Things to do / Travel Guide
Tired of the standard fare of attractions in the metro Chicago and southern Wisconsin region? Thirsting to get off the beaten track in the middle of a big city? Here are some more attractions that will keep you busy in this great region:
Off the Beaten Track - Chicago
Chicago is home to the very first of the Playboy Mansion. This edifice was built in 1899 but acquired by Hugh Heffner in 1959. The 70-room residence once occupied by Hef, his bunnies, and his office, has since been converted into condominiums - but it's still worth a look for its colorful past. The building is located in the Near North section of Chicago, just east of the Loop.
Outside Chicago but still within Chicagoland, in quiet Oak Park, Illinois, is the Frank Lloyd Wright Studio. Architecture junkies will love this site, and its assorted hour-long tours. Wright at this location created his own version of “shabby-chic,” in which he turned cheap pine into expensive-looking timber, for instance. Not too far away is the Ernest Hemingway Museum and the Birthplace of Ernest Hemingway, the man who once called Chicago a “village of wide lawns and narrow minds,” in his writings from the Spanish Civil War and World War II.
Whatever you think about gentrification, it definitely produces some interesting results, blending some of the old with some of the new. Where once poor tenant houses crumbled and shots were fired through the night, now yuppies with their SUVs and young families have moved in; where once there were meatpackers and meatpackers only, there are now art galleries and high-end experimental restaurants interspersed among the old warehouses. This is West Fulton Market, in Near West Side. The meatpackers still dominate in the neighborhood, and the smell and sights admittedly can be overpowering at times, but this just lends an avant-garde element for the new higher-end elements.
Off the Beaten Track - Milwaukee
To pay homage to the beer of yesteryear, take a stop at the Beer Corner at the Forest Home Cemetery, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Placed there are monuments to the early giants of Milwaukee brewing - Blatz, Pabst, Best, and Schlitz. Pabst started brewing in 1844 and changed their “Best” beer to “Pabst Blew Ribbon” after winning the coveted blue ribbon during a beer competition at the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. Best beer was a subsidiary of Pabst until its merger. Blatz beer was founded in 1851 and by 1900 they were the third largest brewery in Milwaukee. In 1959, the company was sold to Pabst, then later sold to Stroh's in 1996. Another company sold to Stroh's was the beer that made Milwaukee famous: Schlitz was started in 1858 and really took off after it sent free beer to the citizens of Chicago after the Great Fire in 1871, unfortunately it was sold in 1982.
What trip to Wisconsin would be complete without a visit to a dairy shrine? Fort Atkinson, due west of Milwaukee, is home to the Hoard Historical Museum and Dairy Shrine. Set in a Gothic Revival mansion, once owned by the W.D. Hoard family, the museum displays a 15,000 piece collection of Native American artifacts, while the Dairy Shrine pays homage to Wisconsin's dairy heritage.
Off the Beaten Track - Old World Wisconsin
Old World Wisconsin, 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee from I-43, is a literally city-sized living museum dedicated to the more-than 65 immigrant communities that were once scattered across Wisconsin. Structures are organized into Polish, Danish, Yankee, Finish, Norwegian, and two German homesteads. The rural life of all these pioneers cultures are illustrated in a site nearly 600 acres in size.
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