Chicago has plenty to keep you busy. In addition to blues music, the Sears Tower, professional sports teams, Chicago-style stuffed pizza, and lots of great ethnic food, there are plenty of unusual things to do. First on the list is to pick up one of Chicago's free newspapers (The Reader or New City) on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning from the entrance of a trendy coffee shop, bookstore, or library. The Jumping Bean coffee shop, on 18th St. usually gets the Reader, or there are always plenty at UIC. They are the best source of information about the ever-changing entertainment scene in Chicago.
You can get on TV in the audience of the Opra Winfrey Show (P.O. Box 909715, Chicago, IL 60690). Get a free reservation for a weekday to be on the show by writing them (can't call).
Instead of paying about $7 to go up to the top of the Sears
or Hancock tower observation deck, go to the elegant 95th Restaurant in
the Hancock building. It is one floor below the observation deck
and it is the highest restaurant in the world. They have a lunch
buffet Monday through Saturday for $8.95 (all you can eat) and in the
evening the dessert or tea are well worth the price for the music and the view.
Go early and ask for a table next to the glass looking out to the north
or south. Reservations are recommended in the evening only. (312)
787-9596
For a cheaper spectacular view, go to the Alder Planetarium at sunset and
then wait for the fireworks show any Friday or Saturday night in the summer.
Rent a canoe at the Chicagoland Canoe Base (4019 N. Narragansett, (312) 777-1489) and see part of Chicago that almost nobody sees: the forgotten wildlife, countless abandoned industrial docks, and fascinating old bridges across the Chicago river. Don't worry, the river is no longer considered toxic, merely polluted, and there are even fish in it again.
Visit the birthplace of the poetry slam. The Green Mill (4802 N Broadway, 878-5552), a jazz club, has a poetry reading contest on Sunday afternoons. Ask to be one of the judges. Call for times and charges.
Watch traders get frantic about a whole lot of Wheaties at the art-deco Chicago Board of Trade building, 400 S. LaSalle, 435-3455, free.
Theater:
Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind is 30 plays in 60 minutes. The
entrance fee is determined by rolling dice and adding three dollars to the number
that you get.
Neo-Futurium Theatre
5153 North Ashland
Avenue
(773) 878-4557
Map
Available
It is easy to see theater for free in Chicago. The secret is to get some black and white dress clothes (generally required, but easily obtained at Unique), call the theater and "volunteer" to be an usher. It is even more fun than paying because you get to be a small part of the operation and sometimes you get glimpses of how the theater works behind the scenes. Often the theater manager will allow a maximum of two people to usher from one party, but you then usually get some of the best seats in the house (whatever is left from cancellations). There is an organization called the Saints that certifies ushers and these people are often preferred, but if you do a good job, you will be certainly welcomed back.
Museums:
The Chicago Public Library has museum passes which can get up to four people into Chicago's museums for free. They also have free passes to Ravinia concerts. Also, check this list of free days at Chicago museums.
The Mexican Fine Arts Museum (free) is located in Harrison Park. The exhibits rotate, but a perennial favorite is the Dia De Los Muertos exhibit around October.
Mexican Fine Arts Museum
1401 W
19th Street
(312) 455-9455
Map
Available
The Museum of Science and Industry is the most popular museum in Chicago. Free day is Thursday (The Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum are also free Thursday although they are less crowded on other weekdays.) Close by is a little-visited gem, the Oriental Institute Museum (free) which contains monumental middle-eastern artifacts. Also nearby is the Robie House, a famous house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (check prices) and nice walking around the University of Chicago campus. Just north of 53rd St. in the park on the west side of Lake Shore Drive, there are huge nests in the trees surrounded by loud, green tropical birds. They are Monk Parakeets that escaped from a pet retailer years ago and they are thriving in the park and annoying the neighbors with their loud jungle chirping. They have since spread around Chicago.
Restaurants:
Everyone has their favorite Mexican joint, and one of mine is Los Comales on 18th St. just east of Ashland. Burritos in Pilsen are huge and an excellent value; highly recommended. El Milagro is the best brand of corn tortillas and they have a nice restaurant near the VS house on Blue Island Street. Horchata is sweet rice milk flavored with cinnamon, and Tamarindo is like lemonade made with sour brown pods from a bean tree that grows in the tropics. Another eatery is Mila's where everything is made from scratch and the soup and pireogi are excellent. Mila's is on a street that is more known for its expensive Italian restaurants than cheap Eastern European food and pastries. And of course, Chinatown's many restaurants are just a mile and a half east of the VS house on Cermak.
