Customer Reviews

Alternative Chicago: Unique Destinations Beyond the Magnificent Mile

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unlike most travel guides on Chicago, Bill Franz's Alternative Chicago is designed for readers interested in what Chicago has to offer the visitor regarding counter-culture and neighborhood eccentric attractions. Franz offers a neighborhood-by-neighborhood exploration of hundreds of distinctively Chicago places like "Smuggler's Row", "Medusa's Circle", "The Ennui Cafe", and "Dr. Wax". This superbly original compendium of addresses, maps, store hours, and telephone numbers will enable the reader to create a truly unique, memorable, off-the-beaten-path trip whether they are an out-of-town newcomer or a long-time denizen and resident.

Unfortunately I only read the introduction to this book before buying, and it sounded like it was exactly what I was looking for: a book to tell me all the cool places to go in the city that one might not normally find. I'm new to Chicago, and I want to find the places to go off the beaten path.
I wish I had skimmed the book before I bought it. In this book, the author reviews places he feels one needs to see. Review after review of restaurants and clubs and stores, the author used descriptions like, "decent" and "nondescript." In one review, he claims he is "a tad ambivalent" about that specific restaurant, and in another, he reviews a bar as being the sort that "you never want to go to but find yourself in anyway." Even the places he talked about positively, he never got excited about them. The most you'll get is a restaurant that serves food that is "quite good." He spends a good chunk of the book talking about how he is an "old man" now, and talks about things he did when he was young and what the neighborhoods of Chicago were like years ago, and in many of his reviews he admits that he hasn't been to that place in some time. This is fine if that's what you are looking for, but I would recommend a book on Chicago history if that's the case. The last straw was a review of a resale shop that ACTUALLY starts out with, "Nothing special." Why include this in your book of places "you want to know about" if it is nothing special? I stopped reading the book after that listing, and it went straight in the trash. Worthless.