South Chicago

There are beaches up and down Chicago's long shoreline - including some great lakefront parks south of the city, such as at 63rd Street and at Rainbow Beach. Where there isn't beach, there is seawall (though it comes in a variety of forms). But whether beach or seawall, it's almost all public and easily accessible.

AERIAL VIEW

I'm convinced the best way to explore Chicago's beaches is by bicycle along the Lakefront Trail. I spent a few hours going in and out of the city on two different days in early September. On another trip I'll have to explore more of the beaches north of downtown up towards Evanston.

Oak Street Beach

Oak Street Beach, like all of Chicago's beaches, was created from scratch in one of many appropriately-oriented (to north wind and waves) bends along the city's vast linear lake fill. Historically, this was a low shoreline consisting of southward-directed spits on the north side of the mouth of the Chicago River. 

Water levels have been high this year and the lake was lapping onto the heavily-used lake shore trail. It would probably be a lot more exciting during a big storm.  This is an interesting contrast to my last post from here, back in July 2010, when the lake was much lower.

This visit was in early September, almost four months ago.

Chicago

We were in Chicago a little less than three weeks ago, winding up our brief trip back to the midwest. My only foray to the beach was on the morning we left, when I dodged rain squalls on my way to meeting M for breakfast at Tempo.

I've got much better shots of these beaches from an earlier trip:  Chicago: July 2010

The first three photos are from Oak Street; the bottom one is from Ohio Street Beach.

But rain or not, I still love these public beaches against the backdrop of Chicago's skyline. There's nothing terribly natural about them - nourished and groomed pocket beaches have replaced the spits and marshes that once marked the mouth of the Chicago River - but it shows that we can still provide ways for people to interact directly with the water, even in our most urban settings.

There are a lot more photos from this trip, mainly of skyscrapers, over on the other blog (hshipman: Chicago).

Ohio Street Beach

Ohio Street Beach is a small wedge of sand trapped between Chicago's big water treatment plant and the city itself.

North Avenue Beach

North Avenue Beach is a broad crescent of sand held in place by a long curving concrete jetty (groin?). The beach was quiet in the morning, but by afternoon it was packed with volleyball players and sunbathers.

There's a great map of Chicago's lakefront parks at: Lakefront Map

Oak Street Beach

Once upon a time, sand worked its way southward down the west side of Lake Michigan, building out into the lake in a series of spits at the mouth of the Chicago River. But one thing led to another and the beaches were gradually (or not so gradually) left behind as the city moved into the lake.

Then David Burnham came along and saw the potential for a hugely public, albeit hugely artificial, shoreline. Like many other Great Lakes cities, lake fill was an obvious solution, but in Chicago they seemed to have done it better and bigger than others. The result is miles of public park along the lake front, trimmed with stepped concrete walls, artificial beaches, marinas, and park space. The wind and wave regime hasn't changed appreciably since the city arrived, so sand placed along the shore would move southward rapidly were it not configured with jetties and landfill into a series of north facing pocket beaches. Some are isolated, some segmented by groins.

Oak Street Beach, at the north end of Michigan Avenue, fits into a corner in the lake fill - kept in place by Lake Shore Drive as it curves east around the northern part of downtown. The straight seawall north of Oak Street precludes a beach, so it sort of pretends to be one. Despite what could easily have been viewed as ugly, I thought it was actually pretty neat and it certainly got its share of use, at least later in the day (these shots are mainly early in the morning). I suppose it was underwater in the mid-1980s when lake levels were high.