Visiting Chicago

[troutman]

The home of Improv:

http://www.secondcity.com/shows/chic...ago-mainstage/

[Dodsdomd]

Thanks everyone! Some great tips in here!

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I've known a ton of people who gush about Garrett popcorn. Some have even brought home #### tons of it to eat. I know it is available elsewhere but it is from Chicago.

[Trojan97]

Chicago is the absolute greatest. I can't really put a finger on what it is about that city. Was there in January and really fell in love with it. You will have a blast!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Trojan97

Chicago is the absolute greatest. I can't really put a finger on what it is about that city. Was there in January and really fell in love with it. You will have a blast!

Ditto. We were there in July and it just feels like an awesome City.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Trojan97

Chicago is the absolute greatest. I can't really put a finger on what it is about that city. Was there in January and really fell in love with it. You will have a blast!

Chicago is one of the few American cities I went to where I genuinely wanted to stay for far more than the baseball and hockey. Seattle is the other big winner in this regard.

New York (too big) and LA (too big, too hot, too smoggy), Minneapolis (Booring!) and Phoenix (too god damned hot) were all places I really just wanted to knock the ballpark or arena off my bucket list and get out.

Chicago though, is right up there with Montreal as a cool place to visit.

[troutman]

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/music-nightlife

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago...ion?oid=846991

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I've known a ton of people who gush about Garrett popcorn. Some have even brought home #### tons of it to eat. I know it is available elsewhere but it is from Chicago.

My wife lost her mind for that stuff. We ended up going back like 3 times. I thought it was good, but didn't really seem much different than similar stuff in other cities.

Chicago is hands down my favourite city to visit in the US with a close second to San Francisco.

[Bunk]

Definitely the Architecture Foundation Riverboat Tour. As mentioned, that's sort of a must do.

Millennium Park

Michigan Ave (Magnificent Mile) and area.

Wrigley Field and neighborhood.

The usual stuff. It's a really cool city and a great time of year to go.

[Table 5]

Chicago is awesome. Getting a little too murdery these days, but still awesome (if you're not one of the statistics).

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Chicago is awesome. Getting a little too murdery these days, but still awesome (if you're not one of the statistics).

Chicago epitomizes the good and the bad of American cities. It's amazing where it's good, and absolutely appalling where it's bad. It is the most racially segregated city in the US. White people live one place, Hispanics there, and African Americans somewhere else.

I remember flying out of Midway on the way back to Toronto, taking the El (sort of through the the South Side) . There were a group of dudes literally smoking crack next to us. It was actually terrifying.

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Chicago is awesome. Getting a little too murdery these days, but still awesome (if you're not one of the statistics).

Chiraq!

[taffeyb]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I've known a ton of people who gush about Garrett popcorn. Some have even brought home #### tons of it to eat. I know it is available elsewhere but it is from Chicago.

There's an "Annie's" popcorn on Banff Avenue that is basically a knock off of Garrett's. It's okay. Pretty good effort.

[Northendzone]

I think this needs to be settled as I would hate to think of the op taking his family for dinner to the 5th ranked spot, when he could do so much better

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Yeah, odd choice of names.

It's the #5 ranked restaurant in Chicago on trip advisor.

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restauran..._Illinois.html

[Locke]

I'll second Lou Malnati's. Awesome, awesome stuff.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Chicago epitomizes the good and the bad of American cities. It's amazing where it's good, and absolutely appalling where it's bad. It is the most racially segregated city in the US. White people live one place, Hispanics there, and African Americans somewhere else.

I remember flying out of Midway on the way back to Toronto, taking the El (sort of through the the South Side) . There were a group of dudes literally smoking crack next to us. It was actually terrifying.

We wanted to visit the Museum of Science and Technology, and based on a cursory look at a very high-scale map, decided to take the L-train green line south and then cut east for 12 or so blocks on foot. Bad call.

As downtown receded in the distance, the neighbourhoods got rougher and rougher. Those huge projects from the 50s that you see in movies, mostly abandoned. Few cars on the street. When we reached the station where we planned to set off on foot, we crossed the street and got right back on the next train going back downtown.

Later, I looked up the museum website and it pointedly warned visitors against taking the L-train green line. The really weird thing is that if we had walked on the route we planned, after several blocks through the roughest part of Chicago we should have passed Barak Obama's house, which is on the fringe of the gentrified area where the museum is located. So strange to think of such devastation and despair cheek to jowl with such power and sophistication.

[Fuzz]

Museums. Dangerous business. I once did something similar in Cairo. It ended with a friend and I running to the church for sanctuary as teenagers hurled rocks at us.

[Frequitude]

If you're looking for a good party, go to Stanley's. Especially on Sunday's. Karaokee with a live band and often frequented by the athletes in town.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Museums. Dangerous business. I once did something similar in Cairo. It ended with a friend and I running to the church for sanctuary as teenagers hurled rocks at us.

You're not supposed to attempt the steal the exhibits.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Chicago epitomizes the good and the bad of American cities. It's amazing where it's good, and absolutely appalling where it's bad. It is the most racially segregated city in the US. White people live one place, Hispanics there, and African Americans somewhere else.

Walk literally one block north of the United Center, and you enter a different world. Which I discovered by accident while waiting for a bus downtown after the game.

Besides the crime, there is also the drivers. The highway signs flashed how many people had died on Illinois highways in 2013. I was there five days, in May. It went from something like 224 to 236 in that time.