Dear World: If Chicago Gets the Olympics, Here Are Some Weird Windy City Facts You Should Know

Chicago 2016 Olympic sign

The countdown for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid is nearing zero. We are minutes away from the IOC’s announcement in Copenhagen that will dictate what city: Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo or Madrid is the 2016 Olympic bid-winner.

But I’d like to remind all potential visitors to this great city, that we, like everyone else have our quirks. After all, Chicago was built on a swamp, burned down after a cow-allegedly kicked over a lantern and rebuilt. We also reversed the river because of a sewage problem and many interesting inventions from the Ferris Wheel to chili con carne were the result of the World’s Columbian Exposition that Chicago hosted in 1893.

Photo Credit: Martin Macias Jr of Radio Arte

So here are some weird, quirky, off-beat facts about Chicago that you might want to know before visiting Chi-town.

Chicago is closer to Moscow than it is to Rio de Janeiro
Air miles Chicago Moscow, 4,974. Chi-town to Rio, 5,296 miles (Source: @GeographyFacts) So, if Rio gets the Olympics, it would just be easier to pack it up and go to Russia. After all, as our infamous former Governor from the 49^th state pointed out, we can see it from Alaska.

We Like to Show Off (On Our License Plates)
Illinois has the Highest Total number of Vanity license plates of any state, according to American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators spokesperson, Jason King. In Illinois, as of August, there were 212,775 personalized “vanity” plates with all letters (ie someone’s name without a number after it) according to a spokesperson at the Illinois Secretary of State’s office. Plus, Illinois had 988,876 personalized plates that included letters and numbers for a whopping total of 1.2 million (1,201,651 personalized plates to be exact.)

We have Nike missiles (Or at Least Remnants of Them)
To fend off potential Russian missiles, Chicago had lakeside rockets hidden in underground bunkers that would open to let the launching platform rise and fire the missiles. Most of the sites  – a total of 23 bases constructed in a ring surrounding Chicago and Gary, Ind. – were installed in outlining rural suburbs, but three Nike missile bases were installed in Chicago, starting January 24, 1955. For more info, click here.

Source Chicago History museum and research I did for my co-authored book, Armchair Reader: Chicago that is coming out in December.)

People Can’t Spell Our City’s Name
In Google searches, Chicago is one of the most commonly misspelled place names in the US with many spelling it ‘Chicargo’.  In August alone there were 40,500 searches for Chicargo! To see for yourself go to google adwords tool

Tip from Gary Mullen, www.handcrafteduk.com

We Have Elephant Graves
There are elephants buried in a Forest Park cemetery. Why? Because of a circus train wreck. You can see the elephant statues, too.  Tip from @AliceHohl (Also see story on Gapers Block from Sept. 2, 2003 by Wendy McClure)

Buy your minis somewhere else because you can't get them in Chicago.

You can’t Buy Spray Paint OR Airplane-Sized Bottles of Alcohol in the City 

Yep, that’s right pack in the minis or buy the full bottle because you can not purchase individual airplane-sized bottles of liquor within the city limits, according to Christine Blumer of ChicagoWineDiva.com and Doug Jeffirs of Director of Wine Sales for Binny’s Beverage Depot. Jeffirs says, South Side St. Sabina Catholic priest Father Michael Pfleger helped pass the “anti-minis,” ie 50- millimeter bottles legislation ordinance, during the time of the 1996 Democratic convention. (It also got a little push from the hotel industry, so visitors couldn’t easily re-stock their mini-bars.) The loop-hole: even though liquor stores can’t legally sell individual mini bottles of alcohol, they can sell 6-packs of minis, so you can get your Bailey’s on. Also, if you’re a fratboy chug-your-alcohol-type, 151-proof is the highest you can get in the city limits. Head to the ‘burbs to stock up on 190-proof Everclear.

You also can’t buy spray paint within Chicago’s city limits either. (It’s supposed to discourage graffiti.)

