Lakefront

Lakefront continued...

We'll start at the south end of the Lakefront, at Calumet Park. It's one of the city's largest parks -- 200 acres, with expansion planned -- and its beach view of Indiana's steelworks is a reminder of an industry that once dominated South Chicago and adjoining neighborhoods.

On 95th Street -- this is a first detour, and a quick one -- is the drawbridge over the Calumet River that had a featured role in "The Blues Brothers." (The lads' car cleared the gap.) More relevant, at the bridge is Calumet Fisheries, a classic shack and smokehouse that can provide smoked Lake Michigan fish -- or less-local other things -- for your lakeside picnic.

Continuing northward, the road that follows the lake changes names from time to time. We follow the U.S. 41 signs, even when the lake vanishes for a stretch, and getting lost is impossible.

When the road passes Russell Square Park and meets 83rd Street, there is a church.

St. Michael the Archangel was completed in 1909 to serve this once-Polish community. If the right side-door is open (or if someone is home in the office and can help), walk in and check out the monumental stained-glass windows on either side of the altar. The other windows are merely magnificent.

Past the church, U.S. 41 becomes South Shore Drive. For several blocks the Lakefront isn't visible from the street -- but it's here. Cross-streets dead-end at Rainbow Park, a pleasant park and beach, but except for a small lot at 75th Street, parking (street) ranges from limited to nonexistent. We keep moving.

The South Shore Cultural Center, at 71st Street, is the former South Shore Country Club. There's a beach here, and parking. We can't ignore the clubhouse (part of it dates to 1906). The center is home to one of the two public, full-scale nine-hole golf courses right on the Lakefront; the other, at Addison Street, is the more challenging Sydney R. Marovitz course.

South Shore Drive continues along the South Shore Golf Course. We won't see the lake, just fairways -- but console ourselves with another quick detour, to enjoy the houses within the Jackson Park Highlands, a Chicago Landmark District near the Jackson Park Golf Course.

At South Shore and 67th Street, the Lakefront re-emerges briefly and visitors get an early preview of the city skyline; at 6600 North -- that's Marquette Drive here -- our road, U.S. 41, becomes Lake Shore Drive. And here we go . . .

For all but a very few miles, from now until near the city's northern limit, the lake -- or parks adjoining the lake, or both -- are our constant companions. For much of the way (from 71st Street to Hollywood Avenue), the roadway is paralleled by the paved Lakefront Trail, with its joggers, skaters, walkers and bicyclists.

At 63rd Street (see the historic 1919 beach house) and at 57th Street (opposite the Museum of Science and Industry -- perhaps the consummate detour) are excellent sand beaches. At 55th Street, just west of Lake Shore Drive, is a parking lot; we use it, follow the pedestrian underpass, and emerge at the beginning of a circular walkway to Promontory Point.

Chicagoans debate preferred skyline viewpoints the way they debate favorite pizza and baseball teams. Promontory Point is a contender. So is Burnham Park at 47th Street, reachable by pedestrian bridge over Lake Shore Drive -- and the view of the Drive and the skyline from the bridge is another great spot for a photo.

If the trees aren't too thick, the monument marking Stephen A. Douglas' tomb is visible on the left at 35th Street.

McCormick Place, the convention center, cuts off the lake view around 23rd Street; just ahead, Soldier Field and the Museum Campus (the Field Museum of Natural History, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium -- all of which will be covered in the Museum Campus entry) also put distance and masonry between Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan.

But right there, Chicago's skyline emerges in all its glory to the west of the Drive; to the east, we see Burnham and Monroe Harbors, bobbing pleasure boats adding their own colors to the deep blues of Lake Michigan. Grant Park, with its gardens and softball fields (16-inch softball, the Chicago game), frames the tall hotel and office buildings; Buckingham Fountain erupts in all its glory, its waters floodlit after dark in a symphony of changing color; Millennium Park, with its own symphony, is just north.

Traffic lights and volume slow the flow of cars here, for which Chicagoans -- here, and not many other places -- tend to be grateful, given the scenery and serenity.

Ahead is Navy Pier, another stopping point -- though a mile north is one more temptation, Oak Street Beach, the beach of the elite Gold Coast neighborhood guarded by the elegant Drake Hotel and refreshed by the Oak Street Beachstro, right on the sand.

Two more popular beaches come in succession: North Avenue Beach, with its volleyball games and its ocean-liner boathouse and, within an easy walk, the Chicago History Museum and International Museum of Surgical Science (we may take home a souvenir knee-skeleton keychain.); and Fullerton Avenue Beach, right across from the Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Still more picturesque harbors follow quickly -- Diversey and Belmont Harbors -- then the Marovitz golf course, and a final harbor, at Montrose Avenue. Leave the Drive at Montrose, follow the harbor road past the bait shack, and enjoy yet another, yet very different, look at the skyline . . .

The lake and park views continue to Hollywood. There, Lake Shore Drive ends and Sheridan Road continues northward. The Lakefront is still here, but condos and apartment buildings and Loyola University limit visual access to the sand and water.

The last sizeable strand within the city limits is Loyola Beach, at Touhy Avenue. Two blocks north on Sheridan Road, less than a mile before Chicago ends, is the Emil Bach House. It was built in 1915.

It was designed, in the Prairie Style, by Frank Lloyd Wright.

This journey would have given him a most satisfied smile . . . 
 

For more information about the Lakefront, please contact the Chicago Park District at 312.747.7090.