Neighbors Celebrate Streeterville On 6.06.11 Day
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Monday is 6.06.11 day, and neighbors and visitors are everything in one of the city's most prestigious ZIP codes.
The 60611 ZIP code extends roughly from Division Street on the north to the Chicago River's main branch on the south, and from Lake Michigan on the east to State Street on the west.
It includes the state's most popular tourist attraction in Navy Pier, and the city's best-known shopping district on the Magnificent Mile, as well as the John Hancock Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the entire neighborhood of Streeterville.
A whole week of special events is in progress.
On Monday, the fun kicks off with a celebration at the River East Art Center, formerly known as North Pier, at 435 E. Illinois St. The celebration includes the first annual "Taste of 60611" which includes favorite dishes from 19 local restaurants – ranging from P.J. Clarke's and Harry Caray's Tavern to Gaylord Fine Indian Cuisine and the upscale Pane Caldo.
Also on the agenda is a tour of the galleries in the art center, including the private art collections of world renowned artist Matt Lamb, and the "Umbrellas for Peace" project.
Unfortunately, the event is sold out. But there are plenty of other offerings throughout the week.
On Tuesday, the Streeterville Farmer's Market opens in the Museum of Contemporary Art plaza at Chicago Avenue and Mies Van Der Rohe Way, and a tour of the historic Drake and Knickerbocker hotels will be offered.
Also Tuesday, the area park advisory councils will present the history of the neighborhood's parks and green spaces in "Celebrating Green in 60611," at the Lake Shore Park Field House at Chicago Avenue and inner Lake Shore Drive.
Other offerings include a walk down Navy Pier with food, drinks and fireworks on Wednesday, and a presentation on the storied and sordid history of Streeterville on Thursday.
On Friday, history buff Maurice Champagne offers a walking tour, showing how Streeterville was transformed from a light industry and warehouse district to the home of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Northwestern University law and medical school campuses, and an assortment of fine hotels and residences.
Over the weekend, a pet appreciation event is set for Saturday at River East Art Center Park, and "coffee and art" will be the offerings at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
While Streeterville today is fashionable, luxurious and reminiscent of Manhattan, its origins as a neighborhood are seedy and bizarre.
In the mid-19th century, the area was known as the Sands, and became a vice district of gambling dens, houses of prostitution, and cheaply-built residential shacks occupied by squatters. Mayor Long John Wentworth ordered the Sands vacated in 1857.
But that was far from the end of the problems. In 1886, Capt. George Wellington Streeter stranded his boat on a sandbar in the neighborhood that would one day bear his name, and declared that his land was outside of the jurisdiction of Illinois law.
Authorities tried to evict Streeter numerous times, in conflicts that led to gun battles, before a court finally succeeded in removing him in 1918.
Streeterville is also a special neighborhood for CBS in Chicago.
Six years after Streeter was evicted, a horse stable for the Chicago Riding Club opened on McClurg Court between Erie and Ontario streets. That building later became 630 N. McClurg Ct., the headquarters for CBS 2 from 1956 to 2008, and also the headquarters for WBBM Newsradio 780 and B96. The building was demolished in 2009.
