Instagrammable Spots of Chicago
Many people relocate to urban areas because they want to be a part of something. The city of Chicago has areas inclusive towards everyone, especially for the ones who want to step up their game on Instagram. A big part of capturing strong photos is finding the right places, the first course of action is to start discovering. The field guide filled with instagrammable spots of Chicago holds the maps of some of the most popular places I would recommend as an Instagram user and resident of Chicago myself. Lincoln Park, Michigan Avenue, Millennium Park, and River North are admired for their streets. There is beautiful decor, cute restaurants, and sidewalks filled with people. Most are walking to get to a certain destination, this field guide helps inform you to do the opposite. With the maps provided, propositions will lead you, allow you to stop, recognize the area, and capture the moment with a memorable photo.
Lincoln Park is the city that has a feeling of home. There are residential neighborhoods separated from the commercial buildings. A main street named Armitage Avenue is perfect for a stroll. There is a coffee shop with in-house mugs to take a snapshot of. A boutique on the next block offers sneakers and athletic clothing to wear in your Instagram photos or to take photos of inside. In “The Solitary Stroller and the City,” Rebecca Solnit writes, “Cities have always offered anonymity, variety, and conjunction, qualities best basked in by walking” (Solnit). This city particularly offers anonymity because it is separate from the tall skyscrapers and busy beeping cars. There is a rich quality found by walking because every detail of decoration is discovered. The tiny additions on the window panes to attract shoppers and the decorations on the steps of every home during the holidays makes the area special and upscale.
Cities are popularly travelled to because they are advanced and interesting. The Cloud Gate where Millenium Park stands is one of the most common places for tourists to visit. Through the use of social media, visitors love to take photos and share them with the rest of their followers. This becomes both a memory, and a way of showing off where you are. One of the very well known spots of Millenium Park is The Bean. This piece of artwork is a reflective surface created out of steel that offers great photo opportunities to capture the view of the city. The fields surrounding the Buckingham Fountain are spaces used for bigger events like Lollapalooza. For this music festival, people from around the world come to listen to music, get dressed up, and have a good time dancing. At the end of the day, your camera roll fills up with photos throughout the day that end up on the gram. In “Paris, or Botanzing the Asphalt,” Rebecca Solnit quotes Walter Benjamin who writes, “But to lose oneself in a city — as one loses oneself in a forest — that calls for a quite a different schooling”(Solnit). Here, Solnit explains that losing yourself in a forest should be the same way of losing yourself in the city. It is easy to lose your place in a forest because everything looks the same. However in the city, there are certain markers we create to associate ourselves that make it more challenging to get lost. If we lost ourself in the city, we would need to pay close attention to detail and walk without a destination. The sidewalks in the area of Millennium Park are also found to be close to the Chicago Harbor where Navy Pier connects. The exciting events in the area are full of noise and color to fill the Instagram feed.
Another popular place always visited in Chicago is River North. Here, it is more popular to sit at the restaurant’s that sit along the riverwalk and enjoy the view as water taxi’s and other boats pass by. The Michigan Avenue bridge crosses right over the river by the Trump Tower. These are more attractions for Instagram users that show a prime location of Chicago. Not only is the Trump tower a hotel for visitors, but it is also the tallest building in the world with an all-concrete structure. Skyscrapers like the ones in Chicago are what make the city known as the second most beautiful city in the world. Other streets offer some of my favorite restaurants such as Sushi-San and Pizza Parlor where the meals bring unique flavors that should be shared with others. During nighttime, it is popular for middle-aged people to keep the city alive by attending clubs and bars. The media is a great outlet to advertise these businesses and show how successful Chicago is.
Whether you are a resident or a visitor, Michigan Avenue is always the place to be to avoid loneliness. This street is often referred to as the Magnificant mile because of its world-renowned center of retail, dining, and culture. The pace of the area is fast, everyone is always trying to get somewhere. Doors to the Water Tower open and close with shoppers coming in and out. There is noise coming from the streets with noisy cars and construction. Music is being played on the sidewalks by homeless men and women or ongoing conversations between strangers will tune out any noise in your own head. The stores and restaurants are endless and are pricier than less populated areas. Decorations are installed for various holidays to make the street feel inviting and celebratory. The reason for the large crowd is because we are attracted to attractive cities. In the video How to make an attractive city, the School of Life channel says, “One of the things we really love in cities is order. Order means balance, symmetry, and repetition” It continues to say, when it’s a mess, it seems like no one is in charge, and that’s worrying”(The). In the city of Chicago, we see this balance on every street. If something is on one side of the street, it’s going to be on the opposite. Skyscrapers, stores, restaurants, people, all face each other, creating the symmetry described in the video. Other places such as Lincoln Park would have homes that are reciprocated on one street. While Chicago has so many more parts to it, they are not well kept and so they aren’t considered to be an attraction. The North side of Chicago is what I would describe as Instagrammable because it is appealing to the eye. The popular street and spots can make for the best photos that can be shared and re-visited.
Creating a field guide about Chicago has taught me about the way a city works. There are areas that are structured to attract people and bring in business. The world works in constant movement and there are always people moving in and out of areas. I’ve noticed a strong divide between the North side of Chicago compared to other areas because time and care hasn’t been put into them yet. One of the first topics we discussed in our explore class was gentrification, and I’ve noticed through walking the streets and neighborhoods of Chicago that wealthy people with strong influence on platforms like Instagram enjoy coming to these spots I mentioned and create content. The less affluent areas are less attractive because there isn’t the money to fund them and it causes less people to go there to explore.
