Take Me Back To Chicago
It was almost a year ago that I applied for the promotion that brought me back home to Chicago after a nearly eight-year absence. Although I hadn't previously actually lived in Chicago, I had a lot to learn in terms of getting around, so I figured as a service I'd share some tips here for anybody who wants to visit this great city, or for those who frequently do but just didn't realize certain things.
The Nexus of the Universe
On the TV show Seinfeld, Kramer once referred to the intersection of 1st Street and 1st Avenue in Manhattan as "the nexus of the universe." Inspired by this, my wife refers to the intersection of State and Madison in Chicago by the same nickname. Why? Well, quite simple: State Street is the dividing line between the west and east sides. (Yes, Chicago actually does have an east side.) Madison is the north/south dividing line.
Street addresses in Chicago are very much like a rectangular coordinate plane. While the coordinate plane has its origin at (0,0), so State and Madison is the equivalent: right in the middle of the intersection would be an address of 0 East/West Madison and 0 North/South State. The north numbers increase as you go north and decrease as you go south; conversely, the south numbers decrease as you go north and increase as you go south. Same thing with the east/west numbers.
Chicago address are laid out in a grid. Just as an example, any address of 2400 North will have Fullerton, where DePaul's main campus is located, as its east/west cross street. (In other words, Fullerton Avenue/Fullerton Parkway is located at 2400 North.)
Speaking of 2400 North, Fullerton is three miles north of Madison. How do we know? Well, throughout almost all of Chicago, every 800 is a mile. Since there are three 800s in 2400, you know that Fullerton is therefore three miels north of Madison. Wrigley Field, which in case you've never seen The Blues Brothers (and shame on you if you haven't), is on Addison, which runs east and west at 3600 North. That means that there's a 1200 difference between Fullerton and Addison, so we can say that Wrigley Field is a mile and a half north of DePaul University.
Just to give you an idea of the size of Chicago, it extends to about 7800 North, about 11000 South, maybe 1800 East, and roughly 8000 West in certain areas; you can use that to calculate the mileage yourself. :)
Fine, but which streets are where?
Well, on the south side, most of the major streets are numbered -- 18th, 47th, etc. The numbered streets basically correspond to which hundred they are south of Madison -- for example, 35th is 3500 South -- so address starting 3500 South will have 35th as its cross street.
On the north side, some of the important streets and corresponding addresses are as follows:
200 North -- Lake St.
800 North -- Chicago Ave.
1200 North -- Division
1600 North -- North Ave.
2000 North -- Armitage Ave.
2400 North -- Fullerton Parkway/Avenue
2600 North -- Wrightwood Ave.
2800 North -- Diversey Avenue/Parkway
3000 North -- Wellington
3200 North -- Belmont
3600 North -- Addison
4000 North -- Irving Park Road
4400 North -- Montrose
4600 North -- Wilson
4800 North -- Lawrence
5000 North -- Argyle
5200 North -- Foster
5300 North -- Berwyn
5600 North -- Bryn Mawr
5700 North -- Hollywood
5800 North -- Ardmore
7200 North -- Touhy
7600 North -- Howard
Those all are north addresses of east/west streets. However, the east/west addresses aren't all that easy (either that or I just haven't learned my east/west addresses yet!), as many of the streets that go north and south suddenly diagonally cross -- especially Clark Street, which at one point is east of Halsted and suddenly goes WEST of Halsted! Depending how far north you are, 1000 West can be Sheffield or Sheridan. However, State Street is always 0 East/West. Cicero Avenue is 4800 West -- that's pretty consistent north and south. Ashland and Paulina (pronounced "paul EYE na") are 1600 and 1700 west, respectively.
Now, let's say you have to go to, I dunno, 5225 North Clark Street. Well, you know that the address will be north of Foster a tad, and south of Bryn Mawr by not quite half a mile. (And there just happens to be a Foster exit on northbound Lake Shore Drive!)
