Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
entire expanse was created from sandbars, landfill, and Chicago Fire
debris; the original shoreline extended all the way to Michigan
Avenue. A few museums are spread out inside the park, but most of
the space is wide open (a legacy of mail-order magnate Aaron Mont-
gomery Ward's
fin de siècle
campaign to limit municipal buildings).
The northwest corner of Grant Park (bordered by Michigan Ave.
and Randolph St.) is the site of
Millennium Park
, one of the
city's grandest public-works projects. The park's centerpiece is the
dramatic Frank Gehry-designed
Pritzker Music Pavilion,
featuring
massive curved ribbons of steel. The Grant Park Symphony Orches-
tra and Chorus stages a popular series of free outdoor classical music
concerts here most Wednesday through Sunday evenings in the sum-
mer. For a schedule of concert times and dates, contact the
Grant
Park Music Festival
(
&
312/742-7638;
www.grantparkmusic
festival.com). Two public artworks well worth checking out are the
kidney bean-shaped sculpture
Cloud Gate
and the
Crown Foun-
tain,
where children splash in the shallow water between giant faces
projected on video screens. Free walking tours of the park are offered
daily from Memorial Day through October at 11:30am and 1pm,
starting at the park's Welcome Center, 201 E. Randolph St. (
&
312/
742-1168
).
Head south to the lake via Congress Parkway, and you'll find
Buckingham Fountain
, the baroque centerpiece of the park, com-
posed of pink Georgia marble and patterned after—but twice the size
of—the Latona Fountain at Versailles, with adjoining esplanades
beautified by rose gardens in season. From April through October,
the fountain spurts columns of water up to 150 feet in the air every
hour on the hour, and beginning at 4pm, a whirl of colored lights and
dramatic music amps up the drama. The fountain shuts down at
11pm; concession areas and bathrooms are available on the plaza.
To get to Grant Park, take bus no. 3, 4, 6, 146, or 151. If you
want to take the subway or the El, get off at any stop in the Loop
along State or Wabash, and walk east.
ALONG SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE
Fashion and glamour might have moved north to the Magnificent
Mile, but Chicago's grandest stretch of boulevard is still Michigan
Avenue, south of the river. Particularly impressive is the great wall of
buildings from Randolph Street south to Congress Parkway (begin-
ning with the Chicago Cultural Center and terminating at the Audi-
torium Building) that architecture buffs refer to as the “Michigan
Avenue Cliff.”
