Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago

1 January 2026 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

The 44th President of the United States Barack Obama © NASA/White House/Pete Souza

The 44th President of the United States Barack Obama © NASA/White House/Pete Souza

The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a museum, library, and education project in Chicago to commemorate the presidency of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. The center will also include community and conference facilities and will house the nonprofit Obama Foundation. Construction on the 19.3-acre (7.8 ha) campus began in 2021, the tower topped out in mid-2024, and the center is expected to open in June 2026.   read more…

Marina City in Chicago

7 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© flickr.com - Tony Webster/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Tony Webster/cc-by-2.0

Marina City is a mixed-use residential-commercial building complex in Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America, designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg. The multi-building complex on State Street on the north bank of the Chicago River on the Near North Side, directly across from the Loop, opened between 1963 and 1967. Portions of the complex were designated a Chicago Landmark in 2016. The towers’ symbolic similarity to rural Illinois corncobs has often been noted in media.   read more…

Hyde Park in Chicago

11 September 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  6 minutes

East 53rd Street and Blackstone Avenue © HydeParkand57th/cc-by-sa-4.0

East 53rd Street and Blackstone Avenue © HydeParkand57th/cc-by-sa-4.0

Hyde Park is a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, located on and near the shore of Lake Michigan 7 miles (11 km) south of the Loop. It is one of the city’s 77 municipally recognized community areas.   read more…

Lollapalooza in Chicago

4 February 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Berlin, Paris / Île-de-France, Events Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - Aneil Lutchman/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Aneil Lutchman/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, but several years later, Chicago became its permanent location. Music genres include alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music. Lollapalooza has also featured visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations. The festival, held in Grant Park, hosts an estimated 400,000 people each July and sells out annually. Lollapalooza is one of the largest music festivals in the world and one of the longest-running in the United States.   read more…

Wrigley Building in Chicago

15 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - daryl_mitchell/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – daryl_mitchell/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located at 400–410 North Michigan Avenue on Chicago’s Near North Side. It is located on the Magnificent Mile directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower. Its two towers in an elaborate style were built between 1920 and 1924 to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company. Its bright white facade is covered in terra cotta.   read more…

Lake Forest in Illinois, Tree City USA

17 February 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Deerpath Building and Theater, part of the Lake Forest Historic District © flickr.com - Teemu008/cc-by-sa-2.0

Deerpath Building and Theater, part of the Lake Forest Historic District © flickr.com – Teemu008/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded with Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in 1857, a stop for travelers making their way south to Chicago. The Lake Forest City Hall, designed by Charles Sumner Frost, was completed in 1898. It originally housed the fire department, the Lake Forest Library, and city offices.   read more…

The Magnificent Mile in Chicago

13 February 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Shopping Reading Time:  5 minutes

© TonyTheTiger/cc-by-sa-3.0

© TonyTheTiger/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located within downtown, and one block east of Rush Street. The Magnificent Mile serves as the main thoroughfare between Chicago’s Loop business district and its Gold Coast. It is generally the western boundary of the Streeterville neighborhood, to its east and River North to the west.   read more…

Arlington Heights in Illinois

29 November 2022 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Harmony Park in Downtown © panoramio.com - bogdanstepniak/cc-by-3.0

Harmony Park in Downtown © panoramio.com – bogdanstepniak/cc-by-3.0

Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of the city’s downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per the 2010 Census, it is the most populous community in the United States that is incorporated as a “village”, and is the 13th most populous municipality in Illinois, although it is not far ahead of its nearby Illinois neighboring villages of Schaumburg and adjacent Palatine. Arlington Heights is known for the former Arlington Park Race Track, home of the Arlington Million, a Breeders’ Cup qualifying event; it also hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships in 2002. The village is also home to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, which has one of the largest collections of books in the state.   read more…

Chicago Loop

20 November 2020 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

© unsplash.com - frank mckenna

© unsplash.com – frank mckenna

The Loop, one of Chicago‘s 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago’s commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in North America and contains the headquarters and regional offices of several global and national businesses, retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, and theaters, as well as many of Chicago’s most famous attractions. It is home to Chicago’s City Hall, the seat of Cook County, and numerous offices of other levels of government and consulates of foreign nations. In it at the intersection of State Street and Madison Street is the origin of Chicago’s street grid addresses, established in 1909. Most of Grant Park‘s 319 acres (1.29 km²) are in the eastern section of the community area. The Loop community area is bounded on the north and west by the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt Road, although the commercial core has greatly expanded into adjacent community areas.   read more…

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