Entertainment in Chicago
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Green Mill
The timeless Green Mill earned its notoriety as Al Capone's favorite speakeasy (the tunnels where he hid the booze are still underneath the bar), and you can feel his ghost urging you on to another martini. Local and national artists perform six nights per week; Sundays are for the nationally acclaimed poetry slam.
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Neo-Futurists
Theater Original works that make you ponder and laugh simultaneously.
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Beat Kitchen
Everything you need to know is in the name – entertaining beats traverse a spectrum of sounds, and the kitchen turns out better-than-average dinners. Dine early in the front of the house, since service is unhurried. Music in the homely back room can be funky or jammy, but a crop of Chicago’s smart, broadly appealing songwriters dominates the calendar.
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Empty Bottle
The scruffy, go-to club for edgy indie rock and jazz; Monday's show is always free (and there's $1.50 Pabst).
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Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap
Some of the geniuses of our age have killed plenty of brain cells right here in one of Hyde Park’s few worthwhile bars. The place is dark and beery, and a little seedy. But for thousands of University of Chicago students deprived of a thriving bar scene, it’s home. Hungry? The Swissburgers are legendary.
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BLUES
Across the street from Kingston Mines, this veteran club draws a slightly older crowd that soaks up every crackling, electrified moment.
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Kingston Mines
Two stages, seven nights a week, ensure somebody's always on. It's noisy, hot, sweaty, crowded and conveniently located in Lincoln Park.
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Intelligentsia Coffee
The local chain roasts its own beans and percolates strong stuff. Staff recently won the US Barista Championship.
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Hungry Brain
The kind bartenders, roving tamale vendors and well-worn, thrift-store charm are inviting at this Roscoe Village staple, which hosts sets of free live jazz from some of the city’s best young players on Sunday nights. Cash only.
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Chicago Cubs
The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, but their fans still pack baseball's most charming stadium, Wrigley Field, which dates from 1914 and is known for its ivy-walled field and classic neon entrance sign. For tickets, check the website for deals, or try the box office two to three hours before game time. Take the CTA Red Line to Addison; it's 4.5 miles north of the Loop.
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Soldier Field
Built between 1922 and 1926 to pay homage to WWI soldiers, this oft-renovated edifice has been home to everything from civil-rights speeches by Martin Luther King Jr to Brazilian soccer games. It got its latest UFO-landing-upon-a-Greek-ruin look in a controversial 2003 makeover. Prior to that, the stadium’s architecture was so noteworthy it was named a National Historic Landmark. Unfortunately, the landmark lacked corporate skyboxes and giant bathrooms, so the city (the venue is owned by the park district) decided it was time for a change. The new look met almost unanimous derision when it was unveiled; critics quickly dubbed it ‘the Mistake on the Lake.’ The landmark…
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Chicago White Sox
The Sox are the Cubs' South Side rivals and play in the more modern 'Cell,' aka US Cellular Field. Tickets are usually cheaper and easier to get than at Wrigley; Monday is half-price night. Take the CTA Red Line to the Sox-35th St station; it's 4.5 miles south of the Loop.
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Chicago Fire
Thanks to Chicago's large Latino and European communities, the city's soccer team, the Fire, attracts a decent-sized fan base. The team plays in their brand-spankin' new stadium – Toyota Park – way southwest of downtown and the season runs from April to September; the finals are in October. Fire tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and are fairly easy to come by. Less easy is getting to the stadium in suburban Bridgeview. If you get to Midway Airport via the Orange Line, you can catch the suburban Pace Bus No 386 Toyota Park Express, which runs on game days only. The full trip from the Loop will likely take an hour or so.
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Steppenwolf Theatre
Drama club of Malkovich, Sinise and other Hollywood stars; 2 miles north of the Loop in Lincoln Park.
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Cubby Bear
To enter the eye of the hurricane in Wrigleyville, elbow into the famous Cubby Bear, where the can beer is expensive and the whooping fraternity boys can get downright unruly. This is a good place to try some cornhole, as in small corn-filled bags (aka beanbags) that participants toss into a sloped box with a hole in it. It started as a bar game but vaulted into the big time in 2007, when the First Annual Windy City Cornhole Classic took over Soldier Field (yes, the football stadium). Cubby Bear has leagues and tournaments. Check www.chicagocornhole.com for other locations.
