As its name suggests, the Gold Coast , stretching north from the Magnificent Mile along the lakeshore, is one of Chicago's wealthiest and most desirable neighborhoods. This residential district is primarily notable for Chicago's most central (and style-conscious) beach. The broad strand of Oak Street Beach is accessible via a walkway under Lake Shore Drive, across from the Drake Hotel . After dark, the summertime crowds are apt to be found in the myriad bars of Rush and Division streets. The more northerly reaches of the Gold Coast, approaching Lincoln Park, are also its most exclusive, nowhere more so than the stretch of Astor Street running south from the park. Old Town , west of LaSalle Street to either side of North Avenue, has a much more lived-in look than does the dandified Gold Coast. Originally a German immigrant community based around the 1873 St Michael's Church , the neighborhood today boasts a broad ethnic and cultural mix. While its many century-old rowhouses and workers' cottages are now prime real estate, its then-shabby housing stock and derelict factories once attracted a variety of creative types. Wells Street , the main drag, emerged in the late 1960s as a mini-Haight-Ashbury. Although almost all signs of that era have vanished (or, as in the case of the folk club Earl of Old Town , moved uptown), at least one survivor, the Second City comedy club, is still going strong. The rest of the neighborhood is packed with some of the city's best bars, galleries and barbecue joints, and makes for a diverting afternoon's wander. Especially noteworthy are the House of Glunz, at 1206 N Wells St, a wine shop dating to 1888, and neighborhood landmark Barbara's Bookstore (Mon-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 11am-8pm; tel 312/642-5044) at 1350 N Wells St. This independent bookstore has an impressive fiction and children's section and frequent author readings.

Gold Coast and Old Town

• Gold Coast and Old Town

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