I guess a strange thing happened to me. I lived through visiting Chicago AND enjoyed it. I had never been there before.
Saw games at Wrigley, U.S, Cellular Field, hit Joe's Seafood, the Girl and the Goat, the Apollo Theatre for a performance of the Million Dollar Quartet (highly recommended), did the whole Field Museum (amazing!), Shedd's, Navy Pier, took an architectural tour, a river tour, a walking tour in downtown, went to Giordano's TWICE, Millenium Park.....you get the picture. Typical Tourists Gone Wild.
Stayed in a modest hotel out by Midway; not quite the South Side but in a predominately Hispanic area and the wife and I are honkies, so we didnt just blend in. Walked to a taco stand one night. Ate there right next to ACTUAL PERSON'S OF COLOR! Absolutely death-defying!!!!
Yep, we even drove Michigan Ave. and Lakeshore Drive. F350 Supercab, long bed, 9-6 Lance on the back. We got some looks like "what are you doing with that thing down here?!!" but it all worked out. No bullet holes in the rig.......or me and the wife. We did not attempt to park downtown; just drove through once on our way up to Waukegan and back down to the Midway area. Did it all on surface streets to see the town. From then on it was buses and the trains. GREAT CITY!!!