And no matter how far east or west you are, the numbers are all the same going in one direction. For example, no matter where you are on Diversey, a business or home on the North/South street nearest you will have an address of 2800 North, or at least something close to it, like 2805 or 2801. Like, let's say you're on North Flirzelwerp Street (a fake name - that street doesn't currently exist in Chicago!), and you're right by where Diversey crosses. That means that any building near you on North Flirzelkwerp will have an address of 2800 North Flirzelkwerp, or at least something not far off from that, like maybe 2810 North Flirzelkwerp, or 2805 North Flirzelkwerp. And let's use our example of Wrigley Field, which is 1060 West Addison. If you go half a mile due south, the address will be 1060 West Belmont, or at least pretty close to that address. A mile north would be 1060 West Montrose. That's how the grid works.
Getting Around Via L
The "L" is, for all practical purposes, the Chicago Transit Authority subway system, even though most of it isn't actually subway but elevated -- "el" or "L" for short. Only three parts are actually subway -- the Red Line and Blue Lines going through the Loop, and the Blue Line going through Logan Square, a neighborhood on the northwest side, approximately 2400 North and maybe 2800 West, off the top of my head; I'm probably wrong!
Currently it costs $2 to board any CTA vehicle -- be it L or bus -- and 25 cents to transfer from bus to L or L to bus or bus to bus. If you're going to be in Chicago for, say, a week or more and plan to see a lot of the town, I recommend you go to www.chicagocard.com and invest $25 in what's called the "Chicago Card." $5 for that is the purchase fee, and the other $20 is for CTA fare. With the Chicago Card, you pay $1.75 per ride instead of the usual $2, and if you go to a ticket machine and add $20 to your card in the form of a $20 bill, you actually get $22 credit, so it's a nice bargain. Also, the Chicago Card doesn't need to be swiped -- you can just put it in front of a special reader, and it helps you get through the turnstile faster. I just keep my card in my wallet, and I rarely have to even remove my wallet to do this -- I just sort of "bump" my wallet against the reader.
The CTA L system is, for the most part, cleaner than the New York subway system and Boston's T system, but not nearly as clean and cushy as Washington, DC's system. Unlike in New York, you can actually hear the CTA announcements. I was pleasantly surprised when I first took the Brown Line and very clearly heard recorded announcements telling me what stop was next and on which side of the train the doors will open. And the double-chime, the sound of a bell carillon, before the "Doors closing" announcement sure beats the awful off-key chimes followed by the scary "Staaaand clear of the clo-o-o-osing doors, pleeeeeeease!" you hear on the New York subway. One advantage the New York system has, though, is that it takes you pretty much anywhere, while the CTA L system basically goes north and south, and to go due west or due east you usually have to take a bus.
There are several CTA L lines, all named after colors. In alphabetical order, here are some thoughts on each line:
Blue Line -- Probably the filthiest of all the lines and one of two lines that runs 24/7. This line focuses primarily on the west side and goes through Oak Park and Logan Square. It becomes a subway in the Loop, and one of the end points is O'Hare Airport. The doors are "accordion"-style, meaning they fold inward to open; people have been injured by these doors. The stations tend to be filthy, and there was a pretty nasty derailment this past summer that resulted in numerous injuries.
Brown Line -- sometimes referred to as the "Skidmark" and was formerly the "Ravenswood" line. The Brown Line goes, amazingly enough, to Ravenswood, a neighborhood on the north side, and is the only L line that goes through the Loop counterclockwise. The Brown Line is completely elevated until the last few stops, when it's at street level. For a spectacular view of the Chicago skyline -- especially at night -- I recommend you take the Brown Line southbound, sit on the right side, and dig the view between the Sedgwick and Armitage stops. There are lots of cool destinations -- both branches of the Old Town School of Folk Music, DePaul University, the Lincoln Square neighborhood, several libraries, the restaurant formerly known as Berghoff's, and there used to be a great store called Mashall Field's that was easily reachable via Brown Line.
Green Line -- I honestly don't know much about this line other than it serves the east side, south side, and parts of the west side. From what people tell me, the Green Line goes through some, uhh...interesting...neighborhoods, and that the clientele will, well...let's just say they'll always be happy to say hi to you.
