Chicago/USA

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These are some pictures from Chicago

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Chicago

Chicago refers to the City of Chicago, and to the Chicago metropolitan area, colloquially called Chicagoland. Chicago is the largest city in the state of Illinois, the largest in the Midwest, and, with a population of nearly three million people, it is the third-most populous city in the United States. The Chicago metropolitan area has a population of over 9.4 million in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making it also the third largest metropolitan area in the United States. Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major center of transportation, industry, politics, culture, finance, medicine and higher education. Chicago's monikers include the "Windy City," "Chi-Town," "Chi-City," and the "City of the Big Shoulders" (from Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago).

Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the Midwest, and is ranked as an alpha world city . The city was founded in 1833 in order to link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River System. It soon became a transportation hub of the Midwest. By the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, it was one of the ten most influential world cities. The city reached its maximum population in 1930, but the suburbs continued to grow as the economic base recovered from the Great Depression and the employment pattern shifted from manufacturing toward services.

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History of Chicago

During the mid-19th century the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox people. The first non-native settler in Chicago, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, was Haitian and arrived in the 1770s, married a Potawatomi woman, and founded the area's first trading post. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Fort Dearborn Massacre. The Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi later ceded the land to the United States in the Treaty of St. Louis of 1816. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of 350, and within seven years it grew to a population of over 4,000. The City of Chicago was incorporated on March 4, 1837.

Chicago in its first century was one of the fastest growing cities in the world, heavily promoted by Yankee entrepreneurs and land speculators. It reached 1 million people by 1890.

Starting in 1848, the city became an important transportation link between the eastern and western United States with the opening of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, Chicago's first railway, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect through Chicago to the Mississippi River. With a flourishing economy that brought many new residents from rural communities and Irish American, Polish American, Swedish American, German American and numerous other immigrants, Chicago grew from a city of 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million between 1870 and 1900. The city's manufacturing and retail sectors dominated the Midwest and greatly influenced the American economy, with the Union Stock Yards dominating the meat packing trade.


State Street in 1907After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Chicago experienced rapid rebuilding and growth.[4] During Chicago's rebuilding period, the first skyscraper was constructed in 1885 using steel-skeleton construction. In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered among the most influential world's fairs in history.The University of Chicago was founded one year earlier in 1892 on the same location. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus & connects Washington & Jackson Parks.

The city was the site of labor conflicts and unrest during this period, which included the Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886. Concern for social problems among Chicago's lower classes led to the founding of Hull House in 1889, of which Jane Addams was a co-founder. The city also invested in many large, finely-landscaped municipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities.

Lake Michigan, the primary source of fresh water for the city, was already highly polluted from population growth and the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago. The city responded by embarking on several large public works projects, including a large excavation project which built tunnels below Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs which were two miles (3 km) off the lakeshore. However, the cribs failed to bring enough clean water, as spring rains would wash the polluted water from the Chicago River into them. Beginning in 1855, Chicago constructed the first comprehensive sewer system in the U.S. In 1900, the problem of sewage was solved by reversing the direction of the river's flow with the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal leading to the Illinois River.


The Chicago River at nightThe 1920s brought international notoriety to Chicago as gangsters such as Al Capone battled each other and the law during the Prohibition era. Nevertheless, the 1920s also saw a large increase in Chicago industry as well as the first arrivals of the Great Migration that would lead thousands of mostly Southern blacks to Chicago and other Northern cities. On December 2, 1942, the world's first controlled nuclear reaction was conducted at the University of Chicago as part of the top secret Manhattan Project.

Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of so-called machine politics. Starting in the 1950s, many upper and middle-class citizens left the inner-city of Chicago for the suburbs and left many impoverished neighborhoods in their wake. Nevertheless, the city hosted the 1968 Democratic National Convention and saw the construction of the Sears Tower (which became the world's tallest building), McCormick Place, and O'Hare Airport. When long time mayor, Richard J. Daley, died, Michael Bilandic was mayor for three years. His loss in a primary election has been attributed to the city's poor performance during a heavy snow storm. In 1979 Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She popularized the city as a movie location and tourist destination, but also failed to manage its finances well.

