Results tagged “downtown”

         

On Saturday, Chicagoist decided to play tourist and take some photos of life in the Loop. Our favorite subject of the day was this man (pictured), who with CD player in hand and dance moves in motion turned a N. Michigan Ave. median strip into his own stage from which to entertain pedestrians and traffic. We don't know your name or your mission, Mr. Dancer, but your moxie makes you our new hero.

          

As promised, we got up very very early to hit the Daley Plaza Farmer's Market as soon as it opened on Thursday morning. In future entries, we'll be visiting a varieties of farmer's markets around the city, but for the first day of the season, we returned to our old standby.

Block 37 is a black hole where money and plans go to die, and when you combine those forces with the CTA's money-guzzling abilities, well, it's the financial equivalent of a a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see. Time to call City Hall for a bail-out.

Lunchtime in the Loop is a beautiful thing. Like an elaborate dance sequence, busy downtown hot spots service customers with a graceful efficiency, and businessmen rub elbows with the bike messengers for an “everyman’s meal” – fries and a dog, Italian beef, or a back-to-basics deli sandwich.

Like many Chicagoans, we cried a little in 2006 when the Berghoff restaurant closed its doors after 108 years in the loop. While the Berghoff was never known for its “gourmet” cuisine, it did serve up hearty portions of German cooking and nostalgia for old Chicago. We were delighted to see that part of the Berghoff legacy would carry on “17/West at the Berghoff.”

The Chicago City Council held off on voting on a controversial ban on urban chickens yesterday. Since urban chickens are all the rage, it seems like a perfect time to ban them, right? Southwest Side Alderman Lona Lane (18th), who proposed the ban, said she didn't know why the vote on the ban was held up. Maybe it is, as the Sun-TImes suggests, because Mayor Daley has a thing for urban poultry: "Let's be realistic,"...

We thought we'd been hearing jugbands downtown recently, and now we know we have: River otters are making a comeback in Chicago waterways. According to the Chris Anchor, chief biologist for Cook County (jobs we didn't know existed: that one), "Almost all the watersheds in Cook County have otters. They're everywhere...there's definitely otters downtown." No one's sure exactly why the otters have re-emerged, but the Brookfield Zoo and Forest Preserve District will be tagging...

Although the cover story to yesterday's Sun-Times said that diners shouldn't be alarmed, it's hard to not be after reading the sensationalized cover story which listed 21 restaurants whose ice had more bacteria than a toilet in the Sun-Times men's room. A note for downtown workers looking for lunch this afternoon: you may want to buy a bottled drink. The testing of ice cubes from 49 area restaurants found that the unlucky 21 tested for...

This week has been all about finding a good turkey, ordering that dinner to go, or cooking at home. But Chicago's intrepid food bloggers were still all over the place this week. Bridget Houlihan and Tammy "Zesmerelda" Green at Chicago Bites took the time to head to Devon Seafood Grill in the Gold Coast. Both of the ladies enjoyed the meal immensely, but to get the full effect, you should listen to their podcast. Meanwhile,...

We were downtown at work yesterday when a co-worker said "What's with the protest outside? There's someone chanting for justice or something." Knowing from the "Saturday Plans" post that The Lady herself, Paula Deen was appearing, this was a head-scratcher. Who could be so upset at a TV chef? Besides the obvious, of course.

Flurries possible tonight, but this weekend shouldn't be too, too chilly. Which is good because there's a ton of fun stuff going on tomorrow: Paula Deen has two live shows at the Chicago Theater tomorrow. BYO sticks of butter, we're guessing. Tickets start at $45 and are still available for both the 11am and 4pm shows. Not in the mood for angioplasty? Head over to the DIY Trunk Show, at Pulaski Park auditorium. We're starting...

The Reader's Guide to Late Night Dining is now online, and there's the expected eclectic mix of diners, hot dog stands, taco joints, upscale pub grub, and places where only the fearless dare enter. Even better is that the range of offerings encompasses a wide stretch of the city and connecting suburbs (big love for Gene & Jude's Red Hots in River Grove!). If you're at the stage in life where "I'll sleep when...

This week Missed Connections entered a big of a segregation war, with a few groups banding together to try and prove that more MCs happen in their respective neighborhoods than any other. (Let Chicagoist give you all a little tip: if your locale is full of arty, emotional, sexually fueled 20-somethings, more connections are made rather than missed. Trust us.)

