Must-see attractions in Illinois
Chicago
The sexual revolution partied hearty for 15 years in the basement ‘grotto’ of this 1899 mansion. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner bought it in 1959 and hung a…
Chicago
The Paseo Boricua, aka Puerto Rican Promenade, is a half-mile-long stretch of Division St where many Puerto Rican shops and restaurants do business. It’s…
Chicago
Al Capone is now buried in this cemetery in Hillside, west of Chicago. He and his relatives were moved here in 1950. Al’s simple gray gravestone, which…
Chicago
Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Standing Lincoln (1887), considered one of the best statues of the 16th US president, shows him deep in contemplation…
Lewis & Clark State Historic Site
Illinois
In Hartford (across the river from St Louis), the stellar Lewis & Clark State Historic Site marks the spot where explorers Lewis and Clark departed on the…
Wicker Park, Bucktown & Ukrainian Village
If you don’t know Pulaski from a pierogi, this is the place to get the scoop on Polish culture. Founded in 1935, it’s one of the oldest ethnic museums in…
Wicker Park, Bucktown & Ukrainian Village
Across from one of the Ukrainian Village's larger churches, this small museum packs in a massive amount of information about the history, culture and…
Chicago
The castle-like gate was once the main entrance to the vast stockyards where millions of cows and hogs met their ends each year. During the 1893 World’s…
Chicago
In 1934 the ‘lady in red’ betrayed notorious bank robber John Dillinger (aka Public Enemy Number One) at this theater, which used to show movies. FBI…
Chicago
A Chicago fire survivor, this 1852 church is one of the city’s oldest. Old St Pat’s is best known for its World’s Largest Block Party, a weekend bash in…
Chicago
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…
Chicago
The Henry B Clarke House is the oldest structure in the city. When Caroline and Henry Clarke built the imposing Greek Revival home in 1836, log cabins…
Chicago
Gospel music got its start at Pilgrim Baptist Church, originally built as a synagogue by famed architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in 1890…
Chicago
Chicago’s first designated historic district is worthy of the honor. Developer Samuel Eberly Gross re-created a block of London row houses on Alta Vista…
Chicago
This 50-ton mausoleum – designed in 1858 by John Van Osdel, Chicago's first professional architect, for Ira Couch, a successful hotelier – is the sole…
Chicago
The synagogue is a domed masterpiece in the Byzantine style with acoustics that are said to be perfect. Staff provide tours by appointment on weekdays;…
Chicago
Centennial Fountain shoots a massive arc of water across the Chicago River. It spurts for five minutes straight every hour on the hour, from 10am to…
Wicker Park, Bucktown & Ukrainian Village
The neighborhood's favorite green space is home to softball fields, a children's water playground, a winter ice rink, an active dog park, and indoor and…
Chicago
Art Works is a nonprofit organization that uses the arts to educate about human rights issues. The group's small office does double duty as a makeshift…
Chicago
The neighborhood's stroller-pushing families and dog-walking hipsters get their exercise in Mary Bartelme Park. Five off-kilter stainless-steel arches…
Chicago
One of scores of Romanesque houses that date from the 1880s, the Ida B Wells House is named for its 1920s resident. Wells was a civil rights advocate who…
Chicago
At Muddy Waters’ house, impromptu jam sessions with pals like Howlin’ Wolf and Chuck Berry erupted in the front yard. Waters, of course, was Chicago’s…
Chicago
The University of Chicago's famed archaeologists – Indiana Jones supposedly was based on one – cram their headquarters with antiquities they've unearthed…
Chicago
Homes here were built in the early 1900s and represent some of the best examples of Prairie School architecture in Chicago. Many residences – including…
Chicago
This 1912 factory building displays the history of printing on its tiled facade – above the door is a large mural showing a medieval printer's shop at…
Museum of Broadcast Communications
Chicago
This museum of radio and TV nostalgia is pretty sparsely populated. But if you have a hankering to see old Bozo the Clown clips, or the camera that taped…
Illinois
A glassy departure from the standard campus architectural vernacular, Northwestern University's art museum hosts diverse, sometimes provocative…
Chicago
Built in 1869, the Pumping Station and Water Tower, its companion building across the street, were constructed in Gothic style with yellow limestone. It's…
Chicago
The odd bronze statue of guys on a wagon marks the spot where the world’s labor movement began. So the next time you take a lunch break or go home after…
Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Wicker Park, Bucktown & Ukrainian Village
This church looks like it was scooped straight out of the Russian countryside and deposited here. But famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan actually…
Chicago
Built in 1928 and originally known as the On Leong Building, this grand structure is a fantasy of Chinese architecture that makes good use of glazed terra…
Wicker Park, Bucktown & Ukrainian Village
One of Chicago's tastemakers, Monique Meloche has an eye for emerging artists, such as Amy Sherald, who painted Michelle Obama's official portrait. Her…
Chicago
The Fort Dearborn battle, in which a group of local Native Americans rebelled against the incursion of white settlers, is thought to have occurred on this…
Chicago
Once the Chicago terminal of the Santa Fe Railroad, this stately 1885 building used to be the premier station for trains to and from California. Today it…
Chicago
The 1930s Supreme Life Building was the spot where John H Johnson Jr, the publishing mogul who founded Ebony magazine, got the idea for his empire, which…
St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
Wicker Park, Bucktown & Ukrainian Village
Take a minute to wander past St Nicholas, which is the less traditional of the neighborhood’s main Ukrainian churches. Built in 1913, its 13 domes…
Chicago
This odd, mod building is where Poetry magazine is published. The reading room makes a nice refuge from inclement weather. Pop in and grab a book or…
Chicago
Famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the buildings at 230 S Dearborn St (aka the Kluczynski Building) and 219 S Dearborn St (aka the Dirksen…
Chicago
McCormick Place is the largest convention center in the country, spread over four halls. 'Vast' isn't big enough to describe it. A high-rise hotel and 10…
