At 1,200-plus acres, Lincoln Park is Chicago’s largest public park and the second most-visited park in the United States, behind New York’s Central Park.
Lincoln Park is the neighborhood that stretches along seven miles of Lake Michigan frontage, west of the Chicago River. High-rises with stunning views of the park, its history-rich landscape architecture, and the great lake beyond meld seamlessly with intimate, tree-lined streets thick with single-family Victorians, brownstone flats, and tidy shopping districts.
Here’s what makes Lincoln Park the perfect spot, with the best Chicago has to offer.
Legendary Location
First and foremost, there’s the park — effectively the center of Chicago’s unparalleled public lakefront. Then, you have the neighborhood itself, which puts you within 20 minutes of every pro sports team in the city, plus most of the area’s major concert venues. If you want to escape, O’Hare Airport is a half-hour by car, and neighborhood stops for the CTA’s Brown, Red and, Purple Lines — plus numerous bus routes — make driving less than a necessity.
Top-Tier Dining
From cheap eats for the college kids around the DePaul University campus to some of the finest dining in the world, the Lincoln Park neighborhood covers all the gastronomic bases.
Alinea is routinely rated among the best restaurants in the country, and chef Grant Achatz is a certified culinary superstar. Seamless service delivers beautiful bites, plated and presented in a way that makes a meal — 10 courses? 18? — a bucket list event.
Pequod’s Pizza didn’t climb to the top of the charts for Chicago’s deep dish pizza lovers by accident. Its signature caramelized cheese edge tops the crust like salt on a margarita glass.
North Pond has what might be the most beautiful setting in the city for dining. An arts and crafts stunner that began life in 1912 as a warming shelter for ice skaters, North Pond offers skyline views filtered through the lens of Lincoln Park’s lushest gardens. Commitment to seasonal, locally sourced food of the highest caliber makes this a destination for those special dinners.
Opportunities Abound
Lincoln Park embraces every facet of city life: It’s close enough to the Loop for the nine-to-fivers; offers plenty of housing stock for families and singles alike, and it’s sandwiched between fun and funky Boystown and Old Town. Plus, aside from DePaul lending an academic bent to the area, Lincoln Park High School and nearby Walter Payton College Prep routinely rank among the top 10 public high schools in the state.
After Hours
The venerable Kingston Mines has been dishing up world-class blues since 1968 — making it the longest continuously operating blues club in a city known for electrifying the blues.
Steppenwolf is one of the city’s best-loved theater companies and calls Lincoln Park it’s home.
If you can overlook the fact that it’s a home-away-from-home for fans of all sports Michigan State and Detroit, the Tin Lizzie is a raucously great sports bar.
Plus, if you can get a seat, the J. Parker offers fine cocktails, small plates, and amazing views from the rooftop of the Hotel Lincoln.
Living the Lincoln Park Life
Lincoln Park draws you outdoors — whether it’s to enjoy the park, Lincoln Park Zoo, nearby beaches, or its eminently walkable commercial districts. It’s a neighborhood in which you participate as much as you live, whether your style is a quiet morning walk or dancing the night away.
Downtown Apartment Collective can help you find the perfect base camp from which to launch your exploration. Browse our latest Lincoln Park listings here.
