by Jill Riddell and Sophie Lucido Johnson
Lobby of the Booth Business school at University of Chicago
5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Assets: It’s beautiful and big, airy and light. The ground floor of a six-story glass atrium, it has dozens of soft armchairs where you can slouch and another area with desk chairs and tables where you can perch with proper posture. The tables offer enough room for you to spread out papers and notebooks.
Access to bathrooms: Superb. Bathrooms are both spotless and close by. While robbers may be found anywhere in the universe, this place feels secure. I don’t have crime statistics to back this up, but it has the aura of a place where it’s safe not to pack up one’s stuff while dashing to the restroom.
Food: A food court is on the same level as the lobby. It has a high quality salad bar and a full array of breakfast and lunch stations. You might want to write in the food court instead of in the lobby, especially if it’s off hours and the food court isn’t busy. Both are equally pleasant.
Price of admission: Zero. If you’re someone who is eager to disassociate work from food, this is a good spot for you. You don’t have to buy a scone just to gain the right to be there.
Electricity: Plenty of outlets. Not a problem.
Wifi: Without a University of Chicago log-in, you need to use your phone’s personal hotspot. If you’re on the faculty of another college, you can go ahead of time to the Regenstein Library and get a reciprocal library ID which will come with a wifi log-in. (Good for one year, works anywhere on campus.)
Hours: Business hours. Weekdays only, and open only during the daytime.
Vibe: Bustling during the academic year. You’ll be around intelligent people who are busy doing their own work & thinking their own interesting thoughts. You won’t be hit on. You won’t even be spoken to unless you’re a student at the university and already know people on campus. This place is an easy in and an easy out and you never feel you’ve overstayed your welcome.
Extra benefit: The building has an excellent collection of contemporary art, mostly work by living Chicago artists. The entire building is open for exploration so if you feel stuck in your writing and want to think about something else, wander the upper floors and look at interesting artwork. Best to do this in silence, since this is where the faculty offices are.
Plein Air Cafe, Seminary Co-Op, and the lobby area in between the two
5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Setup: To the left as you enter is Seminary Co-Op, one of the best bookstores in Chicago. To the right is Plein Air, a café with indoor seating and an insanely lovely outdoor seating area magnificently contained by the red brick wall of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House. You can sit and work inside the book store, inside or outside of Plein Air, or in an indoor lobby/lounge area nestled between the two.
Assets: As a work space, this isn’t the quiet, stay-for-three-hours-type space. It’s energetic, a place to work for an hour or so while drawing on the buzz of other people engaged in intellectual pursuits. You’ll be amidst University of Chicago students, professors and visitors, and Hyde Park locals, and tourists who’ve come to see the Robie House. In Plein Air, a lot of others will be on their laptops—you won’t be the only one working. In Seminary Co-Op, people will be sitting in the chairs by windows, reading.
Eavesdropping: Topnotch. You may overhear something new about gender theory, Peruvian films or Chinese environmental policies—or learn who in the dorm is sleeping with whom.
Access to bathrooms: Both Plein Air and the book store have their own restrooms. When you step away from your table, always take your stuff with you; with all the coming and going, this is the sort of place where a thief could be successful.
Food: Plein Air is one of the best cafes in the city. Its menu has a Brooklyn vibe, with grain bowls and sandwiches always tasting a notch more excellent than you expect them to be.
Price of admission: You could sit in the lobby and buy nothing, and for a certain period of time could sit in the book store without buying anything. At some point, that would get awkward. (I’d guess one hour would be a gentle limit, maybe an hour and a half.) Plein Air is a restaurant, so it’s intended only for patrons, not just random writers who aren’t customers. No one will chase you off, but there comes a time when you start to feel you ought to give up your seat to someone waiting for one. When that happens, if it’s a weekday you can step across 58th Street and continue to write while sitting in the lobby of the Booth School of Business.
Electricity: Some outlets but not many. If your battery is dying, charge it somewhere else before going.
Wifi: Available, ask for password at the cash register of the store or café.
Know Before You Go: Plein Air has communal seating, so it’s not a place where it’s easy to spread out with lots of books or gear.
Extra benefit: After being indoors dutifully writing, you can take a walk in the winter garden that’s two blocks south. Walk down Woodlawn, and turn right on 59th Street. The garden is on the left hand side of the street—it’s an area with tall evergreens, flowers and a statue of Carl Linnaeus. If it’s cold, you can ice skate near the winter garden.
Northtown Public Library
6800 N. Western Avenue
Assets: This is a brand new library, all glass walls and views of Warren Park. (Warren Park, by the way, is another great place to spend the afternoon writing — if the weather is sunny and warm. If there is snow, this is a great place to go sledding: they have a sled hill! A sled hill isn’t a good place to write, but it is a good place to write ABOUT.)
