Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
55
•
Getting the Blues .
This most American of music f orms is v enerated b y
Chicagoans, who keep the blues aliv e nightly in the cit y's clubs. Chicago-
style blues is what most people think of when y ou mention liv e blues
played in a nightclub setting. Catching a blues act is a great way for grown-
ups to spend a night out on the t
own (see the bo x “If You Have a Sitt er:
The Music S cene” in chapt er 10).
•
Discovering Wonders at Chicago's Museums.
Generations of Chicagoans
recall permanent exhibits at Chicago museums with nostalg ia. I remember
Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle at the Museum of S cience and I ndustry—the
most fantastic dollhouse y ou'll ever see. M y brother will nev er forget the
Model Railway at the same museum. Whatever your family's fancy, you can
find an exhibit about it somewher e among the A dler Planetarium &
Astronomy Museum, F ield Museum of Natural H istory, Ar t I nstitute of
Chicago, Museum of S cience and I ndustry, John G. Shedd A quarium, or
Museum of C ontemporary Art.
And don't miss out on Chicago 's Museum C ampus—a landscaped 57-acr e
area with t erraced gardens and br oad walk ways that 's home t o the F ield
Museum of Natural H istory, John G. Shedd A quarium, and the A dler Plan-
etarium & A stronomy Museum. I n my humble opinion, the Museum C am-
pus is the most impr essive c ollection of museums in the most beautiful
setting anywhere in the c ountry.
For more on Chicago 's museums, see chapt er 6.
2
neighborhood's w estern edge, the
Green, America's most notorious hous-
ing pr oject, has finally fallen to the
wrecking ball. Old Town's biggest claim
to fame, the legendar y S econd City
comedy club, has ser ved up the lighter
side of life to Chicagoans for more than
30 years.
Lincoln Park
Chicago's most popular
residential neighborhood is fashionable
Lincoln P ark. The neighborhood is
notable for visiting families because it is
bordered on the east b y the huge par k
of the same name, which is home to
two major museums and one of the
nation's oldest z
northern str etch of S tate S treet just
south of D ivision Street has, in r ecent
years, developed into a thriving zone of
restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.
Old Town
West of LaSalle Street, prin-
cipally on N orth Wells Street betw een
Division S treet and N orth A venue, is
the nightlife district of O ld Town. On
Wells Street, and a fe w blocks east and
a fe w blocks w est on N orth A venue,
you'll find plenty of families and str oll-
ers during the day . This ar ea was a
hippie hav en in the 1960s and 1970s,
but in r ecent y ears its r esidential ar eas
have been rapidly gentrified as Cabrini
oos (established in
1868). The trapezoid formed b y Clark
