This summer, the Metropolitan Planning Council and Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) asked residents of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana to nominate their favorite undiscovered public places in the “What Makes Your Place Great? Your Secret Corner of Chicagoland” contest.

The results are in and 4 of the 25 nominated “great secret places” are all on Chicago’s Culture Coast along the mid-South Side of Chicago:

1 . The beautiful Osaka Gardens on Wooded Island in Jackson Park behind the Museum of Science and Industry.
2 . Experimental Station’s quiet garden at E. 61st Street and Blackstone Ave.
3 . Promontory Circle, a wonderful hill on a peninsula squeezed between Lake Michigan and the Jackson Park Harbor, just south La Rabida Children’s Hospital.
4 . Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art found on a 41st Street and Lake Park Avenue with masterful wooden sculptures created by the artist who lives next door.

Now it is all up to you to place your vote for Chicagoland’s Greatest Secret Public Place here.  And after you vote – go for a walk or a bike ride and experience and explore these great secret places for yourself.

If you have other ideas for the Greatest Secret Public Places in Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods, please send us your ideas and pictures and we will include them here at HyPa.