{ City Life: sidelight }

Chicago's grid system

Chicago's streets are laid out primarily on a grid system, with major thoroughfares running on straight east-west and north-south routes. The east-west dividing line is State Street. The north-south division is Madison Street. Buildings are designated north or south based on their relationship to Madison Street, east or west based on their relationship to State Street. Hyde Park is located south and east of the dividing lines. Each city block covers addresses in increments of approximately 100. With only two numbers—one for east/west, one for north/south—you can find just about any location in the city. Also look for the helpful street guide in the Yellow Pages.

Lawn bowling

Next time you're strolling by the Museum of Science and Industry, look for a group gathered around what look like small bowling balls on the lawn just south of the museum. This is the official green of the Lakeside Lawn Bowling Club, which has been sponsoring lessons and competitions since 1926. Chicago students have been drawn into the game by happenstance, intrigued by the activity as they're jogging or walking by. Lawn bowling uses a bowl, which is heavier on one side so that it curves when rolled. Instead of pins, the target is a small, white ball called a jack. Beginning in May, play usually starts around 10:30 a.m. Thursdays and 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays; lessons are free on Sundays at 12:30 p.m. Play pauses around 3:00 p.m. for a spot of afternoon tea.  For more information, call 630-0890 or 703-8228.

Chicago's nicknames

The name Chicago has Native American origins, but no one knows which tribe coined the name or what it means exactly. One theory holds that the name comes from the Indian words for either wild onion or skunk. Some historians believe the word Chicago denoted "strong" or "great." Whatever its origins, Chicago has had many nicknames:

• Chicago, Pride of the Rustbelt (a nod to the once-thriving heavy industry)
• City in a Garden (a translation of the city motto urbs in horto)
• City of the Big Shoulders (referring to Carl Sandburg's poem that's a tribute to the steelworkers and meat packers of the past)
• Hog Butcher to the World (referring to the many butchers and the strong meat industry)
• "I Will" City (born when a local newspaper ran a contest to illustrate the spirit of Chicago; the winning artist drew a figure representing strength, vitality, and heroism)
• Second City (Chicago was once America's second largest city after New York)
• Windy City (see below)

The Windy City—full of hot air?

Possibly Chicago's best-known nickname, the Windy City has nothing to do with wind velocity, but with loud and windy ballyhooing. In the early 1800s, promoters traversed the East Coast, proclaiming Chicago as an excellent place to invest. Their critics claimed they were full of wind. Later, when Chicago and New York were competing to hold the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, an editor of the New York Sun editorialized against the "nonsensical claims of that windy city. Its people could not hold a world's fair even if they won it." The editor was wrong: Chicago successfully hosted the exposition (see Going downtown sidelight, The fair that put Chicago on the map), but the sobriquet stuck.

Memories of Hyde Park saloons