When the Michigan Avenue Bridge was built over the Chicago River in 1920, the warehouse district along its north bank quickly changed into one of the city's most upmarket quarters, now known as the Magnificent Mile and famed for its fashionable shops and department stores. Throughout the Roaring Twenties one glitzy tower after another was thrown up along Michigan Avenue. To the north, the opulent Drake Hotel rose off Lincoln Park. To the south, the white terracotta, wedding-cake colossus of the Wrigley Building was put up just over the river at 400 N Michigan Ave; it's spectacularly lit up at night. Built by the Chicago-based chewing-gum magnate, it was eclipsed almost immediately by the "Mag Mile's" most famous structure, the Tribune Tower . Still housing the editorial offices of Chicago's morning newspaper, as well as, on the ground floor, the studios of its main AM radio station, WGN (you can peer in from the street and watch the DJs in action), the tower was completed in 1925. Its flying buttresses and Gothic detailing turn their back on the then-prevalent Moderne style. Look closely at its lower floors and you'll see pieces of historic buildings - like the Parthenon and the Great Pyramid - pilfered from around the world by Tribune staffers and embedded here.
While the Tribune Tower anchors its southern end, the Mag Mile's northern reaches are dominated by the cross-braced steel John Hancock Center at 875 N Michigan Ave. Though it's about 325 feet shorter than the Sears Tower, the 360° panorama on a clear day from its 94th-floor Skydeck Observatory (daily 9am-midnight; $9) is unforgettable.
Back at ground level, you're right at the heart of Chicago's prime shopping district , where Neiman-Marcus and Tiffany & Co rub shoulders with Benetton and Nike Town. Some front onto Michigan Avenue, but most of the shops are enclosed within multistory complexes, or "vertical shopping malls." The oldest of these - and still the best - is Water Tower Place , 835 N Michigan Ave, with more than a hundred stores on seven floors plus a bustling food-court. The 900 N Michigan Avenue mall offers a less-cramped space and more upscale shops, anchored by Bloomingdale's and including Gucci and Aquascutum.
Across from Water Tower Place, at the very center of this consumer paradise, stands the Historic Water Tower - a building you'll feel is either beautiful or grotesque. An exuberant but naive example of frontier Gothic, the stone castle, topped by a 100ft tower, was built in 1869 and is one of the very few structures to have survived the 1871 fire. Two other museums are close at hand. The Terra Museum of American Art , 664 N Michigan Ave (Tues 10am-8pm, Wed-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-5pm; $7, free on Tues; ), holds good landscape paintings by Church and Cole, but it's the extensive collection of American Impressionist works that make it stand out. The Museum of Contemporary Art , at 200 E Chicago Ave (Wed-Sun 10am-5pm, Tues 10am-8pm; $10; ), has lots of space for its wacky interactive displays, video presentations, and a permanent collection featuring pieces by Calder, Nauman, Warhol and others. At the rear is a sculpture garden and patio where a café serves good bistro food.
Away from the Magnificent Mile, the area along the river between Michigan Avenue and the lake is at the center of a massive redevelopment project, at least partially attributed to the success of the renovated Navy Pier ( ), at East Illinois Street. Since undergoing a facelift in 1995, the pier has become the city's premier tourist destination, attracting more than eight million visitors annually to its shops, chain restaurants, 3D-IMAX theater and fifteen-story Ferris wheel. The pier, home to the Chicago Children's Museum (daily 10am-5pm; $6.50, free family night Thurs 5-8pm; ), is also a venue for concerts and weekend festivals in summer and an embarkation point for several boat tours, including Shoreline Sightseeing Co ($9; tel 312/222-9328, ). Shoreline runs thirty-minute cruises along the lakeshore from Navy Pier (weather permitting) year-round.
The more heavily industrial area west of Michigan Avenue is also experiencing a revival, though on a smaller scale and with a different character. In the rechristened River North , many old brick warehouses and factory premises have been converted to house avant-garde art galleries, restaurants and nightclubs. Huron and Superior streets, around their intersections with Wells Street, hold the most concentrated collection. Before you begin gallery-hopping, pick up a copy of the free Chicago Gallery News .
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