Sights in Great Lakes
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Art Institute of Chicago
The second-largest art museum in the country, the Art Institute of Chicago has the kind of celebrity-heavy collection that routinely draws gasps from patrons. Grant Wood’s stern American Gothic ? Check. Edward Hopper’s lonely Nighthawks ? Yep. Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on La Grand Jatte ? Here. The museum’s collection of impressionist and postimpressionist paintings is second only to those in France, and the number of surrealist works – especially boxes by Joseph Cornell – is tremendous.
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University of Chicago
Some universities collect football championships. The University of Chicago collects Nobel Prizes – 80-plus so far and counting. In particular, the economics department has been a regular winner. Merton Miller, a U of C economics faculty member and a prize winner himself, explained the string of wins to the Sun-Times: ‘It must be the water; it certainly can’t be the coffee.’
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John Hancock Center
Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper (at 1127ft) is our favorite place to get high. In many ways the view here surpasses the one at Willis Tower, as the Hancock is closer to the lake and a little further north. Plus, you have a couple of options for taking in the view – one of which saves money and provides liquid refreshment.
So here’s the deal: you can pay the admission price and ascend to the 94th-floor observatory. Recently revamped, it provides visitors with an edifying audio tour that gives a city history overview (good anecdotes from local newspaper journalists). There’s the ‘skywalk’, a sort of screened-in porch that lets you feel the wind and hear the city soun…
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Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
Consider it the Art Institute’s brash, rebellious sibling, with especially strong minimalist and surrealist collections and permanent works by Franz Kline, René Magritte, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol. Covering art from 1945 forward, the MCA’s collection spans the gamut, from Jenny Holzer’s LED Truisms to Joseph Beuys’ austere Felt Suit, with displays arranged to blur the boundaries between painting, photography, sculpture, video and other media. The museum also regularly hosts dance, film and speaking events from an international array of contemporary artists, and the traveling exhibits it pulls in are A-list. The museum’s shop wins big points for its jewelry pi…
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Nelson Algren House
You can’t go inside, but on the third floor of this apartment building writer Nelson Algren created some of his greatest works about life in the once down-and-out neighborhood. He won the 1950 National Book Award for his novel The Man with the Golden Arm, set on Division St near Milwaukee Ave (about a half-mile southeast). A Walk on the Wild Side contains the classic advice: ‘Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.’ And his short Chicago: City on the Make summarizes 120 years of thorny local history and is the definitive read on the city’s character.
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Cincinnati Museum Center
Two miles northwest of downtown, the Cincinnati Museum Center occupies the 1933 Union Terminal, an art-deco jewel still used by Amtrak. The interior has fantastic murals made of Rookwood tiles. The Museum of Natural History (adult/child three to 12 years $8/6) is mostly geared to kids, but it does have a limestone cave with real bats inside. A history museum, Omnimax theater and children's museum round out the offerings. Discounted combination tickets are available. Parking costs $5.
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David & Alfred Smart Museum of Art
Named after the founders of Esquire magazine, who contributed the money to get it started, this fine arts museum opened in 1974 and expanded in 1999. The 8000 items in the collection include some excellent works from ancient China and Japan, and a colorful and detailed Syrian mosaic from about AD 600. The strength of the collection lies in the paintings and sculpture contemporary to the university’s existence, including works by Arthur Davies, Jean Arp, Henry Moore and many others.
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Robie House
This masterpiece is the ultimate expression of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School style, and it’s often listed among the most important structures in American architecture. The low horizontal planes and dramatic cantilevers were meant to mirror the Midwestern landscape, and they’re ornamented solely by the exquisite stained- and leaded-glass doors and windows. At the time of research the house was undergoing extensive restoration, which had disrupted the tour schedule, so call ahead.
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Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum has over 70 PhD-wielding scientists and 20 million artifacts, so you know things are going to be hopping. The big attraction is the Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue, a 13ft-tall, 41ft-long beast who menaces the grand space with ferocious aplomb. Sue, the most complete T rex ever discovered, takes its name from Sue Hendrickson, the fossil hunter who found the 90%-complete skeleton in South Dakota in 1990.
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Isle Royale National Park
Totally free of vehicles and roads, Isle Royale National Park, a 210-sq-mile island in Lake Superior, is certainly the place to go for peace and quiet. It gets fewer visitors in a year than Yellowstone National Park gets in a day, which means the packs of wolves and moose creeping through the forest are all yours.
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Ludington State Park
The lakeside Ludington State Park, beyond the city limits on M-116, is one of Michigan's largest and most popular playlots. It has a top-notch trail system, a renovated lighthouse to visit (or live in, as a volunteer lighthouse keeper) and miles of beach.
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Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
The 7-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, studded with contemporary works, like the oft-photographed Spoonbridge & Cherry by Claes Oldenburg. The garden is connected to attractive Loring Park by a sculptural pedestrian bridge over I-94.
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Carew Tower
- Cincinnati, USA
- Sights › Tower
Get a bird's eye view from the world's tallest standing pre-WWII tower. The 49th-floor observation deck has a fine art deco interior and affords magnificent views. You can look across the Ohio river to Kentucky or gaze down on Cincinnati's architecture.
