Come Meet Chicago's Fun Next-Door Neighbors. They're Known For

Home , Oak Park Conservatory, Pleasant Home, Scoville Square, The Illinois

OAK PARK AREA Come meet Chicago’s fun next-door neighbors. They’re known for architecture and history, but the longer you visit, the more they reveal.

VISITOAKPARK.COM

TOP: MAYA DEL SOL FROM LEFT: GO APE, FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT BIKE TOUR, BROOKFIELD ZOO ILLINOIS MEET US HERE IRISH TIMES Getting to Oak Park is easy. Deciding what to do first is harder. PUB AND GO APE ADVENTURES, P. 8 RESTAURANT, P. 11 Less than 10 miles from downtown Chicago, Oak Families come for all-ages outdoor adventures. TABLE OF CONTENTS Park is the city’s close western suburb—a quick International travelers seek out world-class 4–5 side trip by car or train for sightseers. But the architecture. Road-tripping couples young and old more you learn about Oak Park and its neighboring bond at galleries, shops and eateries. Nightlife- Architecture + History communities, the more you’ll see the area as a lovers kick back and kick up their heels. Want to 6–7 dynamic destination in its own right (or Wright). spend the night(s)? You’ll find rooms at the inns. Fun for All Ages

190 8 90 Outdoor Adventure International A Airport 9 Arts + Shopping 10–11 METRA LINE HALA KAHIKI TIKI BAR Food + Drinks AND LOUNGE, P. 11 12 Nightlife + Shows

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45 KEY C A. iCOMBAT Tactical Laser Tag 294 D F B. Cernan Earth and Space Center E C. Hal Tyrrell Trailside Museum METRA LINE of Natural History CTA GREEN LINE D. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio E. Unity Temple F. Ernest Hemingway BROOKFIELD ZOO, P. 6 290 Birthplace Museum G. Al Capone’s Grave H CTA BLUE LINE at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery FITZGERALD’S, P. 12 G H. Oak Park Conservatory 88 171 43 I. Go Ape Adventures To Midway J. Galloping Ghost Arcade International Airport K. Brookfield Zoo

K METRA LINE 50 I 34 J 2 ARCHITECTURE + HISTORY

ARCHITECTURE GEMS OAK PARK Oak Park lays its reputation on a RIVER foundation of historic architecture, FOREST CREATIVE GENIUS MUSEUM especially the Prairie School Frank Lloyd Wright started his career designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. in Oak Park, Ernest Hemingway started The cornerstone is his own digs— his life here, and Frederick Law Olmsted the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio—one of many structures and others left their marks on the area. by Wright and others in the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District. See them on a bike tour, such as Pedal Oak Park or The Wright Ride. A ERNEST must-see list starts with Wright’s HEMINGWAY BIRTHPLACE Unity Temple (the greatest public MUSEUM building of Wright’s Prairie period), George W. Maher’s Pleasant Home (now a museum), and E.E. Roberts’ HISTORY LESSONS Scoville Square, a rare Prairie School commercial building. Extend Story lines of history arc through your Wright itinerary with a drive Oak Park. See where writer Ernest FRANK LLOYD Hemingway was born—a lovely Queen through River Forest and a walk WRIGHT HISTORIC Anne Victorian home that is now the around Riverside, an early planned DISTRICT BIKE TOUR community by America’s greatest Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum. landscape architect Frederick Law The Oak Park River Forest Museum, in a renovated 1898 Oak Park firehouse, Olmsted. Take the Frederick Law offers changing exhibits on the region’s Olmsted Society’s Historic Walking history. Swing by the Tours to learn more about the Chicago 16 Inch architecture there, including Wright Softball Hall of Fame Museum in Forest Park for dirt on the Chicago-rooted gems like the famed Coonley Estate. game played with a big mushy ball Just west of Oak Park, Maywood carries its own architectural pedigree, and no gloves. You know Chicago’s with homes on the National Register gangsters played hardball, but did you of Historic Places, including ones know many lived in Oak Park and River Forest? by Wright associates. And Berwyn, There Goes the Neighborhood famous for bungalows, also delights Gangster Tour drives by hoodlums’ with a variety of other home styles— homes, with narration by mob historian Tudor Revivals, Victorians, Georgians, and author John J. Binder. Continue worker cottages and four-squares. your gangster tour at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, the final resting place for many mobsters, FRANK LLOYD including Al Capone. The Historical WRIGHT HOME cemetery tours AND STUDIO Society of Forest Park take you to the graves of the famous (like radio legend Paul Harvey) and highlight local history. Historic routes CHICAGO 16 INCH SOFTBALL HALL OF FAME MUSEUM pass through the area, too. A plaque in Maywood marks a stop on the Underground Railroad, and a stretch of Ogden Avenue in Berwyn follows the FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT storied path of historic Route 66. HOME AND STUDIO

