Travel Journal
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CHICAGO:
The City that Never Grows Old
January 2024
By Sandra Bertrand
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If you try defining Chicago, it will take ten Webster’s Dictionaries and then some. Sure, it’s a windy, razzle-dazzle, shoot ‘em up, pie-in-the-sky (try the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower and you’ll know you’re there) city. And if you’re old enough to remember Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “My Kind of Town,” it’ll be yours, too.
My partner Joanne and I have been here before, so there must be a reason why we keep coming back. The easiest answer is simply that there’s no way to exhaust the sights and sounds of the place. And that’s saying something for two restive Manhattanites that have “seen that, done that,” constantly reminding ourselves that the world is much bigger than our own seasoned sensibilities.
Arriving amid the O’Hare airport hubbub, we head for the Blue Line Tram. A forty-minute ride into midtown for five bucks proves that familiarity breeds hardly contempt, but the contentment that comes from knowing one’s way around just a bit. Besides, getting one’s budgetary priorities straight makes for greater pleasures for the days ahead. |
Wall Mural, O’Hare International Airport
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Sculpture, Eurostar Lobby
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The Eurostar Hotel on State Street (yes, that “great street” from the iconic tune) has that manicured international feel with two Asian girls at the check-in counter looking up our reservation on Central time. While Joanne registers, I plunk down in a kind of boudoir plush seat, watching two Italian young women discuss their wardrobe for the evening. Before we head to our 21st floor room, one has just made a quick exit, returning to the lobby to show her traveling mate an off-the-shoulder, bare midriff concoction, and they’re off. I gather up my coat, heading for the elevators (it is a blustery 50-degree October afternoon after all), feeling every bit my senior age.
My first priority is the Art Institute and for good reason. The second-largest art museum in the U.S., its collection awards any first-time visitor with a first-class array of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. American classics have their day as well, with such favorites as Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks with its midnight diners and Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Who can forget that stern-faced, pitchfork laden couple? I’m headed instead for a rare exhibition of Remedios Varo’s mystical artworks. “Varo who?” Let me explain. While she is a household name in her adopted homeland of Mexico, she has only recently received growing attention here. |
Portrait, Remedios Varo (Chicago Art Institute)
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"Sympathy" (1955), Remedios Varo
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Sandra Posing w/ Lion Sculpture, Chicago Institute of Art
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Fleeing wartime Europe in 1941, Varo found in Mexico City a fecund creative community of Mexican and European artists. Surrealism became second nature for Varo and her feminist pals, Frida Kahlo and Leonora Carrington. Varo’s magical explorations between species are gorgeously executed in Sympathy (1955), depicting as she says, “the havoc that is usually tolerated if one likes cats – as I do.” Before departing, we visited Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Outside, the sun gleams brightly on this grand beaux-arts edifice. But more about Chicago’s world-class architecture later. I pose next to one of those magnificent lions, promising to come back.
Our next stop before returning to the hotel for a pre-evening nap is another masterwork of design. The Cultural Center began life as the Chicago Public Library in 1897. Today it’s the home of dozens of art exhibitions and concerts, but the not-to-be-missed reason for visiting is the third floor Tiffany Dome. Interrupting an ongoing photoshoot – the model plopped underneath the dome in formal wear and a crown – we crane our necks upward for a few seconds then wander the empty room, admiring the white and green Connemara marble embellishments and the names of famous literary lions.
Music and food are high on our list with any destination, and in Chicago it doesn’t take a Fodor’s guide to find the finest. On the dot of five-thirty, the doors open at Andy’s for the first show. A cover of fifteen dollars – a bargain by New York City standards – and we are ushered to a front table in plenty of time to nurse our cocktails and watch the easy camaraderie of the Clif Wallace Big Band. Feminist that I am, I am happy to see a woman band player unpacking her saxophone. The wait is worth it, with a lineup of five saxes, four trumpets, three trombones, piano, bass and drums playing old standards with a New Orleans flair.
Our next stop before returning to the hotel for a pre-evening nap is another masterwork of design. The Cultural Center began life as the Chicago Public Library in 1897. Today it’s the home of dozens of art exhibitions and concerts, but the not-to-be-missed reason for visiting is the third floor Tiffany Dome. Interrupting an ongoing photoshoot – the model plopped underneath the dome in formal wear and a crown – we crane our necks upward for a few seconds then wander the empty room, admiring the white and green Connemara marble embellishments and the names of famous literary lions.
Music and food are high on our list with any destination, and in Chicago it doesn’t take a Fodor’s guide to find the finest. On the dot of five-thirty, the doors open at Andy’s for the first show. A cover of fifteen dollars – a bargain by New York City standards – and we are ushered to a front table in plenty of time to nurse our cocktails and watch the easy camaraderie of the Clif Wallace Big Band. Feminist that I am, I am happy to see a woman band player unpacking her saxophone. The wait is worth it, with a lineup of five saxes, four trumpets, three trombones, piano, bass and drums playing old standards with a New Orleans flair.
