meatpacking district that is lined with some of chicagos best restaurants. sushi wabi is one of my favorites there, definetly worth a try despite the price. otherwise a quick trip to the top of the hancock at night is nice- there is a lounge bar up there called the signature room that has great views and a nice vibe, although you pay for the view with the price of the drinks. all of this is unimportant though:

the ONLY thing you must do in chicago is go to a live jazz or blues bar- i recommend kingston mines for blues and andy´s jazz bar on hubbard street for jazz. youll see some of the best musicians in the world for cheap in some of the most legendary establishments in the world. for daytime strolling, go to michigan avenue and walk the magnificent mile. running parallel to it is state street, our broadway equivalent which is always worth a gander. hope that gives you a nice place to start

[rage2]

Originally posted by lil*tymer
the ONLY thing you must do in chicago is go to a live jazz or blues bar- i recommend kingston mines for blues and andy´s jazz bar on hubbard street for jazz. youll see some of the best musicians in the world for cheap in some of the most legendary establishments in the world.

Buddy Guy's is THE blues bar to hang out at in Chicago. Lots of famous blues players show up for random jams with whomever is playing. John Mayer, Slash, Clapton... every real blues player that hits chicago usually ends up partying there. Even when nobody famous goes there, the local talent that plays there is amazing.

Another local blues legend is this dude:

http://www.melvintaylormadeblues.com/concerts.html

Amazing shred blues player. Check the schedule to see if he's playing while you're there.

[iceburns288]

If someone wants to go to a weekend Cubs game hit me up. I'm lookin for one to go to in April hah.

EDIT or early May

[lil*tymer]

Thanks rage! buddy guy is one of my fav blues players as well. Never really looked into the bar tho.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by rage2

Buddy Guy's is THE blues bar to hang out at in Chicago. Lots of famous blues players show up for random jams with whomever is playing. John Mayer, Slash, Clapton... every real blues player that hits chicago usually ends up partying there. Even when nobody famous goes there, the local talent that plays there is amazing.

Another local blues legend is this dude:

http://www.melvintaylormadeblues.com/concerts.html

Amazing shred blues player. Check the schedule to see if he's playing while you're there.

Buddy Guy's FTW.....got the t-shirt. I visit that place everytime I'm in Chicago. You never know who can show up out of the blue and join the band that is playing there that week.

[urbannomad]

Also if your of south asian descent, or even Jewish.

Hit up Devon! I love that place, feels just like the motherland when your down there.


Chicago is honestly, THE coolest city in America! Yes it beats New York, L.A. and Houston. Something about Gotham City.....that makes it so