ESSENTIAL EVENTS WRIGHT PLUS HOUSEWALK MAYWOOD HISTORIC HOMES HOUSEWALK ROUTE 66 CAR SHOW BERWYN’S BUNGALOWS & MORE TOUR HILLSIDE CEMETERY TOUR May | Oak Park + TROLLEY TOUR July 2020 | Maywood August | Berwyn September | Berwyn October | Hillside Go to VisitOakPark.com for The mayor leads the tour; see Take rare interior tours of private Explore homes encompassing several styles, Check out more than 500 vintage and Docents give tours of selected homes dates and more information. homes and public buildings designed custom cars, trucks and motorcycles like and churches constructed in the village’s Al Capone’s grave and get a rare look including many houses designed by Wright in the Bishops’ Mausoleum. by Wright and others. associates, on the biennial tour. those from the Mother Road’s heyday. signature styles.

4 VISITOAKPARK.COM 5 FUN FOR ALL AGES EARTH AND SKY Kids kick off their shoes and put on their creative thinking caps at the Wonder Works children’s museum in Oak Park, loaded with six multisensory, interactive exhibits like Lights, Camera, Action! for darling divas and Build It! for future Frank Lloyd Wrights. Aspiring astronomers and astronauts get all starry-eyed at the Cernan Earth and Space Center in River Grove. They can gaze at Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan’s space suit, replica spacecraft and dazzling planetarium shows. Plants put on a show of their own at the Oak Park Conservatory. Citrus trees, scented geraniums, dreamy tropical palms, and desert cacti and FAMILY TIME succulents take turns in the spotlight. Kids love the chatty parrots. Toddlers, grade schoolers, teens and grown-ups can find their kind of fun at attractions throughout the Oak Park area.

ON THE WILD SIDE World-famous Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield provides one-stop suburban safari-ing for adventurers of all ages. Have close encounters of the creature kind by feeding a giraffe, petting a penguin, and watching dolphins leap and dive. Older kids can sign up for Backstage Adventures that put them to work with zookeepers. Little ones flock to the Hamill Family Play Zoo, where CERNAN EARTH AND SPACE CENTER they can touch guinea pigs, rabbits and WONDER WORKS reptiles. At the three-acre Hamill Family Wild Encounters, kids (and parents) might be able to touch or feed goats, FUN AND GAMES parakeets and wallabies, plus see red It’s all-you-can-beat gaming at the pandas, llamas and reindeer. And oh-oh, Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, those Summer Nights—enjoy evening which lays claim to being the largest concerts in the park with activities for video arcade in the world. Pay $20 at kids and a laser light show finale. the door and play up to 700 classics like Frogger and Mario Kart for free—no quarters or tokens needed. Do some BROOKFIELD ZOO family bonding by teaming up to win SUMMER NIGHTS your freedom. Both Vault Escape Rooms in Riverside and Escape Factor in Forest Park give you 60 minutes to find hidden clues, solve puzzles and decipher cryptic messages. Or escape reality entirely at iCOMBAT, a tactical GALLOPING laser tag experience in Schiller Park. GHOST Engage in ultra-realistic combat on a BROOKFIELD ZOO ARCADE Hollywood movie-style set.