In 1983 Harold Washington became the first African American to be elected to the office of mayor. His election as mayor was one of the closest mayoral elections in Chicago. Bernie Epton was the Republican candidate, who ran on the slogan "Before it's too late." Epton said it was in reference to voting for him before it was too late and the city sunk into bankruptcy, but critics accused the slogan of actually meaning to vote for him before an African American is elected.

During Mayor Washington's term office marked the first time, Chicago spent the same amount of public funds in each of its wards for the first time in its history. Current mayor Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was first elected in 1989. New projects during the younger Daley's administration have made Chicago larger, more environmentally friendly, and more accessible.

Since the early 1990s, Chicago has seen a turnaround with increased ethnic diversity and many formerly abandoned neighborhoods starting to show new life. As a part of its environmentally friendly image, Chicago declared the Peregrine Falcon, a protected species that started to build its nests in Chicago skyscrapers, the official bird of the city in 1999.Under the current Mayor Daley, Chicago has seen considerable investment in infrastructure, revitalizing downtown theatres and retail districts, and improving lakefront and riverfront cityscapes.

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Architecture

Since the first steel-framed high-rise building of the world was constructed in the city in 1885, Chicago has been known for its skyscrapers,[15] and today boasts the world's tallest skyline.[16] Many high-rise buildings are located in the downtown area, notably historic buildings such as the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the Loop with others along the lakefront and the Chicago River. Once first on thelist of largest buildings in the world and still listed sixth, the Merchandise Mart stands at the junction of the north and south branches of the river. The three tallest buildings in the city are the Sears Tower (also the tallest building in the United States), the Aon Center, and the John Hancock Center. The remainder of the city consists of high-rise residential buildings near the lake and more low-rise buildings and single-family homes as one distance from the lake increases. Industrialized areas are clustered, including the lakefront near the Indiana border, the area south of Midway Airport, and the banks of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

As a side note, the world's soon-to-be-tallest building, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was designed by a Chicago architect - Adrian Smith of the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Future building sites that will contribute to Chicago's skyline including the supertall skyscrapers Waterview Tower, Chicago Spire, and Trump International Hotel and Tower. The 60602 zip code was named by Forbes as the hottest zip code in the country with upscale buildings such as The Heritage at Millennium Park (130 N. Garland) leading the way for other buildings such at Waterview Tower, The Legacy and Momo. The median sale price for residential real estate was $710,000 in 2005 according to Forbes.

Along Lake Shore Drive, parks line the lakefront. The most notable of these parks are Grant Park and Millennium Park, which border the east end of the Loop, Lincoln Park on the north side, and Burnham Park and Jackson Park in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the south side. Interspersed within this system of parks are 31 beaches in Chicago, the Lincoln Park Zoo, several bird sanctuaries, McCormick Place Convention Center, Navy Pier, Soldier Field, the Museum Campus, and a water treatment plant.

Pushed along by the national real estate boom in recent years, Chicago has seen an unprecedented surge in skyscraper construction, most notably in the area directly south (South Loop) and north (River North) of the Loop.

The city's streets are organized in a grid pattern. The pattern is modified by the shoreline, the three branches of the Chicago River, the system of active/inactive rail lines, several diagonal streets (including Lincoln, Milwaukee, Clybourn, Elston, Archer, Broadway, and Ogden Avenues), the expressways, and hundreds of bridges and viaducts. In addition, the baselines for numbering streets and buildings are State Street (for east-west numbering) and Madison Street (for north-south numbering). Street numbers begin at "1" at the baselines and run numerically in directions indicated to the city limits, with N, S, E, and W indicating directions. Even-numbered addresses are on the north and east sides of streets; odd-numbered addresses are on the south and west sides. Chicago is divided into one-mile sections which usually contain eight blocks to the mile, with the exception of the streets for three miles immediately south of Madison. Between Madison and Roosevelt Road (12th), twelve blocks are used per mile, between Roosevelt and Cermak Road (22nd Street), ten blocks make one mile, and between Cermak and 31st Street nine blocks make a mile.

