Between 1927 and 1946, the roadway's southern portion from the Chicago River to 57th Street was signed as Leif Ericson Drive after the Norse explorer.

The entire route was resigned as Lake Shore Drive in 1946, and its scenic views of the waterfront, beaches, parks, towers and high-rises have become symbolic of Chicago.

After intersecting with Chicago Avenue, Lake Shore Drive travels in a sharp reverse curve at Oak Street Beach before returning to controlled-access once again.

The expressway continues north, serving Bryn Mawr Avenue, before ending at Hollywood Avenue/Sheridan Road in the Edgewater neighborhood.

The portion from Belmont to just south of Irving Park was previously named Sheridan Road (which can still be seen carved in stone in at least one vintage high-rise).

It is designed as a bascule bridge, and is one of only two in the city to have an upper and lower deck, both dedicated to automobile traffic (the other being on Michigan Avenue).

[14] Lake Shore Drive's origins date back to Potter Palmer, who coerced the city to build the street adjacent to his lakefront property to enhance its value.

The drive was originally intended for leisurely strolls for the wealthy in their carriages, but as the auto age dawned it took on a different role completely.

LSD came from the south on its current alignment, but continued straight at the curve north of Monroe Street, rising onto a viaduct.

[15] I-494 was initially planned to run from the Chicago Skyway at Stony Island Avenue to the Kennedy Expressway at the Ohio Street feeder ramp.

The freeway would travel along Stony Island Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, and Ohio Street, bisecting Jackson Park in the process.

During the Groundhog Day Blizzard, Lake Shore Drive had to be closed because of the large amount of snow present on the roadway.

Crews worked around the clock to remove the vehicles and clear the roadway, and Lake Shore Drive was reopened just before dawn on February 3, 2011.

[22] A thirty-year development plan estimated to cost $4 billion was approved by Chicago in September 2010, for the former site of the US Steel plant in South Chicago, which operated along the neighborhood's shoreline from 1880 to 1992,[23] and which has undergone extensive demolition and environmental remediation since; included in the plan was an extension of Lake Shore Drive through the property.

Due to renewed national political attention to race relations following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent civil unrest, which also impacted Chicago, the plan gained traction.

[25] In December 2020, a hearing on the proposal was held, but the vote was delayed to April 2021 due as Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought alternatives to honor du Sable.

This divide was reflected in the Council vote: the ordinance received predominantly non-white aldermanic support, while two-thirds of the aldermen in opposition were white.

[33] Residents protested against cutting neighborhoods off from the lake, and Rogers Park and Edgewater voters rejected the extension in a referendum placed on the ballot by citizen initiative in November 2004.

[34] However, in spring 2005, the Chicago Park District spent $350,000 on plans for new marinas along Lake Shore Drive, including one at Devon-Granville,[35] and in July 2005, Cong.

Jan Schakowsky (IL-9) obtained federal funding reported variously as $800,000 and $1 million for a study of the possible extension of the Chicago North lakefront path;[36] both of these developments fueled residents' suspicion of a secret city plan to extend the Drive.

Organizations like Active Transportation Alliance emphasized the need to make the lakefront more welcoming to pedestrians and cyclists, suggesting that Lake Shore Drive be downsized.

In the 20th century, the tiny neighborhoods near Lake Shore Drive came to be occupied by exclusive high-rise apartments, condominiums and co-op buildings.

To the political columnist Mike Royko, Lake Shore Drive was goo-goo territory, a land occupied by Chicago's wealthy "good-government" types.

[47] Many films based in Chicago feature scenes on Lake Shore Drive, including Cheaper by the Dozen, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Blues Brothers, The Break-Up, Risky Business, Love Jones, My Best Friend's Wedding, Somewhere in Time and National Lampoon's Vacation.

In When Harry Met Sally..., the title characters are seen taking Lake Shore Drive in the opposite compass direction to that which their origin point and destination would require.

The opening credits of the late 1980s and early 1990s sitcom Married... with Children features a flyover of Lake Shore Drive.

The road is also mentioned in the 2005 Kanye West songs "Drive Slow" and "Grammy Family", as well as in his verse in the Boost Mobile promotional single "Whole City Behind Us."