By Linda Kelley | Senior Member
If you’ve already done Navy Pier, Millennium Park, and the Tower formerly known as Sears the last time you visited Chicago, or if your tastes just naturally lean toward the quirky, you might want to explore some of the less common visitor options Chicago has to offer.
Organized Tours
If you’re looking to supplement the official Summit Second City Theatre event and the River View Architectural Tour, the following companies have some interesting offerings.
Chicago Detours offers an “Inside the Loop: Explore the Unexpected” tour several times a week. “Inside the Loop” is a multimedia half-mile walking tour that shares the history and culture of downtown Chicago, visiting such attractions as a church inside a skyscraper, the former flagship Marshall Field’s store, and the Chicago Cultural Center. Part of the tour takes place in the Chicago Pedway, an enclosed network of underground tunnels and street-level concourses that connect skyscrapers, stores, hotels, subway stops, and government offices throughout the Loop, so even if the weather is inclement, you’ll stay dry. Visit www.chicagodetours.com/tours for more information.
If you’re a chocoholic like me, you might try Chicago Chocolate Tours, a guided walking and tasting tour where you’ll learn about Chicago architecture, chocolate history, and the intricacies of making fine chocolates. And of course you get to sample lots of chocolate. (My favorite is the Magnificent Mile and Gold Coast route, because of the stops at More Cupcakes and Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafters.) For details, visit www.chicagochocolatetours.com/tours.
To this day, people still associate the city of Chicago with Al Capone. Untouchable Tours, “Chicago’s Original Gangster Tour,” makes the Prohibition Era come alive, as a costumed gangster guide takes you on a ride to Chicago’s most infamous sites (the Biograph Theater, the site of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Holy Name Cathedral, and more) and regales you with true stories about such notorious criminals as Bugs Moran, John Dillinger, and good old Al. You’ll find contact and pricing information at http://gangstertour.com/index.htm.
Movie buffs may find the Chicago Film Tour to be just the ticket you’re looking for. A luxury motor coach will take you to several Chicago sites that feature prominently in films like The Dark Night, The Blues Brothers, The Fugitive, Road to Perdition, and more. Video monitors inside the coach play the scenes that immortalized these landmarks, while costumed guides share entertaining facts and anecdotes. More information is available at www.chicagofilmtour.com.
Museums
Everyone has heard of the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Art Institute, but here are some noteworthy Chicago-area museums you might not know about.
The International Museum of Surgical Science, located in a historic mansion at 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive, contains medical artifacts, paintings and sculptures, and books and manuscripts that “portray the mysteries, breakthroughs, failures, and milestones that have shaped modern surgical science,” according to the museum’s website. From an Austrian amputation saw created in the 1500s, to Florence Nightingale’s documents, to a working iron lung, you’ll find a variety of attractions for people intrigued by the health sciences. Visit www.imss.org for hours and admission fees.
The Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (230 South LaSalle Street) is open weekdays and is always free to the public. (Be prepared to show ID and go through security.) Guided tours are available at 1:00 PM each day, with no reservation required. You’ll have a photo opportunity with a briefcase filled with a million dollars, learn how to detect counterfeit bills in an interactive game, and view the currency used throughout U.S. history. You’ll also leave with $364 in shredded money as a memento of your visit. For more information, visit www.chicagofed.org/webpages/education/money_museum.
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is located in Skokie, Illinois (9603 Woods Drive), about a half-hour drive from the Summit location in Rosemont. Its gripping and inspiring exhibits include an actual German rail car of the type used in Nazi deportation programs, a false identification card from 1943, photographs from the Warsaw Ghetto, and shoes retrieved from the Majdanek concentration camp. The museum dedicates itself to “preserving the legacy of the Holocaust by honoring the memories of those who were lost and by teaching universal lessons that combat hatred, prejudice and indifference.” See www.ilholocaustmuseum.org for
visitor information.
Places to buy things
If you can’t find enough swag in the Summit Expo Hall to satisfy your need for souvenirs, the following locations might help.
While the Chicago Cultural Center itself is not really off-beat (given that it is one of the city’s ten most popular destinations and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to a multitude of free art, music, dance, and theatre events each year), it is home to the only Art-o-Mat vending machine in Chicago. The Art-o-Mat is a retired cigarette machine that was converted to dispense tiny original works of art for the very reasonable price of a $5 token. The Chicago Cultural Center is located at 78 E. Washington Street, and the vending machine is on the first floor, just outside the gift shop (where tokens are sold). See www.chicagoculturalcenter.org for current events at the Cultural Center.
Parents of young girls may find American Girl Place to be a fascinating place to spend some money. Located at 835 N. Michigan Avenue, on the first floor of Water Tower Place, this mecca for American Girl fans contains every possible doll accessory you could ever imagine, along with matching outfits for their young owners. There’s even a doll hair salon, where trained stylists will pamper dolls with a new hairdo, pierced ears, or the “Spa Deluxe” package. For more information, visit www.americangirl.com/stores/location_chi.php.
Finally, if you discover you need a messenger pigeon or grappling hook while you’re in Chicago, you’ll want to sneak over to the Boring Store, Chicago’s only undercover secret agent supply store. The Boring Store is actually a front for 826CHI, a not-for-profit organization that fosters the creative and expository writing endeavors of students ages six to 18. Located at 1331 N. Milwaukee Avenue, the Boring Store will help you fulfill all your spy needs while at the same time benefitting a good cause. You can visit the online shop at www.notasecretagentstore.com.
