About 2 years ago, the Chicago
Tribune, WGN-TV, WGN-AM, CLTV, Hoy and the Chicago Tribune joined forces and
asked their readers, viewers and listeners to list their top 7 Wonders in Chicago. The good news is the response was great. The BETTER news
is they ended up with way more than 7 Wonders in Chicago. Click here to see
the top 7 Wonders of Chicago.
But here are the remaining top Wonders you MUST SEE while visiting Chicago:
8th Place is:
The Chicago River
In the 1770s, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable built
his farm on the northern bank of the river near Wolf Point, the first
non-Native American settlement of Chicago, and early in the next century
Fort Dearborn was built on the southern bank of the river.
In 1900 the
river's flow was reversed in order to keep Lake Michigan clean. In 1915, the
Eastland, an excursion boat docked at the Clark Street bridge, rolled
over, killing 812 passengers. In 1928, the South Branch of the Chicago River
between Polk and 18th Street was straightened and moved ¼ miles (400 m) west
to make room for a railroad terminal
(more...)
9th Place is:
Millennium Park
It was Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley's ambitious idea to realize that
which was originally designed as part of
Daniel Burnham's
Plan of Chicago, a plan for the future of Chicago created in
1909.
Planning began in October 1997, construction began in October 1998 and it
was finally completed in July 2004. Millennium Park was opened in a ceremony
on July 16, 2004 as part of a three-day celebration that included an
inaugural concert by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. 300,000 people
took part in the grand opening festivities.
Since then, Millennium Park has become the one of the most fashionable
residential addresses in the city (more...)
10th Place is:
Chicago Blues
The Chicago blues is a form of
blues music
that developed in Chicago, Illinois by adding electrically amplified guitar,
drums, piano, bass guitar and sometimes saxophone to the basic
guitar/harmonica
Delta
blues. The music developed mainly as a result of the "Great
Migration" of poor black workers from the South into the industrial
cities of the North such as Chicago in particular, in the first half of the
twentieth century.
Chicago Blues has a more extended of pallete of notes than the standard 6
note blues scale, often notes from the major scale are added which gives the
music a more "jazz feel" whilst still being in the confines of the blues
genre. This is not however as prominent as texas blues which contains many
other notes such as major 3rd and major 6th.
Another notable point is that Chicago blues contains many dominant 9th
chords and the scales usually contain 9th notes. Click herefor a list of
notable Chicago blues musicians.
11th Place is: Chicago
hot dog
The style, once known as a "Depression
sandwich," is generally acknowledged as having originated at
Fluky's,
a well-known
Maxwell Street stand, in 1929.
Chicago-style hot dogs are boiled or steamed to a temperature above 170
degrees Fahrenheit (~77 degrees Celsius) before adding the toppings. They
can also be grilled, though these are referred to as "chardogs". The natural
casing of the hot dogs give them their distinctive "snap." The most common
dog weighs 1/8 lb. and is made with Vienna Beef.
Chicago-style hot dogs with all the toppings are sometimes called "dragged
through the garden" because of the unique combination of condiments.
Chicagoans traditionally shun ketchup because of the belief that ketchup,
unlike other condiments, overwhelms the flavor of the dog itself. (more...)
12th Place is: The
Chicago theater scene
Theater is the heart and soul of Chicago with
The Goodman Theater
(Chicago's oldest currently-active nonprofit
organization),
Steppenwolf (founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise,
Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church)
and Second City
(an improvisational comedy troupe started in
1959 and is based in the
Old Town). If you're in Chicago, you
better be in a
Theater!
13th Place is:
Lower Wacker Drive
Locals love to surprise their
out of town friends with a drive into lower Wacker, a
twisting, tunnel-like roadway you'd swear was built for the sole purpose of
filming car chases.
And why wouldn't you? Lower Wacker was the scene of one of the great car
chases on film: "Officers are in pursuit, a black and white, 1974 Dodge
sedan….Occupants of vehicle one 'Joliet' Jake Blues, one Elwood Blues.
Consider them extremely dangerous."
John Landis's "The Blues Brothers" set a record in 1980 for movie car
crashes. The more recent "Batman Begins" also featured a lower Wacker chase.
(more...)
14th Place is:
Chicago bungalows
The majority of Chicago Bungalows were built
between 1910 and 1940. They were typically constructed from brick (sometimes
in decorative patterns) and had one and a half stories. At one point, nearly
a third of the houses in the Chicago area were bungalows. One primary
difference between the Chicago bungalow and other types is that the gables
are parallel to the street, rather than perpendicular. Like many other local
homes, Chicago bungalows are relatively narrow, being an average of 20
feet wide on a standard 25 foot wide city lot.
Chicago made history when the Department of the
Interior approved three nominations—the Chicago Bungalow Multiple Property
Listing and two distinct bungalow districts—for inclusion on the National
Register of Historic Places.
The federal designation not only confirms the
historic importance of these unique Chicago homes, but also provides
property tax relief for Bungalow owners in the designated districts who
spend an amount equal to 25% of their home's value for rehabilitation. (more...)