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Shaw’s Crab House is our next destination, and it’s just next door. (Readers should memorize the serendipity of these two establishments for an easy evening out, but reservations in both venues are a must.) In the main dining room, we begin with Oysters Rockefeller, four good sized examples with spinach, onions, lathered in a Jarlsberg cheese cream. Lobsters can be a bit pricy, so if you decide to save that culinary luxury for a summer day in Maine, then by all means try the seafood platter. Garlic shrimp, sea scallops, a Maryland style crab cake and jasmine rice to squelch the hunger pains and I am perfectly happy – along with a reasonably-priced bottle of Sauvignon Blanc – to watch the business swells hammering away on an oversized claw.
Our second day’s itinerary is chock-full, so I lace up my Hoka sneakers, and we’re off to the Museum of Science and Industry. Leaving the heart of Chicago’s Loop for the Hyde Park & South Side neighborhood is literally and figuratively a walk in the park. Transportation is reliable everywhere with departure from Millennium Station in the Loop to the Metra electric line train. The morning is unseasonably warm and hopping off the 57th-59th stop, we encounter series of murals commissioned by the University of Chicago, a tableau of Depression-era workers and their struggles worthy of pause. |
Seafood Platter, Shaw’s Crab House
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Mural, Chicago Mural Group, University of Chicago
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Murals Along Wall, Chicago Mural Group, University of Chicago
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The museum is the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Serving as the Palace of Fine Arts in the 1893 World’s Expo, today it houses everything from a WWII German U-Boat to a mock tornado, and for the younger set, a baby chick hatchery. We are fortunate enough to experience The Blue Paradox exhibit, an immersive journey below the ocean’s surface to witness the impact plastic pollution has had on our planet’s largest ecosystem. It’s a sobering walk-through event and with so much on display, it’s essential to “pick your poison.” With plastics our poison of choice, it proved to be an unforgettable encounter.
Browsing the neighborhoods embracing a great city may require some serious walking but the rewards are many. Heading on the Red Line in the direction of Andersonville and Uptown, we first comb the residential blocks around Argyle Street, passing several Halloween goblins. Nearby is Little Saigon, settled by refugees from the Vietnam War that brought their cooking skills with them. We wasted no time finding a spot to savor thin strips of lemon-flavored beef and a crunchy papaya salad. Benches are placed on various corners for weary idlers, so we do just that, no bus signs within view. Andersonville awaits, an old Swedish enclave with timeworn boutiques and the Swedish American Museum Center which was closed at four o’clock. I couldn’t help wondering how the first generation of Swedes would make of their Clark Street now, with local professionals, tourists, and a healthy sprinkling of LGBT regulars filling the bars for trendy meetups. One bookshop I unearth boasted a top shelf of antique dolls and other ephemera that detracted me from another book stack.
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Halloween Greetings, Andersonville
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Time has a way of playing tricks with your head and stomach and the familiar growls of hunger return as the sun disappears.
Musicians at Green Mill Tavern
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Luckily, Clark Street is a treasure trove of dining possibilities and Hopleaf, a European-style tavern, seemed dark but inviting with its long bar sporting over sixty types of brews. Even more inviting was an outdoor back garden where we could linger over beer-soaked mussels, pomme-frites, and remember why we had chosen this Uptown “hood” among others. Once we’d read about the Green Mill, we were hooked. How could we not check out Al Capone’s favorite waterhole? It was Capone who became the city’s mob boss during Prohibition until Eliot Ness brought him down on tax charges. If that wasn’t enough reason, the Chicago Cellar Boys promised a night of great jazz.
Given its notorious history, the Green Mill is a bit unassuming from the exterior. No surprises there. But the interior is another story altogether, reeking of atmosphere and a ten-dollar cover. That probably explained why so many young couples poured in as the evening wore on. The Cellar Boys (including one female musician) played 20s to 40s tunes while several regulars in swept-up hairdos and one Greta Garbo expressionless woman in a fringe dress of the period danced through a couple of sets. I don’t know if the Naugahyde booth we sat in was the same one that gave Capone a view of both the front door and the rear exit, but it was fun to imagine. A trap door behind the bar accessed tunnels for running booze and escaping the Feds. |
We took an Uber back to the “Loop.” This financial and historical heart of Chicago is where all the train lines converge. It’s also the world’s architectural wonderland. When the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 burned down 18,000 buildings, leaving 90,000 people homeless, supposedly started by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow who knocked over a lantern (!), the world’s best architects poured into town. The first skyscraper arose in 1885 and the rest is high rise history.
On a previous jaunt, the Architectural Center was a highlight for us and is highly recommended. An interactive 3-D model of Chicago is on display, along with other world-renowned models. Their boat excursion city tour leaves passengers gaping.
On a previous jaunt, the Architectural Center was a highlight for us and is highly recommended. An interactive 3-D model of Chicago is on display, along with other world-renowned models. Their boat excursion city tour leaves passengers gaping.
