Michigan Avenue (Chicago)
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Michigan Avenue is a north-south street in Chicago. At the north end it merges into Lake Shore Drive near the Drake Hotel. Through portions of the northern part of Michigan Avenue, it is a double decker road, including a two level bridge over the Chicago River. It extends south continuously to 63rd street, just north of a rail yard and parking lots. It continues south at 66th street to Marquette Road, where it breaks a half block to the east. It then continues south to 89th street. It is disjoined twice again before 91st street where it runs south to 127th. It begins again in the south suburb of Riverdale.
A portion of Michigan Avenue North of the Chicago River is referred to as the Magnificent Mile, or simply the Mag Mile. It contains a mixture of upscale department stores, restaurants, high-end retailers, office buildings and hotels, and caters primarily to tourists and the affluent. The area also has a high concentration of the city's major media firms and advertising agencies, including the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
It is the home of Chicago's famous Water Tower landmark, the postage-stamp sized Water Tower Park with its historic clock, as well as the eight-level Water Tower Place shopping center which grew up next door to, and overshadowed, the comparatively diminutive landmark. The shopping center is anchored by two department stores: Marshall Field's (which will become Macy's in 2006) North Michigan store and Lord and Taylor. North of the shopping center can be found the famous John Hancock Center, the art deco Palmolive Building (also known as the Playboy Building) and the lavish Drake Hotel.
The Magnificent Mile is also the home of luxury hotels around the historic Chicago Water Tower Square. Across the historic Water Tower Square lies the Park Tower /Park Hyatt Hotel, one of the most successful luxury hotel/residential buildings in Chicago. The entire mile is noted for its spectacular Christmas displays.
At the northern edges of this district can be found the exclusive One Magnificent Mile building; East Lake Shore Drive, an extremely expensive and exclusive one-block area of real estate running east from North Michigan Ave. and facing directly onto to Lake Michigan; and the on-ramp to northbound Lake Shore Drive.
Cultural institutions in this area include Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art and, formerly, the Terra Museum of American Art (which closed on October 31, 2004).
The CTA Red Line's Chicago and Grand stations are useful for reaching the Magnificent Mile.
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