DK Travel : Chicago

Big-city sophistication combined with small-town hospitality create the perfect blend in this, the Mid west’s largest city. Chicago’s influential architecture, cuisine for every budget and taste, great shopping, diverse ethnic neighborhoods, and outstanding museums are reason enough for a visit. And the icing on the cake? The city boasts a lakefront and park system that are as beautiful as they are recreational.

Iwan Ries Tobacco

A smoker’s paradise since 1897, this store now sells around 100 cigar brands, 15,000 pipes, and countless smoking accessories. It also contains a small tobacco museum.
Ixcapuzalco

This off-the-beaten path, regional Mexican specialist is operated by a protégé of Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill fame. Foodies head here for the outstanding mole sauces from Oaxaca, which change daily, and top fish, pork, chicken, or beef.
Jackson Park

Laid out by the famed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Jackson Park, along with its Museum of Science & Industry, is among the few developments still remaining from that World’s Fair. The Southside park includes a Japanese garden with waterfalls, colorful lanterns, and a bird sanctuary on an island in a peaceful lagoon.
James R. Thompson Center

In Running Scared (1986) Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines are Chicago police pals planning early retirement, but first they must thwart a drug kingpin and stay alive. The final chase scene takes place in the Thompson Center where the two swap wisecracks while swinging on ropes through the airy atrium, shooting out glass elevators, and ultimately triumphing.
James R. Thompson Center

From inside the circular atrium of this magnificent 17-story building (1985), a quick glance up is almost dizzying. Take the elevator to the top for an impressive view of the stunning marble rosette on the concourse level.
James R.Thompson Center

Also known as the State of Illinois, this striking 17-story, steel and granite structure shimmers with 24,600 curved glass panels. Helmut Jahn designed the controversial 1985 building to be a democratic fusion of government offices and public spaces, such as shops, restaurants, and art galleries. The soaring skylit atrium is sliced by internal glass elevator shafts and contains unusual, see-through escalators. Outside, the plaza features the intriguing 1984 sculpture Monument with Standing Beast by Jean Dubuffet.
Jane Addams

This social activist (1860– 1935) founded Hull House social center (see Jane Addams’ Hull House) and won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Jane Addams Hull House

Nobel Peace Prize-winning social reformer Jane Addams worked her good on Chicago’s immigrant population from these two Victorian houses. In addition to her original art and furniture, Hull House stages temporary exhibits relating to the social settlement that brought day care, counseling, and education to the working class.
Jane Addams’ Hull House

When European immigrants were flooding Chicago to work in its rail and stock yards during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jane Addams bought Hull House for a specific purpose. From here, she offered social services and facilities to this immigrant working class, including day care, employment counselling and art classes. A great social reformer and winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize, Addams also championed the rights of women and helped usher in child labor laws. Her original office, furnishings, and artwork are still in place for visitors to see, supplemented by temporary exhibits that tell the story of the settlement at Hull House and the invaluable work of its residents.
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable

Chicago’s first non-native settler was an African-American trader who set up camp around 1779.

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