Travelling to Chicago for a few days - what to check out?

[Hipster Salad]

I'll be in Chicago Sunday evening through Wednesday afternoon for software/applications training. What should be on my checklist to visit? Staying in Elgin.

- Guitar shops
- Local cuisine
- Cigar shops
- Local GGFers?
- ???
- Profit

[EndTime]

I’m out near Elgin. The shop I tech at is Goodtime Music in Streamwood. Should be around 15 min or so from Elgin. Worth checking out. I think. Lol. If you like PRS, and LTD/ESP, got plenty of those. Bunch of Mesa amps. Not a ton of used stuff but a couple cool pieces and he has a ton of pedals etc..

[GuitarBilly]

Hahaha I was going to suggest you to hit up EndTime but that's already taken care of by the man himself

Other than that, CME is a must go when visiting Chicago. They have a huge inventory and really high quality stuff.

For food, the last time I was in Chicago my friend took me to this little burger joint called Edzo's and it was ridiculously good lol
They even had a Nutella milkshake

So yeah I'm sure there's a lot more to do over there but these are my 3 recommendations: EndTime, CME and Edzos

[K-Bizzle]

Since you don’t have a ton of total free time, before suggesting anything I’d ask if you’ve been before?

Also food wise what are you into?
Keep in mind depending on timing Elgin can be pretty far out time wise from a lot of city stuff.

[JiveTurkey]

CME is a must. Holy funk is that place serious guitar mecca \m/

[macgaj3]

+1 for Chicago Music Exchange. one of the best stores in the country.

Also Kuma's Corner for burgers. There's a few around town. And find an italian beef sandwich and a hot dog somewhere.

[ajaxlepinski]

If you have time, definitely go to the Museum of Science and Industry. They have a German WWII U-Boat that you can go inside and see the torpedo room, living quarters and look through the periscope. They have a spoken word headphone narration - one of the U-Boat sailors talks about life on the sub and one of the American sailors talks about how they brought it to the surface and captured it.
The Museum also have a really freaky display of a man and a woman, sliced up into 1" strips and sandwiched between glass - you can see the slices from both sides.. The woman is sliced vertically and the man horizontally.... something you will never forget about your visit to Chicago!

I went to B.L.U.E.S. and had a great time. Saw Magic Slim, a local blues legend who is no longer with us.

[Hipster Salad]

Thanks for the suggestions. CME was one of the first places that popped in my mind. I have the next two evenings free so that should be good for some roaming around town.

Been to Chicago once before 8 years ago, and for the same reason. Didn't go out and do anything then, so I at least want to do one thing unique this time.

How's Uber/Lyft around here? Honestly I've never used it before, but that's my only means of getting around on personal time.

[EndTime]

Uber down to Chicago from Elgin is gonna be like $100. Lol. I’m not sure where CME is from the trains but there is trains from Elgin to Chicago. And if I were to hit the museums and such, I would always just ride the train into downtown. Def cheaper than UBer.

[EndTime]

Also there’s likely a serial killer running around Chicago. Lol, besides all the other Murderers. People ending up in the waterways a little too much for coincidence and it’s funny they are trying to keep that on the “down low”, but I have friends who’ve been saying for months they think a serial killer is loose and finally ONE of the media at least brought up the subject.

And I know everyone loves CME, but meh.. it’s all overpriced and unless you really looking for something extremely expensive and rare, or simply like looking at instruments(I actually dont unless I’m buying) it’s a whole lot of lawyers and corporate/office neck beards go to buy their gear. Lol

[NinjaRaf]

Kumas Corner fucking rules.

[FAKA!]

Also there’s likely a serial killer running around Chicago.

Always good to know when taking a trip to Chicago

[GuitarBilly]

Also there’s likely a serial killer running around Chicago.

Always good to know when taking a trip to Chicago

[JiveTurkey]

Also there’s likely a serial killer running around Chicago. Lol, besides all the other Murderers. People ending up in the waterways a little too much for coincidence and it’s funny they are trying to keep that on the “down low”, but I have friends who’ve been saying for months they think a serial killer is loose and finally ONE of the media at least brought up the subject.

And I know everyone loves CME, but meh.. it’s all overpriced and unless you really looking for something extremely expensive and rare, or simply like looking at instruments(I actually dont unless I’m buying) it’s a whole lot of lawyers and corporate/office neck beards go to buy their gear. Lol

That is nuts! When we went to the Riviera here in May it was definitely not a spot I wanted to roam around in

I know why you don't dig CMS. But that wall of Les Paul, even to a non-LP guy like myself is something to see at least once Rest of the neckbeard summation checks out 100%

[Dave]

Also there’s likely a serial killer running around Chicago. Lol, besides all the other Murderers. People ending up in the waterways a little too much for coincidence and it’s funny they are trying to keep that on the “down low”, but I have friends who’ve been saying for months they think a serial killer is loose and finally ONE of the media at least brought up the subject.

And I know everyone loves CME, but meh.. it’s all overpriced and unless you really looking for something extremely expensive and rare, or simply like looking at instruments(I actually dont unless I’m buying) it’s a whole lot of lawyers and corporate/office neck beards go to buy their gear. Lol

Yeah, I passed on CME for that exact reason. We have a similar lawyer blues shop down here, and unless I'm buying something specific I don't like to go in there. I'm with you in that I don't like just checking out guitars for no reason.



Cale, we stayed at The Langham on the river a couple months back and had a blast. The downtown public transportation is great, the bars are great, etc.

[EndTime]

Also there’s likely a serial killer running around Chicago. Lol, besides all the other Murderers. People ending up in the waterways a little too much for coincidence and it’s funny they are trying to keep that on the “down low”, but I have friends who’ve been saying for months they think a serial killer is loose and finally ONE of the media at least brought up the subject.

