Park Ridge is a city in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicagoland, just outside of Chicago.
Get in
By train
- Metra serves Park Ridge with service on the Union Pacific Northwest Line. The Park Ridge Metra station 📍 is at 100 South Summit Avenue, between Touhy Avenue and Prospect Avenue in Uptown Park Ridge (the suburb's central business district), and has a waiting room that is open 5AM-9PM daily, and also has a ticket agent available weekdays 5:25AM-12:55PM. The less used Dee Road Metra station 📍 is at 950 Busse Highway, west of Dee Road and south of Oakton Street in northwest Park Ridge; this station has a shelter but no ticket agent.
- The CTA Blue Line<nowiki/>'s Cumberland station 📍 is just south of Park Ridge's city limits.
By car
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Park Ridge is adjacent to two major highways, I-294 and I-90, though the city is more accessible to travelers heading away from downtown Chicago. Travelers on I-294 North, the Tri-State Tollway, can exit at Touhy Avenue (East) and US-14/Dempster Street (East) to get to Park Ridge. I-294 South does not offer easy access to Park Ridge. Travelers on I-90 West, the Kennedy Expressway, can get to Park Ridge by exiting at Cumberland Avenue (North) or Canfield Road (North). I-90 East offers close access to Park Ridge at the Cumberland Avenue (North) exit only.
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US-14, which is Dempster Street in Park Ridge, runs near Park Ridge's northern border. US-14 connects Park Ridge to the northwest suburbs (where US-14 follows Miner Street in Des Plaines and Northwest Highway in further northwest suburbs), as well as Niles and the north side of Chicago (where US-14 follows various streets including Caldwell Avenue and Peterson Avenue).
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IL-72,__ Higgins Road, runs along Park Ridge's southern border. It connects Park Ridge to northwest suburbs including Schaumburg, as well as to Harlem Avenue on Chicago's Far Northwest Side.
Get around
See
- Rodham Corner, 42.014958°, -87.824694°. Rodham Corner is one of two public commemorations of former Secretary of State, First Lady and presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton in her hometown. It's hardly a monument at all—just a very simple sign on a pole at the corner of Wisner and Elm, near the home where the Rodhams lived when Hillary was growing up. You can't go into HRC's former home, as someone lives there, but you can get a sense of the neighborhood she grew up in—it's directly north of the Pickwick and Uptown Park Ridge. Clinton is also commemorated in a plaque on a historic fountain across from Park Ridge's city hall. 2019-05-30
Do
- Pickwick Theatre, 5 S Prospect Ave, 42.010697°, -87.829248°, +1-847-825-5800. One of the true grand movie palaces remaining in the Chicagoland area. Famous film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert filmed the intro for their "At the Movies" show there. Make sure you have a ticket for the show on the main screen, though, not the shoebox mini-plex around the corner. 2016-09-23
- Park Ridge Music Concerts, several free Friday night concerts held during the summer in front of city hall. Always start at 8PM.
Buy
Eat
- Frosty Penguin, 1056 Busse Hwy, 42.02609°, -87.859164°. This fast food restaurant is a summertime hotspot known for its ice cream. 2021-10-16
- Cream of the Crepe, 8 S Northwest Hwy, 42.010761°, -87.828997°. One of two noteworthy crepe restaurants in Park Ridge. This one has decor in a French cafe style. 2019-06-02
- I T Crepes, 114 Main St, 42.009604°, -87.831608°. Uptown Park Ridge's other crepe place has a more upscale feel to it. 2019-06-02
- Hay Caramba, 122 S Prospect Ave, 42.009072°, -87.831934°. Popular sitdown spot for Mexican food. 2019-06-02
- The Harp and Fiddle, 110 Main St, 42.009653°, -87.831752°. Irish pub offering Irish food, beer, and atmosphere. 2019-06-02
Drink
- Beer on the Wall, 106 Main St, 42.009647°, -87.831993°, +1-312-720-3732. M-Tu 2-8PM, W 2-9PM, Th 11AM-9PM, F-Sa 11AM-11PM Su 11AM-6PM. An eclectic selection of beers. Not a bar, but you can sample beers up to a certain amount. Has several board games and an old NES system for patrons to play. 2018-03-18
Sleep
Connect
Go next
If you liked Uptown Park Ridge, the suburbs along the US-14 corridor, including Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, and more all the way through Barrington have similar business district layouts. Beware: US-14 in the northwest suburbs is confusingly also called Northwest Highway, though it's not contiguous with Park Ridge's Northwest Highway. If traveling by car, you'll have to turn left at the intersection of Park Ridge's Northwest Highway (which becomes Rand Road) and US-14 (which changes from Dempster Street to Miner Street, then becomes Northwest Highway.)
The nearby Far Northwest Side neighborhoods of Chicago, especially Edison Park, which borders Uptown Park Ridge, offer more shops, restaurants, and nightlife opportunities.
If you're looking for other historic movie theaters in the area, the Logan Theatre in Logan Square is another well-known one.