BEN: This accidental library visit was brought to us by: summer reading challenge coupons!
SAM: We began our family outing by filling our stomachs with Lou Malnati’s pizza in the West Loop, courtesy of this year’s CPL Summer Reading Challenge reward.
We walked through Madison St. and stopped in a few shops.
- Madison Street Books (BEN: A delightful local bookstore!)
- Vietfive Coffee (BEN: I mean, you can’t walk around on a sunny day without iced coffee, right?)
- Play West Loop (BEN: Nathan found some squishy squeeze toys for his sensory bin at home.)
We decided to double down on our coupon day so we spent a few of our remaining Jeni’s ice cream coupons from last year’s summer reading challenge! It was a perfect, sunny day to explore the West Loop. The boys were happy riding around the neighborhood on their scooters.
BEN: Our walk to Jeni’s took us right by the West Loop branch, so we stopped in for an impromptu Project 81 visit. What an incredibly gorgeous, industrial loft-style space, opened in 2019 in a building that formerly housed offices for Oprah’s television studio across the street. There’s a sizeable children’s area, meeting rooms, a tinker lab, and even an audio production studio specifically for teens. Awesome!
DANIEL: Ugh, this is not as good as last time. The West Loop Branch can be accessed by the CTA Bus Route #20, on Madison Street. Also, if you are okay with walking, go to the CTA Morgan Green and Pink line station. A little history behind it:
The original station on this site opened with the Lake Street Elevated in November 1893 and closed due to low ridership in April 1948 before being demolished early the following year. For the rest of the 20th century, the nearby Halsted station served the community before it too closed in 1994, leaving a sizable gap between Clinton and Ashland.
After years of intense lobbying by local residents and members of the Fulton Market Merchant Association, the Chicago Department of Transportation rebuilt the station from 2010–2012. The new station opened on May 18, 2012.
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_station)
Anyway, I gotta give a review: 3.5/5. To improve, I would add a Randolph Street bus. Bus #207?
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