Chicago MMXII

Have you been/do you know people that have been to the L&E inn?

No. I've eaten there, but that's it. I tried to get my parents to stay there but they ended up not visiting.

Regarding the boutique hotels on the Mag Mile, the Tremont is usually one of the cheaper ones. My parents recently priced it though and it was $159 a night, but this was on Memorial Day weekend. It's also sort of a crappy hotel.

xp Also my dad would probably rather stay in an alley then stay in a room with a toilet in the glass-walled shower.

Oh god the Treemont. I stayed there when I took the bar exam and it was not great. I only recommend it if cheap is your absolute number one criteria for lodgings.

We'll be there Sat April 28th - Monday April 30th. It'll be me, RS and his parents. We thought it would be fun to show them somewhere else in the US besides Boston and NY and the fact that neither of us have been to Chicago either is an added bonus. We found a good deal on flights yesterday and just booked them last night.

Museums? Bands? Shopping? Drinking? Touristy stuff? Non-touristy stuff?

We like all these things! Maybe not bands because his parents will be along for the ride but they are big tourists, shoppers and drinkers so those are all good. Also, I guess the non-touristy stuff can be saved for the next time we visit and maybe we should see the standard stuff this time. So, yes. Ideas on museums, restaurants, bars, sites and ares to stroll around and shop in are all welcome.

I swear I remember Jesse mentioning a Pierogi restaurant - I want to go there!

CA - the boat place/zoo idea sounds AWESOME. It's on the list now. That museum sounds like it would be my favorite place ever but I'm not sure they'd love it. lol. Next time.

BTW thanks so much for the recs - I'm really excited! Maybe we'll even be able to squeeze in a mini FAP or something at some point. :)

Seriously, unless there's a dental convention in town, there's a glut of midpriced boutique hotels (Public, James, Dana, the brand-brand-new Hotel Lincoln (which may be have specials because it's still in a soft opening)) that you don't need to settle for a crappy one.

The Lincoln one could be nice because you're a) on the park and b) Mamet lived out of this hotel in the 1970s.

Then again, with the parents, anything Gold Coast, Mag Mile, Streeterville, Loop will put you in walking distance of a zillion parent-friendly things.

I'd say do:
- a casual breakfast or lunch at Xoco.
- Millennium Park
- the Chicago Cultural Center (wow building).
- The Art Institute of Chicago is right next to ^^ those two
- Early happy hour or lunch/afternoon at 95th floor Signature Room
- You could go see The Iceman Cometh before it likely goes to Broadway
- Or get any other theater tickets for half-price at Hot Tix

Maybe we'll even be able to squeeze in a mini FAP or something at some point. :)

I'll be in NYC. :/

Man I'll be in NYC next week. Everyone is going to NY this month!

If you want stuff outside downtown:

- Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
- If you stay at the Hotel Lincoln, you'll be right near the Lincoln Park Zoo (I'm with Jenny - it's free and fun) and, on Saturday morn, the Green City Market (big farmers' market).
- Sunday night, 7 p.m. - Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind - we could FAP, see that, gather at Simon's/Hopleaf/whatever before or after.

Hotel Lincoln looks cool, and I think you can get pretty good deals for it on hotwire/priceline.

and congrats on the pub quiz victory!

I'll be in NYC the 23rd through the 28th.

Hey - awesome! I have a grant deadline right now but I'll check in later today. Thanks again for the ideas. I trust you guys so much more than any dumb guide book.

Maybe we'll even be able to squeeze in a mini FAP or something at some point. :)
I should hope so!! In fact, I will not participate in this vacation planning unless I am assured of the opportunity!

nice work pub quiz team!

If you're bringing your little guy, look at this Bark at the Park package--doggy turn-down!

OK, last one, but Hotel Lincoln tweeted this (though they didn't mention the promo code needed):
Hotel Lincoln ‏ @HotelLincoln Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
We're running a 48 hour sale for select dates in April! 30% off standard rates! Check http://hotellincolnchicago.com or call us! Ends 4/4 at midnight!

That'll run you something like $125.

And Google deal today on Chicago Architecture Tour

^^^ fact checkin cuz

let's do pub quiz again tonight guys
i'd be up for an enbb minifap

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-bank-teller-thwarts-robbery-by-saying-banks-closed-come-back-tomorrow-20120403,0,1539443.story

Well. That's one dumb bank robber.

ENBB - There is a pierogi restaurant (Pierogi Heaven?) in the Loop and I'm sure there are others, elsewhere b/c come on, it's Chicago. There was one on Belmont Ave. by the CTA station but it closed and something dumb opened in its place.

Sorry that I can't really help much w/ hotel recs - I should bookmark some ideas b/c I get asked for lodging advice fairly often.

Also, you're not crashing us! Stay a while. Relax. Play with us forever, and ever.

was there a video game or something that had a creepy voice saying "stay awhile ... stay - FOREVER!"?

apparently it was IMPOSSIBLE MISSION which i probably played on C64

I was thinking of these two

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmnT57QJCK2jHFYNp7RaBG-yBnji0CapAyJOq3fnaj-_tEnUXs

xp nothing like those old 64-era games that were impossible, I had more than a few

http://chicagoist.com/2012/04/04/heres_a_response_to_complex_mags_25.php

Ha, I have been to 19 of those.

15 for me

But that does remind me that I need to check out Maria's one of these days. Even my dad has been there.

What's Brehon's Pub? Might be good for q Thirsty Thursday sometime.

I've walked past it -- it's an Irish pub. Never looked all that exciting to me, but I think that's kind of the point with a lot of the places on the list.

anyone read anything good recently? something i could go pick up at the library over lunch (ie probably not brand new) and something that isn't too thick so i can carry it around on the train

i got "the power broker" by robert caro from the library but it's a huge unwieldy paperback with annoying laminated covers so i'm probably just going to keep it at home and read it there instead of lugging it around with me

I have been enjoying David Simon's Homicide: Life in the Killing Streets. It might be big, though (I'm reading the ebook).

i've read that. it is good.

I read Patti Smith's Just Kids and Edmund White's City Boy in tandem, and they both cover the same era of bohemian/eccentric early-70s NYC.

Nice -- when you mentioned the White to me the other day, I thought it would be a good companion piece to Just Kids.

I think I'm going to reread The Great Gatsby.

think i might get one of the ned sublette music/history books

James Wolcott's Lucking Out and Will Hermes' Love agors to Buildings on Fire also cover the same 70s NYC ecosystem, so I'm tempted to head to them next.

Love Goes, that is.

I keep recommending to people lately:

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

Not sure about length, though–read it as an e-book.

Love that book! It always looks creepy sitting on the shelf too ;)

I'm reading a super depressing book about Blackwater. It's called BLACKWATER (by Jeremy Scahill)

Hey all will read through thread tonight but does anyone know anything about the Conrad hotel? Found a good price and it's ranked as #5 in the city so should be OK, right?

I mean I'm sure the hotel is nice but location and stuff? I guess if it's on the mag mile it's fine from what you were saying earlier.

Another contender was The River Hotel which I guess is also on the mag mile.

i have no idea about hotels since no one ever comes to visit me, but when they do, they stay here, at the super 8 around the corner, or a few miles north in evanston.

The Conrad is really swank and hip, kind of like the W, and it's attached to a swank mall (North Bridge) and you can walk all over from there.

^^ Hotel social-media guy