Hours: Assorted, but it is open every day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it is open until 8 p.m.
How much will it cost?: Libraries are free as can be. You can even take books from them for free, which means they’re basically dispensaries of free gifts that you can access all the time.
Bathrooms: Beautiful, free, and next to the coldest, crispest water fountains in town. But bring your stuff with you; public libraries are usually safe places, but you shouldn’t risk it on the off chance something bad happens and it ruins your perception of them.
Outlets: There are plenty! Even next to the armchairs.
Bonuses: Extraordinary children’s library with shiny new picture books neatly displayed to loosen even the toughest of writer’s blocks. There are also study rooms available, arm chairs, and a computer scanner!
Wifi: Plentiful and free, just like at all public libraries.
Chicago Botanic Garden and Garden View Cafe
1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL
Assets: The Botanic Garden’s restaurant is great, but the outdoor environment may be better — if it it’s sunny. If it IS sunny, though, consider bringing your writing to the walled English gardens. It’s like being in a room that happens to be outside and is filled with flowers. But if it’s cold, the Botanic Garden will be empty, and you will have the whole Garden View Cafe to yourself. It does, indeed, have a garden view, and you can sit there and no one will bother you.
Hours: The garden is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. The cafe closes at 4 p.m.
How much will it cost?: The garden is free! You’ll only have to pay for parking — which is a little pricy. However, the Metra passes right by the gardens, and there are also bike paths you can take if you want to spend a free afternoon.
Bonuses: There are actually a lot of indoor spaces you can utilize at the Botanic Gardens, as well as plenty of paths to walk if you want to think while you stroll. Also: butterflies, birds, bunnies, squirrels, and all the lavish wildlife that the midwest has to offer.
Keep in mind: The Botanic Gardens aren’t technically in Chicago; it’s a bit of a trek to get there. Plan accordingly.
Bathrooms: Manifold throughout the garden. There are nice ones attached to the cafe as well.
Wifi: Not really, so plan to unplug.
The Metra
Multiple locations throughout the Chicago Metropolitan area
Assets: This nice-and-quiet, air conditioned and fully heated (depending on the season) historic light rail system goes 80 mph and can take you into deep suburbs you didn’t even know existed. As you sit in the cushiony seat, you can gaze out the window at the world rushing past and wonder what it’s all about, man.
Hours: Basically all the time.
How much will it cost?: A one-way fare ranges from $4 to $9.50, depending on how far you’re going.
Bonuses: There’s almost nowhere better to think in the whole wide world than on a train, and if you can type without looking at your hands, you’ll find a nice rhythm with your laptop. Get off the Metra somewhere you’ve never been before, and explore a new public library or coffee shop. Sometimes moving around helps you discover what it is you most want to write about.
Bathrooms: Actually, yeah!
Wifi: Sadly, no.
Inside your car (or one borrowed from a kind friend), parked in a lot with a view of Lake Michigan
Foster Street Beach, Montrose Harbor, 31st Street Beach, 63rd Street Beach, Rainbow Beach
Assets: When you use your car as your studio space, it’s totally private and self-contained. You can control everything about your work environment: temperature, music, adjustment of the seat. All while having a stunning view of a vast, glacial lake. A few of Chicago’s beaches—the ones listed above—have parking lots that offer tremendous views.
Access to bathrooms: Not fabulous. If you’re there in the off-season—and there’s a whole lot more months of off than on—park bathrooms are usually locked. Even when not locked, the beach house bathrooms are not gorgeous and can sometimes feel unsafe. Use the bathroom at home, before you take off in the car.
Food: Bring your own food and drink.
Electricity: None.
Wi-fi: None.
Price of Admission: During the summer, you may have to pay for your parking space. During anytime that isn’t the height of swim season, don’t bother paying because the lots aren’t patrolled.
Extra benefit: Best place ever for taking a break from writing. Go for a jog or walk all the way out on one of the long piers or shuffle along in the water for a nice, long wade. Bring binoculars in case there’s an interesting bird.
Pro tip: This is a great option for stay at home moms who are also writers. When there’s a break in the action at home and you find yourself miraculously free, you can be out the door in nothing flat. You don’t have to transition from the car to an indoor space and back again, you don’t have to clean off the office space in your house (which undoubtedly is full of other people’s clutter), you don’t have to compete for parking or anxiously wait for a spot to sit in a café. The outdoor, mobile studio is always an excellent use of time—even if you don’t drive all the way to the lake.
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