Ohio Street Beach — Attraction in Chicago

Pros:The water was COLD but you do get used to it, and then it is refreshing. You can see the bottom and any little critters in the water. There are diving beatles. Life guard was in a boat on the water, and advised my adult 6ft 5 son not to go out where that water was up to his neck. I'm not sure why he said that, but I am glad he was there to watch over us. There is a little tiny bit of surf, but just barely, and down the beach to the left is a concrete area. The sand is soft, with minimal rocks and the beach was mostly free of trash. The crowd was young, mainly 20s, some drinking, but people were friendly and respectful of others. Children did not splash a lot as they tend to do at a crowded public pool. I went in with my glasses on and only got one droplet of watwr on them. Lots of people tossing balls and frizbees in waist to chest deep water, having a great time.

It was quite crowded, and we were there from 4 to 6 pm on a Thursday at the end of July. No special events. There are 5 concrete crumbly stairs down to the sand with a railing by the bathrooms. If you plan to change there, be advised, the bathrooms are single, smelly, dirty and have no lights. so you change or do your business in the dark. There was no toilet paper. Although everyone kinda hated the bathroom situation, there was a relaxed community atmosphere where people were just going to enjoy themselves anyway, even if it wasn't perfect. I really appreciated that. What I didn't understand was that the resteraunts/bars on the beach had bathrooms, with "No Changing" signs posted on them.

Drinks were expensive, however, in the nearby park is a little place with wonderful mango flavored Italian ice.

Around sunset, the water birds begin to harass people a bit, flying very close, squawking and stealing things. They probably realize the swim time is almost over and people...

If I could give this beach a 0 star rating, I would. There was garbage EVERYWHERE. You couldn't take a step without stepping on some trash. Broken glass, waterbottles, beer cans, you name it. I even found a few punk kids bury their liquor bottle in the sand, so they didn't have to throw it away. The view, location to the pier/downtown, and the calm water was the only redeeming qualities. There's nowhere to rinse off and nowhere to change clothes, except a few Porta John's (complete with a used tampon on the FLOOR), that were absolutely filthy as well. Please clean this place up, Chicago. As an Ohioian visiting Chicago for the weekend, I was super disappointed with my home states namesake beach, and I doubt that I'll ever...

It's a nice little beach to visit if you're close to Navy Pier. It was really easy to get to. The water was a little cold when I went on an 88° day, but it was still a nice little spot. They did have a life guard in a row boat close to the beach as well. The only thing I would see as a problem is that if people play loud music, which a few groups of younger kids were doing, then it drowns out the calm sound of the beach. There was also an ice cream man going around eith his cart that was also pretty distracting.

It still is a great place for some pictures of the city and the sand was pretty fine. Some spots still had...