10 Things to Do Off the Beaten Track in Chicago

Oz Park offers a wide range of attractions and play areas themed after L. Frank Baum’s classic fairy-tale world, like the Emerald City Gardens, Dorothy’s Playlot, and Oz-themed statues. As you walk this Lincoln Park green space, you’ll encounter the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy and, of course, Toto, all built by a local artist.

The park has helped to revitalise a neighbourhood that was very much in need of it, and it now offers a safe and clean green area for residents and visitors alike. A visit here is like a visit to Oz itself, where the Wizard works magic every day.

Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities is a shop that offers strange and unusual esoterica and ephemera to help you find that unique, unusual, and perfect gift or souvenir. You can find things like weird taxidermy, antique hearing aids, lice powder and a collection of curiosities that focus on death and dying.

In this shop you can find bones, urns and unusual medical equipment from a century ago. Step deeper inside to come across odd taxidermy like animals turned into lamps, handmade journals from Boy Scouts in the 1960s and other unique treasures that are changing all the time. It’s located downtown on West Foster Avenue.

The Tiffany Dome in the Chicago Cultural Center is one of the largest stained glass Tiffany domes in existence today and draws thousands to view and photograph the colourful masterpiece. The dome measures over 11 metres across and offers more than 105 square metres of mosaics made up of 30,000 panes of glass.

The dome was built in 1897 and was designed for the library, which was acquired by the Chicago Cultural Center in 1986. It portrays the signs of the zodiac and is brilliantly lit with natural sunlight. It’s just across the way from Millennium Park downtown and draws over 800,000 visitors a year.

The Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co. is a woman-owned store that sells gadgets and gifts related to spy craft in history and fiction and benefits a non-profit writing centre. It was formerly known as The Boring Store, but inside it’s anything but boring. Here, you can find disguises, voice modulators, secret cameras and even carrier pigeons to complete your spy gadget armoury.

All the store’s the profits go to support 826CHI, a children’s writing workshop that helps to bring literacy and writing skills to kids and teens throughout the Chicagoland area. It’s on N Milwaukee Avenue in town and can be reached by the L or the 56 Milwaukee Bus.

Merz Apothecary is a classic German apothecary located on the North Side of Chicago in a historic building that still operates much as it did almost 200 years ago. The pharmacy opened in 1875 and still houses the original glass bottles and atmosphere, although it now operates a few miles away from its original location.

In addition to skin care and hygiene products, the apothecary focuses on a wide variety of homeopathic and alternative medicine offerings, vitamins, natural remedies, and herbs. You can also get handmade soaps and lotions from Europe and elsewhere. It’s like walking through a doorway to the history of medicine.

Myopic Books may be a bibliophile’s fantasy come true, featuring a massive selection of used and collectible books spanning just about every style and focus. Here, you can find fiction, history, conspiracy theory, politics, academia, true crime and just about anything else you can imagine. The owner is distinctly old-school and academic; in fact, mobile phone use is not permitted in the store at all.

The store features events like poetry readings, experimental music performances and other offerings by some of the most cutting-edge up-and-comers in the city. It’s located in the Wicker Park neighbourhood along N Milwaukee Avenue.

Eternal Silence is also colloquially known as The Statue of Death and is an internationally recognised statue that has stood in the Graceland Cemetery since 1909. The cemetery is just a 20-minute drive from downtown Chicago and beautiful in its own right.

This historic statue has become one of the most unforgettable monuments in the cemetery and is surrounded by a wide range of myths and legends. Among the most famous is that looking into its eyes will show you the nature of your own death. In addition, visitors have claimed to see its arms move and have even claimed that the statue causes cameras to malfunction. 

The Fountain of Time is a historic sculpture that starkly portrays the passage of time on the human body from infant to child to adult to senior and into death. The sculpture was created using an arts grant the city received in 1905, but it took almost 2 decades to complete and was finally dedicated in 1922.

The art installation sits in the heart of Washington Park and depicts 100 human figures from every stage of life, all looked over by the hooded, scythe-carrying figure of Father Time. Not only does it represent the inevitability of time, but also the first century of peace between the U.S. and Great Britain after the War of 1812.

Dusty Groove is a vinyl-lover’s paradise, a record store that specialises in old LPs and 45s, known as 'dusties', focused on the soul and blues heyday of Chicago. The store was the brainchild of a few University of Chicago radio station DJs in the early 1990s and became a staple of the East Village neighbourhood bordering Noble Square.

The store today is internationally renowned for its vast offerings of vintage and rare records. It’s tucked into a large and airy space and the curated collection is outstanding. Visitors be forewarned, though; this is a collector’s trove with collector’s prices to match.