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Second City
It's the cream of the crop, where Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and many more honed their sharp, biting wit. Bargain: turn up after the evening's last show (Friday excluded), and watch the comics improv a performance for free.
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Biograph Theater
In 1934, the ‘lady in red’ betrayed gangster John Dillinger at this theater, which used to show movies. It started out as a date – Dillinger took new girlfriend Polly Hamilton to the show, and Polly’s roommate Anna Sage tagged along, wearing a red dress. Alas, Dillinger was a notorious bank robber and the FBI’s very first ‘Public Enemy Number One.’ Sage also had troubles with the law, and was about to be deported. To avoid it, she agreed to set Dillinger up. FBI agents shot him in the alley beside the theater. The venue now hosts plays by the Victory Gardens Theater.
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Chicago Blackhawks
The 2010 Stanley Cup winners skate in front of big crowds. They share the United Center with the Bulls.
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UIC Pavilion
The bang-’em-up sport of roller derby was born in Chicago in 1935, and it’s made a comeback in recent years thanks to the battlin’ beauties of the Windy City Rollers (www.windycityrollers.com) league. Players boast names like Sassy Squatch and Juanna Rumbel, and there is a fair amount of campy theater surrounding the bouts. But the action and the hits are real, and the players are dedicated to the derby cause. Matches take place once a month at the UIC Pavilion from late January to mid June; tickets cost $20.
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Goose Island Brewery
Goose Island’s popular beers are served in bars and restaurants around Chicago, but it tastes best here at the source. The pub pours the flagship Honker’s Ale and 14 or so other potent brews. If you’re lucky, the 10% Extra Naughty Goose or Maple Bacon Stout, served with a meaty slice, will be on tap. A four-beer flight (5oz per glass) costs $8. Tours ($7) take place on Sundays at 1:30pm, 3pm and 4:30pm and must be reserved in advance. Fine grub complements the brews; special kudos to the Stilton burger and chips.
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Lyric Opera of Chicago
By taking on a premiere of William Bolcom’s A Wedding (an adaptation of a Robert Altman movie) for its 50th anniversary, the Lyric Opera showed its stripes. The seasons of this truly great modern opera company are popular with subscribers, who fill the ornate Civic Opera House for a shrewd mix of common classics and daring premieres from September to March. If your Italian isn’t up to snuff, don’t be put off; much to the horror of purists, the company projects English ‘supertitles’ above the proscenium.
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iO (ImprovOlympic)
The Olympic Committee forced this comic veteran to change the name to its initials in 2005, a suitably laughable development in a long career of chuckles. iO launched the careers of Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert, along with a host of other well-known comics. Shows hinge entirely on audience suggestions, and each turn can run 40 minutes or longer. If you’re thoroughly motivated by what you see, iO offers a range of courses to suit every budget. Shows on Wednesday and Sunday are usually just $5.
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United Center
Built for $175 million and opened in 1992, the United Center arena is home to the Bulls and the Blackhawks, and is the venue for special events such as the circus. The statue of an airborne Michael Jordan in front of the east entrance pays a lively tribute to the man whose talents financed the edifice. The center, surrounded by parking lots, is OK by day but gets pretty edgy at night – unless there’s a game, in which case squads of cops are everywhere in order to ensure public safety.
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Chicago Bears
Da Bears, Chicago's NFL team, tackle at Soldier Field, recognizable by its classical-meets-flying-saucer architecture. Expect beery tailgate parties, sleet and snow.
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Hideout
Maybe it’s all the Pabst, the strangely industrial surroundings, or the room of sweaty thrift-store bedecked hipsters grinding to soul records at the postshow dance party, but an evening in this two-room lodge of indie rock and alt-country can be downright transcendent. The owners have nursed an outsider, underground vibe, and the place feels like the downstairs of your grandma’s rumpus room. Music and other events (bingo, literary readings etc) take place nightly.
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