| Natalie MacLees | http://www.nataliemac.com |
| natalie@nataliemac.com | © 2002 |
Written March 2002
It might sound crazy to visit Chicago this time of year, but January-March is the cheapest and least busy time to visit. (Round-trip airfare from State College is $178, from Pittsburgh, $78.) The other thing that makes Chicago attractive is that it's one of very few American cities where you can easily get around without a car. Between the El, the buses, and the commuter trains, you'll have no trouble making your way around and staying warm. And there is plenty to keep you occupied indoors:
Why not start out with bowling at Southport Lanes in Wrigleyville? At this 75-year-old bowling alley with just four lanes and hand-set pins, talent is not a prerequisite. Once you've bowled a 300, visit the Museum of Broadcast Communications, a nostalgic museum that will take you back to the days before the Internet, digital cable, and satellite TV. See and hear TV and radio clips of both favorite shows and news coverage of historic events.
At the Field Museum of Natural History you can walk through a re-created multi-level Egyptian burial chamber that houses 23 real mummies, visit an exhibit of Africa that will take you through rolling Saharan sand dunes and bustling city streets and see the skeletons of Ziggy (the Chicago Zoo's infamous elephant) and Sue (the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found).
Chess Records is the home of Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation and a former recording studio where Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Howlin' Wolf recorded. The foundation is dedicated to preserving the spirit and history of blues music.
And while it's not technically indoors, you can spend a few minutes pondering The Spindle and The Pinto Pelt, which are weird public art works by Dustin Shuller. The Spindle consists of eight cars impaled on a large spike, and the Pinto Pelt is a Pinto automobile flattened against the wall of Walgreen's drugstore.
What city has a more interesting and colorful law-enforcement history than Chicago? For this very reason, you won't want to miss the American Police Museum. One of the most popular exhibits is Gangster Alley, filled with gang memorabilia. You can also walk out with a souvenir mug shot.
The book Roadside America proclaims the Museum of Science and Industry's working walk-through human heart the most unique place to propose marriage. You'll also be amazed by the walking tour of the Internet, designed to provide an understanding of modern computer technology. Keeping with the theme, the MSI boasts one of the best Web sites around; the URL is below.
After you've visited all these attractions, you'll probably be hungry. You can't visit Chicago without trying the deep dish pizza, so make a stop at Lou Malnati's. Just in case you can't get to Chicago, call 1-800-LOU-TO-GO for delivery of a fresh bake-it-yourself Chicago pizza.
Or you could try Lou Mitchell's, a breakfast and coffee shop that gives out free Milk Duds while you wait for a table. And considering they serve an average of 1200 customers a day, the wait can be quite a while, but worth it! They claim to serve the best unhealthy breakfast around.
If you're looking for something a little more extraordinary, try the Mashed Potato Club. Picture a cave swirled with paint in every imaginable color then hung with twinkle lights and decorated with any shiny trinket the owners could get their hands on. There's a full menu, but you'll want to order potatoes. They're available mashed, sweet, baked, roasted, skinned, or fried, then served with your choice of toppings: anything from caviar to spinach, goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes to Oreos, whipped cream and chocolate syrup to corn and peas to gummy worms. Of course, if you're not feeling that adventurous, you can just get sour cream and chives.
If you're tired of all the friendly service and polite wait staff, try a visit to Ed Debevic's, a fifties-style diner where the wait staff insult the customers, burst into song, and dance on the tables. All staff are costumed to look like anything from greasers to jocks to sock-hop dancers to nerds. The menu is classic American diner fare.