Madison Street, in addition to simply being an origin point for north-south numbering, also divides the city into two well-established areas, the North Side and the South Side. The rivalry between the North and South Sides are distinct, etched from different ethnic origins and historical developments, as well as culminating in the contemporary rivalry between the two Chicago baseball teams - the Chicago Cubs are considered to be the representative team for the North Side, whereas the Chicago White Sox are considered to be the South Side's counterpart. Note that despite the primary focus on the North-South rivalry, there are other geographic designations for the city, most commonly being the West Side, which broadly encompasses the area west of both the north and south branches of Chicago River. The Northwest and Southwest sides of the city area also referenced with frequency, though they tend to be subsumed under one of the three aforementioned areas.

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North Side

The city's North Side is the most densely populated, as well as being the most commercially zoned section of the city, with Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Square and Uptown being prime examples of multi-zoned neighborhoods. Due to historical economic developments and trends, the North Side is also, on average, the wealthiest part of Chicago. The North Side is primarily served by the Red and Brown Lines on the CTA, as well as the Blue Line.

Ethnically, the North Side serves as arguably the most diverse section of Chicago. Originally the main destination for immigrants from Poland, who settled along Milwaukee Avenue; the Swedish, who established a community in neighborhoods such Andersonville, and Germans who settled down along Lincoln Avenue, today there are still large immigrant populations, but from different parts of the globe. Today there are large Pakistani, Assyrian and Indian communities centered around Devon Avenue, as well as a strong Asian community in Uptown, abutting West African, African American and Caribbean communities within the space of a few city blocks. The heart of the city's Orthodox Jewish community is found in Rogers Park.

The North Side is also home to a very large and diverse gay and lesbian community. Two neighborhoods in particular, Lakeview and Andersonville (in Edgewater), are home to many LGBT businesses and organizations. The area adjacent to the intersection of Halsted and Belmont is known to Chicagoans as "Boystown".

Much of the North Side has reaped the benefits of Chicago's massive building and economic boom, which began in the 1990s. The resulting escalation of land values has seen areas such as River North, an area just north the Chicago River and the Loop, undergo a rapid transition from derelict warehouse district to a dense commercial, residential, and entertainment hub, featuring the city's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries.

Development has not come without controversy, however. Arguably more so on the North Side than in other areas of the city, urban progress has meant gentrification. The subsequent effect of the economic boom has been significant in displacing those in lower income brackets. Just west of River North's galleries and bistros, the demolition of the CHA's notorious Cabrini-Green housing project began in 2003. The project will be completed sometime in 2020. While on the surface this would seem to be improvement for the city, the deeper-seated economic implications have raised a number of protests against a perceived war on the poor. The high-priced townhouses being erected literally in the shadows of the gray poverty-stricken highrises along Halsted near Division Street do not serve as much of a defense in such arguments. But, whatever the case may be, as the history of Chicago seems to have illustrated, the city's neighborhoods have always been in a constant state of flux.

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South Side

The South Side encompasses roughly 60% of the city's land area; however, with a higher ratio of single-family homes and large sections zoned for industry, it is less densely populated than the North Side. Although it has endured a reputation as being crime-ridden and gang-infested, the reality of the South Side shows its demographics to be as varied as the rest of Chicago: ranging from poverty-stricken, to working class, to affluent. Neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, Little Village and Pullman have a long history of being blue collar, while Hyde Park, Mount Greenwood, Morgan Park and Beverly have historically been home to the middle and upper-middle classes, as well as many wealthy Chicagoans.

Like most of Chicago, the South Side has been the home of many White European residents (both foreign-born as well as second generation). With its factories, steel mills and meat-packing plants, the South Side saw a sustained period of immigration which began around the 1860s, and continued through the Second World War. Large numbers of Irish, Italian, Polish and Lithuanian immigrants in particular, who came in search of jobs and a better way of life, settled in neighborhoods adjacent to industrial zones. After 1945, however, many of these white residents began an exodus to the suburbs, with newly arrived African Americans from the South as well as Puerto Ricans taking their places. Today, the South Side is also home to a large number of Mexican Americans. Little Village (South Lawndale) is home to a large portion of Chicago's Mexican American population.

