Hey there, Chicago explorers!
We spend most of our days showing people around Chicago’s neighborhoods, helping them find their perfect homes. And after a decade of this, we’ve discovered something pretty cool. The best parts of Chicago aren’t always the ones you see on postcards.
Sure, everyone knows about Navy Pier and the Bean. However, there are some truly interesting parts of Chicago that are hidden in plain sight throughout the city. Some of them get passed by every day without a lot of attention.
We’re the Ben Lalez Team, and while we’re definitely experts on Chicago real estate, we’ve also become accidental experts on the city’s weirdest, most wonderful hidden spots. When you’re driving clients around every single day, you start noticing things. Like that bronze sculpture of dog poop with water coming out of it. Or the fact that there’s a chapel in the sky above downtown that most people don’t even know exists.
So today, we’re sharing our favorite hidden gems, and while there are definitely more than the ten we cover in this article, these are ones we think you should check out first. And if there is a lot of interest, we might post a follow-up article with more unusual spots to check out.
Places You Might Walk Right Past
The Shit Fountain (West Town)
This one feels like a ‘Chicago’ thing. At 1001 N. Wolcott Avenue, you’ll find an actual bronze sculpture of dog poop on a pedestal, and it’s been there for twenty years!
Artist Jerzy Kenar created it outside his studio after getting tired of people not cleaning up after their dogs. It’s a passive-aggressive reminder that somehow became local art that people loved. The city doesn’t mind because it’s on private property, and neighbors actually were okay with it. There was virtually no backlash, which says something about Chicago’s sense of humor.
It’s crude, it’s weird, and it works for a city that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Also, it actually functions as a fountain, which we find oddly satisfying. I mean, who thinks of these things?!
Merz Apothecary (Lincoln Square)
If you want to time travel back 150 years, skip the history museums and head to Merz Apothecary instead. German immigrant Peter Merz opened this place in 1875, and walking inside feels like stepping into a different century.
Inside, you’ll see all original hand-carved wood storefront, tin ceilings, and oak cabinets. Glass jars filled with herbs line the shelves, and the air smells like chamomile and medicinal oils. You can still buy modern health products here, but you can also pick up homeopathic remedies and imported soaps that you won’t find anywhere else.
This isn’t a museum piece – it’s a working apothecary that has adapted over 150 years while keeping its character intact. It’s a real immigrant history that’s still alive and functioning, and we’ve had clients from Germany get emotional walking around in here.
Tiffany Dome (Chicago Cultural Center)
Here’s something that still surprises a lot of people. You can walk into the Chicago Cultural Center downtown for free and see the world’s largest Louis Comfort Tiffany glass dome. Just walk in. No admission fee. We still can’t believe this.
The Preston Bradley Hall dome spans about 38 feet across with 30,000 pieces of multicolored Tiffany glass arranged in zodiac patterns. It was covered up in the 1930s and wasn’t fully revealed again until a restoration happened back in 2008.
Even though 800,000 people visit each year, somehow it still feels like a secret. Maybe because the Cultural Center doesn’t look like much from the outside. You just walk in and look up. We’ve brought clients here who had no idea it existed, and their jaws always drop, every time.
Garfield Park Conservatory (East Garfield Park)
Lincoln Park Zoo draws a lot of people, but the Garfield Park Conservatory that sits quietly on the West Side doesn’t get as much attention. There are over 2 acres of greenhouse space that make you feel like traveling to the tropics. Which sounds dramatic, but honestly, step inside in January and tell us we’re wrong.
It was designed by Jens Jensen more than one hundred years ago in 1908, and it’s massive. The Fern Room recreates prehistoric Illinois swampland, complete with plants that look like they’re from another era. The Aroid House has giant lily pads floating in ponds. Palm trees tower overhead in humidity that hits you the moment you walk in. It’s kinda nice, actually.
Free admission makes it one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets. You can spend hours wandering through different climate zones, all under glass domes that were a big deal when they were first built. Go visit, and you might forget that you’re standing in a tropical paradise in the middle of February, sweating through your winter coat.
The Stuff That Makes You Go “What?”
Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities (Andersonville)
If your shopping preferences lean toward human teeth and preserved animal specimens, Woolly Mammoth is where you want to go this weekend. This cramped curiosity shop opened in 2010 when a young couple inherited a set of teeth and decided to build a business around weird stuff. You read that right.
Every inch is packed with bizarre items, like jars of pickled animal fetuses, skulls, vintage medical devices, and a taxidermied alligator turned into a lamp with the bulb in its mouth. They offer DIY taxidermy classes, which should tell you about their customer base. We’re not judging. Actually, we kind of are.