ESSENTIAL MONTHLY SKYWATCH DISCOVERY GARDEN EXPLORATION TIME FRANKLIN PARK FEST FEATURING RAILROAD DAY Second Saturday of each month Summer Wednesday and Saturday mornings June | B-12 Tower, Franklin Park EVENTS | Cernan Earth and Space Center, River Grove | Oak Park Conservatory Board an assortment of train engines and cars for a look Go to VisitOakPark.com inside and enjoy a kid-centric carnival with live music for dates and more Visit the planetarium for live presentations and, in clear Docents guide you and your child to natural finds in the and food vendors. information. weather, peek at the night sky through a telescope. Elsie Jacobsen Discovery Garden outside the conservatory.

6 VISITOAKPARK.COM 7 OUTDOOR ARTS + ADVENTURE SHOPPING

NATURE DISCOVERIES HAL TYRRELL TRAILSIDE NATURALLY FUN You never know what natural wonders MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Town names drawn from you’ll see at the Hal Tyrrell Trailside Museum of Natural History in River nature should tip you off: Forest. A charming 1870s Victorian This area teems with green mansion nestled in the woods near the space, waters and wildlife Des Plaines River provides a storybook setting for kids curious about nature. to enjoy at your own speed Inside, they can hear creature tales and and vantage point. see creature tails (via wildlife displays). Outside, there are nature trails and a pond to explore, a play area for fort ACTIVE ADVENTURES building, and picnic-perfect wildflower Make like Tarzan (or Jane) and monkey gardens for relaxing. You can also hike ARTISTIC SPIRIT around 40 feet off the ground at by the Des Plaines River or bird-watch Go Ape Adventures in Western in surrounding Thatcher Woods, part of Events like Harrison Street’s Third Friday Springs. The three-hour trek through the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Gallery Walk in the Oak Park Arts District the forest includes ziplines, swings reflect the rich vein of artistic energy in and rope ladders. Rather keep your ON THE WATER Oak Park and neighboring communities. feet closer to the ground? Explore the The Des Plaines River and Salt Creek tallgrass prairie at SALT CREEK Wolf Road Prairie aren’t just for viewing—they’re for KAYAKING VILLAGE OF Nature Preserve in Westchester. Bike doing, too. Canoe or kayak the river OAK PARK’S the Salt Creek Trail’s 7-mile Red Paved from the new boat launch at COMMUNITY Maywood MINI MURAL Trail from Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Grove in Maywood. Or take to Salt PROJECT or head out on the Illinois Prairie Path Creek from the Brookfield Village Hall DAZZLING DISPLAYS from the trailhead in Maywood. Canoe Landing in Brookfield. Appreciate the work of local artists or brush up on your own skills at the Oak Park Art League in Oak Park, a gallery and school founded in 1921. Riverside Arts Center and Freeark Gallery in Riverside offers a quirky artistic escape into themed exhibits, special events and classes. The gallery is known for its edgy, risk-taking creations. So, too, is the O’Connor Art Gallery at Dominican University in River Forest, where contemporary works expose students to cutting-edge concepts and approaches. Or think outside the gallery by taking in public art. A walk around the area reveals many examples OAK PARK large and small, including the Village ART LEAGUE of Oak Park’s Community Mini Mural LAURA Project, transforming the concrete ATWOOD walls of the town’s railroad viaduct. art. Riverside Arts Weekend (May) in Riverside and Brookfield Fine Arts SINGULAR SHOPPING Festival (September) in Brookfield There’s art you just look at, and art you let you browse the works of many can take home. Laura Atwood Studio artists. And for Garage Galleries Beads and Trading Co. in Brookfield (August) in Forest Park, residents sells wearable art—beads, clothing, open their garages as exhibit spaces, GO APE jewelry and handbags. Higgins Glass creating casual art receptions. Go to ADVENTURES Studio in Riverside crafts home decor VisitOakPark.com for specific event such as sconces, tableware and wall dates and more information.

