Introduction and Welcome to Chicago (Pt. 1 Entertainment)
June 21st, 2005 by Leo Klein
So much is happening in Chicago during ALA that you’d think it was a conspiracy to befuddle the out-of-towners. Do not despair! In my role as social butterfly, I have taken it upon myself (and the LITA Blog authorities have given me access!) to try and help you make sense of this embarrassment of riches.
Of course, you’ll be spending most of your time at the conference. Nevertheless, you’ll hopefully still have opportunities to step out and sample life in the Windy City. The first thing you should do is pick up a copy of the Chicago Reader. This is our alternative weekly and it lists within seven days more things than a normal person could do in a whole year.
If you dip into it, you’ll find that the “Big” event during ALA is Taste of Chicago. The “Taste” as they call it in these parts, takes place in Grant Park and features food, music and the combined populations of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. If that’s your idea of fun, don’t let me stop you — though frankly, you can get a whole lot better eats just about any place else. (More on this later.)
Also taking place in Grant Park is SummerDance which runs Wed-Sun (6/22-6/26) and where you can learn everything from Salsa to Swing. The City literally provides people to give you lessons.
Not too far away is Navy Pier. There, WIRED will be holding its NextFest over the weekend (Fri-Sun, 6/24-6/26). This “world’s fair” of the future will feature “robots, flying cars, private space planes, homes of the future, fuel-cell concept cars, unmanned aerial vehicles, hypersonic sound beams, invisibility coats, and much more…”
Of course, the big event a bit further north, is Gay Pride. There’s a large street fest on Halsted and Addison on Saturday (6/25, 11am-9pm). Entertainment this year includes Rupaul and Naked Boys Singing. The very next day (Sun. 6/26) is the big Gay Pride Parade. It starts at noon and features wildly enthusiastic people both marching and massed on the streets.
Wrigley Field isn’t too far away (Clark & Addison). As you’d expect on this Weekend Mirabilis, the Chicago Cubs are playing the Chicago White Sox (Fri-Sun, 6/24-6/26) — not an ordinary occurrence! Unfortunately all the action is taking place at Sox Park so you’ll have to hop on the Red Line and get off at 35th St. Good luck on getting tickets.
[ Tomorrow Part II: Dining Out. ]get.php
June 21st, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Unfortunately all the action is taking place at Sox Park so you’ll have to hop on the Red Line and get off at 35th St.
Curious here… what exactly is unfortunate about the Cubs-White Sox baseball game taking place on the South Side? It is as *easy* or as difficult to get to Wrigley as it is to get to Comisk… er U.S. Cellular.
June 21st, 2005 at 1:36 pm
Francis,
First, it’ll always be Comiskey to me. Second, it’s “unfortunate” only in the sense that the sweep of my narration has people on the North Side — Gay Pride being only a couple blocks away from Cubs Park.
Other than that, you’re right: Sox Park is as easy and convenient to get to as Cubs Park — they’re both on the Red Line. (Part of luxury and pleasure of living in Chicago is the sheer convenience of getting to so many great places!)
June 21st, 2005 at 1:53 pm
My take on “unfortunate” is that the warmth and charm of Wrigley is completely lacking at Comisky/US Cellular. If there were a chance of seeing a game while in Chicago, I think people would rather experience Wrigley.
June 21st, 2005 at 2:11 pm
Yeah, we haven’t been well served by the designers of ball parks recently. Soldier’s Field wins the cake in this respect.
June 21st, 2005 at 3:44 pm
Of course, if they actually want to see good baseball they’re better off at Comiskey
June 21st, 2005 at 3:57 pm
To Bring this Back to the Discussion at Hand:
Are there a couple activities I left out? I’ve got the “food” issue coming out tomorrow, but what about places for entertainment/music/a-drink-or-two?
I always think it a shame personally that people book hotels downtown. I ’spose it’s unavoidable but so many of the more interesting things are a bit further out.
In any case, is there something else we can recommend by way of entertainment?
June 21st, 2005 at 5:15 pm
There’s so much going on, it’s hard to sort out. AFTER the LITA Happy Hour (Friday 5-7 Hyatt Big Bar) there’s an LL Cool J concert at the Petrillo band shell (free, I think) and a Chicago + Earth, Wind & Fire concert out on Northerly Island (formerly Meigs Field). The Country Music Festival is in Grant Park Saturday & Sunday (25/26).
People might also want to check out Time Out Chicago, http://www.timeout.com/chicago for entertainment listings. This week’s issue even features Billy Corgan posing for pix in the Newberry Library.
June 26th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
This is eaxactly what I was talking about on my blog. I appreciate the work you put into this and I look forward to reading more.