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The following morning, on our way to another trendy area in the West Loop, we pass by the former Marshall Field Building (now Macy’s) to admire its bronze corner clock. Inside, the north atrium is capped by a 6,000 sq. foot dome designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Public Art is a BIG attraction, so look for creations by Picasso, Miro, and others. (Hint: Try Daly Plaza for starters.)
Open Books is a favorite find, a nonprofit with proceeds from used books funding reading programs for grade-schoolers. I happily unearth Where I Was From, an out-of-print memoir of Joan Didion’s and Meadowlands, a retelling in contemporary terms of the marriage of Odysseus and Penelope by the late poet Louise Gluck. Back at the hotel, there’s little time left to peruse my purchases, as we’ve made reservations for a steak dinner at Gene and Georgetti’s before our theatre outing. Established in 1941 as the original Tuscan steakhouse, it’s old school treatment writ-large with a white-coated waiter familiar with all the Hollywood-style flourishes. With no time to waste, we order a strip steak to share, spinaci gratinate, their version of creamed spinach, and mashed potatoes. A full-bodied cabernet as an accompaniment is a must.
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Clock, Exterior Marshall Fields (Macy’s)
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Our own NYC Great White Way is hard to compete with, but the Loop’s historic theatres, such as the Chicago, Cadillac Palace, and Nederlander, cluster around State and Randolph Street and are a good second. A Wonderful World at the Cadillac Palace was a first-rate pick, a whirlwind musical about the lives and loves of Louis Armstrong. We had reservations going in about the challenges of playing that frog-throated genius of trumpet and song. We shouldn’t have harbored doubts with James Monroe Iglehart’s perfect-pitch performance. In an early scene, when Armstrong’s voice is altered by blowing “so hard on his chops,” the hefty actor-musician’s croaks took flight. It was quite the transformation, capturing “Satchmo’s Syndrome” as well as an unforgettable evening for all.
Our last impression of the city after a hearty pancake breakfast at Eurostar’s downstairs café was none other than the Richard H. Driehaus Museum. A short walk from our hotel, we had just enough time to explore its treasures before our departure. Housed within the historic Samuel M. Nickerson House, the 1883 residence of a wealthy Chicago banker, it is an exquisite gem of the Gilded Age.
From the instant you enter the main entrance hall with its gleaming staircase, it is obvious why its nickname became “The Marble Palace.” A special treat was an exhibition celebrating Hector Guimard, the architect of Art Nouveau plus the entrances to the Paris Metro. The Gallery room served as a space to display a sumptuous collection of paintings, curios, jades, porcelains, and ivories from the East. Civic-minded philanthropists, the Nickersons donated much of their collection to the Art Institute. Here, there was still plenty to ogle.
From the instant you enter the main entrance hall with its gleaming staircase, it is obvious why its nickname became “The Marble Palace.” A special treat was an exhibition celebrating Hector Guimard, the architect of Art Nouveau plus the entrances to the Paris Metro. The Gallery room served as a space to display a sumptuous collection of paintings, curios, jades, porcelains, and ivories from the East. Civic-minded philanthropists, the Nickersons donated much of their collection to the Art Institute. Here, there was still plenty to ogle.
Staircase, Driehaus Museum
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Dining Room, Driehaus Museum
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Reluctantly, I said my farewells to the Gallery’s Cupid and Psyche centerpiece, still hearing the ghostly dining room chatter from those nineteenth-century doyens of style. What could be more apt to my sentiments than the reverberating lyrics Sinatra knew so well? And each time I leave, Chicago is tuggin' my sleeve…Chicago is one town that won't let you down…It's my kind of town.
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CHICAGO PLACES OF INTEREST HOTEL Eurostars Magnificent Mile 660 N State Street Chicago, IL ENTERTAINMENT Andy’s 11 East Hubbard Street Chicago, IL The Green Mill 4802 N Broadway Chicago, IL The Cadillac Palace Theatre The Metropolitan Building 151 W Randolph Street Chicago, IL |
CHICAGO PLACES OF INTEREST RESTAURANTS Shaw’s Crab House 21 E Hubbard Street Chicago, IL Gene & Georgetti 500 N Franklin Street Chicago, IL Hop Leaf 5148 N Clark Street Chicago, IL Au Cheval 800 W Randolph Street Chicago, IL |
CHICAGO PLACES OF INTEREST MUSEUMS Art Institute Chicago 111 S Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL Chicago Architecture Center 111 East Wacker Drive Chicago, IL Museum of Science and Industry 5700 South DuSable Lake Short Drive Chicago, IL The Richard S. Driehaus Museum 40 E Erie Street Chicago, IL |
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Sandra Bertrand is an award-winning playwright and painter. She is Chief Art Critic for Highbrow Magazine and a contributing writer for GALO Magazine. Prior to working for Sanctuary as Travel & Culture Editor, Sandra was a Featured Artist in May 2019.
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