Orange Line -- If I recall correctly, the Orange Line is the newest of all the L lines (if you don't count the Pink Line, which is really a former Blue Line branch). Originally planned to end at the Ford City shopping center on the south side, there was only enough funding for the line to reach Midway Airport, its current termination. If you're observant, you'll actually see an L train that erroneously has "Ford City" showing as its destination from time to time. Nothing really exciting about this line -- it goes around the Loop, stops a few times on the south side, and ends at Midway Airport.
Pink Line -- The Pink Line is an experimental line that opened in June of 2006 and might be discontinued. It basically took over one of the original Blue Line legs and connects to Ashland Avenue. The Pink Line goes around the Loop and services part of the west side.
Purple Line -- Formerly called the "Evanston Express," the Purple Line starts in Wilmette, has a few stops in Evanston, and its first Chicago stop is Howard. On weekdays the train is then express down to Belmont, at which point it stops at all the Brown Line stops, but going clockwise around the Loop.
Red Line -- The other line that runs 24/7. The Red Line pretty much goes in a straight line north and south. The south end is 95th Street at the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the north end is Howard in Rogers Park. This line takes you pretty much to everywhere important you'll need to go. Numerous colleges are on the Red Line -- Loyola, DePaul, Truman College, and God knows what else. The Red Line has stops at both major league ball parks, and it can put you in the vicinity of Soldier Field. All the good River North restaurants are off the Red Line, as is the Magnificent Mile. There are two stops in Andersonville, one of the up-and-coming hip neighborhoods. During rush hour, a Red Line train is scheduled to come by every five minutes or less; whether it actually does is another issue. The Red Line is elevated from Howard until the Armitage Brown Line stop, at which point it dips underground and pops back up on the South Side at the Cermak/Chinatown stop.
Yellow Line -- Formerly the "Skokie Swift," this is a two-car train that goes from the Howard stop in Rogers Park to Skokie, with no stops in between; it makes you wonder why the hell anybody would want to ride the Yellow Line.
Well...that's all I have to say for now. One can only write so much in a blog entry and hope to hold people's attention.
The Nexus of the Universe
On the TV show Seinfeld, Kramer once referred to the intersection of 1st Street and 1st Avenue in Manhattan as "the nexus of the universe." Inspired by this, my wife refers to the intersection of State and Madison in Chicago by the same nickname. Why? Well, quite simple: State Street is the dividing line between the west and east sides. (Yes, Chicago actually does have an east side.) Madison is the north/south dividing line.
Street addresses in Chicago are very much like a rectangular coordinate plane. While the coordinate plane has its origin at (0,0), so State and Madison is the equivalent: right in the middle of the intersection would be an address of 0 East/West Madison and 0 North/South State. The north numbers increase as you go north and decrease as you go south; conversely, the south numbers decrease as you go north and increase as you go south. Same thing with the east/west numbers.
Chicago address are laid out in a grid. Just as an example, any address of 2400 North will have Fullerton, where DePaul's main campus is located, as its east/west cross street. (In other words, Fullerton Avenue/Fullerton Parkway is located at 2400 North.)
Speaking of 2400 North, Fullerton is three miles north of Madison. How do we know? Well, throughout almost all of Chicago, every 800 is a mile. Since there are three 800s in 2400, you know that Fullerton is therefore three miels north of Madison. Wrigley Field, which in case you've never seen The Blues Brothers (and shame on you if you haven't), is on Addison, which runs east and west at 3600 North. That means that there's a 1200 difference between Fullerton and Addison, so we can say that Wrigley Field is a mile and a half north of DePaul University.
Just to give you an idea of the size of Chicago, it extends to about 7800 North, about 11000 South, maybe 1800 East, and roughly 8000 West in certain areas; you can use that to calculate the mileage yourself. :)
Fine, but which streets are where?
Well, on the south side, most of the major streets are numbered -- 18th, 47th, etc. The numbered streets basically correspond to which hundred they are south of Madison -- for example, 35th is 3500 South -- so address starting 3500 South will have 35th as its cross street.
