North Dearborn Street is without a doubt one of my favorite Chicago streets. Closer to downtown there are good clubs and from about Oak Street up some exorbitantly expensive but beautiful apartment buildings, brand new, being built among the period architecture that is still there. The Newberry Library is a great place for scholarly research, and the Ruth Page Foundation a marvelous place to learn to dance. It is beautifully atmospheric, still has a good amount of leafiness (!) and nice shops. Enjoy it, it's great.