used to be a funky neighborhood with car repair shops, cheap diners, and empty lots west of McCormick place where I could park for free when I went to trade fairs. That's all gone, replaced with McCormick expansion. Sigh.
Is they even any retail near now? Once time I was there maybe 6 years ago. To find food was quite a drive
Chinatown is a mile away, but parking is difficult there. Lots of "retail" inside the McCormick Place complex, with limited selection at inflated prices.
Ate inside McCormick last year, $9 pre-wrapped tuna sandwich from a cart My lunch breaks wasn't long enough to go out.
I might consider staying there for my next show if the Marriott Blackstone Renaissance would reimburse me for the shoes one of their maids stole from me.
They were a nice pair of very comfortable Clark's that I had just purchased specifically to wear while walking through McCormick. Nothing fancy, but the Nordstrom shoe rep told me it happens frequently. According to him, some Chicago housekeeping crews steal shoes known to be sold by Nordstrom because they know they can take them back for a refund with no receipt and no questions asked.
Worse yet, all I got from this high rent hotel was, "I'm sorry, but we didn't find them." I called them from O'Hare, as I realized what I had done during the cab ride to my 5:30 AM flight. I really enjoyed that hotel, and I like Marriott in general, but I found that to be a totally unacceptable response. I'll never stay in that particular Marriott property again. It was 5:00 AM when I called them. They couldn't have possibly even cleaned the room yet.
