NFPA Conference & Expo

Chicago travel video: theater & performing arts

Chicago has five Tony Award-winning theater companies, original world premier productions and breathtaking classical performances. Learn more about Chicago's theater and performing arts at the Choose Chicago website. 

Architectural intrigue braces the Windy City

Chicago is known for its modern forward-thinking architecture, since most of its older structures were consumed by the devastating Great Chicago Fire of 1871.  But, modern doesn't mean devoid of history.

Buildings along Chicago River line the south border of the Near North Side and Streeterville and the north border of Chicago Loop, Lakeshore East and Illinois Center in this panoramic photo: flickr user mindfrieze [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Where can you go to see and touch nearly 150 buildings from around the world? Chicago—to be exact, Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue, home of the Chicago Tribune newspaper and 149, I mean 148 pieces of buildings from around the world. I could have said from around the solar system, but unfortunately, in 2011 the moon rock was removed by NASA with the intention of replacing it with a newer one. The last I heard, it's still not back and has been replaced by ads. Now that's sad. In any case, Dean Larson, NFPA instructor and Chicago native, mentioned this as one of his favorite sites to take visitors (after the Museum of Science and Technology, of course). You can walk around three sides of the Tribune Tower and easily see the embedded rocks/bricks in the cement. The Chicago Architecture Blog photo catalogued all 149 pieces (including the moon rock)!

To see the rest of Chicago, take an acclaimed tour with the Chicago Architecture Foundation by riverboat, trolley, or on foot. They'll give you the story behind the skyline. Perhaps I'll see you on Chicago's First Lady!

"Chicago is a great city to visit and enjoy but remember the name "Windy City" came from the politicians not the wind!" I'll bring a jacket anyway.

Marina City, photo: Anne Evans	Chicago's First Lady - North Branch, photo: Bob Agra	Water Tower and John Hancock Center, photo: Anne Evans

The  three photos above are courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

Visit Choose Chicago online or onsite at C&E for more to see and do in Chicago. Several places will offer discounts for attendees to C&E if you show your badge.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago: 2012 

With details on everything from the Magnificent Mile to Wicker Park, this is the only guide a native or traveler needs.

The Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago divides Chi-town into sixty mapped neighborhoods. Every map is dotted with user-friendly NFT icons that plot the nearest essential services and entertainment locations, while providing important information on things like kid-friendly activities, public transportation, restaurants, bars, and Chicago’s art scene. The book includes a foldout highway map, and covers the North Side, Near North Side, Near West Side, the Greater Loop, the South Side, and Greater Chicago. It’s the only key to the Windy City that Daley can’t give you. 150 color illustrations.

 

Chicago travel video: museums

 

Chicago's museums rank among some of the best in the world.  There are 40 museums that cover a wide array of interests from contemporary art to nature and history. There is even a museum campus located along the lakeside.  Browse all of Chicago's museums at the Choose Chicago website.

Stop by the NFPA booth #471 on the exhibit hall floor and drop off a business card for a chance to win free passes to the following attractions:

Adler Planetarium 

Chicago Trolley - Double Decker Tour 

Field Museum 

John Hancock Observatory

Shedd Aquarium 

Note:  ROC Exhibitions employees, NFPA employees, members of the NFPA Board of Directors, spouses and partners, exhibitors, and Standards Council members are not eligible to win.

Did you know there is a Firefighters’ Memorial Park near McCormick Place?

Did you know there is a small yet beautiful park dedicated to honor the memory of Chicago’s fallen firefighters and paramedics?  It is called the Chicago Firefighter/Paramedic Memorial Park.  Located on the southeast side of McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center and adjacent to the Lakefront Trail, this landscaped 3.5 acre park faces Lake Michigan and can be seen in the distance from inside the convention center.  

The city funded the tree planting and landscaping, but the Gold Badge Society – which helps survivors of fallen firefighters and paramedics – provided the hand laid stones inscribed with 573 names of firefighters and paramedics who have lost their lives in the line of duty from 1857 until 2002.  There is also a bronze sculpture of a pair of boots and helmet by Sculptor and Firefighter/Paramedic John Alaniz.  The park was dedicated on September 11, 2002.

If you have some free time while at the NFPA Conference & Expo this June, stop by and check it out! 

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

The masterfully told story of 12 volatile days in the life of Chicago, when an aviation disaster, a race riot, a crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder roiled a city already on the brink of collapse. 

When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World." But just as the dream seemed within reach, pandemonium broke loose--the city's highest ambitions suddenly under attack by the same unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place. 

It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside. Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded South Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city. Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark, North Side basement. 

