Dear NFT User,

There are certain things Chicagoans know: the best stories happen on the Red Line late at night; the Cubbies are going to win the World Series (…next year); the swear jar in Rahm’s office is overflowing with coins; your out-of-town relatives are going to ask you about Al Capone; there’s a 50/50 chance your alderman is going to be indicted this year; the winters make you stronger and the summers make you lazier; and every New Yorker you know will tell you how shocked they are that there aren’t cows and corn filling up your downtown (“Wow, this actually is an amazing city!”).

But you don’t need us to tell you that Chicago is much more than this. As possessive and proud Chicagoans are of their city, they’re even more so of their neighborhoods, each one offering its own unique experience. Travelling from one to the next is like a different vacation onto itself, and that’s where we come in. Consider us your insider to the best of your own city. You’re the ultimate urban adventurer and we can’t wait to be your companion on the journey.

But print publishing has its shortcomings—it can only reflect what was happening in the city at the time of publication, and things are always changing. That’s where the website (www.notfortourists.com) and mobile apps come in. And while you can’t scribble notes on a computer screen or iPhone app, we think they nicely complement what you now hold in front of you.

Thank you for picking up the Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago. As the only guidebook of the city written by fellow Chicagoans that includes detailed map-by-map descriptions of every neighborhood in Chicago (as well as Evanston, Oak Park, and Skokie), we hope to worm our way into your heart as your indispensable right-hand tool for navigating this dynamic and energetic city that we love.

—Jane, Scott, Ben, Anne, et al.