Conference Information
Visiting Chicago

Local Orientation

We've put together a package of local Chicago information for you and your family. Topics include:

• Getting Around Chicago
• Local Weather
• Eating Options
• Exercise Options
• Attractions and things to do with kids
• Entertainment and Nightlife
• Within Walking Distance from the Conference
• Chicago Neighborhoods
• Computing and Copying Resources
• Church Directory
• Other Miscellaneous Chicago Web Resources

Getting Around Chicago    [top]

• Getting from the Airport to the Hotel. You have several options to get from either Ohare or Midway airport to the Chicago Hilton. You can take a taxi (about $40 from Ohare, about $25 from Midway), you can share a taxi (about $18 from Ohare - just ask the taxi starter to share your ride), you can take an airport hotel bus (about $16 from Ohare, about $12 from Midway), or you can take the EL train.
  • If you take the EL from Ohare you will be on the Blue line. Exit at Jackson street. You will walk two blocks east to Wabash and four blocks south to the Hilton.
  • If you take the EL from Midway you will be on the Orange line. Exit at Roosevelt and walk one block east to Wabash and four blocks north to the Hilton. Here is a useful website for dealing with the Chicago airports.
    
• Train and Bus: You can use the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the EL and bus system, to move extensively around the City of Chicago. Standard transit fare is $1,75. Kids are half price. The CTA has visitor passes to save you even more. They run
  • 1-Day Visitor Pass for $5
  • 2-Day Visitor Pass for $9
  • 3-Day Visitor Pass for $12
  • 5-Day Visitor Pass for $18

  You can purchase these passes at any CTA transit station (including at the airport), or you can purchase them in advance over the web at the CTA store. You cannot purchase them while getting on a bus. Your use period begins the first time the card is used. If your family is coming and they are going to be touring around downtown Chicago, you want to have this. It will save you significant dollars over paying full fare or taking cabs.

• Auto rental is not available at the Hilton Hotel. The closest option, should you need a car and didn't get one at the airport, is Enterprise Car Rental at 425 S. Wells (about a half mile west of the Hilton.) Enterprise will drop off and pick up your car at the hotel. Reserve on the web here or at 312.939.6001.

Local Weather    [top]

The old joke about weather in Chicago is: if you don't like it, wait five minutes.

And November is one of the more volitile months. Historically, the average maximum temperature (all this is in Fahrenheit as we Americans are a proud - and asymetrical - people) is 47.1 and the average minimum is 31.6. But the range of possibilities is between sixty something and aught something. Check out the short term forecast right before you leave home, but no matter what that forecast says, expect it to be chilly in the evening. Be prepared to dress in layers. November averages about 3 inches of precipitation for the month. This is higher than both the October and December averages (go figger). Expect precipitation more likely to be rain than snow. Also, expect November to be windy. And expect that wind to be cold. And expect me to be wrong about this in some way.

Eating Options    [top]

Read this article and then come back and read the rest of what I have to say.

There are several foods indigenous to Chicago that you may wish to try if this is your first visit to the city. One is the Chicago hot dog. Your closest great dog is at Gold Coast Dogs (159 N Wabash.) But if you want to venture out to find a masterpiece, try WeinerCircle (2622 N. Clark) or SuperDawg (6363 N. Milwaukee). This Local Arrangement Chair's personal pick is Hot Dougs (no where else in the world can you get such gourmet dogs.)

A second is Chicago style pizza. Now this author is from the east coast and can tell you that it is impossible to get great pizza west of Cleveland. The key here is that Chicago pizza is not really pizza. It is another dish that just happens to be called pizza. There are many good places at which to sample Chicago pizza, the best is probably Gino's East. (I note that Gino's East didn't even make that article cited above, but some chain swill did. Those Philistines!)

There is some great ethic neighborhood food not far from the Hilton. Greektown is about a mile to the west. If you go there, consider any one of several restaurants for a traditional greek meal (Costa's is probably the most high end.) And definitely save room for dessert and coffee at Artopolis (and if you go there, say hello to Steve, the greeter.)

Little Italy is about two miles away. And if you would like to try some authentic Mexican fare (not to be confused with gringo Mexican fare), consider Nuevo Leon at 1515 W. 18th Street (also two miles away). Chinatown is about a 1.5 miles south (but I don't suggest walking it.) Take the Orange Line CTA from Roosevelt one stop to get there.

