Rockers, we know you cruise our Web site looking for great hotel deals just like the Shubert and Shania fans, so here goes. Chicago's trendsetting Hard Rock Hotel is located in the fully restored 1929-historic Carbide and Carbon building right in the heart of the Loop opposite Millennium Park. Guests are just a block away from Marshall Field's flagship store and Grant Park, and short strolls from Magnificent Mile, the Art Institute and theater district.
The fashionable lobby features around-the-clock rock tunes, boxy sofas and black-lacquered coffee tables. Throughout the building, the hotel displays abundant memorabilia from musical superstars, including Madonna's dress from her "Blonde Ambition" tour and drums and guitars from Paul McCartney's Wings. Quick, what was McCartney's first band?
For the eternally hip and not-so-hip, the hotel's Base Bar, which offers light fare and creative cocktails, is the place to see and be seen. Meanwhile, the hotel's China Grill dishes up inventive pan-Asian, such as spicy Szechuan beef, tempura sashimi with hot- mustard-champagne sauce, and ginger vegetable dumplings. The China Grill's ambience is quite unique: high- ceilings, multi-level dining areas and an Egyptian- limestone floor emblazoned with excerpts from Marco Polo's diaries. (No, Marco is not the drummer in the Red Hot Chili Peppers.)
The 40-story hotel's 381 guest rooms feature twice-daily housekeeping, 24-hour room service, etched metal pictures of rock legends, entertainment centers, high-speed Internet access, fancy Gilchrist & Soames bath products, and boffo views of Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River. Furnishings include zebrawood dressers, "mock-croc" chairs (don't ask, please), minibars and pillowtop mattresses.
In the heart of Chicago, the Hard Rock Hotel is a great place for a getaway where guests come as they are, whether in ripped jeans or Armani tuxes. Shubert and Shania fans are welcomed, too.
