Sun of the Beach: Ashe Beach/Rainbow Beach

Arthur Ashe, the late tennis player, was by most accounts a very good person. One of my students once said that in a research paper, so it must be true. As a civil-rights and AIDS activist, Ashe helped America to socially progress past close-minded stereotyping, and for that, he should be honored. But something tells me that he may have pissed off a few people along the way. Particularly, some people with clout in Chicago. Otherwise, I can think of no other reason why anybody would name the pathetic little sandbox between 74^th and 75^th Streets after such a venerable man.

Ashe Beach would be more fittingly called Trash Beach. It’s not even really a beach. It’s more like an empty space between two ugly mid-rises that a developer hadn’t yet swooped in on. To get to the beach, you have to jump about 4 feet from broken concrete barriers onto the sand. Once on the sand, you have to weave around broken glass, empty potato-chip bags, and other unidentifiable debris. If that’s not enough to dissuade you, and you are really bent on swimming at this latitude, then I feel it’s only fair to warn you about the splintered piers in the water. Old wooden logs jut from the water, looking like the sharpened teeth of some lake-monster. They’re both at the north and south edge of this water area, so you’re really boxed in, and one medium-sized wave would be all it takes to be impaled on these piers. Please, don’t be impaled on these piers. There are no lifeguards, and there certainly won’t be any sunbathers on this landfill to call for help if you need it. If you’re that desperate to go for a swim, you’d have a safer, more enjoyable time in your bathtub or in a large sewage puddle.

The beach itself is failing, but its overall grade is saved by the park at its top. There is a new, clean playground with lots of fun equipment, a sizeable grassy lot, and two well-maintained tennis courts that are somehow supposed to be enough to satisfy Arthur Ashe’s memory. As nice as this park is, I still think he deserves more.

Further south is Rainbow Beach. The entrance to this beach is a winding road that slips between acres of green grass, baseball fields, and football goalposts. The road leads to huge parking lots, right near the water itself. Rainbow Beach is a long, wide beach, but not a long walk from parking-lot to shore. We went on a beautiful day around lunchtime and were surprised to see less than three swimmers, but the fact that we counted ten lifeguards on duty indicates to us that this beach usually has a sizeable crowd. Or that this is the most cautious beach in the entire city of Chicago. New facilities were built around 2000, which include your standard beach restrooms (gross) and a concession stand. Though we were greeted with a sign that boasted “Premium Concessions OPEN!”, we experienced no premium concessions because it was in fact closed. Other employees said that the stand is usually in business, but if you’re counting on getting food at this beach, it might be a bit of a gamble.

Also at this beach is a new-ish field house. We were given a tour by an employee, Mr. Tate, who showed us the rooms available to rent for parties (with great views of the lake!), the fitness center, and a gymnasium for public use. We took it upon ourselves to examine the bathrooms, which are of a cleaner and drier persuasion than the beach’s restrooms. (You’d be better served if you walked the extra 50 feet to the field house’s.) Mr. Tate explained that at one time, Rainbow Beach’s field house was supposed to have an indoor-outdoor pool, but Millennium Park’s out-of-control budget siphoned money from Rainbow Beach and the pool was forgotten. (Apparently Daley promised they would get their money eventually, but the fact that he is now out of office does not bring much hope to that.) Katie pointed out that this incident is pretty symbolic of the city’s treatment of the South Side—“Oh, yeah, we’ll get you what we promised, but first let us use your resources to get what we want.”

Rainbow Beach is a nice beach, but doesn’t have too much that is special or unique about it. We certainly wouldn’t dissuade anybody from going, and the surrounding park is beautiful, but if you don’t live nearby, you can find the same type of beach and park closer to home. The only times that you should go out of your way to Rainbow Beach are when they host Movies in the Park (Ray will be playing August 27^th), and for the Air & Water Show; Rainbow Beach offers a killer view of downtown, and is directly under the airplanes’ flight path as they travel from airport to downtown. Sure, you may get closer to the action on the North Side beaches, but you’ll also feel like a sausage in extra-tight casing. Don’t feel like a sausage in extra-tight casing. Make it a point to experience beaches and parks outside of your normal ones, and keep in mind that each one employs at least a few Chicagoans, so what to you may be a “day at the park” and a pesky parking fee actually gives other people the means to support themselves and their families. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.