Well, there is a strip of somewhat dubious looking hotelson Lincoln up past Foster you might try out.
What about the Holiday Inn in Evanston?
As for the designated driver option, without the drunkenness part of the equation, I would have to be assured of some pretty high levels of personal debauchery…
Actually the way my finances are looking for the next 90 days, I might gladly trade chauffeuring for…services rendered 
::yep, my priorities are in just the right order!::
Warning - I am going to be a bit of a bitch here. I have to concur with jarbaby on location. The whole point of starting this thread was Summertime Drunken Debauchery in a Beer Garden in the City. I really don’t want to have this thing in the suburbs. I live in the suburbs. The suburbs suck.
I concur on that. Firstly, any restaurant/bar you find in the suburbs is most likely going to be a boring chain restaurant, or a place that closes at 11:00.
And if people are coming from out of town, they should see the city, if only a few block radius of it.
I don’t know if you guys have checked this page, but it has the City Suites on Belmont that I suggested, and alot of the independent hotels.
jarbaby
If SOMEONE can give me an address for this place, I’ll do my own hotel search and pass along the results accordingly.
Please? Pretty please?
Am I being a schmoe and missed the address earlier?
Sadly, those were the first places I called. The sad part is that its usually the bigger, expensive places that have rooms. Don’t despair, I’m still working on it. I will just try and find a place where we can catch the train, if all else fails.
yours in travel
Miss Creant
I’m shooting for rooms under $100, if that is incorrect please let me know
Resi’s Bierstube Inc
2034 W Irving Park Rd,
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 472-1749
Here is a map.
OK A LITTLE HELP HERE:
How many rooms? 10?
Smoking? Non-Smoking?
Single or Double?
I can get a block of 10 at the Best Western or Days Inn
at O’Hare for $69, and we could cab it to the Blue line.
If we stay in the burbs for cheap, we can take the train into the city, but we might have to cab it back to the hotel. Or we could all pitch in for a limo for the night.
wadda ya think?
I sure hope it stays at Reis’s. It’s only 4 blocks from my house so it gives me no reason to not get my lazy ass out for some fun.
To add another potential Saturday-afternoon activity to the drinking, lederhosen, and debauchery…
I believe the Cubs are hosting the Cardinals on the 25th at noon. What say we try to scrounge up some tickets?
Now, whose couch am I crashing on again?
I’m pretty sure that the Best Western out by O’Hare is where we all stayed at the ChiDope back in November. It was a pretty nice hotel. As far as I know, me and Bunny are splitting the cost of a room. The only thing I care about is making sure that we will have a way to get back and forth from the hotel to the restaurant, whether it be a cab or train or whatever, as long as I don’t have to drive.
Porcupine my love, you are not being a bitch. I myself had to move to the wasteland that is suburbia and it does indeed SUCK THE MAMMA WANG!
That being said, you guys told me all I need to know. I decree that there will be NO CHANGE OF VENUE, only a change in hotel.
Jar, the page you linked may be old, I thought the Surf would be great for us, but they went and re-did the whole place, re-named it the Willow and jacked up the rates about $75.
The guy in group sales at City Suites may be able to pull something together for us at one of their other locations, I think one is the Majestic. So I’m still working on it but I do need a number of people. I have to block a min of 10 rooms and if we don’t use all of them, we have to pay for them anyway. SO…before I go plunking down my Visa for anything I need some numbers. I’m off to try to set up a Hotmail address for this, so everyone can respond and get updates in a timely fashion (ooo…how professional am I?)
I’ll be back
ok the address is ChiDope@hotmail.com
please let me know who is planning on coming,
if you need a room, will you share a room, smoking or non
Most you want to pay for a room and anything else I’m missing. I should have known there’d be a freaking convention that weekend.
Yours in travel
Miss Creant
OK, quick update before I go to bed.
Had dinner at Resi’s with Vileorb and had a few pints at Chief O’Neills after.
We both realized that as charming and nice as Resi’s is, it will most likely be just a little too small for us. O’Neills seems to actually be a better place…I talked to Brendan the owner ( an oldish friend), and I am going to have a meeting with his wife Siobhan on Monday to get some prices together.
I’ll follow up with more details later when I am awake.
I just want to give a big’ol “thank you!” to MikeG and VileOrb for their tireless effort scouting out these places and sampling the fare. Salut!
Whoops! The address is ChiDopefest@hotmail.com
Say…who’s pitching? I may be otherwised engaged if I play my cards right. We may have to make a quick trip over to Bw3 on Lincoln at some point during the evening.
And I see that MikeG has cleverly diverted the chidope away from Resi’s. I think we all know why. BECAUSE HE HATES GERMANS.
note it.
Everything sounds good to me! I’ll be willing to share a room (think Shadow and I’ve got that worked out), plus split any cost for limo/taxi/horsedrawn carriage/rickshaw to get us back to the hotel safe and sound.
What would be VERY cool is if someone could help me figure out how to get from the hotel down to the venue 'cause I thought we’d check in first, ditch the car (I hate driving in downtown Chi.) and take whatever transportation to the watering hole. That way I’ll have no car worries for the rest of the night.
Hey, are we going to plan for breakfast on Sunday morning (brunch - I know I’ll be sleeping in!)?
What time should Shadow and I plan on getting in to town? We’ve got a 3-1/2 to 4 hour drive; I should be able to make it in less if I put on some good music! 
I need some hand-holding here! Can’t wait to meet y’all!
Thanks again to all of you (MikeG, jar and MissCreant for going to all of the work to set this thing up!
First: A big “THANK YOU!” to UncleBeer for his assist on the coding up there.
Next: If I were to roll into town Friday, would anyone be up for some pre-Fest debauchery or should I just wait until Saturday? You know, figuring the drive and all, might as well make it worthwhile. 
Quite the opposite! I love German food, beer, and women! Remember, I was originally pushing for Resi’s but it is true, if we have as many people as were at Spiffled, it will be a nightmare! They only have one bartender at a time as well!
…and the image of you in ponytails and lederhosen will be with me for a loooooooong time
Again, I am not married to the idea of O’Neill’s. If anyone else has suggestions, I will gladly consider them and give my opinion for whatever that is worth.