Howard Frum loves Chicago and he has many points of interest for you to visit while you are here. Listed below are just a few places that should be on your "must see" list. On behalf of Howard Frum and all of his staff...welcome to Chicago!

The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art

One of the nation's largest facilities devoted to the art of our time, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) offers exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art created since 1945. The MCA documents contemporary visual culture through painting, sculpture, photography, video and film, and performance. Located in a new building near the historic Water Tower in the heart of downtown Chicago, the MCA boasts a gift store, bookstore, restaurant, 300-seat theater, and a terraced sculpture garden with a great view of Lake Michigan.

The Chicago Art Institute

The museum is located at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street (111 S. Michigan Avenue), on the eastern edge of Chicago's famous downtown Loop. The Art Institute, which comprises both a museum and a school, found its permanent home on Michigan Avenue in 1893. The original, core beaux-arts building, designed by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, was built for the World's Columbian Exposition.

The Field Museum of Natural History

The Field Museum was incorporated in the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago with its purpose the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of objects illustrating art, archaeology, science and history." In 1905, the Museum's name was changed to Field Museum of Natural History to honor the Museum's first major benefactor, Marshall Field, and to better reflect its focus on the natural sciences. In 1921 the Museum moved from its original location in Jackson Park to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown where it is part of a lakefront Museum Campus that includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. These three institutions are regarded as among the finest of their kind in the world and together attract more visits annually than any comparable site in Chicago.

The Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry, one of the most beloved and visited museums in the world, has origins that are tied to two great World's Fairs and to civic spirit and imagination of Chicago businessman Julius Rosenwald. Rosenwald, then Chairman of Sears Roebuck & Company, was inspired by a 1911 visit with his son to the Deutches Museum in Munich. With the help of other Midwest business leaders, Rosenwald restored and converted the Palace of Fine Arts, the last remaining major structure from the 1893 World's Fair, into a new type of American museum - where visitors could interact with the exhibits, not just view displays and artifacts. In 1933, the Museum of Science and Industry opened to the public, at the same time as the Century of Progress Exposition.

The Chicago Historical Society

The John G. Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium is the World's Aquarium. Opened in 1929, it is one of the oldest public aquariums in the world. Shedd has a rich history. Its history spans decades, and it was created by people like you, who continue to drive World's aquarium into the 21st century.

Chicago's Adler Planetarium

When Max Adler founded the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in 1930, he recognized the need to exhibit artifacts from the history of astronomy as well as to establish the first planetarium theater in America. 

In addition to the Zeiss planetarium projector, he purchased a collection of about 500 astronomical, navigational, and mathematical instruments from A. W. M. Mensing in the Netherlands. These instruments formed the foundation of the Adler's History of Astronomy Collection, which has since grown to almost 2000 historic instruments.

This makes it the largest collection of such material in the Western Hemisphere and one of the largest and most important in the world.

In addition to housing these instruments, the History of Astronomy Department is home to a significant library of rare books, a collection of astronomically-themed works on paper, and a modern reference library and research center.

Chicago's Navy Pier

Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo

A premier Chicago attraction, Lincoln Park Zoo each year welcomes more than three million visitors, providing them with remarkable learning experiences as well as fun and enjoyment. Its intimate setting enables guests, young and old alike, to experience the thrill of gazing directly into the eyes of a lowland gorilla and standing toe to toe with an African elephant. Famous also for its historical structures, the zoo has succeeded at combining state-of-the-art animal and visitor facilities with beautiful architectural reflections of past times and sensibilities.

Make the holiday season a memorable one by giving your loved ones an ADOPT an Animal Package from Lincoln Park Zoo.

For $35 your Rockhopper Penguin ADOPT Package includes:

• Certificate of ADOPTion
• Photo of rockhopper penguin
• Rockhopper penguin fact sheet
• ADOPT an Animal decal
• Rockhopper penguin plush toy

The Brookfield Zoo