Location: Southwest Side
Top Things to do in Southwest Side
Top 10 Things to do in Southwest Side, Illinois (IL)
The windy city is a cornucopia of modern art, fine dining, cutting edge comedy, and die-hard sports fans. Snap a photo of your reflection in the silver Cloud Gate sculpture at Millennium Park before heading to Grant Park to get hit with the refreshing spray of Buckingham Fountain. There are dozens of museums and theater companies in Chicago, so a cultural experience is never hard to find. You’re sure to laugh your head off at the Second City Theater, the professional launch pad of many famous comedians.
Restaurants in Chicago
1. Chicago Aerial Tours
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
Flying since 2003 we are the oldest tour provider in Chicago. We are also the only tour provider of both Airplane and Helicopter Tours!
2. Wait Here Chicago
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 5 reviews
3. Chicago Weekend Explorers
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 7 reviews
Chicago Weekend Explorers is a travel group that’s dedicated to exploring the amazing travel options in the beautiful American Midwest! Our passion is the weekend: taking advantage of the amazing options available within a few hours drive of Chicago. From craft breweries and art museums to beautiful kayaking and hiking excursions, we make each weekend a true showstopper!
4. Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 13 reviews
This museum includes exhibits on Lithuanian history and culture as well as the largest Lithuanian research center outside of Lithuania.
Reviewed By 142jg - Iowa, United States
Overall they had a small museum that was chock full of artifacts and history. Signage was basic yet informative. Interesting coin, bead, amber and other artifacts. Old books and newspapers, holocaust materials, and traditional crafts were on display. On the third floor was a special display of their story of Lithuanian history, stories of the DP camps (post WWII), emigration stories, and the long struggle for independence. Quite good and very educational. This display bumped up my review form a 4 to a 5 star experience. Street parking was adequate and flagged building easy to find. I'm glad I went. Wish I could have spent time in their research library.
5. Rush Hour Concerts
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2 reviews
6. Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co.
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 1,719 reviews
Celebrating 25 years as Chicago’s original Hop-on Hop-off tour, Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. highlights the best sites Chicago has to offer. With ticket options ranging from one to three days, every ticket includes Chicago Trolley’s iconic Downtown Tour, complete with 14 Hop-on Hop-off stops throughout downtown Chicago and River North, the Wrigley Field/Lincoln Park Zoo Route and the Night Tour. For those wanting to experience Chicago by water, Chicago Trolley also offers the Land, Lake and River Package combining the best of the Downtown Tour together with Mercury Skyline Cruises boat tour. Not only are they the largest tourism transportation company in Chicago, but they also drive for more than five thousand private events for locals each year all over downtown, the suburbs, and throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana.
7. Union Stockyard Gate
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 10 reviews
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
I remember the way it was in the 1950s, when the Union Stock Yards on Chicago's South Side was still the meatpacking capital of the world, when it was known as the "hog butcher for the world," when you you could smell the steers and hogs while watching a game at nearby Comiskey Park, when my uncle was a foreman at one of the largest meatpacking companies. Located on Exchange Avenue at Peoria Street, you can get a clear view of the gate while driving on Halsted Street. It is the only surviving structural survivor of the Union Stock Yards, which were established in 1865 and closed in 1971. During that time, the Union Stock Yards became an integral part of the popular culture of Chicago's history. The gate, the eastern entrance to the Union Stock Yards, was designed in 1875 by architect James Wellborn Root and built in 1879. It is a limestone construction with a central arch flanked by two smaller arches. The main arch is 16 feet wide and 17 feet high. Over the arch is the famous bust of Sherman, the favorite prize-winning bull of John B. Sherman, who was founder of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company. The plaza surrounding the gate also includes Chicago's principal memorial to its firefighters with a statue with the names of all Chicago firefighters ever killed in the line of duty engraved on its base. The gate was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designed a Chicago Landmark in 1972 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981.
8. Kellys Tavern Chicago
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 1 reviews
9. McKinley Park
10. National Archives at Chicago
Overall Ratings
3.0 based on 1 reviews
The National Archives at Chicago has extensive microfilm holdings of value for genealogy research, including Federal population censuses, military service records, and selected passenger arrival lists. It also has more than 80,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from 1800 to the 1980s created or received by Federal agencies in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and Federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.. Among subjects of local interest are: the Great Lakes and inland waterways, Native Americans, the environment, immigration and naturalization, inventions and technology, railroads, the automotive industry, and domestic conditions during World Wars I and II. The records
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