Jeanette and Kent's favorite restaurants...
Joy Yee's Noodle Shop (noodles, exotic shakes)
2159 S China
Place
(312) 328-0001
Map
Available
Los Comales (Mexican fast food)
1544 West 18th Street
(312)
666-2251
Map
Available
Mila's European Pastry and Cafe
Zija Mila: Cook
2401 S.
Oakley Avenue
(312) 579-0800
Map
Available
Sip cafe-con-leche at the Jumping Bean Cafe
(open afternoon-3am)
1439 W 18th Street
(312) 455-0019
Map
Available
Dekegar has Liberian (African) soul food and a talkative proprietor
1530 W. 18th St.
312.243.3863
Shopping:
VSers may not have any money, but some Sunday morning you must pay a visit to Maxwell Street market, America's oldest and largest open-air market. It is a ten-minute bike ride from the VS house. Although it has recently been sanitized, regulated, and moved to a new street (Canal), it is still full of local color and, with luck, there will be a blues band playing. It is an excellent place to buy a meal, find bargains if you are savvy, or get swindled if you're not. Check out the Latin-American produce like the red bananas. See what the Economist magazine called, "the only business incubator in the country that specifically and effectively targets the poor. Its value to vendors and sellers is $49m." Go as early as possible for the best bargains to Roosevelt St. and Canal St. just south of the loop.
Haggle at Maxwell Street Market
(Sunday 5am-1 pm)
548 W
Roosevelt Road
(312) 922-3100
Map
Available
Unique second hand store chain is an incredible place to buy clothes and
household goods. Monday mornings at opening time is the best day to go, if
nothing else than for the experience, because you will see professional international
buyers in the crowd rapidly filling up carts and carts full of clothes to sell overseas. All of the
clothes not sold during the preceding week are reduced to half price on
Mondays. Ask about the color coding system when you go so you know which color is the full price.
Unique Thrift Store
3542 S Archer Avenue
(773) 247-2599 Map
Available
OR
2329 S Kedzie Avenue
(773) 762-7510 Map
Available
Dumpster diving is not much good in Pilsen, (although you will see many people who make a living sorting recyclables out of your trash) but the weekend before the first of October and the weekend before the first of May are excellent in more affluent parts of the city. On these months, nearly all leases are due, so this is the time when most people move to new apartments leaving lots of goodies behind. Alternatively, the last day of school at Northwestern University is in June and that is an excellent place to get clothes, furniture, and several year's supply of shampoo and toiletries.
For regular stores, there are many clothing, department,
& book stores downtown, and the closest discount stores are Kmart at
1360 N. Ashland, or Target at 2656 N. Elston.
Meeting People:
In addition to church, some places to get involved
socially with MVS alumni are: food co-op which is always in need of more help,
Christian Peacemaker Teams have activities to get involved with, and Frisbee which is the primary social activity for
many young Chicago Mennonites.
Exercise:
Ultimate Frisbee is played every Sunday at 2:30 (winters) or 3:30 (summers) in Arrigo Park (Loomis and Polk.), and Tuesday evenings at 7:30 in Harrison park.
Harrison park also has:
Bicycling can be very pleasant on side streets, especially on non-rush times and on Sundays when the traffic is light. The lake is an easy bike ride away (there is pedestrian access at 18th St., but you will have to carry your bike up and down stairs), and there the streets give way to the lakefront bicycle path. On the north side of Chicago the path is usually quite congested with exercisers, but going south to Hyde Park it is often eerily empty. Biking is a good way to see the city and an excellent mode of transportation for going downtown or to work.
Like biking, walking to work combines exercise with
transportation and is also the best way to see the details of the life of the
city. Check out a walking tour book from the library or just stroll around
the neighborhood to see the murals.
The lake offers excellent swimming, and a personal favorite place is the (Promontory) Point in Hyde Park where the lifeguards don't prevent swimmers from going in deep, because there is only deep water and the rocks go straight down at the shore. At the nearby beach, like most beaches in Chicago, the lifeguards won't let you get much more than waist deep. Why the paradoxical behavior? The lifeguards say that it is officially illegal to swim at the Point, but everyone does it anyway, so the city pays them to prevent drownings.
If all else fails, on any hot day you can always play with the kids in the water from a fire-hydrant on nearly every block in the neighborhood.