Lake Michigan runs to the horizon like an open sea, and the skyline stands in one long steel line along its shore. Then the scale drops to small things, like celery salt shaken over a hot dog on a poppy-seed bun, or clouds sliding across the polished curve of Cloud Gate in Millennium Park.
Past the Loop, the city breaks into neighborhoods with their own accents, from taquerias in Pilsen to the boulevards and music bars of Logan Square. Summers are hot and humid, winters are cold and snowy, and the lake cools the shore. A Local Friend will take you to the bench, bar stool or taco counter they call theirs and tell you how it got that way.