There is an upscale restaurant strip on and near Randolph Street (800 to 1000 West) at about the site of the Haymarket Riots you remember so well from history class. This is about 1.5 miles to the northwest. And Chicago's most significant restaurant district is in River North. This is about 1.5 miles to the north. For traditional steaks, condiser Gene and Georgetti's in River North. It is one of those steakhouses that is always in the airline magazine Top 10 ads. And it deserves to be there.

Close to the hotel, consider Prairie (in the Hyatt at Printers Row - an easy walk west), and Rhapsody (in the Symphony Center - an easy walk north). Both feature American food with a creative upscale presentation. Prairie is known for their unique game dishes.

And if you don't like what I have to recommend:

• APA Conference Dining Guide (thanks, Beth, for finding this)
• Virtual Chicago Dining Guide
• Metromix Dining Guide
• CitySearch Dining Guide
• Online Maitre'D

Exercise Options          [top]

After eating comes exercise. Outside of the facilities provided by the Hilton, there are numerous exercise possibilities. There is a 17 mile jogging and cycling path along the lakeshore stretching from Hyde Park in the south up to Edgewater in the North. (Bring your own sunshine.) The Hotel is near the midpoint along the path, so you can jog miles either direction. I recommend south as there will be less disruptions and city traffic.

Also, there is outdoor ice skating in Millennium Park (six blocks north of the Hilton). Bring your skates! (Skate rental also available.)

Attractions and things to do with kids          [top]

Take a look at what is within walking distance of the Hilton. If that don't satisfy you, try these attractions.

American Girl Place. If you know what this is, I don't have to tell you more. If you have no idea what this is, I am doing you a service by not telling you. It is on Magnificent Mile about 1.25 miles north of the Hilton

Several well known TV shows are taped in Chicago. If you plan ahead, you can see the taping of Jerry Springer, or Oprah, taping schedule permitting. Go for it!

The Chicago Childrens Museum is on Navy Pier. This is a short cab ride from the Hotel. Navy Pier is Chicago's answer to San Francisco's Pier 39 (or whatever - I think most cities have these sorts of tourist malls now.) Almost all the food is fried. The shops vary in quality. There is an Imax out there. But you will be interested in the Children's Museum.

The Museum of Science and Industry is in Hyde Park, about five miles south of the Hilton. This is a world class science museum that caters well to kids.

Also, check out:

• Virtual Chicago Things to Do with Kids
• Virtual Chicago Things to Do

Entertainment and Nightlife    [top]

Chicago is known for Jazz, Blues, and Comedy.

Buddy Guy's Legends club is right by the Hilton. You can't do much better than that. The House of Blues is in River North (about a mile walk north of the Hilton). Quite frankly, this list of potential music hosues is a mile long, and I can't tell you in July (as I write this) what will be where in November. Check out Metromix to find a music style and act that fits your interests. There is also a strong folk music tradition in Chicago centered around the Old Town School.

Chicago comedy is identified with The Second City, but in fact there are at least six comedy clubs performing on a regular basis. And, if you have never seen them, consider Blue Man Group while you are in town.

There is an abundance of live theater in Chicago from the world class Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier to Steppenwolf Theater (home base of John Malkovich, Gary Sinese, Joan Allen, John Mahoney, and Laurie Metcalf). There are literally dozens of high end local theaters, and plenty of Broadway style shows as well. See a theater performance listing at Metromix.

If you want to see a movie, the closest theater complex to the hotel is the Village Burnham Plaza at 826 S. Wabash (out the west side of the hotel and puddle jump.)

Within Walking Distance from the Conference    [top]

There are enough landmarks, museums, and tourist traps within walking distance of the Hilton to keep most anyone busy for an entire week. This section lists off several of the more popular attractions that are just a short walk away.

• The Art Institute of Chicago (four blocks north of the Conference) is home to, among many other great paintings, Toulouse-Latrec's At the Moulin Rouge, Seurat's A Sunday on la Grande Jatte, Wood's American Gothic, Picasso's The Old Guitarist, Hopper's Nighthawks, Magritte's Time Transfixed, Worhol's Mao, and many more works of Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, Mondrian, Matisse, El Greco, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas, and on and on. It is a magnificent collection. Admission is free on Tuesdays.

