Chicago Loop Insights

Your insider's guide to the best things to do, see, and experience in Chicago.

What is the Loop?

January 5, 2024

2 MIN READ — Welcome to the Loop, Chicago’s official downtown and everyone’s neighborhood. The Loop’s neighborhood boundaries are the Chicago River (north and west), Ida B. Wells Drive (south), and Lake Michigan (east). The southern boundary goes all the way to Roosevelt Road in context of Chicago’s 77 designated Community areas and census demography, but that definition also includes the neighborhood, which locals refer to as “South Loop.” There is also an area known as “West Loop” west of the river, but neither locals or geographical maps consider that neighborhood to be formerly part of “the Loop.”

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The Loop community unites to celebrate ‘Everyone’s Neighborhood’

July 22, 2020

4 MIN READ — Earlier this month, Chicago Loop Alliance designated the Loop “Everyone’s Neighborhood.” The new nickname recognizes that home isn’t just the place Chicagoans sleep, but the restaurants, shops, offices, schools, theaters, parks and streets they experience together. The initiative, intended to unite and promote the Loop community, includes participation from cultural institutions, residents, property owners, schools, community organizations, Loop businesses, individual Chicagoans and Mayor Lightfoot.

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