Chicago is a gigantic open-air museum of hand painted signs and murals where you can still find gold leaf lettering in shop windows and ghost signs litter the city's brick walls. This handmade sign is on the wall of a Mexican garage near my apartment.

Located one block east of the historic Water Tower, the MCA champions the provocative side of contemporary art and culture. Their innovative exhibitions, performances, and programs are made to inspire. Founded in 1967 as a Kunsthalle (or non-collecting art gallery) the MCA is now one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to art since 1945. Since their inception, it has been their mission to exhibit new and experimental work artists in all media and to paired these with ambitious education programs. In 1974, the MCA expanded their mission to include collecting and preserving contemporary art for future generations with the inauguration of a permanent collection that has grown to include more than 2,000 works. After 29 years in a storefront on Ontario Street, the museum moved to their current location in 1996, giving their collection, exhibitions, and programming room to grow to meet the needs of 21st-century art and audiences.

Ongoing favorite place to sit at the bar or more covertly, at a table, chatting with a friend over the seasonal best. Continuous rotation of ingredients creatively meshed with tradition, their food is divine. Similarly, their personnel is familiar, friendly, fashionable and warm.

Open 6 days a week (closed on Saturdays), La Trailita (it's a food truck, but before their current truck, they were just a small trailer) serves some of the best tacos and quesadillas in Chicago, including tons of vegetarian options. They are open year round (even when it gets cold!). There is another taco truck across the street at the intersection, so make sure you're going to the right one (it's in front of a convenience store). I believe it's run by some ladies from the church it parks near. Recommend their tacos al pastor and potato quesadillas. Salsa is very tasty but very spicy!

Lost Eras has easily become one of my favorite shops to explore; hidden just outside of Chicago, it stretches far and narrow, crowded with lost treasures. Walking through it, it's hard not to begin imagining the stories of the objects that turn up in its walls, and the people that once held them. Not to mention the building itself is a piece of history, as in the 1920's it was home of the night club the "Club Detour" which had many artists play in it's halls such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basey and Ella Fitzgerald.