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Publication Date: September 15, 2008 | Series: Walking
Walk the streets of Chicago and discover why the town that brought us Michael Jordan, Al Capone, and Oprah is anything but a “Second City.” Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods represent a true melting pot of America—from Little Italy to Greektown, Chinatown to New Chinatown, and La Villita to the Ukrainian Village. It’s also the most walkable city in the country, with flat streets laid out in a sensible grid and 21 miles of stunning lakeshore. The 31 walks described here include trivia about architecture, political gossip, and the city’s rich history, plus where to dine, get the best deep-dish pizza, visit world-class museums, have a drink, and shop.
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Growing up, my mom shuttled us between our home in California and her original home in Indiana. By age five I was ordering my family around O'Hare International Airport as we changed planes. Obviously the experience stuck as I've been traveling since. I worked as a journalist for many years, covering everything from wars to bars - obviously I prefer the latter. I've been writing travel guidebooks since the mid-1990s and have worked on over 80. I've covered places from glaciers in the Arctic to the beaches of Bali. From beloved Chicago to London to San Francisco to Melbourne. I've lived around the globe.
In writing my books, I try to be the good local friend every reader wishes they have, telling them both what not to miss and what to definitely miss. I look for places and details that you won't find elsewhere, which will elevate your trip way above the norm. And I try to have fun doing it. I hope everyone using one of my books has a fantastic journey, well beyond changing planes at O'Hare. Read more at www.ryanverberkmoes.com
I've lived in Chicago for 20 years, and I learned heaps of new things from Ryan Ver Berkmoes' guide. Who knew the area around Jazz Record Mart once housed Chicago's first white settler, John Kinzie, who murdered a man on the spot? Who knew there was a Lakeview store with a Nun Fantasy Department? And ain't it sweet to know where in Hyde Park the Obamas shared their first smooch? Not only does Ver Berkmoes know his sights, he knows his booze. Food and drink recommendations accompany the walks, so you'll be well-fortified along the way.
I would strongly suggest this book is not useful to Chicago visitors.
It has 31 tours, more than a typical visitor can do in a few days, but does not offer effective ways to prioritize/connect. The walks are poorly indexed (yes, they are numbered from South to North and there is a "per theme" index, and a minimalistic "connecting walks" line at the end of each tour, but that is all).
I've tried to use 5 different tours during a short first time visit and not once I finished the walk as recommended (because the routes are not efficient in covering the interesting parts of the city).
There are enough typos and mistakes (swapping "right" for "left" and "51st St" for "55th St" - try to follow the Washington Park or Hyde Park tours, for example) sprinkled all over. Not a big deal in a regular guide, but crucial in a walking tour.
Try to walk half mile across Washington Park "in the Southeast direction", without any reference and a bad map and end up exactly where the tour picks up on the other side (where the book assumes you are at a very exact place, but you have no idea where it is).
The access/transit info is mostly correct, but minimalistic enough to be useless.
Even when the author is "witty", it is at the expense of function. Millennium Park is one of the most touristy places in Chicago (no need for directions) but he spends several pages making up names for the landmarks and mixing real and "funny" names. What does the reader win in exchange for the confusion? Viagra fountain jokes. Then, in the same walk, crossing Grant Park, when there is opportunity for a guide book to add real value, the text is vague and sparse.
I don't mean to say it is all garbage.... But the purpose of a walking tour book is to be read while you use it walking the city. For that purpose, in a city as easy to walk as Chicago, you would be better off with regular travel book and common sense than trying to follow the tours in this book.Read more ›
I had a wonderful time using this book when I visited Chicago earlier this fall. It would also make a great gift for anyone who lives in Chicago and is even remotely active. I'm not especially sporty, and I thought the walks were perfect -- not too long, very interesting, with good recommendations for places to stop for a snack or drink along the way. The author is entertaining and witty. Bonus: OBAMA sites!
I received this book as a gift for Christmas in 2008. My friends and family all knew how much I loved all-things-Chicago. When I moved to the city this past summer, it was an incredible resource to me in many ways. Not only have I loved the tours and the writer's sense of humor, but it was one of the few things I could afford to do since I was a job seeker for a few months. With a very limited knowledge of the layout of the city, I started doing some of these tours with my boyfriend since my budget didn't allow me to attend the shows or sporting events that this city is famous for. I looked forward to each weekend and the next tour we would do! We even found a number of other unique historical sites and cute restaurants/shops that weren't even listed in the tour, but we might never have seen them if it hadn't been for this book. In Wicker Park, we met a wonderful local resident who also provided us with more history and book recommendations on Wicker Park itself. Even though I am now employed, I am still working to get through all of the tours, and I've used it to entertain some friends when they have come to visit. Everyone I share it with loves this book, and I happen to know that it will be a holiday present for a number of people this year (shhhh! you didn't hear that from me). A great experience...a wonderful gift...these tours always leave me wanting more and falling even more in love with this city.
I have another book in this series, "Walking Brooklyn," by Adrienne Onofri. As a Brooklyn resident I am very impressed with that book and what it has to offer not just to visitors but also to residents. Her book is so detailed that I'd almost recommend it more for the resident than the tourist. (For example, she has a walk dedicated to Green-Wood Cemetery, and others in distant parts of the borough, far from where any Manhattan visitor would normally go.)
Based on her close perspective in her Brooklyn walks, I downloaded "Walking Chicago" (by a different author, I should clarify) onto my Kindle for a free day on a business trip. Staying in a downtown hotel above the river, I chose two walks for one day that were doable. I did a walk combining the Gold Coast and Old Town, and I also did one combining the Loop and a small section called Printer's Row.
I was impressed with what I saw on the Gold Coast/Old Town tour, it provided a lot of variety... but I couldn't help but feel that there were a lot of details and architectural insights which were being omitted. (I was wondering if I shouldn't have tried buying something like an American Institute of Architecture guide to complement.) And as another reviewer mentioned, there were some inaccuracies in directions and names, as well as verbs I was unfamiliar with (twice I was told to take a "jog;" should I trot off through the park to find the street whose sign I couldn't see?) I also couldn't help but wonder if the Gold Coast portion couldn't have been longer: the two neighborhood walk, together, was only two to three miles long. But all in all it helped me through a neighborhood I really wouldn't have known how to tour otherwise, so kudos....
The tour through the loop was pretty good at covering the basics I knew from prior visits, and while it did meander, I thought that was part of the point, enabling me to see a wide variety of special buildings. And a lot of the buildings which a tourist such as me SHOULD see.
I should also add, I was surprised at one effort at humor. In describing failed building projects at one site in the loop, a snarky comparison was made to failed rebuilding efforts in the recent Iraq war. I thought this was surprisingly out of place, even if you agree with the point.
Long and short, I haven't done enough of the walks in this book to be committed to it. I've already seen some pluses and minuses though, and unlike "Walking Brooklyn," I don't think this is for the resident; I think it's more for the tourist. I really don't believe that a resident would need this book to spark their interest in visiting Oak Park, for instance.Read more ›
