North Avenue Beach
North Avenue Beach is located in Lincoln Park at 1600 N. Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive (North Ave. @ Lake Michigan). As one of Chicago's most popular beaches, the beach features a unique and popular beach house that contains 22,000 square feet of space that features something for everyone and is permanently docked along this popular beach. This sleek, ocean liner-inspired building, decked out in a crisp blue and white, boasts one of the best views in the city. The beach house has upper decks and portholes for looking at the magnificent horizon or the multitudes of bikers, runners, walkers, and rollerbladers streaming down the lakefront trail. In May 2000, Mayor Richard M. Daley dedicated the North Avenue Beach House during a grand opening event for the public that included games for kids, free sand pails, refreshments, and a jazz band.
North Avenue Beach offers an array of amenities and recreational opportunities for beachgoers to enjoy that include:
- is the best location on North Avenue Beach for great food and ice-cold drinks. The first level features an ice cream café and beachside burgers with casual walk-up stands. The rooftop features tasty appetizers, sandwiches, fresh salads, and refreshing desserts.
- Rent, repair or buy a bike from right at North Avenue Beach!
- offers one of a kind open-air sports facility at North Avenue Beach offering roller hockey, dodgeball, fitness classes, hockey and dodgeball tournaments, and exciting special events.
- offers outdoor beach yoga seven days a week at North Avenue Beach for all levels during sun-rise, late morning, and during sunset.
- offering top of the line luxury lounge chairs and large umbrellas.
- Food concessions from Pronto Pups offering beverages and hotdogs on a stick, Stefani's Restaurant next to the hockey rink, and cotton candy.
- offers beachgoers a chance to hit the waves with wakeboard and paddleboard rentals.
- , the premier full-service outfitter in Chicago, offers kayak rentals at North Avenue Beach.
- Rent jet skis from!
- Retail vendor selling
- Retail vendors selling clothes, sundries, souvenirs, and beverages.
- Rent volleyball courts and equipment by calling (312) 802-5839. Court rental $15 per hour; $35 for advance registrations beyond 7-days. Equipment rental is $15 with a valid ID and must be returned by 8pm at NAB.
There is an ADA accessible beach walk and restrooms available. Three ATM machines are located at the beach house.
Distance swimming is available at beaches 3 & 4 (north of boathouse), parallel to the shore. The paid parking lot is also available with limited parking; therefore, public transportation is highly encouraged.
For questions regarding Chicago beaches, email beaches3@chicagoparkdistrict.com.
Lincoln Park began as a public cemetery in the 1830s. Recognizing that the lakeside burial ground posed a public health threat, early citizens rallied to transform the site into parkland. A sixty acre unused part of the burial ground was first designated as Lake Park in 1860, and five years later the city renamed the site as Lincoln Park, providing a substantial budget for improvements. Over the years, Lincoln Park has grown to a landscape of over 1200 acres, particularly through many landfill extensions. In the late 1930s, a major landfill addition that stretched from Fullerton Avenue to North Avenue accounts for most of what is now the North Avenue Beach. Decades earlier, there was only a narrow paved beach that edged Lake Shore Drive in this area.
In 1934, the Lincoln Park Commission became part of the newly consolidated ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ and the new agency received substantial funding through President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. The completion of North Avenue Beach was one of many projects in Lincoln Park funded through the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Construction began in 1939 and the $1,250,000 project included a major improvement to Lake Shore Drive with grade separation providing a new overpass at North Avenue. The new North Avenue Beach, totaled more than 875,000 square feet of new parkland and extended all the way to Fullerton Avenue. ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ architect Emanuel V. Buchsbaum designed the new Art Moderne style North Avenue Beach House to emulate a lake ship. The North Avenue Beach and Beach House were dedicated in July of 1940. Over the years, the frame beach house had become so deteriorated that it had to be demolished. The original building inspired the design of a similar although somewhat large building composed of cast-in-place concrete. Designed by Wheeler Kearns Architects, the new structure was built in 1999.
Parking
Parking is available in a paid lot. .
Public Transit
For directions using public transportation visit .
at North Ave. and Lake Michigan