The Pier at the 63rd Street Beach
South Lake Shore Drive may be in tatters for the next two years, but braving the drive for the best view of Chicago’s skyline is more than worth it. The already-renovated beach just east of Jackson Park looks just like it did 100 years ago. The sand is white and wide, the beach house is stately and the pier gloriously extends a quarter of a mile across the surf. Twilight is spectacular, but dawn is sublime. The rising sun paints the downtown buildings in rose.
Best of Chicago 2002