The South Side has had a history of racial segregation. One of the more notable of these factors was the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway, which in some cases separated white neighborhoods from black neighborhoods (e.g. the divide between Bridgeport and Bronzeville). But progress towards the redevelopment and reintegration of the South Side has gained momentum in recent years with great strides having been made towards repairing historic Bronzeville, as well as Washington Park - both of which have both seen building booms with new homes and businesses replacing what were previously abandoned buildings and vacant lots. Also seen by many as key in urban renewal, many of the Chicago Housing Authority's massive public housing projects, which lined several miles of South State Street, have been torn down. After decades of sustaining some of the worst poverty and poorest housing conditions in the United States, the CHA has begun replacing the old high-rise public housing with mixed-income, lower density developments, known as the Plan for Transformation (see their site). Neighborhood rehabilitation (and, in some cases, gentrification) can also be seen in parts of Woodlawn and Bronzeville, as well as in Bridgeport and McKinley Park. Historic Pullman's redevelopment is another example of a work in progress.

There are also plenty of examples of Chicago's characteristic diversity reflected in the South Side as well. Chinatown, for example, which has seen a surge in growth and has become an increasingly popular destination for both tourists and locals alike, is a cornerstone of the city's East Asian community. Hyde Park is home to the prestigious University of Chicago, as well as the South Side's largest Jewish population, which is centered around Chicago's oldest synagogue, KAM-Isaiah Israel

Southwest Side

The Southwest Side of Chicago is a subsection of the South Side comprised mainly of residential neighborhoods, and mainly defined by the distinguishing feature of being predominantly white. Architecturally, the Southwest Side is distinguished by the tract of Chicago's Bungalow Belt, which runs through it.

Brighton Park, a Polish enclave along Archer Avenue (which leads toward Midway Airport), is located on the Southwest Side of the city, as is Beverly, which is home to a large concentration of Irish Americans and boasts its annual South Side Irish Parade, which typically draws a larger crowd than the St. Patrick's day parade in Chicago's loop.

The Southwest Side is serviced by the Orange Line of the CTA's elevated train, which runs to Midway Airport.

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West Side

The West Side of Chicago is made up of neighborhoods such as Austin, Lawndale, Garfield Park, West Town, and Humboldt Park. Some of these neighborhoods, particularly Garfield Park and Lawndale, have been subjected to prolonged socio-economic problems ranging from urban decay, overcrowding and a resulting high crime rate. As is also the case with the South Side, attempts to remedy the crime and poverty have been made, notably with the razing of many CHA public housing units, such as most of the Henry Horner Homes, and parts of Rockwell Gardens. ABLA, another CHA public housing area, was razed for Roosevelt Square, in order to create a mixed income community.

Other West Side neighborhoods closer to downtown, such as Wicker Park and the Ukrainian Village), have, since the mid-1990s, seen extensive economic and residential developments to the point of gentrification. Humboldt Park, once home to a large German-American population, is now the apex of Chicago's Puerto Rican community, although it too is slowly beginning to gentrify. West Loop, Greektown and the other communities surrounding University of Illinois at Chicago, such as Little Italy, Tri-Taylor and University Village all are gentrified neighborhoods and home to new construction, renovation and the middle to upper classes.

The southernmost neighborhood of the West Side, is primarily Mexican-American Pilsen, a community known historically as an immigrant gateway for Chicago. As a result of Pilsen's close proximity to downtown and the growth of the south University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) campus, Pilsen has seen many immigrants begin to leave for more affordable neighborhoods. The creation of upscale University Village, which borders Pilsen on the north, replaced the low income Maxwell Street neighborhood. The redevelopment of Maxwell Street and the rest of the near West Side have been growing momementum. East Pilsen, home to an established artist's colony, has already seen much new construction, and the rest of Pilsen is poised to begin its redevelopment.

