Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
52
predictable addr essing system begins.
to Chicago's boundary with the near sub-
urb of O ak P ark along A ustin A venue,
which, at 6000 W. M adison, is appr oxi-
mately 7
1
/
2
miles from point zero.
The key to understanding the grid is
that the side of any squar e formed b y the
principal avenues (noted in dark or red ink
on most maps) r epresents a distance of
half a mile in any dir ection. Understand-
ing how Chicago's grid system wor ks is of
particular impor tance to those visitors
who want to do a lot of walking in the
city's many neighborhoods and who want
to plot in adv ance the distances inv olved
in trekking from one locale to another.
The other ingeniously conv enient
aspect of the grid is that ev ery major road
uses the same numerical system. I n other
words, the cr oss str eet (D ivision S t.) at
1200 N. Lake S hore D r. is the same as
at 1200 N. Clark St., which is the same as
at 1200 N. LaSalle St., and so on.
STREET MAPS
Maps ar e av ailable at
the city's visitor information centers at the
Chicago C ultural Center
and the
Chi-
cago W ater W orks Visitor Center
(see
“Visitor Information,” near the beginning
of this chapter).
Making use of this grid, it is relatively easy
to plot the distance in miles betw een any
two points in the city.
All of Chicago 's principal nor th-south
and east-west arteries are spaced b y incre-
ments of 400 in the addr essing system—
regardless of the number of smaller str eets
nestled between them. And each addition
or subtraction of 400 numbers to an
address is equiv alent to a half-mile. Thus,
starting at point z ero on M adison S treet
and traveling north along State Street for 1
mile, y ou will come to 800 N. S tate St.,
which intersects Chicago A venue. Con-
tinue upto wn for another half-mile and
you arriv e at the 1200 block of N orth
State S treet at D ivision S treet. And so it
goes, right to the city line, with suburban
Evanston at the 7600 block nor
th, 9
1
/
2
miles from point zero.
The same rule applies when you're trav-
eling south, or east to west. Thus, heading
west fr om S tate S treet along M adison
Street, H alsted S treet—at 800 W. M adi-
son St.—is a mile's distance, while Racine
Avenue, at the 1200 block of West Madi-
son S treet, is 1
1
/
2
miles fr om the center .
Madison S treet then continues w estward
2
NEIGHBORHOODS IN BRIEF
T
HE
L
OOP
& V
ICINITY
Downtown
In the case of Chicago,
downtown means the Loop . The Loop
refers literally to a cor e of primarily
commercial, governmental, and cultural
buildings contained within a corral of
elevated train tracks. H owever, gr eater
downtown Chicago o verflows these
confines and is bounded b y the Chi-
cago Riv er to the nor th and w est, b y
Michigan A venue to the east, and b
catching a sho w, you'll find the r evital-
ized theater district in the N orth Loop.
Macy's on S tate S treet, famous for its
window decorations during the holi-
days, anchors a strip of r etail shopping.
T
HE
N
ORTH
S
IDE
Near North/Magnificent M ile
N orth
Michigan Avenue is known as the Mag-
nificent Mile, from the bridge spanning
the Chicago River to its northern tip at
Oak S treet. M any of the city 's best
hotels, shops, and r estaurants are to be
found on and ar ound elegant N orth
Michigan A venue. The ar ea str etching
east of M ichigan A venue to the lake
is also sometimes r
y
Roosevelt A venue to the south.
The
main attractions for families in the
Loop ar e M illennium P ark, the Ar t
Institute, the C ultural Center, and the
Harold Washington Library. If you are
eferred to as
