Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Chicago Park District manages 31 beaches along 24 miles of lakefront.
Amenities vary, but most have a comfort station or a beach house and food vendors
selling hot dogs, burgers, and soda. The two beaches I can recommend without hes-
itation are
Oak Street Beach
and
North Avenue Beach.
Both also feature a
broader menu for dining: The Oak Street Beachstro (p. 117) offers gourmet salads,
beef tenderloin, grilled salmon, and Key lime pie; the restaurant in the beach house
at North Avenue Beach offers Jamaican jerk chicken and specialty ice cream.
For more information, call the park district's beach and pool office at
&
312/
747-0832.
TENNIS
The best—and cheapest—tennis in the city is found at
Waveland Courts,
located
on Lake Shore Drive at Addison. For $4 per hour, you can play on these public
courts. It's first-come, first-served, so get there early—the park is open from 6am
to 11pm. Pay before you play at the trailer located close to the Addison entrance.
Tennis buffs report that the availability of courts is pretty good in the morning.
League play takes place in the evenings, and it's difficult to get a court. Any non-
tennis players in your family can play golf, which is also available here.
If it's lessons you're seeking, head for
McFetridge Sports Complex,
3845 N.
California Ave. (
&
773/478-2609
). Students here report that the tennis pros
are great, lessons are good, and the price is right: An 8-week-long group lesson
starts at about $35 for 4-year-olds or $40 for teens (no single lessons are avail-
able). The complex offers lessons and tournaments for kids. You can also pay for
court time here just to play on your own, but book ahead, especially in winter.
In the summer you'll have no problem booking an indoor court.
5 Indoor Playgrounds
The only city-run indoor playground is free, highly recommended, and located
in
Garfield Park Conservatory;
see p. 187 for a full description.
The national chain
Gymboree
offers a series of classes for kids from newborn
to age 4 in a playscape with slides, inflatable logs, colorful mats, and all kinds of
things to jump on and crawl inside. A Gymboree teacher leads the way with
activities and songs. Visitors can call ahead to request space in one of the classes;
most local parents sign up for a full series. In Chicago the sole location is at 3158
N. Lincoln Ave. (
&
773/296-4550;
www.gymboree.com). You'll also find
branches in suburban Wilmette, Skokie, Northbrook, and Wheaton.
Odyssey Fun World
(www.odysseyfunworld.com), in west suburban
Naperville and Tinley Park, features 250 video games and rides, plus a Little Tykes
playground, a four-level soft playland (for kids 12 and under), a roller-coaster sim-
ulator, a cafe, a rock-climbing-wall thrill ride, paintball, and some outdoor attrac-
tions, including 36 holes of adventure golf, go-cart tracks, and batting cages. Each
activity has a fee, and games require tokens (usually 25¢ each, less if bought in
quantity); admission to the soft playground is $6.95. Other rides vary from $2 to
$5. Locations are at 19111 S. Oak Park Ave., Tinley Park (
&
708/429-3800
), and
3440 Odyssey Court, Naperville (
&
630/416-2222
).
6 Classes & Workshops
Chicago Children's Museum
A plethora of wonderful classes is available at
the museum. The array might include wintertime decorating of fleece scarves
that kids can wear, making glitzy bookmarks, designing quilt squares of kids'
