During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Chicago's leading hotels and leisure resorts became important sites in the public life of the city. No longer just a place to stay the night, by the 1920s the city's downtown hotels offered guests and visitors an increasing number of amenities aimed not only at out-of-towners but locals as well. Elegant lobbies, for example, welcomed downtown pedestrians in need of a respite from the crowded sidewalks. Glamorous ballrooms hosted dances attended by Chicagoans from across the city. And hotel restaurants and night clubs helped transform the Loop into an enormously popular entertainment district. Though the largest and most active hotels were located in the Loop and along Michigan Avenue just north and south of downtown, many of the city's outlying hotels offered similar night-life activities.