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Indiana Medical History Museum
The Indiana Medical History Museum, a guide leads visitors through century-old pathology labs. The highlight, especially for zombies, is the room full of brains in jars. There's also a healing herb garden to walk through.
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Greektown
Busy Greektown has restaurants, bakeries and a casino. Early each day, the large halls at the Eastern Market fill with a melting pot of bartering shoppers and vendors. Specialty shops, delis and restaurants surround the site.
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Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The fabulous Minneapolis Institute of Arts houses a veritable history of art, with a whopping modern and contemporary collection. The Prairie School and Asian galleries are also highlights.
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Unity Temple
The Unity Temple is the only other Wright building that devotees can go inside; it requires a separate admission fee for a self-guided look around.
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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a 110-sq-mile national park to the east that holds the namesake colored sandstone bluffs.
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Prairie Avenue Historic District pp106–7
By 1900 Chicago’s crème de la crème had had enough of the scum de la scum in the nearby neighborhoods. Potter Palmer led a procession of millionaires north to new mansions on the Gold Coast. The once-pristine neighborhood, which lined Prairie Ave for several blocks south of 16th St, fell into quick decline as one mansion after another gave way to warehouses and industry, hookers and gin. Thanks to the efforts of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, a few of the prime homes from the area have also been carefully restored. Streets have been closed off, making the neighborhood a good place to stroll. A footbridge over the train tracks links the area to Burnham Park and the M…
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University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, by the river southeast of Minneapolis' center, is one of the USA's largest campuses, with over 50,000 students. Most of the campus is in the East Bank neighborhood. A uni highlight is the Weisman Art Museum (www.weisman.umn.edu; 333 E River Rd), which occupies a swooping silver structure by architect Frank Gehry. Works inside include early 20th-century American paintings. Dinkytown, based at 14th Ave SE and 4th St SE, is dense with student cafés and bookshops.
The University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, straddling both banks of the Mississippi River, is one of the USA's largest campuses with over 55,000 students. The university was founded in…
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Churches of Ukrainian Village
The domes of the neighborhood’s majestic churches pop out over the treetops in Ukrainian Village. Take a minute to wander by St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, which is the less traditional of the neighborhood’s main churches. Its 13 domes represent Christ and the Apostles. The intricate mosaics – added to the 1915 building in 1988 – owe their inspiration to the Cathedral of St Sophia in Kiev. Saints Volodymyr & Olha Church was founded by traditionalists from St Nicholas, who broke away over liturgical differences and built this showy church in 1975. It makes up for its paucity of domes (only five) with a massive mosaic of the conversion of Grand Duke Vladi…
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Northerly Island
A bit further south from the Adler Planetarium and 12th St Beach, Northerly Island was once the busy commuter airport known as Meigs Field. Now it’s a prairie-grassed park with walking trails, fishing, bird-watching and the (allegedly temporary) Charter One Pavilion outdoor concert venue. The shift from runway to willowy grasses has its root in a controversial incident that reads a little like a municipal spy thriller, complete with midnight operatives and surprise bulldozings. To sum it up: Mayor Daley wanted the land for a park; businesses wanted to keep it for their private planes. A standoff ensued. Then, one dark night in March 2003, Daley fired up the heavy machin…
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Henry Ford Museum
Few could ignore the historical impact of one of earliest artifacts of the 20th century: the first ever Henry Ford automobile. The museum remains much as Ford originally planned and is - surprise! - a massive shrine to the automobile and its impact on America. The Wienermobile used in 1936 by Oscar Meyer hot dogs is a particular knockout.
Henry Ford and 11 associates opened the Ford Motor Company in 1903. They kicked off their tiny operation in a converted Detroit wagon shop and employed 10 people. Today, Ford is the second largest car and truck maker in the world, with a staff of 370,000.
Ford was born and raised in Dearborn, a small town not far from Detroit. In 1915, h…
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River Esplanade
The developers looking to cash in on River East Center were given a mandate by the city: for the proposed shopping area to be approved, the company would have to leave the River Esplanade to the Chicago Park District. It was a good deal for both parties, and the River Esplanade makes an excellent place to take a break from your hectic shopping/sightseeing schedule. Beginning with the oddly proportioned curving staircase at the northeast tower of the Michigan Ave Bridge, the landscaped walkway extends east along the river past the Sheraton Hotel. Every hour on the hour, from 10am to 2pm and again from 5pm to midnight, the esplanade’s Centennial Fountain shoots a massive …
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Essanay Studios
Back before the talkies made silent film obsolete, Chicago reigned supreme as the number one producer of movie magic in the USA. Essanay churned out silent films with soon-to-be household names like WC Fields, Charlie Chaplin and Gilbert M Anderson (aka ‘Bronco Billy,’ the trailblazing star of the brand-new Western genre and cofounder of Essanay). Filming took place at the studio, but also in the surrounding neighborhoods. Getting the product out the door and into theaters was more important than producing artful, well-made films, so editing was viewed somewhat circumspectly. As a result, it was common in the early Essanay films to see local children performing unintentio…
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