Chicago's Near North Side , where you're likely to spend
much of your time, has few big-name attractions, but it's great for
simply wandering around, chancing upon odd shops ,
neighborhood bars and historic sites in a generally low-rise tangle
containing some of the city's most characteristic corners.
When the Michigan Avenue Bridge was built over the Chicago River
in 1920, the warehouse district along its north bank quickly
changed into one of the city's most upmarket quarters, now known as
the Magnificent Mile and famed for its fashionable shops and
department stores. Throughout the Roaring Twenties one glitzy tower
after another was thrown up along Michigan Avenue. To the north,
the opulent Drake Hotel rose off Lincoln Park. To the south,
the white terracotta, wedding-cake colossus of the Wrigley
Building was put up just over the river at 400 N Michigan Ave;
it's spectacularly lit up at night. Built by the Chicago-based
chewing-gum magnate, it was eclipsed almost immediately by the "Mag
Mile's" most famous structure, the Tribune Tower . Still
housing the editorial offices of Chicago's morning newspaper, as
well as, on the ground floor, the studios of its main AM radio
station, WGN (you can peer in from the street and watch the DJs in
action), the tower was completed in 1925. Its flying buttresses and
Gothic detailing turn their back on the then-prevalent Moderne
style. Look closely at its lower floors and you'll see pieces of
historic buildings - like the Parthenon and the Great Pyramid -
pilfered from around the world by Tribune staffers and
embedded here.
While the Tribune Tower anchors its southern end, the Mag Mile's
northern reaches are dominated by the cross-braced steel John
Hancock Center at 875 N Michigan Ave. Though it's about 325
feet shorter than the Sears Tower, the 360° panorama on a clear day
from its 94th-floor Skydeck Observatory (daily 9am-midnight;
$9) is unforgettable.
Back at ground level, you're right at the heart of Chicago's
prime shopping district , where Neiman-Marcus and Tiffany
& Co rub shoulders with Benetton and Nike Town. Some front onto
Michigan Avenue, but most of the shops are enclosed within
multistory complexes, or "vertical shopping malls." The oldest of
these - and still the best - is Water Tower Place , 835 N
Michigan Ave, with more than a hundred stores on seven floors plus
a bustling food-court. The 900 N Michigan Avenue mall offers
a less-cramped space and more upscale shops, anchored by
Bloomingdale's and including Gucci and Aquascutum.
Across from Water Tower Place, at the very center of this
consumer paradise, stands the Historic Water Tower - a
building you'll feel is either beautiful or grotesque. An exuberant
but naive example of frontier Gothic, the stone castle, topped by a
100ft tower, was built in 1869 and is one of the very few
structures to have survived the 1871 fire. Two other museums are
close at hand. The Terra Museum of American Art , 664 N
Michigan Ave (Tues 10am-8pm, Wed-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-5pm; $7,
free on Tues; ), holds good landscape paintings by Church and Cole,
but it's the extensive collection of American Impressionist works
that make it stand out. The Museum of Contemporary Art , at
200 E Chicago Ave (Wed-Sun 10am-5pm, Tues 10am-8pm; $10; ), has
lots of space for its wacky interactive displays, video
presentations, and a permanent collection featuring pieces by
Calder, Nauman, Warhol and others. At the rear is a sculpture
garden and patio where a café serves good bistro food.
Away from the Magnificent Mile, the area along the river between
Michigan Avenue and the lake is at the center of a massive
redevelopment project, at least partially attributed to the success
of the renovated Navy Pier ( ), at East Illinois Street.
Since undergoing a facelift in 1995, the pier has become the city's
premier tourist destination, attracting more than eight million
visitors annually to its shops, chain restaurants, 3D-IMAX theater
and fifteen-story Ferris wheel. The pier, home to the Chicago
Children's Museum (daily 10am-5pm; $6.50, free family night
Thurs 5-8pm; ), is also a venue for concerts and weekend festivals
in summer and an embarkation point for several boat tours,
including Shoreline Sightseeing Co ($9; tel 312/222-9328, ).
Shoreline runs thirty-minute cruises along the lakeshore
from Navy Pier (weather permitting) year-round.
The more heavily industrial area west of Michigan Avenue is
also experiencing a revival, though on a smaller scale and with a
different character. In the rechristened River North , many
old brick warehouses and factory premises have been converted to
house avant-garde art galleries, restaurants and nightclubs. Huron
and Superior streets, around their intersections with Wells Street,
hold the most concentrated collection. Before you begin
gallery-hopping, pick up a copy of the free Chicago Gallery
News .