Sunday Liquor laws
The first Sunday liquor law went into effect in 1834. A fine of $5 had to be paid for boozing it up on the seventh day, and the informer got half the fine.

Source: Book of Chicago

Chicago has the only Cambodian museum in the United States
You can find the 3,500 square foot Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial on Lawrence Avenue in Albany Park. The reason? A small contingent of approximately 2,500 refugees settled in Chicago, the 1970’s through the early 1990’s mostly in Uptown and Albany Park, later forming the Cambodian Association of Illinois.  (They also offer really amazing dance, music and art classes for free.)

Lake Michigan is the Biggest Lake (surface area), Within One Country, in the World
We live on a really, really big lake. So big in fact, that many people think it looks like an ocean when they first see it, which is why it is one of the five Great Lakes. (It is the second largest Great Lake by volume and third largest by surface area.) But it is the largest lake (by surface area) in the world to be in one country.

We Love Revolving Doors
We have lot and lots of revolving doors and they are fun to spin around and around in. (Please note: it is not ideal to do this during rush hour when you might get accosted.) The first revolving door allegedly appeared in Chicago in 1790 and they been rotating ever since. (We use them because of the crazy wind, rain and snow here. You won’t find these in California.)

We Put Statues of Wrong Presidents in the Wrong Parks
In the late 1800’s it caused a lot of confusion.  Grant Park features a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln. While Lincoln Park features a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, as noted by Matt Lowe, a Columbia College graduate and former Chicagoan who now lives in Kansas City.

Faceless Ceres statue from Chicago Board of Trade

We also Have A Faceless Statue Because of Arrogance
The Chicago Board of  Trade building at 141 West Jackson has a faceless Greek Goddess of Ceres, the God of Grain and Plants. Why? Because sculptor, John Storrs believed that when the forty-five story was built in 1930 it would always be taller than any other building. (It was until Richard J. Daley Center surpassed it in 1965.)  So Storrs believed that it was pointless to put a face on a statue no one would ever see.

We are home to “The World’s Luckiest Man”
(No, it’s not what you think. Please get your mind out of the gutter.) Go back to WWI. Future Chicago resident John Hedley was a WWI British aviation tail gunner when he fell out of his biplane, tumbled through the air, then somehow grabbed the nosediving plane’s tail and clamored back into the cockpit. Following the war, he did a lecture tour under the moniker “The World’s Luckiest Man,” through the Midwest, stopping in places like Joliet and Elgin and ended up loving Chicago so much he became an American citizen, according to John Hafnor, the principal author of Strange But True, America.

We are the Windy City for Our Politics First, Weather Second
Outsiders always assume the Windy City is called that, because of the blustery gusts. (We do have those.) But it stems from the hot air blowing around Chicago’s politicians. The first known Chicago reference comes from a Chicago Tribune article in 1858. (We are also known as the “Second City” after a 1950’s New Yorker article by A. J. Liebling ripped Chicago for being second-rate to New York. (But in true Chicago-fashion, we just took it in stride and having lovingly adopted it as our own.) Also note the surrounding the city limits is called Chicagoland, not something goofy like Chicagopolis. We also abbreviate it from time to time to “Chi-town.”

Chicago-style hot dog.

We Have a Ridiculous Amount of Hot Dog Stands
We have Hot Doug’s and Superdawg, fRedhots and Fries, Wiener Circle, Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots, Portillo’s and Gold Coast Dogs. Sure we love our Vienna beef and deep dish pizza too, but we have more hot dog stands, at a whopping  1,800 or so than we have Burger King’s, Wendy’s and McDonald’s combined, according to Deborah J. Rebolloso, who wrote a piece about love the wiener for Gapers Block.  Just make sure you get it the Chicago-way: real beef on a poppy seed bun with mustard, celery salt, dill pickle spear, hot peppers, tomato, chopped onions and pickle relish. Just make sure to hold the ketchup, it ruins the taste.

Chicago's well-known skyline.

There are plenty of other oddities about Chicago. Feel free to add your factoid.