The West Side is home to three of Chicago's largest parks: Douglas Park, Garfield Park, and Humboldt Park, all of which are attractively landscaped. Arguably the most notable attraction contained in these, is the famous Garfield Park Conservatory, which houses one of the largest collection of tropical plants of any major U.S. city. Other attractions on the West Side include the United Center, Humboldt Park's Puerto Rican Day festival, and the Mexican Fine Arts Center in Pilsen.

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Culture

In 1998, the city officially opened the Museum Campus, a 10-acre (4-ha) lakefront park surrounding three of the city's main museums: the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Shedd Aquarium. The Museum Campus was constructed on the southern section of Grant Park. Grant Park is also home to Chicago's other major downtown museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, which is partnered with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, located in the Hyde Park neighborhood, is housed in the only in-place surviving building from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.

The Oriental Institute, part of the University of Chicago, has an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern archaeological artifacts, while the Freedom Museum is dedicated to exploring and explaining the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Other museums and galleries in Chicago are the Chicago History Museum, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and The Renaissance Society.

Chicago has several signature foods which reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. These include the deep-dish pizza and the Chicago hot dog, which is almost always made of Vienna Beef and loaded with mustard, chopped onion, sliced tomato, pickle relish, celery salt, sport peppers, and a dill pickle spear (however, putting ketchup on a Chicago hot dog is often viewed as 'sacrilegious'). Chicago is also known for Italian Beef sandwiches and the Maxwell Street Polish (always served topped with grilled onions and mustard). The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These include "Greektown" on South Halsted, "Little Italy" on Taylor Street, just west of Halsted, "Chinatown" on the near South Side, and South Asian on Devon Avenue. Each summer at the end of June there is a food festival called Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. The park is home to the famous Buckingham Fountain and is located in the midst of downtown off the lake. Every type of food in the city is represented, with free concerts and events daily.

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Entertainment and performing arts

Chicago has a major theater scene, and is the birthplace of modern improvisational comedy.[17] The city is home to two renowned comedy troupes: The Second City and I.O. (formerly known as ImprovOlympic). Renowned Chicago theater companies include the Steppenwolf Theatre Company (on the city's north side), the Goodman Theatre, and the Victory Gardens Theater. Other theatres, from nearly 100 storefront performance spaces such as the Strawdog Theatre Company, the House Theatre Company, TimeLine Theatre Company and Remy Bumppo Theatre Company in the Lakeview area to landmark downtown houses such as the Chicago Theatre, present a variety of plays and musicals.

Broadway in Chicago, created in July of 2000, bring touring productions and previews of Broadway musicals to Chicago, at venue including: LaSalle Bank Theatre, Cadillac Palace Theatre, Ford Oriental Theatre, and the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. Examples of shows that have come to the city as part of "Broadway in Chicago" are: Wicked, Rent, Stomp, The Color Purple, Hairspray, Chicago (musical), Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia!, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Cats (musical), The Producers (musical), Jesus Christ Superstar.

The city is home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet, and several modern and jazz dance troupes. The city's classical music scene is also home to companies including Music of the Baroque, Chicago Opera Theater, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago a cappella, and many others.

Chicago is known for its Chicago blues, Chicago soul, Jazz, and Gospel. This strong tradition of music and musical innovation have continued into contemporary styles. The city is the birthplace of the House style of music, and is the site of an influential Hip-Hop scene. In the 1980s the city was a center for industrial, punk and new wave (spawning the famous Wax Trax! label); this influence continued into the alternative scene of the 1990s, with The Smashing Pumpkins emerging out of Chicago onto the global stage in the early 1990s. Chicago was an epicenter of the development of rave culture in the 1980s even through today. There is a flourishing independent rock scene, including the recent explosion of Chicago emo acts, with multiple festivals featuring various acts each year (Lollapalooza, the Intonation Music Festival and Pitchfork Music Festival being the most prominent).

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Sports

Chicago was named the best sports city in the United States by The Sporting News in 2006.[6] The city has 15 sports teams. Chicago is one of only a few cities to have its major sports teams play within its city limits. It is one of three U.S. cities that has two Major League Baseball teams, and the only city to have always had more than one baseball team since the forming of the American League in 1900. The Chicago Cubs of the National League play at Wrigley Field, which is the second-oldest MLB stadium and is located in the North Side neighborhood of Lakeview, commonly referred to as "Wrigleyville."