On the north side, some of the important streets and corresponding addresses are as follows:
200 North -- Lake St.
800 North -- Chicago Ave.
1200 North -- Division
1600 North -- North Ave.
2000 North -- Armitage Ave.
2400 North -- Fullerton Parkway/Avenue
2600 North -- Wrightwood Ave.
2800 North -- Diversey Avenue/Parkway
3000 North -- Wellington
3200 North -- Belmont
3600 North -- Addison
4000 North -- Irving Park Road
4400 North -- Montrose
4600 North -- Wilson
4800 North -- Lawrence
5000 North -- Argyle
5200 North -- Foster
5300 North -- Berwyn
5600 North -- Bryn Mawr
5700 North -- Hollywood
5800 North -- Ardmore
7200 North -- Touhy
7600 North -- Howard
Those all are north addresses of east/west streets. However, the east/west addresses aren't all that easy (either that or I just haven't learned my east/west addresses yet!), as many of the streets that go north and south suddenly diagonally cross -- especially Clark Street, which at one point is east of Halsted and suddenly goes WEST of Halsted! Depending how far north you are, 1000 West can be Sheffield or Sheridan. However, State Street is always 0 East/West. Cicero Avenue is 4800 West -- that's pretty consistent north and south. Ashland and Paulina (pronounced "paul EYE na") are 1600 and 1700 west, respectively.
Now, let's say you have to go to, I dunno, 5225 North Clark Street. Well, you know that the address will be north of Foster a tad, and south of Bryn Mawr by not quite half a mile. (And there just happens to be a Foster exit on northbound Lake Shore Drive!)
And no matter how far east or west you are, the numbers are all the same going in one direction. For example, no matter where you are on Diversey, a business or home on the North/South street nearest you will have an address of 2800 North, or at least something close to it, like 2805 or 2801. Like, let's say you're on North Flirzelwerp Street (a fake name - that street doesn't currently exist in Chicago!), and you're right by where Diversey crosses. That means that any building near you on North Flirzelkwerp will have an address of 2800 North Flirzelkwerp, or at least something not far off from that, like maybe 2810 North Flirzelkwerp, or 2805 North Flirzelkwerp. And let's use our example of Wrigley Field, which is 1060 West Addison. If you go half a mile due south, the address will be 1060 West Belmont, or at least pretty close to that address. A mile north would be 1060 West Montrose. That's how the grid works.
Getting Around Via L
The "L" is, for all practical purposes, the Chicago Transit Authority subway system, even though most of it isn't actually subway but elevated -- "el" or "L" for short. Only three parts are actually subway -- the Red Line and Blue Lines going through the Loop, and the Blue Line going through Logan Square, a neighborhood on the northwest side, approximately 2400 North and maybe 2800 West, off the top of my head; I'm probably wrong!
Currently it costs $2 to board any CTA vehicle -- be it L or bus -- and 25 cents to transfer from bus to L or L to bus or bus to bus. If you're going to be in Chicago for, say, a week or more and plan to see a lot of the town, I recommend you go to www.chicagocard.com and invest $25 in what's called the "Chicago Card." $5 for that is the purchase fee, and the other $20 is for CTA fare. With the Chicago Card, you pay $1.75 per ride instead of the usual $2, and if you go to a ticket machine and add $20 to your card in the form of a $20 bill, you actually get $22 credit, so it's a nice bargain. Also, the Chicago Card doesn't need to be swiped -- you can just put it in front of a special reader, and it helps you get through the turnstile faster. I just keep my card in my wallet, and I rarely have to even remove my wallet to do this -- I just sort of "bump" my wallet against the reader.
