I had a glorious 35th birthday in Chicago on Saturday. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend: bright and sunny without being too hot — great for architecture tours, bike riding along the lakefront, or just wandering around.
Not that just wandering around is a particularly Chicago thing to do, it would seem. It’s not a walking city, really, and it’s hard to get lost there — lord knows there are more than enough skyscrapers by which to orient yourself. The streets are big and wide and don’t have a lot of street life — I didn’t see a single street vendor, or sidewalk cafe. Presumably because of the bitter winters and hot summers, everything seems to happen indoors. And there seemed to be very little in the way of shops or restaurants outside their own designated corridors.
I’m hardly an expert on Chicago, of course — but I did like it enough that I’m definitely going back. I don’t think I’ll be staying at the W Lakeshore again, though. In fact, I’m not sure I ever want to stay in a self-consciously hip hotel ever again: I haven’t liked the other trendy hotels I’ve stayed in, either. I think that now I’m 35, I’m officially old and boring — Groove Armada and purple lighting in the elevators just doesn’t do anything for me.
Right now, I’m in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Beverly Hills, and although I’ve only just got here, it seems much more my cup of tea. Good in a big, old-fashioned sort of way. Michelle and I had a less-than-fabulous experience at the Park Hyatt restaurant in Chicago, but their Gerhard Richter was fabulous, and in general I think I like the understated-luxury aesthetic.
As of tomorrow morning, I’m attending the Milken Institute Global Conference, and I’m quite excited about it. I’ll be blogging it over at marketmovers.org — do come over and say hi!
Hi Felix: happy birthday!! It’s possible write to you? I’ve been looking for your e-mail, but it’s so hard!!
Please tell me that your new-found dullness doesn’t herald the end of the blue fluffy coat. You wouldn’t be Felix without that.
I recently taught my second semester as a visiting architecture professor at . They say the best thing to do in South Bend is to get out of town, so I went to Chicago a few times. Here are my recommendations for some things to do there:
You can get astounding prices from Priceline. I stayed in 5-star hotels and never paid more than $85.
Get the Slow Food Guide to Chicago. Only New York and Chicago have them in the US.
If you like architecture, make sure you go to the Prairie Avenue Bookstore, inside the loop. It’s one of the great architecture bookstores of the world. The AIA bookstore is right nearby, but not as good.
Everyone knows about the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Hyde Park, and those are worth going to see. Fewer people go to Wright’s Robie House next to the University of Chicago campus. That’s a good campus, with its own Princeton Architecture Press guidebook in the their campus series. One block over from the Robie House is the Seminary Co-op, another famous bookstore, this one academic-lefty.
Hit some of the North Side neighborhoods like Lakeview and Lincoln Park. Walk up Broadway. Go to the coffee house at 3123 N. Broadway.
The neighborhood around Wrigley Field is called Wrigleyville. Go to a game and then follow the fans to bars and restaurants in the neighborhood.