Oak Street Beach, 1952

Bordering Lake Michigan with 28 miles of lakefront forming its eastern boundary, it is surprising that Chicago's beaches are manmade. Any natural beaches that once lined the shoreline were landfilled to construct Lake Shore Drive. Created after 1939 when "the Drive" was extended to North Avenue, and sitting at the heart of the Gold Coast, where East Lake Shore Drive and North Michigan Avenue intersect, is the fashionable Oak Street Beach. Not expansive by any means, but with its great views and imported sand, Oak Street Beach is a perennial summer favorite luring sunbathers, tourists, swimmers, cyclists, skaters and onlookers alike.