The Chicago White Sox of the American League, who won the 2005 World Series, play at U.S. Cellular Field, bulit in the early 90s and located in the South Side neighborhood of Bridgeport. Since the beginning of interleague play in 1997, tension between Cubs fans and Sox fans continues to build. As comedian Jim Belushi commented in 2006, "I'd rather have a sister in a whore house, than a brother who's a Sox fan," and every year, at their South-Side Saint Patricks Day parade, Sox fans agree that they root for only two teams: "the go-go Chicago White Sox, and any team that plays the Cubs."


Wrigley Field on the North Side. Home of the Chicago CubsThe Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association are one of the world's most recognized basketball teams, thanks to their enormous success during the Michael Jordan era, when they won six NBA titles in the 1990s. The Bulls play at the United Center on Chicago's Near West side.

The Chicago Blackhawks, of the National Hockey League, also play in the United Center. The Hawks are an Original Six franchise, founded in 1926 and last won the Stanley Cup in 1961, currently the longest championship drought in the NHL.

The Chicago Bears of the National Football League play at Soldier Field. Chicago is the largest city to have a NFL stadium within the city limits. The Bears have won nine American Football championships (eight NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX) trailing only the Green Bay Packers, who have twelve. In 2007, the Bears won the NFC Championship and went on to the Super Bowl for the second time in team history, but lost to the Indianapolis Colts.

The Chicago Fire, members of Major League Soccer, won one league and four US Open Cups since 1997. After eight years at Soldier Field, they recently moved to the new Toyota Park in Bridgeview at 71st and Harlem Avenue during the summer of 2006. Toyota Park is also home to the Chicago Machine of the MLL.

The Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League and Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League both play at the Allstate Arena in nearby Rosemont. Co-owned by Mike Ditka, the Rush are the defending Arenabowl champions. The Wolves have won league champonships in 1998, 2000, and 2002. Their first season was 1994-95.

The Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association play at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion. Their inaugural year was 2006.

The Chicago Hounds of the United Hockey League, the Chicago Shamrox of the NLL and the Chicago Storm of the MISL play at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

The Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football League play at the Sears Centre. Their inaugural year will be 2007, playing in the Spring.

Chicago United, USAFL members, are the Australian Rules football club in the city, competing in the MAAFL.

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Tourism

Thirty-three million foreign and domestic visitors came to Chicago in 2005.[21] Luxury shopping along the Magnificent Mile, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's position as global architectural capital, have attracted millions of tourists over the years. The city is also a convention hub, being the United States' third largest city for conventions, behind only Las Vegas and Orlando.Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south of Soldier Field.

Navy Pier, a 3000-foot (900 m) pier housing restaurants, shops, museums, exhibition halls, auditoriums, and a 150-foot-tall (45 m) Ferris wheel, is located north of Grant Park on the lakefront, and is one of the most visited landmarks in the Midwest, attracting over 8 million people in 2005.


Crown FountainThe Chicago Cultural Center, built in 1897 as Chicago's first permanent public library, now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries, and exhibit halls. The ceiling of Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot (11 m) Tiffany glass dome.

Millennium Park is a rebuilt section of a former railyard that was planned for unveiling at the turn of the 21st century, though it was delayed for several years. The park includes the original sculpture Cloud Gate (known locally as The Bean). When visitors face The Bean and Lake Michigan, a curved image of the Chicago skyline is reflected back. Millennium Park also contains a restaurant with an outdoor seating section that is transformed into an ice skating rink in the winter. Two tall glass sculptures make up the Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa. The fountain's two towers display huge LED images of Chicagoans' faces, with water spouting from their pursed lips. Frank Gehry's ornate stainless steel bandshell, Pritzker Pavilion, is home to the Grant Park Music Festival, a free summer series of classical concerts. Behind the pavilion's stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque. Gehry's stainless steel BP Bridge connects Millennium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza.