Chicago info wanted

airfrogusmc said:
I live in Oak Park and that is a great suggestion. As is his home and studio and some say his masterpiece The Unity Temple. Hemingway's birthplace is also in Oak Park.
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I grew up in River Forest. I used to walk past those houses on my way home from high school. One of my classmates lived in one of them. Also, we were members of the Tennis Club which Frank Lloyd Wright designed.


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I have lived in Chicago my whole life and most of the previous posts are good suggestions. But I will add for music. For jazz checkout the Jazz Showcase and the Green Mill. For Blues--Legends, BLUES on Halsted and Kingston Mines. For Rock there are many places in Wicker Park area--see the READER, a free paper or online, for suggestions. For folk we have the Old Town School of Folk Music that has regular concerts.

You may also be interested in the great historic Parks of Chicago. See Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Columbus Park and many others. These are great for landscape photography. I had a book published on this subject some years back titled: "Chicago Parks Rediscovered"(still available from Northwestern Univ. Press or Amazon). Some of the parks are in depressed areas but OK during the day.

Hope you have a good stay and have fun photographing!
 
RObert Budding said:
LOL! Milwaukee over Chicago? NFW! That's like telling someone to stay in Hartford, instead of in New York City, because it's cheaper.
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Everybody and their brother photographs the greasy dirty bean and takes photos of various landmarks and I've done it too and it's all great.

But there is a lot of culture and history in Milwaukee and it's covered a lot less.

Just my 2 cents.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wigwam/albums/72157600212116886



Cloud Gate by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr



Central Camera by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr



Great Hall, Amtrak Union Station, Chicago by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr
 
I've been in Chicago for one week in last October.

I agree about Central Camera on Wabash : a very nice place from the outside, you can buy film inside, but don't expect to find second hand gear at interesting prices there. I have spoken to Don and he was happy to see somebody holding a film rangefinder camera. I got a free cookie and his business card.

What to see in Windy City ?

- Art Institute of Chicago and the Ryerson and Burnham Library (same building),
- Harold Washington Public Library,
- Union Station (tribute to Brian De Palma etc),
- giant iron sculptures by Calder and Picasso in the Loop,
- Ship Canal and Chicago River banks,
- Astor Street with the oldest houses of Chicago, with some having survived the 1871 big fire and some built by F. L. Wright,
- the view from the top of the Willis Tower,
- Oak Park (there, all that has been advised already above by other posters plus the Post Office : get in and don't miss that architecture gem !). You will go through the poor sectors of the West and will see them from the EL train while riding to Oak Park,
- the University of Chicago sector at the very South is nice enough with a fantastic books shop just in front of the SSL train station on East 57th Street ("Powell's Books Chicago").

Music : good advices above (pay attention to that there isn't music every evening at the "Green Mill" and to that the "Buddy Guy" is very often overcrowded). Also, try to go and listen to a concert by the CSO, one of the best orchestras in the world.

Where to stay ? I've been at the HI Chicago youth hostelling (Wabash/East Congress Parkway) : not much privacy but afterall not that bad if you're on a budget, and very well located in the Loop :

https://www.hiusa.org/hostels/illinois/chicago/chicago

I recommend you to have a drink by night at the rooftop of the "Cindy's" on Michigan Avenue, in front of the AIC :


46380811252_38521de9db_b.jpg


Nikon S3 - W-Nikkor-C 28mm f/3.5 - Fuji Neopan 400

And you can get married on La Salle Street on Saturdays evenings... 😉

45028856805_bdb4c871ca_b.jpg


Nikon S3 - Nikkor-H-C 50mm f/2 - Fuji Neopan 400
 
Chicagoan (and basically perpetual lurker) here. Great suggestions. I live in Hyde Park on the South Side and definitely recommend it if you have a day for something other than downtown stuff and want something a little more cerebral/laidback: the MSI, Powell's used bookstore, 57th St Books, the Seminary Coop bookstore, the Smart Museum, and the University of Chicago campus and its Gothic architecture. There's been a big growth of restaurants and coffeeshops on 53rd St, as well as the old favorites like Valois ("See Your Food" - Barack Obama's favorite breakfast place back in the day). Jackson Park is a beautiful park.

A couple other notes in addition to everything already said - Andersonville is a neat neighborhood with a couple small museums and a lot of nice stores and restaurants, Pilsen has wonderful Mexican food, you can take a water taxi from downtown to the very cool Chinatown neighborhood, as people mentioned Wicker Park and Bucktown are the yuppie/hipster fusion neighborhoods with cool places, the West Loop is now full of very cool restaurants, and Printer's Row can be a fun short walk from downtown before you get into the blander South Loop. Out on the West Side, Garfield Park Conservatory is a really lovely place to see plants and flowers in a massive greenhouse (there's a Green Line stop right at the corner). My favorite boat tour is the architectural boat tour by the Chicago Architecture Center.

