The Bean, officially named Cloud Gate, is located in the heart of downtown Chicago on the in Millennium Park. The Bean’s reflective surface was inspired by liquid mercury. This shiny exterior reflects the people moving around the park, the lights of Michigan Avenue, and the surrounding skyline and green space.
Baseball Mecca - Wrigley Field, aka "The Friendly Confines," home of the Chicago Cubs since 1916, making it the second oldest ballpark in the U.S. after Boston's Fenway Park.
On a Saturday in early Spring the City of Chicago opens all 18 of the drawbridges over the Chicago River to allow sailboats that have been moored upriver to sail to the harbors and boat slips on Lake Michigan for the summer.
Immediately south of Navy Pier is DuSable Harbor with 420 floating boat slips that can accommodate boats from 30-100 feet in length.
The Adler Plantarium at the far end of Northerly Island that is part of Museum Campus. Founded in 1930, it was America's first planetarium and a premier space science center, featuring immersive dome theaters, historic astronomical instruments, and interactive exhibits. It makes a beautiful photo on a sunny day standing on the Lake Michigan shoreline with the deep blue water and light blue sky surrounding the silver domed circular structure.
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is the centerpiece of Millennium Park, featuring a 52,000-square-foot stage, 4,000 fixed seats, and a massive 95,000-square-foot lawn that accommodates an additional 7,000 people. It is renowned for its state-of-the-art sound system and stainless steel design.
Soldier Field - the home of the Chicago Bears. The old facade from the original stadium that opened in 1925 was left standing with a modern stadium that was built inside the old walls. The new structure is often call the Space Ship. Most don't know that the faculty sits right on Lake Michigan, which explains the brutal conditions for Bear's football games in the winter.
When people think of the Playboy Mansion they think of Hugh Hefner's playground in Los Angeles that featured the "grotto," a zoo, movie theater and 22 room house. Playboy started in Chicago, and this photo is of the original Playboy Masion.
Clockwise from top left: The first image shows the 26-foot-tall "Forever Marilyn" sculpture, depicting the iconic scene from the movie The Seven Year Itch. The first public display of the sculpture was in 2011 at Chicago's Pioneer Court on Michigan Avenue. The next photo of a dapper dandy is a fixture behind the bar at the iconic Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House on Rush Street in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood (my favorite watering hole!). The restaurant uses this whimsical prop by the liquor shelves displaying premium cocktail bottles and drink displays. The next photo is a 40-foot-tall red cedar totem pole carved by Chief Tony Hunt in 1986. The totem features Kwanusila the Thunderbird at the top, a man riding a whale, and a sea monster at the bottom. The totem pole is located on Lake Shore Drive in Lincoln Park. The final photo shows the historic Chicago Theatre marquee and its iconic six-story vertical sign - one of the few such marquees remaining in America. The theater opened in 1921 and is designed in the French Baroque style.
PLACES / CHICAGO Gallery Pages