• The Chicago Architecture Foundation (three blocks north of the Conference) leads walking tours through a variety of Chicago neighborhoods on a daily basis. This isn't much of a museum (there is a little bit), but it is a nice gift shop and home base for many tours. Check out the tour options on their website.

• The Field Museum, located southeast of the Hilton is a world class museum of natural history. Check out Sue (the T-Rex). Discount days are Mondays and Tuesdays.

• The Adler Planetarium is located southest of the Hilton past the Aquarium. It was the first planetarium in the Western hemisphere. Mondays and Tuesday are free days. Check out their schedule to time your visit to the shows.

• The Shedd Aquarium is the world's largest indoor aquarium. It is located just east of the Field Museum. Discount days are Monday and Tuesday. Check out their schedule to time your visit for an aquarium show.

• The Spertus Museum is a block north of the Hilton. It houses a collection of Jewish art and memerobilia.

• The Harold Washington Library is about four blocks northwest of the Hilton. It is the main branch of Chicago's Public Library system and an architectural monument in its own right.

• Buckingham Fountain is located in Grant Park, just across the street from the Hilton. The fountin is famous on many fronts, but most of us know it today from the opening sequence of Married: with Children.

• Millenium Park is the newest of Chicago's parks, opening finally in 2004. One of the many highlights of the park is The Bean, a new sculpture likely to become a Chicago icon of the 21st century. The park starts about six blocks north of the Hilton. Bring your ice skates as there is public outdoor skating in the park.

• Sears Tower, at the moment, the tallest building in the US. There is an observation deck near the 110th floor. Sears Tower is to the northwest, about a mile from the Hilton.

• The Magnificent Mile is a shopping district that begins on Michigan Avenue about one mile north of the Hilton and continues for another mile. If the weather is nice, it is an easy walk; or an easy bus ride along several CTA Michigan Avenue lines. Magnificent Mile includes showcase stores of many popular chains as well as unusual or unique offerings. The American Girl store, and the ESPN bar are in this area. Also, don't miss the showcase Apple Computer store, the brickwork on the Tribune Building, and the top of the John Hancock center (hint: go to the bar instead of the observation deck. Pay about the same for a drink and a comfortable setting as you would otherwise pay for a tourist attraction. For those of you who still want the observatory, click here)

Chicago Neighborhoods       [top]

Chicago is a virtual melting pot of ethnic neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has unique shopping and restaurants. Many have small museums and store relating to their ethnic heritage. You may be able to explore your own ethnic heritage in a Chicago neighborhood. Chicago also has many neighborhoods that tie to local landmarks or historic events. For example, life in Wrigleyville revolves around the Chicago Cubs - all year round. It is a great neighborhood choice for sports bars. Pullman's heritage comes from the 19th century utopian worker community established there by the Pullman Railroad Car Company. Roscoe Village, one of literally dozens of little shopping neighborhoods, stems from the old Riverview Amusement Park on the north side.

• Chicago Ethnic Neighborhoods
• Virtual Chicago Neighborhood Guide

Computing and Copying Resources    [top]

The Conference and the Hilton will have basic computing and copying resources available for you. If your needs go beyond, consider:

There is a Kinkos at 700 S. Wabash, directly west of the Hilton. They have PC and printing facilities within. They have a full line of copying services and a limited assortment of business supplies. That specific Kinkos can be reached at 312.341.0975 or at usa1044@kinkos.com.

For an emergency computer repair, here are some resource locations. The flagship Apple Computer store is located on Magnificent Mile. You may want to see this store just as a tourist, even if you don't need apple supplies on your trip. A CDW retail store is located at 315 W. Grand (two miles from Hilton). A CompUSA store is located near Magnificent Mile (two miles from Hilton). And a Radio Shack is located on State Stree less than a half mile from the Hilton. This would be your closest choice for cabling and assorted emergency network gear.

Church Directory    [top]

Churches and other Houses of Worship can be found here. If you are looking for a House of Worship not listed here, please contact me and I will be happy to help you track one down to fit your needs.

Other Miscellaneous Chicago Web Resources    [top]

• City of Chicago
• Virtual Chicago
• Oak Park
• Chicago City Tours
• Chicago Hilton
• Chicago Airport Info

And if you need something that isn't here, contact me, your CSCW Local Arrangements Chair and I will see what I can find out for you.

Danny Mittleman
DePaul University CTI