8 VISITOAKPARK.COM 9 FOOD + DRINKS

NEIGHBORHOOD FAVES Get your Irish on in Brookfield with shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage, and a bevy of beers at Irish Times Pub and Restaurant. Alejandra’s Mexican Cuisine and Cantina in Northlake is famous for its carne asada and fun, family atmosphere. A 40-year-plus fixture,Sawa’s Old Warsaw in Broadview still stuffs with its Polish-American smorgasbord—think potato pancakes, pierogi and blintzes. For Asian cuisine, try Moon Temple Chinese Restaurant in Berkeley or Chef Shangri-La in North Riverside, where diners enjoy Cantonese dishes in a HALA KAHIKI TIKI festive Polynesian setting. BAR AND LOUNGE

Signature drinks and traditions set off PROPOSE A TOAST these places for potent potables.

Hala Kahiki Tiki Bar Kinslahger Brewing tour, buy bottles and and Lounge Company enjoy cocktails in the Be bamboo-zled by the Oak Park’s first brewery speakeasy bar. IRISH TIMES PUB AND RESTAURANT MAYA DEL SOL Polynesian decor and offers flagship beers like Short Fuse Brewing more than 130 tropical chestnut red Chicago Company drinks at this River Common and pale Choose from at least Grove institution. Prohibition Pilsner. Try 14 beers on tap (all FAMOUS BEEF AND DOGS the nitrogen coffee, too. La Tequilería brewed in-house) in Where’s the beef? Johnnie’s EAT HERE In Melrose Park, enjoy Quincy Street Distillery Schiller Park, plus a Beef in Elmwood Park serves premium tequila, Artisan whiskey, gin and huge taproom, full Whether you’re thinking fine-dining date night, a tapas and live music other spirits flow behind kitchen, weekend live Chicago-style Italian beef casual meal at a neighborhood joint, grab-and-go amid beautiful vintage a historic Riverside music, tours and sandwiches at a no-frills, cash- Mexican decor. storefront. Book a Tuesday-night trivia. only spot. The late celebrity comfort food or a tempting special treat, Oak Park chef Anthony Bourdain once area eateries cater to all appetites. paid a visit. Another TV chef, Rachael Ray, voted Gene and THE HERITAGE Jude’s in River Grove the best DISTINCTIVE DINING “Something & Tonic.” Shareable hot dog in America. Since 1946, upscale dishes include grass-fed steak SWEET (AND SALTY) INDULGENCES the no-seating place has doled Hemmingway’s Bistro (yes, two Ms) in and roasted oysters. The Chew Chew Say uncle to temptation at Aunt Diana’s Old Fashioned Fudge in Riverside. If out dogs the Chicago way—no Oak Park adds fresh Midwest flavors in Riverside, near a Metra train stop, you think the aromas are amazing, taste the chocolate-covered (insert almost ketchup (there’s none on the to seafood and French classics like stays on the right track with subtle anything here). After a century in business, Petersen’s Ice Cream in Oak Park premises). Mickey’s Drive-In in duck à l’orange. Latin-fusion cuisine train decor and fan favorites like follows the same recipe—up to 18 percent butterfat creates super-rich flavor. By Bellwood opened in 1959, and is heats up Maya Del Sol in Oak Park. grilled salmon and risotto. Top-notch comparison, The Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor in Forest Park is a new kid, but famous for hot dogs, too, as well Pair spicy fare with a margarita on the tapas—think bacon-wrapped dates or boasts old-fashioned soda fountain charm. Enjoy their house-made ice cream and as Italian beef, Polish sausage spacious patio. The focus is seasonal Spanish-style black bean soup with root beer, plus pies and cakes. Hip-hopper meets popper at Benjamin’s Gourmet and meatball sandwiches. It’s still at The Heritage in Forest Park, ham—and house-made sangria await HEMMINGWAY’S BISTRO Popcorn in Broadview. Swapping tracks for snacks, local DJ Chris Benjamin turns owned by the same family. including cocktails—try the weekly at Emilio’s Tapas in Hillside. out hits like Benjamin’s White Cheddar Bliss, and keeps a DJ booth in the store.

