Bike Traffic - June 2006

June 2006

Creative Suburban Routes
Metra bike service and trails open possibilities

Chicagoland’s suburban communities offer great outings for bicyclists. Combining bicycle trails with Metra bike service can open up even more possibilities.

All of these places and more can be accessed by using the Chicagoland Bicycle Map, which is available for purchase online or by calling (312) 427-3325.

Now that the Wilmette Theater, 1122 Central Ave., has a new lease on life, you can visit it in its latest incarnation as part cinema, part live performance space. Bike parking can be found all around downtown Wilmette. For the theater, lock up at the rack near the Baskin-Robbins, 1114 Central Ave.

Ravinia Festival in Highland Park offers plenty of bike racks, but they fill up as fast as the picnic spots. The park is located right on the Green Bay Trail in Highland Park.

A little farther inland, the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie boasts world-class productions as home of the Northlight Theater Company and the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra. The center, 9501 Skokie Blvd., has good bicycling route connections from either the North Shore Channel Trail or the North Branch Trail. Call (847) 673-6300 or visit www.northshorecenter.org.

Schaumburg is a great place for bicycling, and there’s more to it than Woodfield Mall. Check out the Prairie Center for the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Ct. (www.prairiecenter.org, (847) 895-3600); and the Schaumburg Flyers minor league baseball at Alexian Field, just steps from the Schaumburg Metra

Dining alfresco at a Schaumburg Flyers baseball game. (photo: courtesy of Schaumburg Flyers)

station. To see their schedule, visit www.flyersbaseball.com.
Let the Illinois Prairie Path be your guide to the western suburbs. You can combine Metra services with the trail to take advantage of the historic downtowns of both Geneva and St. Charles, where you’ll find numerous restaurants.

There is so much to do in Oak Park and neighboring Forest Park that we could devote an entire issue of Bike Traffic to cover it all. From the pubs, restaurants and boutiques of Madison Street to the cultural treasures of Oak Park, you’ll

Bicycling in Oak Park (photo: Pamela Brookstein)

find plenty of destinations along these villages’ urban grid of streets, which are ideal for bicycle transportation. Our picks: Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Ave., Oak Park; Ernest Hemingway Museum, 200 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park; Molly Malone’s Irish Pub and Eatery, 7652 Madison St., Forest Park; and Café de Luca, 7427 W. Madison St., Forest Park.

Head south and west and check out LaGrange, a village loaded with grand Victorian houses on leafy streets that seem as though they were designed for

Theatre of Western Springs' production of "A Life in the Theater." (photo: courtesy of Theatre of Western Springs)

bicycling. The center offers plenty of restaurants, cafes and shopping. A mile or two west, in Western Springs, you’ll find the Theatre of Western Springs, 4384 Hampton Ave., one of the west suburbs’ most vital cultural institutions.

Farther south, there’s no better restaurant as accessible to the Old Plank Road Trail and Metra as Ciao Ristorante, 3613 216th St., downtown Matteson, an understated Italian bistro snuggled in between modest homes on a tree-lined street.

Follow the Plank Road Trail southwest and you can bike right to the doorstep of the magnificent Rialto Square Theatre in downtown Joliet. This elegantly restored 1926 movie palace showcases an array of performing arts and theater.

is 125 years old and it has the historic downtown to prove it. But that’s not all. This little city on the Old Plank Road Trail has a summer schedule of Sunday farmer’s markets, fishing derbys and concerts on the green. For the full schedule of events in downtown Frankfort, visit www.villageoffrankfort.com