The violence and muggings information is from a relative who works in the city. the aquarium rip off is mine alone. Unbelievable rip off for so little actual value. Parking around $40, admission after standing in line for an hour…another $80 for two people. Then they charge you admission to go to the ponies? don’t they make enough on the bets? I hit a 60-1 longshot by accident though and made up for almost every other ripoff.
you described exactly what happened to my relative boarding the train after a Cubs game. As he went through the turnstile, he realized the man in front had delayed him only so the man behind could grab his wallet and run with it.
I love the Shedd, but residents of the city pay discounted admissions for museums that are on park district property. I don’t look at the fish much–it’s just a great building.
Those aren’t mutually exclusive. Baseball attendees who have no appreciation for the game can also be the most vocal/obnoxious.
Are the White Sox in town while you’re here? That’s a cheap ticket for a better team. The stadium isn’t as storied, but it’s perfectly comfortable and reachable by the red line.
What kind of food do you like? Chicago has nearly everything.
The area around U.S. Cellular field is absolutely horrible (I would know, I’m from there) but is very close to the Redline. Before and after the games it’s pretty safe to go home in the crowd of other people heading back up north on the train, but you do NOT want to be hanging out there late and miss the safety of the herd, trust me.
Thanks, Mrs. Schwartz always has to have water with her and a $7 bottle of water seems extreme here in KC. I will remember to bring sandwiches and keep my wallet in a front pocket.
I think that’s a bit overstated. I work at IIT, right across the expressway from Comiskey, and often walk around the campus at night. It’s a lot safer now that Stateway Gardens have been razed. I would have agreed with you fifteen years ago, but not now.
To be quite honest I forgot to mention that I haven’t been home since 2005, but my grandmother says it’s only gotten worse, but we lived on the other side of the Dan Ryan so I was just generalizing. Shouldn’t have done that.
What I said about the herd is true, though…
(Also I still call it Comiskey and refuse to call it “U.S. Cellular”, but we’re talking about out-of-towners. )
50 years ago, my young wife and I attended a Sox double header against the KC Athletics, a gaudy, fast young team. I happened to have a Chevy (55) that didn’t require a key to operate it. It took a key to lock it, but, in my youthful stupidity, I forgot to take the key with me.
A young man was standing nearby as I parked the car, and I told him, “Please watch this car for me, I’ll pay you $2 when we come out”.
Of course, it was gone, and not recovered for a week. Police found 12 young men who, during the week, took rides in the car and managed to drive the 54" wide auto between two 52" steel posts. Oddly, when the car was recovered, the cheap tape recorder I had hidden under the seat was no longer there. Imagine! Within a day, though, police called to tell me that a 12 or 13 year old had turned the recorder in at a local station. The tape was full of a young man singing pop songs, and maybe some of his own device. He was very, very good.
All of the boys were released to their parent’s custody. I’m sure they all became sterling citizens, perhaps even politicians and preachers.
But, I will say, I never felt, at that time, any sense of insecurity or personal danger.
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