'Hoods #48: South Michigan Ave, Jan 15 2017

Bill organized South Mich Ave.

We consisted of a William, me, Sara, Ed, Kate and Max.
We had a VERY rare Tom and Evan.
And we were joined by newbies Odette and Bill R.

It was our 7 year anniversary 'Hoods!

South Michigan Avenue 'Hoods flickr album/pics

'Hoods South Michigan Avenue packet

We met up at Yolk for sustenance. Bill revealed there his design for our 'Burbs patch, if we ever manage to get that up and rolling.

Then out into the cold! We began with the Agora headless statues.

I'm not going to recount every statue/fountain/building we saw. South Mich is PACKED. And Bill very clearly mapped them all out for you in his packet.

Standouts included a whimsical little park tucked just west of Michigan Ave, with statues of three standing wolves and a big throne.

We spent a significant amount of time pooping around the Chicago Hilton. They have some nice exhibits on their own history. Some REALLY pretty lounges and ballrooms. We stopped for a drink and a rest at their Kitty O'Shea's.

I'd like to get in that Merle Reskin theatre.

The Blackstone Hotel is pretty hot. VERY cute lobby. Very nice elevator doors. Someday I'll eat at their tapas restaurant, Mercat a la Planxa.

There's not MUCH for the general public at the Spertus Institute for Jewish learning and culture. But there IS a small, but nice, exhibit on the Jewish history of Chicago.

We checked out the lobby of the Congress Hotel. Pretty. Lush. A fancy presidential chair that you can't sit in.

We briefly popped into the Auditorium building. Though, several of us had explored it more thoroughly at the Open House Chicago in 2012. Open House Chicago 2012.

Time for a (rather disappointing cheesecake) snack at the Artist's Cafe.

Lots more exteriors of very cool buildings. Including the Art institute. Which I've been to a million times. Magritte at Art Institute 2014. Van Gogh at Art Institute 2016. Random xmas time Art institute 2015. Bacchus at Art Institute 2015. Ireland at the Art Institute 2015. Gaugin at the Art Institute 2017. Etc.

We passed by the (former) Illinois Athletic Club. Now the Art Institute's ballroom. We'd visited that during open house 2016. Open House Chicago 2016. Very sumptuous. Gilded. Staircases for days.

We also passed the Chicago Athletic Association, which houses a rooftop bar/restaurant called Cindy's. Cindy's at the CAA. Their lobby and game room are also really lovely and worth a visit. CAA lobby and game room (nestled in other pics). Bill, William, husband and I ate at their Cherry Circle room once before the Opera. VERY good. And they have a really exclusive bar there that I've never visited, the Milk Room, that only serves rare and old booze.

Bill and I, at a later date, supplemented this Hoods by visiting the Russian Tea Room (do it), the Pritzker Military Museum (personally? boring), and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, where there was an exhibit on Ai Weiwei, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Russian Tea Room, Military Museum, MCP

We finished at the Chicago Architectural Foundation, where they have a store and a huge model of Chicago. As I write this, in 2018, they've closed this location and are about to open a NEW one on the river. They've even changed their name from the CAF to the CAC (Chicago Architecture Center).

This one was long and exhausting, even though we didn't seem to travel that great a distance. There's just so MUCH packed into a fairly small amount of street. Bill's packet for this one is epic.