Chicago Vacation Ideas (Lincoln, Roscoe, Grant Park: best neighborhoods, hotels, hotel)

[melneale]

I am visiting my top places to move after I finish grad school. Chicago is one of the places. I am looking for vacation type things to do and also activities that will let me get a "feel" of the city. I would like to know about
1. best hotels to stay at (location, transportation, cost)
2. best neighborhoods for lesbians/gays
3. any other ideas anyone else has

Thank you for you opinions!!

[ToriaT]

Several years ago I stayed at this hotel - its small and somewhat plain but fine and reasonably priced. Its one of the few hotels actually in a Chicago neighborhood, not downtown. Its very close to or on the edge of an area called "Boy's Town" which is one of the gay areas in Chicago. To get there from the hotel, walk a couple blocks west to Halsted and you are there. Access to shops, boutiques, etc. The Broadway st. bus will take you to many areas, and a couple block walk will take you to the "L" or buses that run downtown. Another area you might want to visit is Andersonville which I believe has a large lesbian population. Take the Clark St. bus north and get off at Foster.

Best Western Hawthorne Terrace Hotel, Chicago Illinois

[IloveLoganSquare]

I'm not gunna do ALL of your research for you, but I'll tell you my favs hope it helps.

Hotels- Hyatt, Sofitel, Drake, Sheraton

Transportation - all train stops are on google maps, you can click onthem to see which line, then look at the CTA site for the places it will take you.

Our big gay neighborhood is lakeview. There is some lesbian bar there that is supposed to rock, they hosted the annual lesbians convetion thing. I can't remember the name, you could probably google around for 10 mins and find it. (I am a straight man)

ALL neighborhoods in Chicago are gay friendly though. In fact are only gay killings that I know about that have occured in the past ten years follow a serial killer that was haunting Lakeview itself. targeting WGM Chicago Issues Warning Following Gay Murders (ChicagoPride.com)

On a lighter note:

Fun activities:

Navy Peir
HOB
Bin 10
Lincoln park Zoo
Fields Museum - Aztec expedition coming to ONLY chicago
Museum of Science and Industry
Grant Park
Sports: you name it!

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by IloveLoganSquare

...ALL neighborhoods in Chicago are gay friendly though...

All neighborhoods in Chicago ARE NOT gay friendly. There are many that are gay "tolerant" and a few that are gay friendly. But there are many (especially majority black areas) that are quite the opposite.

http://hellonegro.com/2007/12/28/rec...gay-community/

http://www.gbmnews.com/articles/2194/1/Chicago-Gay-Community-Regards-New-Gay-Murder-With-Dismay/Page1.html (broken link)

http://www.chicagopride.com/news/art...icleID/2614921

[lincolnparker]

I am a *** hag, so I can best answer your questions.

1. best hotels to stay at (location, transportation, cost)
For comfort, check out the Omni Hotel. For convenience and price to gay friend neighborhood, check out the Willow on broadway and surf
2. best neighborhoods for lesbians/gays
That has to be east lakeview, also called boystown. There are about 200,000 LGBT residents in the area.
3. any other ideas anyone else has
Go out and have a good time. Most of the gay bars are on halsted st between belmont and addison.

Originally Posted by melneale

I am visiting my top places to move after I finish grad school. Chicago is one of the places. I am looking for vacation type things to do and also activities that will let me get a "feel" of the city. I would like to know about
1. best hotels to stay at (location, transportation, cost)
2. best neighborhoods for lesbians/gays
3. any other ideas anyone else has

Thank you for you opinions!!

[hank0604]

When I vacation somewhere I don't like to do the touristy stuff. I like to really get a feel for the city, which is what got me to move here. I came here the first time and never even went downtown. I went to a Blue Man Group show in Lincoln Park and went shopping in Bucktown, and as soon as I got home I was making my plans to move.

So I would try to find a hotel out of downtown. I don't really know of any, though I did see a sign for a B&B in Wicker Park. It might be called the Wicker Park Inn, but I wouldn't swear to that. Anyway, just come up here, spend your time in the neighborhoods outside the loop (because that's likely where you would end up living), and take the CTA to get around. You'll get a better feel for the city than if you just taxi it around the loop for four days.

[knitgirl]

I second Hank's comments. That's the way I like to travel, too. Visiting a place as a tourist and living somewhere are totally different, so if you are thinking about living here, I would concentrate on checking out neighborhoods. I loved Lincoln Square/Ravenswood when I lived in the city and Andersonville which is very close to both is very lesbian/gay friendly.

[hockholly]

Originally Posted by knitgirl

I loved Lincoln Square/Ravenswood when I lived in the city and Andersonville which is very close to both is very lesbian/gay friendly.

I live in Lincoln Square and I think it is pretty gay-friendly. I have a few lesbian friends who live in Roscoe Village and they really like it there, too.

Whenever you are visiting, see if one of your "top neighborhoods" is having a festival. They are usually a lot of fun!