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Among Chicago’s many blues clubs, B.L.U.E.S feels the most like a Southern juke joint. Chalk it up to the narrow confines, loud sounds, and sweaty dancers. The club is across the street from the popular Kingston Mines, but it’s a better choice for older, more musically versed blues fans. Better yet, why not stop into both!

Popular with tourists, Blue Chicago in River North operates two clubs located two blocks apart. Seats at both venues are few and far between, so come early if you need one, or be prepared to dance. The Admission charge covers both clubs, which encourages bar hopping.

This Navy Pier venue presents a dynamic space for Shakespeare’s repertory. The 510-seat courtyard design is inspired by the original layout in traditional playhouses of the Bard’s day. Visiting non-Shakespeare productions take over after the company’s September-to-April season.

This imposing Art Deco building is largely devoted to performances by the Lyric Opera. Each year (September through March), the company stages work by everyone from Wagner to Gilbert and Sullivan. Touring classical dance troops and musicals fill the off-season bill.

This theater traces its roots to three Molière productions performed at the University of Chicago in 1955. The Court still mounts many classics, but it varies its seasons with musicals like Guys and Dolls and literary adaptations such as James Joyce’s The Dead .

Daley Plaza with its famed Picasso sculpture was the setting for a sensational chase scene in cult movie classic The Blues Brothers (1980). Stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, playing ex-criminal brothers, dramatically crash their car through the center’s plate-glass windows, specially installed for the filming, as the authorities hopelessly attempt to stop them.

In feel-good film Hero (1992) John Bubber (Andy Garcia) dupes the public into thinking he’s a hero. Feeling guilty, he resolves to jump off a window ledge at The Drake. Reality interrupted the filming when guests arrived for a party at the hotel. Director Stephen Frears protested so violently, he almost got arrested.

Scare-fest The Relic (1997) starred Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore as researchers trying to stop a murderous monster before it killed again. Many interior scenes were shot on replica sets but were near-perfect matches to the real museum.