When I moved to Chicago thirteen years ago, I felt ambivalent about it. Law school brought me here, and Chicago was not my first choice. Having grown up in the Detroit area and spent time in Los Angeles – both big car cities – the thought of taking a bus, train, or taxi around town was frightening. It felt daunting to even imagine learning my way around the city or feeling comfortable with pulling the string to let the bus driver know I needed to get off. And forget about driving in the city. My brain was packed with images of unintentionally ending up in a scary part of town or getting side swiped by a taxi driver. Those fears, of course, proved to be unfounded. I did end up figuring it out, and stayed after graduation. In fact, I fell in love.
Chicago is a great destination for visitors. Not only is it an absolutely gorgeous (and clean!) city, but it has everything. The restaurants are phenomenal, the clubs are swank, the bars are varied and plentiful, the museums are high quality, and the shopping is to die for. Whatever you need or want, you can likely find it here.
Even though I’ve been here thirteen years, I still discover new things practically every week. Architecture I never noticed before, a hole in the wall pub without a sign out front, a historical marker on an old house, a beautiful street, a random statue, a park, or a new boutique. Nearly every morning as I take the Brown Line into the Loop, the beauty of the river and skyline captures me. Restaurants come and go with great frequency, and my guess is one could eat at a new one every day, every meal, for a year and never hit the same place twice.
But this is not meant to be a typical review site — there are enough of those. While I will, of course, share with you my thoughts on my favorite (and least favorite) places and the reasons why, my true aim is to share with you what I find special and unique about this wonderful city from a local’s perspective.
I'm Here, Now What? 