Saul Bellow's Chicago!

Saul Bellow, the infamous Chicago writer (though he was born in Canada) loved Chicago and set his best-known novels in his beloved city.  Among those are The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog and Humboldt's Gift. There are several sites that you can visit if you want to walk in the steps of Bellow's fictional characters, among them are:  (These are taken from Let's Go Roadtripping USA): 

1. In The Adventures of Augie March, Bellow's breakout novel of 1953, the title character steals books from Carson Pirie Scott, 1. S. State St.  Instead of fencing the books for profit, however, Augie ends up reading most of them and re-examining his priorities in life. 

2. Charlie Citrine of Humboldt's Gift pays off mobster Rinaldo Contabile at the tumbledown Russion Baths, 1916 W. Division St.  (See picture above)

3. The title character of Bellow's Herzog graduated from McKinley High School, 2040 W. Adams and pronounced to the Class of 1934 that "the main enterprise of the world...is the upbuilding of a man."  Today the school has been razed to make room for a multiplex cinema.  

4. With grades dating back to the 1860's the Jewish Waldheim Cemetery, 1800 S. Harlem Ave. is the largest Jewish burial site in Chicago.  This made it an unlikely, but somehow perfect place for the marriage proposal at the very end of Bellow's 1997 novella The Actual. 

Chicago: Ideas on Literary Sites?

Here are ideas on literary sites that I've gathered from others so far. If anyone's BEEN to any or if you know of new ideas, let me know: On the literary sites front, I found: "1. Re: literary sites, I really enjoyed Sister Carrie on another level when I was living in Chicago. A number of the real places in the book are still around, or their are alternatives that evoke some of the fictional sites.You can stay in the Palmer House where Carrie's lover stayed.http://www1.hilton.com/...

2. You can also visit historic the historic Marshall Field's Department Store Building (now a Macy's:-( ), and get a taste of what it might have been like to be one of those early 20th century shopgirls. Then while you're visiting Harpo studios or going to one of the really good restaurants in the West Loop neighborhood, or looking at the Michael Jordan statue at the United Center you can make a brief visit to Union Park, which also gets a mention in the book http://www.chicagopark/...

3. If your literary tour includes nonfiction you could stop by the grounds of the Chicago World's Fair (featured in Devil in the White City) near the University of Chicago (I believe the Museum of Science ad Industry is the only remaining building, but some of the famous landscaping remains), and while you're at it

4. visit the U of C stomping grounds of Saul Bellow (not to mention Indiana Jones -- if you are a Raiders fetishist you can visit the Oriental Institute right on campus and see artifacts Professor Jones would have loved to steal).

5. In "homage" to Upton Sinclair you could visit the remaining entry gate for the shuttered Chicago Stockyards, and then go to Gibson's steakhouse http://www.gibsonsstea/... and reflect on the bloody cruelty of it all while eating a ribeye with whatever celebrity diners might be sitting next to you (if no one else is there, the ghost of Frank Sinatra will certainly be dining with the late Chicago gossip columnist Irv Kupcinet).

6. Hemingway's birth home, Oak Park. Oak Park works for both. Hemingway was born a few blocks from all three of the major Wright buildings in town (Unity Temple, his studio and the other house who's name I can never remember). I'm pretty sure the Hemingway house has tours. http://www.ehfop.org/visitors/index.html

7. Raisin in the Sun was set on the south side of chicago

8. Also, there's the Robie House in Hyde Park? Have you heard of that. I got some advice about it.

9. Oh, someone also mentioned Graceland Cemetery, where many notable Chicago figures are buried. I think that's it for now.

Don't be shy to give me your input =)

This was put together from responses to my discussion thread posted on yelp. Here's the link:
http://www.yelp.com/topic/new-york-chicago-where-should-i-go-any-literary-sites