On one of their early visits to Chicago as the architects of the Obama Presidential Center, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien rented bikes on the South Side and rode the lakefront path along Lake Michigan toward the downtown skyline, stopping to swim at Promontory Point.
Mr. Williams said he was impressed with the beauty of the lakeside setting and the opportunity to transform an underappreciated area.
“The South Side is the future of Chicago,” Mr. Williams said.
That’s a predication as bold as the Obama Presidential Center itself, an $850-million museum and recreational campus opening June 19 that will introduce visitors to an area they have largely overlooked in favor of downtown attractions.
Chicago’s biggest debut since the 2004 opening of Millennium Park downtown, the Obama center, seven miles south in Jackson Park, borders the neighborhoods of Hyde Park, Woodlawn and South Shore.
In particular, Hyde Park, a thriving academic and arts district that is home to the University of Chicago and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, is poised to attract travelers.
Originally a getaway for Chicagoans, Hyde Park grew after the Chicago Fire of 1871, attracting some of the city’s wealthiest families. It was annexed by the city in 1889 as a site for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, which left an indelible mark on its layout, and became a destination for African Americans in the early 20th century during the Great Migration.
The Obama center, with its extensive community programming and a museum that celebrates people-powered social movements, makes a fitting home in the area known for diversity.
“We think of it as a kind of hub that draws people in, but also sends people out to our neighboring communities,” said Louise Bernard, the museum director.
The Center Itself
You can’t miss the eight-story tower Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien designed for the center, which rises above the leafy canopy of Jackson Park like a beacon or, as critics call it, an “Obamalisk.”
Inside, museum exhibits on four floors examine the history of American social change, the rise and the achievements of former President Barack Obama and the Obamas’ life in the White House. Included is a collection of American-designed dresses worn by Michelle Obama and a replica of the Oval Office (admission $30).
Outside, the 19.3-acre campus, which is free to visitors, includes an elaborate playground with a climbing feature in the shape of a dragonfly and a rooftop container garden for vegetables and fruit. The sloping Great Lawn will double as a sledding hill in winter.
Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and his partner Calvert Vaux just before the 1893 fair, Jackson Park was expanded by nearly four acres with the Obama center’s campus design, which removed a road that had long divided the park. Now, cycling and walking paths link the center to the park’s lagoons — popular with bird-watchers — and to Lake Michigan beyond.
Neighborhood Attractions
The Obama center joins a rich collection of South Side museums, led by the neighboring Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (admission $25.95).
Housed in a classical building constructed for the Columbian Exposition, the sprawling museum is a family favorite where visitors can watch baby chicks hatch, explore a German World War II submarine or plunge down a replica coal mine shaft.
On a leafy street nearby, Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Robie House in his signature Prairie Style with strong horizontal lines, cantilevered roofs and ornamental leaded glass windows. Tours of the 1910 landmark explore the architectural details of the sparsely furnished house (from $24).
For Obama devotees, South Side Tours, which offers day trips themed to history and food, recently introduced the two-hour South Side Obama Tour ($55). It visits Mrs. Obama’s childhood home in South Shore, the sight of the couple’s first kiss (a plaque marks the spot) and the family’s last home, in Kenwood, just north of Hyde Park, before moving to the White House.
Take a breather in greater Jackson Park. On an island in a lagoon beside the Obama center, the Osaka Garden was originally part of a Japanese showcase built for the 1893 fair, with pruned pines, arching bridges and Japanese pavilions.
Downtown Hyde Park
The social hub of Hyde Park lies along 53rd Street, roughly a mile north of the Obama center. Here, downtown Hyde Park is peppered with shops like the Silver Room, which carries clothing and jewelry by Chicago designers and hosts events dedicated to music, crafting, wellness and more.
The sole hotel on the corridor, Sophy, has a prominent collection of local art and a vinyl library where guests can borrow recordings to spin on record players in their rooms (accommodations start around $274 this summer).
As a dining destination, Hyde Park’s reputation has been growing since the chef Erick Williams opened the Southern-accented Virtue Restaurant & Bar in 2018, serving dishes such as fish and grits and short ribs with creamed spinach.
“What drew me to the community was diversity,” said Mr. Williams, who has since expanded with Daisy’s Po-Boy and Tavern, a casual spot devoted to New Orleans-style sandwiches, and the agave-centric cocktail bar Cantina Rosa, both nearby.
On the other end of the service spectrum, Valois — a cafeteria with the motto “See your food” — dates to 1921 and counts Mr. Obama as a fan. (A menu highlights his favorite dishes, including the Mediterranean omelet.)
A few blocks south of the downtown strip, the year-old Mahari restaurant offers a menu inspired by the African diaspora, drawing on Caribbean, Creole and other traditions in dishes such as spicy lamb burgers with Haitian pikliz slaw.
Hyde Park Neighbors
As a gateway to the South Side, the Obama center will also introduce visitors to lesser-known neighbors.
Among them, Washington Park to the west is anchored by a park designed by Olmsted and Vaux, as part of their original 19th-century design, and is linked to the lakefront by the linear Midway Plaisance Park.
The 345-acre Washington Park is home to the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, the oldest independent museum devoted to Black and African American history and culture (admission $12.50). Its cornerstone exhibit traces the African American experience from the trans-Atlantic slave trade through Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and the election of the country’s first Black president.
In South Shore, a few blocks from the Obama center, Theaster Gates — one of the 30 artists commissioned by the presidential center — and his business partner, Heiji Choy Black, just opened a new Korean teahouse, Han Cha, and a companion cocktail bar, Yunomi, in the Stony Island Arts Bank, a cultural hub founded by Mr. Gates.
Ms. Black said the partners aim to give patrons a “moment to unplug and enjoy sensory pleasures,” including several drink recipes contributed by area artists, like the Chicago sculptor Nick Cave, who is also featured at the center.
If You Go
Transportation: On the commuter rail Metra Electric Line, it takes about 15 minutes to travel from Millennium Station in downtown’s Millennium Park to 53rd Street in downtown Hyde Park. From the nearby 59th Street stop it is a roughly three-minute walk to the Obama center. One-way fares cost $3.75.
Museum admission: Visitors to the Obama Presidential Center museum must have timed tickets. Admission ($30) is currently on sale for dates through Nov. 30. A guided Campus Experience Tour ($75 to $95) allows visitors to skip the lines to the museum’s replica Oval Office and the Sky Room observation deck on the eighth floor.
Where to stay: In addition to the Sophy hotel in downtown Hyde Park, the Study at the University of Chicago offers 167 guest rooms (rooms start at around $300 this summer).
Guests of the Hyatt Place Chicago-South/University Medical Center have access to an indoor pool and a complimentary breakfast buffet (rooms are currently from about $200).
Area homes and apartments on Airbnb start around $200 a night.
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