JL, I'm not sure how long you will be in Chicago, or what you especially intend to see at the Art Institute, but you ought to drive up and down Lake Shore Drive, especially the part east of the loop and on to the north. I have not been in any city anywhere that has anything to compare (I have not been everywhere). Drive out by the Adler Planetarium for the best look at the skyline. If you can, attend a performance of anything, but maybe the Joffrey Ballet, In the Auditorium Theater, designed by Adler and Sullivan. You may forget the performance, but you won't forget the theater. For shows, check Broadway Chicago and the Chicago Theater on the web. On Navy Pier there is the Shakespear Theater. Theater in Chicago is a pretty big thing. There is enough going to keep you up every night until you can't take any more. If you like Frank Lloyd Wright, there are three buildings you can get into: in Oak Park you'll find his home and studio and the Unity Temple; near the University of Chicago you'll find Robie House. All worth seeing. There are many others you can view from the outside. I'm going to slack off, or this will be my longest post ever.
One Chicago building that does not get much play is the Monadnock. It is the tallest building in the world with load bearing walls (no steel framework). Built about 1890 it's 16 stories and either 9 or 12 feet thick at the base. It's all bricks and mortar and pretty interesting to walk into.
Oh, Yes, if you come at the proper season, go the Botanic Garden in Glencoe. I've seen a lot of gardens, and this is a great one. By all means drive up Sheridan Road to get there. It's a lovely winding road through wooded suburbs with nice homes. I like to walk stretches of this road, and think it's like unto living near a national park. I happen to live in a little university town just to the north of Chicago. Sheridan goes all the way to Lake Bluff, a total of maybe 20 miles, and is worth the drive if you have the time.
Well, you may have guessed that I like Chicago. So far, I've resisted all temptations to move to warmer climes. Have a good time while you are here.
LW, sorry I didn't watch the series. I don't watch much TV, and I read a long review of the series saying that it presented the city in a very negative light, so I decided not to watch. Apparently it was my loss.
The Monadnock building is featured in the last part of the series.
PBS undoubtedly will repeat the series (in our area later this month). I didn't tape it when I became so enthralled that I decided I wanted the DVD set. Negative? You mean it pointed out facts like it was the most lawless city in the world during part of that century (and into the 1920's) in the world, with a corrupt government, dirty and smoky streets (which were hidden from the visitors to the Worlds Fair by ferrying them along the river from the train depot, bypassing the squalor of the slums which were also the largest in the world), the ethnic apartheid... Well, if someone is going to produce a series about the society of any part of the world and they want to sanitize it, I suppose they can. There's a lot of positive, like the city was the model for democratic capitalism and several of the magnates were pro-labor like Montgomery Ward even with some crass, uncaring authoritarians like Pullman. The reconstruction after the famous Chicago fire is lauded. All this has some positive and negative results but it proved the large city model could work and the there were people who gravitated toward the city. Their attempt to make the city a model of a utopian society, of course, failed. Utopia is more likely a rural possibility, anyway. Thoreau had what was close to a Utopia.
ossobucco -- Wright took the entire credit for a building, saying, "I designed that." I realize that could be a half-truth but what was humorous was that it did look entirely like a Sullivan building, not even in Wright's early design styles.
eoe -- you owe to yourself to try and find the repeats on PBS or rent the DVD's (NetFlix.com). I have recommended buying them as the series is definitely worth watching more than once.