Don’t worry, not everything is morbid. You might find a 1960s Boy Scout scrapbook or random vintage oddities mixed in with the preserved specimens. But mostly, it celebrates Chicago’s appreciation for the strange and unusual. Every city has antique shops. Only Chicago has places like this.
We once had a client from New York walk in here by accident while we were showing them the neighborhood. They stayed for an hour and bought a jar of something we didn’t want to ask about.
Sky Chapel at Chicago Temple (The Loop)
Look up at 77 W. Washington and you’ll see something pretty unique, a 23-story neo-Gothic skyscraper with a traditional church steeple. The Chicago Temple Building stands as the world’s tallest church at 568 feet.
When the First United Methodist congregation refused to relocate to the suburbs in 1924, they decided to build up instead. The ground floor has a 1,000-seat sanctuary, and they lease the office floors above to pay for operations. It’s a smart business model, honestly. But inside the steeple, at around 400 feet above the street, there is the tiny Sky Chapel.
It’s an intimate space with stained glass windows and pews for about 30 people. Tours aren’t currently running, but even knowing this exists changes how you look at downtown. In a city of skyscrapers, someone built one with a chapel in the clouds. Because why not?
We point this out to clients all the time when we’re driving downtown, and most people have never noticed it. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
International Museum of Surgical Science (Gold Coast)
This place is both elegant and deeply creepy at the same time. Housed in a 1917 mansion modeled after Versailles, this museum traces surgery’s history through centuries of increasingly horrifying instruments.
You’ll find four floors displaying everything from ancient trepanning drills for boring into skulls to iron lungs and antique amputation saws. Want to see Napoleon’s death mask, early X-ray machines, and sculptures made of bones? It’s all there.
The building itself is gorgeous, featuring Italian marble, gilded staircases, and ornate moldings that almost distract you from the fact that you’re looking at historical torture devices. It’s educational, beautiful, and completely unsettling all at once.
The Peaceful Escapes
Garden of the Phoenix (Jackson Park)
On Wooded Island in Jackson Park, there is a Japanese garden that most Chicagoans don’t know about. It was originally created for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition as a gift from Osaka, and it’s been restored as a symbol of friendship between Chicago and Japan.
Inside, you’ll find winding paths that lead over wooden bridges, koi ponds and traditional lanterns, and a torii gate. In spring, this is a great place to check out if you’re into cherry blossoms. The landscaping gives that distinctly Japanese aesthetic, where every detail has been carefully planned.
Because it’s on the South Side and requires some effort to find, you’ll often have the place to yourself. Hard to believe you’re in Chicago when you’re sitting by the pond, listening to water and wind instead of traffic.
“Eternal Silence” at Graceland Cemetery (Uptown)
For creepiness that’s somehow also moving, you can’t beat the statue called “Eternal Silence” in Graceland Cemetery. It’s a haunting bronze figure of the Grim Reaper shrouded in black patina, looking over Dexter Graves’s gravesite.
It was created in 1909, and local legends claim that if you stare into the statue’s eyes, you’ll get a glimpse of your own death. Whether or not you believe that, the monument is undeniably striking. And a little unnerving if you’re there alone.
Graceland Cemetery is full of elaborate tombs and Chicago luminaries, but this statue is probably what you’ll remember most. By the way, contrary to old rumors you might hear, your camera won’t mysteriously fail if you take a photo. We’ve tested this.
Why These Places Matter
After years of exploring Chicago with clients from all over the world, we’ve learned that while the famous attractions are great, they don’t tell you who Chicago really is. We think these spots might give a bit more context into the wonderful history of our city. Or they might just be random weird things that happened to survive urban development.
Regardless, they show you a city that values weird art and preserves immigrant history. Chicago has always been a city of people who do things their own way. As realtors, we see this attitude in every neighborhood we work in.
Residents who transform vacant lots into community gardens, business owners who preserve historic buildings while retrofitting them for modern use, and neighbors who organize festivals around the most random themes imaginable. These things don’t show up in property listings, but they’re often what makes people fall in love with a place.
The spots we’ve mentioned aren’t separate from Chicago’s real estate story – they’re part of what makes neighborhoods feel different from each other. People don’t just buy homes here, they buy into communities that create Oz parks and embrace shit fountains. Though we should mention that not every community embraces shit fountains. Location, location, location.
Want To Join The Weirdness?
If you’re thinking about moving to Chicago, or you’re already here and want to explore beyond your usual spots, these places are just the beginning.
Get off the main streets and talk to people who’ve been around for a while. Stop into local shops and ask what’s interesting nearby. Walk through residential areas instead of just commercial strips. Pay attention to the weird little details that make each block different from the next.
Ready to discover your own slice of Chicago weirdness? Give us a shout – we’d love to show you around some neighborhoods where you’ll find all sorts of interesting people, places, and things to do. We love this city, and we want a chance to show you why. Talk soon!