The CTA L system is, for the most part, cleaner than the New York subway system and Boston's T system, but not nearly as clean and cushy as Washington, DC's system. Unlike in New York, you can actually hear the CTA announcements. I was pleasantly surprised when I first took the Brown Line and very clearly heard recorded announcements telling me what stop was next and on which side of the train the doors will open. And the double-chime, the sound of a bell carillon, before the "Doors closing" announcement sure beats the awful off-key chimes followed by the scary "Staaaand clear of the clo-o-o-osing doors, pleeeeeeease!" you hear on the New York subway. One advantage the New York system has, though, is that it takes you pretty much anywhere, while the CTA L system basically goes north and south, and to go due west or due east you usually have to take a bus.
There are several CTA L lines, all named after colors. In alphabetical order, here are some thoughts on each line:
Blue Line -- Probably the filthiest of all the lines and one of two lines that runs 24/7. This line focuses primarily on the west side and goes through Oak Park and Logan Square. It becomes a subway in the Loop, and one of the end points is O'Hare Airport. The doors are "accordion"-style, meaning they fold inward to open; people have been injured by these doors. The stations tend to be filthy, and there was a pretty nasty derailment this past summer that resulted in numerous injuries.
Brown Line -- sometimes referred to as the "Skidmark" and was formerly the "Ravenswood" line. The Brown Line goes, amazingly enough, to Ravenswood, a neighborhood on the north side, and is the only L line that goes through the Loop counterclockwise. The Brown Line is completely elevated until the last few stops, when it's at street level. For a spectacular view of the Chicago skyline -- especially at night -- I recommend you take the Brown Line southbound, sit on the right side, and dig the view between the Sedgwick and Armitage stops. There are lots of cool destinations -- both branches of the Old Town School of Folk Music, DePaul University, the Lincoln Square neighborhood, several libraries, the restaurant formerly known as Berghoff's, and there used to be a great store called Mashall Field's that was easily reachable via Brown Line.
Green Line -- I honestly don't know much about this line other than it serves the east side, south side, and parts of the west side. From what people tell me, the Green Line goes through some, uhh...interesting...neighborhoods, and that the clientele will, well...let's just say they'll always be happy to say hi to you.
Orange Line -- If I recall correctly, the Orange Line is the newest of all the L lines (if you don't count the Pink Line, which is really a former Blue Line branch). Originally planned to end at the Ford City shopping center on the south side, there was only enough funding for the line to reach Midway Airport, its current termination. If you're observant, you'll actually see an L train that erroneously has "Ford City" showing as its destination from time to time. Nothing really exciting about this line -- it goes around the Loop, stops a few times on the south side, and ends at Midway Airport.
Pink Line -- The Pink Line is an experimental line that opened in June of 2006 and might be discontinued. It basically took over one of the original Blue Line legs and connects to Ashland Avenue. The Pink Line goes around the Loop and services part of the west side.
Purple Line -- Formerly called the "Evanston Express," the Purple Line starts in Wilmette, has a few stops in Evanston, and its first Chicago stop is Howard. On weekdays the train is then express down to Belmont, at which point it stops at all the Brown Line stops, but going clockwise around the Loop.
Red Line -- The other line that runs 24/7. The Red Line pretty much goes in a straight line north and south. The south end is 95th Street at the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the north end is Howard in Rogers Park. This line takes you pretty much to everywhere important you'll need to go. Numerous colleges are on the Red Line -- Loyola, DePaul, Truman College, and God knows what else. The Red Line has stops at both major league ball parks, and it can put you in the vicinity of Soldier Field. All the good River North restaurants are off the Red Line, as is the Magnificent Mile. There are two stops in Andersonville, one of the up-and-coming hip neighborhoods. During rush hour, a Red Line train is scheduled to come by every five minutes or less; whether it actually does is another issue. The Red Line is elevated from Howard until the Armitage Brown Line stop, at which point it dips underground and pops back up on the South Side at the Cermak/Chinatown stop.
Yellow Line -- Formerly the "Skokie Swift," this is a two-car train that goes from the Howard stop in Rogers Park to Skokie, with no stops in between; it makes you wonder why the hell anybody would want to ride the Yellow Line.
Well...that's all I have to say for now. One can only write so much in a blog entry and hope to hold people's attention.
posted by dauber at 12:04 PM
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