It's so peaceful block after block that you would hardly know you are just on the edge of the noise and bustle of downtown. Beautiful properties. Suggested walking tours easy to find online.

I live in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. So does Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Gale Sayers once lived here. So did Irv Kupcinet, Hugh Hefner, Sid Luckman and Scottie Pippen. Bordering on Oak Street on the south, Clark Street on the west, North Avenue on the North and Du Sable Lake Shore Drive on the east, it is home to the Latin School of Chicago, one of the country's most fashionable shopping areas and some of the city's leading restaurants and bars. Not to mention North Avenue Beach and Oak Street Beach. It is known for its luxurious homes, historic landmarks and vibrant urban lifestyle, a symbol of wealth and prestige for over a century. It all began in 1880, after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when the Chicago Archdiocese built a home for the Archbishop on North Avenue. In 1882, millionaire businessman Potter Palmer, who later built the Palmer House Hotel, moved from the city's affluent Prairie Avenue district on the South Side to a swampy area near Lake Michigan, purchased and filled in the land that later would become Lake Shore Drive and built his grand 42-room mansion that would be called The Castle. It was demolished in 1950 to make room for two residential buildings at 1350 North Lake Shore Drive. The Gold Coast has continued to grow. The Charnley-Persky House was built in 1892 and the Patterson-McCormick Mansion at the corner of Astor and Burton was built in 1893. Other early residents including lumber tycoon William Goodman, iron/steel magnate Joseph Ryerson and Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's only surviving child. Other noteworthy sites are the Wrigley Residence, Madlener House and the original Playboy Mansion. Today, the Gold Coast remains one of Chicago's most desirable neighborhoods. High-end boutiques and luxury designer stores line Oak Street. The area surrounding Mariano Plaza features some of the most popular restaurants and bars in the city. The Gold Coast Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The Gold Coast Historic District is one of the premier residential neighborhoods in Chicago. It is located along the lakeshore between Oak Street and Lincoln Park. I'm fortunate to visit this neighborhood often as my daughter lives here. It is filled with beautiful townhouses, historic mansions and high-rise apartment buildings. It is the location of the Archdiocese of Chicago Cardinal Mansion and was also the home of the original Playboy Mansion. In addition to being a great place to live, you can find outstanding dining, shopping and drinking options along Rush Street or State Street between Oak and Division Streets

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker lives in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. So do I. We haven't met but I voted for him. I'd like to think we both have very good taste. Bounded by North Avenue, Du Sable Lake Shore Drive, Oak Street and Clark Street, the Gold Coast ranks as the seventh richest urban neighborhood in the United States. It is a luxury lover's haven with charming homes and historic mansions on picture-perfect streets, high-end boutiques and trendy restaurants favored by celebrities past and present. Nestled close to the Lake Michigan shoreline. For shopping, there is Oak Street. For nightlife, fine dining and bar-hopping, there is Rush Street and Division Street. The homes along Astor Street, where Gov. Pritzker resides, were constructed over a period of more than 60 years and represent a variety of historical revival styles--Queen Anne, Richardson Romanesque and Georgian Revival. The Gold Coast neighborhood grew in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. In 1882, millionaire hotel magnet Potter Palmer moved to the are from the Prairie Avenue neighborhood on the city's South Side. He filled in a swampy area which later became Lake Shore Drive. His massive mansion, called The Castle, was demolished in 1950. Other wealthy Chicagoans, including the McCormick family, followed Palmer into the neighborhood, which became one of the richest in Chicago. Among the attractions not to miss are Louis Sullivan's Charnley-Persky House, The Gold Coast Historic District was added to the National Register of HIstoric Places in 1978, the Three Arts Club of Chicago, the Old Town Triangle at Rush and State that features such outstanding restaurants as Gibson's Steakhouse, Maple and Ash, Carmine's, Sophia Steak, Bellevue Chicago and Hugo's Frog Bar and Fish House, and the Archbishop of Chicago's mansion on North Avenue. and the George Swift Isham Home on North State Parkway, which gained fame when Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner purchased it in 1959 and converted it into the Playboy Mansion.

My wife and I live here. Since 1983. Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. It's the seventh richest urban neighborhood in the United States. But not because of our bank accounts. Bounded by North Avenue to the North, Lake Shore Drive to the East, Oak Street to the South and Clark Street to the West, it is a mixture of mansions, row houses and high-rise apartments. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, it also is home to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, the Astor Street District, the 1892 James Charnley House, one of the last surviving residences designed by architect Louis Sullivan, and the Latin School of Chicago, one of the nation's most prestigious private schools. It got its gold-plated name in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Eleven years later, millionaire hotel magnate Potter Palmer moved to the area from the ritzy Prairie Avenue neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. He filled in a swampy area which later became Lake Shore Drive and built the magnificent Palmer Mansion, a 42-room structure that was called The Castle and was demolished in 1951. Other wealthy Chicagoans followed Palmer and his society figurehead wife Bertha Honore Palmer to the neighborhood, which became one of the richest in the city, behind only Manhattan's Upper East Side. As retirees, my wife and I take the opportunity to take frequent walks through the Gold Coast to admire the many historic mansions built in the Italianate and Queen Anne architectural styles. Another popular attraction on the Gold Coast is Oak Street Beach, located at the bend of Lake Shore Drive at Oak Street and North Michigan Avenue, across the street from the Drake Hotel.