Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
STATE STREET & THE LOOP
State Street was Chicago's first great shopping district. Between the time the first
stores were established in 1852 and World War I, seven of the largest and most lav-
ish department stores in the world were competing for shoppers' loyalties along a
half-mile stretch between Randolph Street and Congress Parkway. The area has
now been eclipsed by Michigan Avenue, and State Street is lined with discount
stores and fast-food outlets. But it's still worth visiting for the two grand old
department stores that remain:
Marshall Field & Co.,
111 N. State St., at Ran-
dolph Street (
&
312/781-1000;
p. 228); and
Carson Pirie Scott & Co.,
a few
blocks south, at 1 S. State St., at the corner of Madison Street (
&
312/641-7000;
p. 227). Both buildings are city landmarks and attractions in themselves. Archi-
tecturally speaking, the Louis Sullivan-designed Carson's is the more celebrated of
the two; however, Field's State Street store remains one of the world's largest, occu-
pying an entire city block and featuring the largest Tiffany glass mosaic dome in
the United States. If you're in Chicago between Thanksgiving and New Year's, a
visit to Marshall Field's to see the holiday windows and to have lunch under the
Great Tree in the Walnut Room is in keeping with local tradition.
Although State Street has not recaptured the glamour of decades past, it man-
ages to draw crowds of loyal customers from the Loop's office towers and
Chicagoans turned off by Michigan Avenue's snob factor. There's no better exam-
ple of the street's revival than the 2001 opening of a new
Sears
store (
&
312/373-
6000
) at the corner of State and Madison streets. A large
Old Navy
store (p. 231)
at Washington and State streets (
&
312/551-0522
) also brings in the crowds—
check out the kids' wares, which are cheap and hip.
Just off State Street, heading east on Randolph Street, is the
Gallery 37 Store,
66 E. Randolph St. (
&
312/251-0371;
www.gallery37.org). The store sells
goods made by Chicago youth ages 14 to 21 who are participants in the Gallery
37 arts training program. The not-for-profit pairs young artists with experienced
artists. Proceeds from the sales of the paintings, jewelry, ceramics, decorated fur-
niture, textiles, and sculptures benefit the program.
RIVER NORTH
River North, the area west of the Magnificent Mile and north of the Chicago
River, is Chicago's primary art gallery district. Other interesting shops, concen-
trated on Wells Street from Kinzie Street to Chicago Avenue, include home fur-
nishings and collectibles, and are probably of most interest to adults. The
neighborhood even has a mall of its own—
The Shops at the Mart
(
&
312/527-
7990
)—in the Merchandise Mart, at Wells and Kinzie streets, with a standard
collection of chain stores. The rest of the Merchandise Mart, the world's largest
commercial building, houses mostly interior design showrooms, which are open
only to professional designers. If you want to get a sense of the whole massive
complex, take a public tour, which is usually offered on Friday at 1pm ($10;
&
312/527-7762
). The rest of the River North area is ripe for gallery-hopping
but doesn't have many shops to interest kids, unless they have a mature under-
standing of art, so check out
Frommer's Chicago
if you have an interest in that area.
Point Zero
If the quick change from north to south in the Loop confuses you, keep in
mind that in Chicago, point zero for the purpose of address numbering is
the intersection of State and Madison streets.
Tips
