Chicago City Guide

Chicago Overview

'Chicago, Chicago': a pumping, showstopping extravaganza of a city.

Chicago has the lot: itinerant artists babbling Beat, Polish aunties stuffing sausage, African-American mothers organising the block, blue-collar guys bad-mouthing the Bears, a crooner singing the blues on the South Side. It's a city that wears its American heart proudly on its sleeve.

Chicago's diverse population has built a city with an unrivalled tradition of jazz and blues, an astonishing architecture, an appetite for hearty food, award-winning newspapers, universities full of Nobel laureates and some of the most die-hard sports fans you'll ever meet.

Chicago Photo Gallery

Photographs of Chicago

Wrigley Field, built 1914: home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team

Chicago City Lighthouse: built 1893; moved slightly to the south, 1917

Clarence Buckingham Fountain, lit up like the Disneyland Castle, Grant Park

Chicago Fast Facts

Facts about Chicago

Currency in Chicago

Notes in United States

American banknotes (bills) often confuse visitors: they're all the same size and the same colour. Be especially careful not to hand over too much cash, and always check your change carefully. Be careful not to accept incomplete or severely torn notes, as they can be refused; small rips are usually not a problem. Bills come in denominations of 1, 2 (rare), 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars.

Coins in United States

Coins come in 1 (penny), 5 (nickel), 10 (dime), 25 (quarter) cent and 50 cent denominations; there is also a dollar coin.

Preferred Form of Payment in Chicago

If you can't use your credit card in the US then you probably can't use it anywhere. ATMs are hard to miss, well networked and offer an even cheaper option if your card is set up to use them. Otherwise travellers cheques are almost as good as cash; you'll save yourself hassle and expense if they are in US dollars.

Changing Your Money in Chicago

Major credit and debit cards, including the Visa Cash Passport Card, are widely accepted. You can also access your bank account using US ATMs which are ubiquitous. Travellers cheques are easily converted to cash at any bank. You'll probably need to take your passport along to prove your identity.

Money Tips

If you camp or stay in hostels, catch buses and cook your own food, you could feasibly explore the country on around 50 USD a day. Staying in motels and eating at modest cafes will mean you'll hit the 100 USD mark, and enjoying the convenience of a rental car will push your daily budget up to 150 USD.

Using a Telephone in Chicago

Coin phones have been deregulated in the Windy city, so telephone companies are free to charge whatever people will pay. Ameritech phones are usually reliable, costing 0.35 USD per call. If you're using your credit card for calls, beware of being overcharged (some companies rip you off as much as 5.00 USD a minute).

US payphones haven't converted to card phones used elsewhere in the world. You'll need plenty of quarters and dimes or a pre-paid calling card to make long-distance calls.

Toll-free numbers start with 800, 877 or 888. For local directory assistance call 411 or 555-1212, though these calls are no longer free, even from payphones.

Using a Mobile Phone in Chicago

In the USA cell phones use GSM 1900 or CDMA 800, operating on different frequencies from systems in other countries. The only foreign phones that will work in the USA are tri-band models, operating on GSM 1900 as well as other frequencies. If you have a GSM tri-band phone, check with your service provider about using it in the USA, but be aware that calls will be more expensive than using your home network (because of the US service provider's charges). Your mobile phone number stays the same, and callers at home will be connected to your phone automatically.

You may be able to take the SIM card from your home phone, install it in a rented mobile phone that's compatible with the US systems, and use the rental phone as if it were your own phone - same number, same billing basis. Ask your mobile phone company about using your SIM card for global (or international) roaming. You can rent a phone for about 45.00 USD per week, but rates vary.

Phone shops in the USA will allow you to rent a GSM 1900 compatible phone with a set amount of prepaid call time. Pricing plans are complex, but generally this is an expensive option. T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.com) is one US company that provides this service.

Doing Business in Chicago

Chicago is a hub of American industry, attracting millions of business visitors each year. Accordingly, Chicago is heavily loaded with convention and exhibition centres. O'Hare International Airport has a business centre located beneath the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport in Terminal 2. The Hilton Business Center (tel: 773 601 1743) provides a full service, including fax, photocopying, and packing and shipping. There is also a Laptop Lane facility (tel: 773 894 3100) in Terminal 1, providing workstations with computers, Internet, fax, printing, IDD telephones and laptop connections. Most hotels have business facilities, although the high-end hotels are particularly impressive in this area.

Caffeine junkies needing a morning fix can skip the latte when they come to the Loop; the surging energy of the city's historic heart is enough to get anyone's pulse racing. The Loop breathes electricity, with the clattering roar of the El trains echoed in the tumultuous tides of office-bound workers. Orange-vested newspaper hawkers wade into traffic, fishing for sales from executives barking into cell phones. And above the melee, a towering forest of steel and stone soaks in the first rays of the sun.

Media in Chicago

Chicago is a newspaper town, one of the few cities in the country to support two competing dailies, the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times. Chicago also has a wealth of magazines, especially locally produced indie rags. The radio spectrum screeches with a cacophony of local stations. As far as the idiot box is concerned, Chicago's local network affiliates are little different from their counterparts in other large cities.

Periodicals in Chicago

Radio Stations in Chicago

Books in Chicago

Factoids

Fire Cow

The Chicago fire of 1871 was supposedly started when a cow, owned by Mrs O'Leary, kicked over a lantern. But some historians say the fire was started by a man named 'Peg Leg' Sullivan, who then blamed it on the cow.