Chicago '99: The Complete Guide with Walking Tours, Architecture, Shopping, Dining, Jazz and Blues

Provides a survey of the hotels, restaurants, historical sites, cultural activities, and other attractions in Chicago and includes special information for the business traveler.

This excerpt, from the Pleasures and Pastimes section, gives you a taste of what Chicago has to offer and the sights and scenes that make it a great place to visit.
Architecture

The destruction wrought by the Chicago Fire of 1871 cleared a path for architectural experimentation. Architects flocked to rebuild the city, using new technology to develop the foundations of modern architecture. Louis Sullivan, William Holabird, John Wellborn Root, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Daniel Burnham are among the builders whose creations influenced Chicago as well as cities around the world. They developed the skyscraper, and this type of structure fills the downtown skyline in hundreds of incarnations, from the crenellated Wrigley Building (Graham Anderson Probst and White) to the boxlike Federal Center and Plaza (Mies van der Rohe). Chicago and its environs also inspired Wright's low-lying Prairie School, exemplified in many Oak Park houses. The city still buzzes with new construction, though today's architects often favor the postmodern, as in Helmut Jahn's James R. Thompson Center and the Harold Washington Public Library.
Blues

In the years following World War II, Chicago-style blues grew into its own musical form, flourishing during the 1950s, then fading during the 1960s with the advent of rock and roll. Today Chicago blues is coming back, although more strongly on the trendy North Side than on the South Side, where it all began. Isaac Tigrett's palatial House of Blues in the Marina City complex downtown hosts both local and nationally known musicians, though smaller clubs such as B.L.U.E.S. and Buddy Guy's Legends are still the best places to hear real Chicago-style blues.
Eating

In Chicago immigrants and their traditions give the dining scene impressive variety and spice, and their influence is felt not just in ethnic storefront eateries but in bastions of haute cuisine. You can sample cuisine from all over the food universe -- Polish sausage, Swedish pancakes, Thai curry, Greek mezes, and more. There are also plenty of temples to the all-American steak.
The Lake

Chicago wouldn't be the same without Lake Michigan. The lake forms the city's eastern boundary, providing residents with a constant source of conversation -- the weather. It also provides much in the way of recreational opportunities, with more than 20 mi of trails (for walkers, skaters, and cyclists) and harbors and beaches. It's easy to appreciate the lake from nearby, but it's also a beautiful backdrop to the view from city skyscrapers.
Outdoor Sculpture

You don't have to go indoors to see some of Chicago's finest art. Strolling in the Loop, you'll encounter arresting pieces, such as Picasso's beady-eyed sculpture in the Daley Plaza, Alexander Calder's arching red Flamingo in the Federal Center Plaza, and Marc Chagall's monolithic mosaic The Four Seasons in the First National Bank Plaza. Wander on to Michigan Avenue to see Jerry Peart's wild and whimsical Splash at the Boulevard Towers Plaza or -- for something entirely different -- Edward Kemeys's magnificent bronze lions in front of the Art Institute. Kids have fun sliding down the base of the Picasso and petting the lions, who wear wreaths at holiday time.
Theater

In Chicago you can find lavishly staged musicals presented in such magnificent settings as Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Theatre as well as taut little dramas in intimate settings with bare-bones scenery. Tickets can be outrageously expensive at downtown theaters, but beyond the Loop prices are lower. Not every small theater (and there are at least 75 around the city) may achieve the success of Steppenwolf -- where John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, and Joan Allen got their start -- but take a chance on a small production that sounds enticing. There's a wealth of talent here in the heartland.