Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ground “to remain forever open, clear, and free” from construction—that's why
you won't find warehouses, docks, and private businesses along our beautiful
lakeshore, as you do in many other cities. Instead, join Chicagoans in reveling
in 30 miles of sand beaches, green lawns, flower beds, and bicycle paths. More
than half of the 2,800 acres of lakefront were created by filling in the lake and
building a string of splendid lakeshore parks (from north to south, Lincoln,
Grant, Burnham, Jackson, Rainbow, and Calumet). Chicagoans take full advan-
tage of the lakefront to walk, rollerblade, bike, run, swim, picnic, and play vol-
leyball. Most activity takes place around Oak Street Beach (just north of the
Magnificent Mile) and North Avenue Beach (several blocks north of Oak St.).
One Chicago mom told me that a favorite activity of her kids is to sit on a bench
at the beach and count the dogs as they go by. It's just that simple—kids' enter-
tainment doesn't always have to come at a price.
The Loop Sculpture Tour Ages 5 & up. In the spirit of emphasizing
free, flexible, and outdoor activities for kids, I can't fail to note the self-guided
tour that lets you navigate through Grant Park and much of the Loop to view
some 100 examples of Chicago's monumental public art. With the help of a very
comprehensive booklet, Loop Sculpture Guide ($3.95 at the gift shop in the
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.), you'll get detailed descriptions
of 37 major works, including photographs, plus about 60 other sites located
nearby, identified on a foldout map of the Loop. You also can conduct a self-
guided tour of the city's public sculpture by following our “Loop Sculpture
Tour” map on p. 157.
The single-most-famous sculpture is Pablo Picasso's Untitled, located in
Daley Plaza and constructed out of Cor-Ten steel, the same gracefully rusting
material used on the exterior of the Daley Center behind it. Perhaps because it
was the buttoned-down Loop's first monumental modern sculpture, its installa-
tion in 1967 was met with hoots and heckles, but today “the Picasso” enjoys
semiofficial status as the logo of modern Chicago. It is by far the city's most pop-
ular photo opportunity among visiting tourists. Kids can view the Picasso from
various perspectives and try to decide: Does its mysterious shape look like a
woman, a bird, or a dog? At noon on weekdays during warm-weather months,
you'll likely find a dance troupe, musical group, or visual-arts exhibition there as
part of the city's long-running “Under the Picasso” multicultural program. Call
& 312/346-3278 for weekly updates of events.
Millennium Park All ages. Chicago's latest grand public project is Mil-
lennium Park, and it is a doozy. It's not easy to create new icons for a city, but
in a few years, I'd venture a guess that some of Millennium Park's installations
will come to symbolize Chicago. In fact, I dare you to stand with your toes in
the water at the Crown Fountain, surveying the spectacular cityscape of South
Michigan Avenue, and not feel an irrepressible urge to uproot your family and
move into a condo in downtown Chicago. The park is a strikingly beautiful suc-
cess, and thank goodness Chicago's donors and government saw fit to overspend
the budget by leaps and bounds and go far beyond the deadline for opening to
ensure a place like this. It's really an example of what a modern park can be.
Compare the Crown Fountain, Millennium Park's interactive fountain, with the
grande dame of Chicago fountains, Buckingham Fountain (just to the south in
Grant Park), which is lovely but untouchable, and you'll see how far we've come.
Even the sculpture is interactive—the “bean” by Anish Kapoor is essentially a
gigantic 3-D mirror. Kids and adults are equally attracted to its reflective surface
and house-of-mirrors qualities. The Crown Fountain is another kid favorite,
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