Have fun!
 
Thanks to all of you. Lots of advice to sift through. As long as there’s enough to keep my wife amused then that’s fine. I’m happy as long as I’m packing my camera
Flights booked now looking for a good Airbnb.

Paul
 
bmattock said:
Everybody and their brother photographs the greasy dirty bean and takes photos of various landmarks and I've done it too and it's all great.....
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My avatar is from the bean on a cold winter day several years back.

Take a look here for good info on what to do too:

https://www.choosechicago.com

Chicago Cubs games are pretty easy to get to via the elevated. I think the White Sox are too, but I always drove there.

B2 (;->
 
Paul

I'm another guy from the Chicago area and I've got to say that if you're visiting here for a week or so, you're going to want to pick and choose what you're interested in seeing. Chicago is a very large city. You could no more see all it in a week than you could see all of London in a week. What kind of things are you and your wife interested in? Chicago has museums of just about every sort, music and theater, sports, parks, libraries, beaches, Lake Michigan and everything that goes with it, night life, zoos, gardens, arboretums, restaurants with about any kind of food you can think of, architecture and on and on.
 
TEZillman said:
Paul

I'm another guy from the Chicago area and I've got to say that if you're visiting here for a week or so, you're going to want to pick and choose what you're interested in seeing. Chicago is a very large city. You could no more see all it in a week than you could see all of London in a week. What kind of things are you and your wife interested in? Chicago has museums of just about every sort, music and theater, sports, parks, libraries, beaches, Lake Michigan and everything that goes with it, night life, zoos, gardens, arboretums, restaurants with about any kind of food you can think of, architecture and on and on.
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All of the above Tom🙂
There’s certainly plenty going on so I’m sure we won’t get bored. My wife isn’t too bothered about shopping generally but does like to look in the quainter, independent shops. For me I’d like to see some live music. As long as I’m taking photos wherever I am I’m fine. Other than that we’ll get around and do the touristy thing and visit what we can.
 
In that case, there have been a lot of good suggestions made already. I'll add several more that haven't been mentioned. Chinatown is a fascinating area. The Brookfield Zoo is certainly one of the best and largest zoos in the world, The Chicago Botanical Gardens are breathtakingly beautiful and the Morton Arboretum is over 1200 acres of trees from all over the world. These are some of my favorite places to go with a camera. You can easily spend the better part of a day at each of them. That can be said of any of the larger museums as well. For scheduling entertainment and dining, you may want to look at the Chicago Tribune's website and check out the Arts and Entertainment section of the newspaper. I hope you have a great trip!
 
Almost forgot a Chciago icon. The wife and I were jsut there today. They have my favorite burger in Chicago and have been around since the 1970s and it still looks the same as it did then Rich Melman's first resaurant RG Grunts. Especailly if you are in or near Lincoln Park.
 
Booked in the Edgewater area and have just got tickets to see the Rolling Stones. That will probably be a highlight for me. Missed them last year here in Manchester as I was undergoing cancer treatment.
 
Soldier Field is a fun place to see them. It is big but you will have a blast. CONGRATS. I have seen them there twice. Both times were a blast. Uptown is not far from Edgewater and is an interesting area to shoot street. The Green Mill is in Uptown,
 
TEZillman said:
In that case, there have been a lot of good suggestions made already. I'll add several more that haven't been mentioned. Chinatown is a fascinating area. The Brookfield Zoo is certainly one of the best and largest zoos in the world, The Chicago Botanical Gardens are breathtakingly beautiful and the Morton Arboretum is over 1200 acres of trees from all over the world. These are some of my favorite places to go with a camera. You can easily spend the better part of a day at each of them. That can be said of any of the larger museums as well. For scheduling entertainment and dining, you may want to look at the Chicago Tribune's website and check out the Arts and Entertainment section of the newspaper. I hope you have a great trip!
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Chinatown is close to the loop, you can get there by public transportation. Brookfield Zoo is a track to the southwest, Morton is way west, and Botanical Gardens are north in Northbrook. All are great, but a trek from downtown unless you rent a car.

B2 (;->
 
I am by far not a local, but I still like to add a suggestion:
Museum of Contemporary Photography, if you're not only interested in taking pictures.

I also recommend Devon Avenue, ethnic diversity like a string of pearls... 🙂

It seems hard to make any recommendations on what to photograph in Chicago, but whatever you like, you'll find some of it there... ;-)
"da bean" gets on the list, just to prove you were in the right place...

If you have the time - and are interested and not easily scared, Gary, IN is not far - a true "post steel ghost town" (and birthplace of one Michael Jackson)

Either way, safe travels and have fun!

doc.
 
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