Meticulously researched yet expertly paced, City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief.  By Gary Krist.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

Frommer's Chicago (Frommer's Color Complete)

Insider advice on Chicago's burgeoning dining scene, which includes rising stars like Grant Achatz, as well as the best spots to sunbathe by the lake, take in famous artworks, such as Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and where to find the best live blues.

Where to find the best deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs, and neighborhood pubs. 

Insightful commentary on Chicago's historic past and dynamic future, as well as a discussion of its status as an architectural center home to buildings designed by iconic figures such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.

TripAdvisor top-rated restaurants in Chicago

Before traveling to a new city I typically check TripAdvisor to see which restaurants are highly rated. Referred to as "the world's largest travel site", TripAdvisor makes it possible to read reviews and candid comments about traveler's first-hand experiences. Listed below are some top-rated restaurants in Chicago. You'll see a number next to each entry -- this represents the ranking out of 4,634 entries.  Have you been to any of these restaurants?  Which ones do you want to try when you're in the city for the NFPA Conference & Expo?

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Ruxbin Kitchen (5 Stars, #19)

Cuisine:  American, French

Address:  185 N Ashland Ave., 60622-5148

Phone:  312-624-8509

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Grace (5 Stars, #3)

Cuisine:  European, ContemporaryAmerican, French

Address:  652 W Randolph, 60601

Phone:  312-324-9494

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Native Foods Café (5 Stars, #47)

Cuisine:  Vegetarian

Address:  1484 North Milwaukee Ave. (East Side), 60622

Phone:  773-489-8480

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Hot Doug’s, Inc. (4.5 Stars, #5)

Cuisine:  American, Hot Dogs

Address:   3324 North California, 60618

Phone:  773-279-9550

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

The Purple Pig (4.5 Stars, #2)

Cuisine:  European, Contemporary

Address:  500 North Michigan Avenue, 60611

Phone:  312-464-1744

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

 Volare (4.5 Stars, #14)

Cuisine:  Italian

Address:  201 E Grand Ave., 60611-3311

Phone:  312-420-9900

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Alinea (4.5 Stars, #8)

Cuisine:  International

Address:  1723 N Halstead, 60614-5501

Phone:  312-827-0110

 

Wildberry Pancakes and Café (4.5 Stars, #1)

Cuisine:  Breakfast. Lunch

Address:  130 E Randolph Street, 60601-6207

Phone:    312-938-9777

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Shaw’s Crab House (4.5 Stars, #6)

Cuisine:  American. Seafood, Steakhouse

Address:  21 E Hubbard Street,  60611-3512

Phone:  312-527-2722

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Joe’s Seafood Prime Steak & Stone Crab (4.5 Stars, #13)

Cuisine:  American, Seafood, Steakhouse

Address:  60 E Grand Avenue, 60611-3533

Phone:  312-379-5637

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

La Scarola (4.5 Stars, #26)

Cuisine:  Italian

Address:  721 W Grand Avenue (The Loop), 60610

Phone:  312-243-1740

 

Credit: Trip Advisor

MK The Restaurant (4.5 Stars, #24)

Cuisine:  American, Contemporary

Address:  868 N Franklin Street, 60610

Phone:  312-482-9179

 

Credit: TripAdvisor

Smoque BBQ (4.5 Stars, #20)

Cuisine:  American, BBQ

Address:  3800 N Pulaski Road, (NW side), 60641-3197

Phone:    773-545-7427

 

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

Chicago: A Biography

Chicago has been called by many names. Nelson Algren declared it a “City on the Make.” Carl Sandburg dubbed it the “City of Big Shoulders.” Upton Sinclair christened it “The Jungle,” while New Yorkers, naturally, pronounced it “the Second City.”

At last there is a book for all of us, whatever we choose to call Chicago. In this magisterial biography, historian Dominic Pacyga traces the storied past of his hometown, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. The city’s great industrialists, reformers, and politicians—and, indeed, the many not-so-great and downright notorious—animate this book, from Al Capone and Jane Addams to Mayor Richard J. Daley and President Barack Obama. But what distinguishes this book from the many others on the subject is its author’s uncommon ability to illuminate the lives of Chicago’s ordinary people. Raised on the city’s South Side and employed for a time in the stockyards, Pacyga gives voice to the city’s steelyard workers and kill floor operators, and maps the neighborhoods distinguished not by Louis Sullivan masterworks, but by bungalows and corner taverns.

 Filled with the city’s one-of-a-kind characters and all of its defining moments, Chicago: A Biography is as big and boisterous as its namesake—and as ambitious as the men and women who built it.

The five best U.S. cities for pizza

A recent LinkedIn update included a link to this video with MarketWatch's Rex Crum reviewing results of a survey on the top-ranking cities for pizza in the U.S. Guess which city ranks #1?