And I know everyone loves CME, but meh.. it’s all overpriced and unless you really looking for something extremely expensive and rare, or simply like looking at instruments(I actually dont unless I’m buying) it’s a whole lot of lawyers and corporate/office neck beards go to buy their gear. Lol

That is nuts! When we went to the Riviera here in May it was definitely not a spot I wanted to roam around in

I know why you don't dig CMS. But that wall of Les Paul, even to a non-LP guy like myself is something to see at least once Rest of the neckbeard summation checks out 100%

Look, I guess I "get". CME ad the wall and the abundance.. But it honestly doesn't do anything for me.. Its just excess and "prestige". Maybe at one point it was cool, but now that place couldn't be more overblown and corporate.. Just like Sweetwater..Which I dislike too! hahah

[Loop Bizkit]

CME is pretty cool to gawk at neat stuff, absolutely. They have so much. I don't even buy nice guitars (in the traditional sense) and it's a cool place lol.

As said already, Kuma's Korner is legit.

I like Connie's pizza too. it's not deep dish.

The super touristy stuff that's still really fun if you've not been to Chi before are the riverboat tours through downtown, the Glass floor thingy wayyyy up on Willis Tower, and the Museum district. I've been through the UBoat Ajax mentioned and it's indeed cool. Shedd Aquarium is also really great.


I'm 3 hours from Chicago, so we head that way a lot for Blackhawks games, and concerts.

[somata]

The El will get you around pretty well too.

My new favorite food spot is Kimski in Pilsen…might require a train/Uber combo, but is a really unique Polish/Korean place…cool bar, Maria’s, attached to it.

As for things to do, the lakefront is pretty awesome. The Art Institute is one of the top art museums in the world, and the Field museum has one of the best dinosaur collections in the world. West Loop/Fulton market has totally blown up with restaurants and bars. There’s a Kuma’s there…but I’m going to be one of those jerks that says it’s not as good as it used to be… Chicago is a real food town so it’ll be easy to get good eats. On the cheap end, Nando’s is a tasty option and Chi is one of the few places in the US that has them…I’m 90 min away, but get in pretty regularly and have gotten to know it pretty well…it’s a really great city.


Now off to google “current Chicago serial killer.”

[macgaj3]

CME is just nice to be able to put your hands on a lot of guitars that aren't easy to find in most places. Got to try out some EBMMs, Dunable DEs, Kauers, and GCIs.

Gawking at the old gibbys and PRSs with their $10k price tags is fun, but the variety is what makes it worthwhile

[Hipster Salad]

I’m out near Elgin. The shop I tech at is Goodtime Music in Streamwood. Should be around 15 min or so from Elgin. Worth checking out. I think. Lol. If you like PRS, and LTD/ESP, got plenty of those. Bunch of Mesa amps. Not a ton of used stuff but a couple cool pieces and he has a ton of pedals etc..

EndTime: Looks like I'm staying about 5 miles NE from your shop at Hyatt (training at the ByStronic HQ just down the road). I'll try to swing by after class tomorrow if you're working?

All else: Haven't really had time to browse the area. My coworker and I went to Giordano's tonight which is pretty damn good as far as pizza goes from a KC guy. We're getting Portillo's (?) catered tomorrow.

I will be back in the same area sometime next month for more training, and that might be a full week, so hopefully I'll have more time to check some shit out.

[andvari7]

There are two schools of thought on Chicago pizza, and this is coming from my family, who lived on the south side:

Deep dish pizza is for tourists.
Real Chicago pizza is cracker crust, and cut into squares.

Having said that, the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co do something incredibly interesting: Bake the pizza as a pot pie, and then, once you come back from treating the third degree burns on your hands, flip it over, so the crust becomes a bowl.

[NinjaRaf]

I always forget giordanos is a Chicago thing because we have a couple of locations here. Dumb considering it is Chicago style pizza lol. But I guess I don’t have to go there to have it lol. It is delicious though.

[Hipster Salad]

Real Chicago pizza is cracker crust, and cut into squares.

Like this?

[EndTime]

I’m out near Elgin. The shop I tech at is Goodtime Music in Streamwood. Should be around 15 min or so from Elgin. Worth checking out. I think. Lol. If you like PRS, and LTD/ESP, got plenty of those. Bunch of Mesa amps. Not a ton of used stuff but a couple cool pieces and he has a ton of pedals etc..

EndTime: Looks like I'm staying about 5 miles NE from your shop at Hyatt (training at the ByStronic HQ just down the road). I'll try to swing by after class tomorrow if you're working?

All else: Haven't really had time to browse the area. My coworker and I went to Giordano's tonight which is pretty damn good as far as pizza goes from a KC guy. We're getting Portillo's (?) catered tomorrow.

I will be back in the same area sometime next month for more training, and that might be a full week, so hopefully I'll have more time to check some shit out.

I’ll be there around 2-230 til 630 or so

[EndTime]

As for Pizza and all that. Look, the idea that ALL we eat is deep dish is crazy. Lol. It’s fine but I rarely eat it these days. But Gino’s East or Lou Malnatis is pretty good. Never got into Giordanos.

Portillos is a “staple” but they’ve been bought out by a mega corp and it’s not the same type of place. It’s another McDonalds at this point.

There’s another hot dog joint that makes most of the “top10” Chicago hot dog lists called Nana’s that’s within 5 minutes of our shop. Hint, don’t order fries with your hot dog cause then you’ll have more fries than you’d ever possibly need! Lol. They come with your hot dog or I should say they come ON your hot dog. And I’ll clarify further, it’s more that the put your hot dog on the wrapper and dump a ton of fries on it and wrap it up.