'Real Chicago' Top 10: 'Tourism' for the Natives

CHICAGO, IL - Year in and year out, Choose Chicago manages to bring in a massive amount of tourists to the city. A top ten attraction list on their website suggestions visitors hit up the following when taking in the city of broad shoulders.

While Choose Chicago has picked some pretty neat spots, the list (Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Art Institute of Chicago, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Adler Planetarium, SkyDeck Chicago, 360 Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo) is clearly geared to tourists.

KNOW CHICAGO: Headlines by email from Patch editor Tim Moran

But what if you are from Chicago, and just want to explore this place in more detail? Maybe from a historical perspective.

Here’s a Chicago native’s field guide to the backyards of the city. Which, of course, includes Back of the Yards.

Union Stockyards - Chicago was a meatpacking hotbed in the 1800s, and the bulk of the gruesomeness took place at the Union Stockyards in the South Side’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. The entrances to the old stockyards are preserved to this day.

63rd Street Beach - You can find a good skyline view in plenty of spots in Chicago, but nothing in my mind tops the view from 63rd Street on the South Side. All the city’s tallest buildings are included, and you are far enough away to include them all in a photo. An ecosystem restoration is in progress here, hoping to make it a draw for visitors who want to avoid the crowds on the North Side. It's right off the Lakefront Trail, too.

Al Capone’s Childhood Home - Chicago’s most legendary gangster grew up at this home on the South Side at 72nd and Prairie.

It’s on the market for cheap, too.

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge - Capone’s favorite Chicago hang out in the early 20th Century was this cocktail lounge on Broadway in Uptown. It still operates today, in a similar manner to how Capone experienced it in the 1920s. As the city’s oldest jazz club, the space is tight, but its connections to Capone are tighter. A piano from way back then is still displayed behind the bar, with several pictures of a cigar-smoking Capone taking in a night of drinking at that very spot. The upper floor of the building is supported by a pillar often seen in mid 20th century architecture. You’ll be charged a cover to get in on a Friday night, but stick around it’s worth it. The music will add to the true Chicago experience you are getting here. Right across the street in the popular theater corridor at Broadway and Lawrence is the Aragon Ballroom, the North Side’s premier place for entertainment during the Capone days. It’s rumored that a secret underground path led from the Green Mill to the Aragon (underneath Broadway) to push liquor during Prohibition.

Chicago Blues District - The only type of music comparable to jazz in Chicago is blues. And you’ll hear plenty of that walking in the Chicago Blues District. You can see a famous Chicago movie location here as well. The site of the fictional “Ray’s Music Exchange” from The Blues Brothers is on 47th Street. You can still see a faded mural of the design of the side of the building from the early 1980s hit movie. A statue of former Mayor Harold Washington sits prominently at the corner of 47th and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Cabrini Green - The high rises are gone, but the location is still known as the site where the poorest of the poor lived for decades in the 20th Century. The Cabrini Green homes made plenty of appearances in popular culture, serving as the locale for the money “Iceman” and “Good Times,” a popular 1970s television show starring Jimmie Walker. The city has other ties to popular classic television shows. The house from “Family Matters” is at 1516 W. Wrightwood and the house from “Webster” is among the mansions of the Gold Coast. For “Married with Children,” “Uncle Buck,” “Home Alone,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Risky Business” locations, you’ll need to hit up the North Shore.

Hyde Park’s 53rd Street - If your favorite city to visit is New York, then you’ll find Chicago nearly as compelling and 53rd Street will give you that feel. In the Hyde Park neighborhood, the gem of the South Side, you’ll find several New York-style delicatessens, barber shops and busy walkers complimenting a clean-air feel with birds chirping. Think about the Upper West Side in NYC, just switch out Columbia University for the University of Chicago. If this were on the North Side, it would likely be a part of Choose Chicago’s Top 10 already.

Hyde Park is one of Chicago’s most diverse communities, thanks in some part to longtime 5th Ward Alderman Leon Despres, who preached equality and fairness.

DuSable Museum of African-American History - Get the best of Chicago history at this museum named after Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, the founder of our city. They trace the city’s history from the early days of Du Sable and offer an extensive look at Harold Washington, the city’s first African-American mayor.

Fishing on the Chicago River - Don’t try it in The Loop. But if you head south on Ashland to 30th Street, there’s a nice place for carp in the early morning hours. You can even park right there on a busy street in Chicago. Wake up to the beautiful sunrise with a backdrop of the skyline.

The “Bungalow Belt” - Drive down one of the many city streets that are lined with bungalows. If you grew up in Chicago during the 1950s or 1960s, you probably lived in a bungalow. Most have stood the test of time and are still around today.

KNOW CHICAGO: Headlines by email from Patch editor Tim Moran