ESSENTIAL EVENTS UNCORK ILLINOIS OAK PARK MICRO BREW REVIEW FOOD TRUCK RALLY HOPSTOP TASTE OF MELROSE PARK June | Oak Park August | Oak Park August | River Forest September | Riverside Labor Day Weekend | Melrose Park Go to VisitOakPark.com for dates Three cheers for the reds, whites and jazz. Mobile chefs wheel into town for this event and more information. Sample more than 200 craft beers from The zero-waste craft beer festival supports It’s been called the next-best food fest after Wine-lovers sip offerings from local vintners 85 breweries, feed on vendor food and co-sponsored (fittingly?) by the Rotary Club. the Frederick Law Olmsted Society in its Taste of Chicago. Local eateries and family and chill to relaxing live music. hear live bands. It’s a zero-waste event. Beer, live entertainment and inflatables, too. eco-friendly efforts. vendors drive the nearly 40-year-old event.

10 VISITOAKPARK.COM 11 NIGHTLIFE + SHOWS

THE CARLETON OF OAK PARK RESTFUL RETREATS After a day (and evening) of adventure, relax in these Oak Park lodgings: The Carleton of Oak Park WIRE Historic hotel with elegant furnishings and a boutique vibe in rooms and suites. The Write Inn The former Oak Park Manor, AFTER DARK with a variety of room types, including family rooms. Nightlife buzzes at theaters and nightclubs in Oak Park, Harvey House Bed and as well as in neighboring communities such as Breakfast Named for the giant River Forest, Berwyn and Broadview. imaginary rabbit in the old Jimmy Stewart film. Bishops Hall PLAY ON ALL THAT JAZZ A 1916 Georgian revival, Catch soliloquies under the stars at One of the Chicago area’s top now a bed-and-breakfast with three guest suites; once the Oak Park Festival Theatre, set live-music venues hides in Berwyn. home to the local bishop of outdoors in Austin Gardens. Summer FitzGerald’s, in an old building with a the Orthodox Church. productions of Shakespeare and other hip history, features roots artists and masters captivate all ages. Students help hosts an annual summer music festival. run the show at The Collective, part of Drag divas and comedians entertain Concordia University Chicago in River at Hamburger Mary’s Show Lounge in Forest, staging newer works and twists Oak Park. Take the stage yourself on on classics. Innovation and inspiration fill MaryOke (karaoke) night. See local and the bill at the Open Door Theater in Oak national acts at Wire, a tech-focused Park. Expect music, comedy and drama music school, performing venue, designed to entertain and provoke. recording studio, private event space Inclusivity and affordability draw fans to and record label in Berwyn. Buy craft the 16th Street Theater in Berwyn, now in beer and cocktails, too. Folks love to its second decade of eye-opening plays dance at The Blue Note Jazz Club in (with a recent move to a larger space). Broadview. Hear house, hip-hop and Madison Street Theatre in Oak Park R&B music. At Dominican University hosts shows by dozens of Chicago-area Performing Arts Center in River Forest, theater, improv and dance companies treat yourself to nationally acclaimed, HAMBURGER MARY’S at its 180-seat Main Stage and smaller award-winning acts in a venue with SHOW LOUNGE Studio Theatre. excellent acoustics.

DISCOVER MORE There’s way more to do in the Oak Park area than we can #VISITOAKPARK include in this guide. Go to our website and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for information on more VISITOAKPARK.COM attractions, as well as details on upcoming events.