We reported on Wednesday sales have been sinking at the flagship State Street store--nostalgic epicenter for Field’s lovers. Meanwhile, Field’s Fans continue to protest. A group of concerned Field's Fans showed up on Saturday to “protest against Macy's business practices here in the Chicago area.” They have scheduled special “leaflet” events on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, as well as another rally “Under the Great Clock” at noon on Saturday, December 2. Wednesday’s Trib...

Nostalgic for the pre-Mapquest world? Do your dogeared city guides and abused atlases sit proudly on your bookshelves? Have we got an event for you. The citywide Festival of Maps kicks off tomorrow, and is a tribute to those simpler, flatter world guides we’d consult constantly before the internets helped us find the best non-highway crosstown routes quicker than you could say "Western Avenue." It’s the first fest of its kind, and is a collaboration...

It's hard to believe it's taken the universe this long to combine parades, insane traffic and the ability to punch the living shit out of stuff. But that combo has arrived. Downtown. Today. Yes, at 4pm this afternoon, around 700 boxers, here to punchasize your face for the the AIBA World Boxing Championship, will walk from the Palmer House Hilton to the Chicago Theater in a 4-block parade.

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just...

One of Chicagoist’s few lingering memories of grade school was dental hygiene films. Those things scared the bejeezus out of us. Rotten teeth loomed large in darkened rooms, while Vincent Price’s voice double warned us of the horrors of plaque. Keep that shit up long enough, we were taught, and you get zero teeth. Oddly enough, that’s what a local dental practice’s patrons ended up with, as well as mountains of debt.

Did you get an e-mail from the CTA a little while ago? Some customers did with a severe weather warning. Dear CTA Customer, This email is to alert you that there is currently severe weather, including heavy rain and high winds, forecasted to reach Chicago during the afternoon and evening rush-hour period today, October 18. It is possible that this severe weather could impact CTA bus and train service. Please take this into account...

Watch out, Chicago: Death is coming to town. Lest we sound a tad dramatic, let us clarify ourselves. Selected Independent Funeral Homes is having their 89th annual meeting this week at downtown’s Fairmont Hotel. Finally, a convention we can get excited about! Among the more interesting events to take place during the Oct. 14-17 summit are a discussion on the pros and cons of green burials (a movement that Chicagoist wholeheartedly supports), a banquet at...

The Chicago Theatre is being sold to Madison Square Garden. At least that's what Chris Jones is saying. According to the article, Madison Square Garden Entertainment has agreed to purchase the downtown landmark and is just waiting for a few formalities — like the City signing off on the sale — before closing the deal. MSGE owns — duh — Madison Square Garden, plus Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater in NY. It's...

You know what today is, don’t you? It’s golden beer’s 165th birthday! Yes, 165 years ago today, on Oct. 5, 1842, Joseph Groll, a young brewmaster in Plzen, Czech Republic, discovered a technique for brewing golden beer, otherwise known as the pilsner, or Pilsner Urquell, which is the brand name now. Prior to 1842, most beers had a darker, murkier consistency and a sweeter taste. Lore has it that the citizens of Pilsen were fed...

Award-winning food and drink writer Fiona Beckett will sign copies of her new book Food, Wine & Friends at the House of Glunz in Old Town this evening. The event runs from 5-7 p.m., and there will be a reception with wine and hors d'ouevres. Cost is $20 for the reception, $40 for the reception and a copy of the book. All you amateur sommeliers should be making a beeline to Sam's Wine & Spirits...

The Mississippi county where Emmet Till was murdered issued an official apology today. One of Till's relatives, who attended the ceremony, said, "Back in 1955, Tallahatchie County did nothing to help us. This is all they can do, and we appreciate it and accept." Mississippi State Senator Dave Jordan, who's trying to pass a bill getting the entire state to apologize, said "Mississippi once had a clean dress on, but her underclothes were dirty....

October in Chicago makes us feel like kids again. This month, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and the Park District have filled the calendar with Halloween-themed activities perfect for the toddler set and their kid-at-heart parents. Here are our favorites in the lead up to the big holiday. The park district (along with Walgreens) is sponsoring events to get you in the spirit at over forty different neighborhood parks from Bessemer to Oz throughout...

Chicago won't be waiting until the Cubs win the World Series to celebrate. Given the Cubs' postseason track record over the past 99 seasons, that's probably a smart idea. A rally to celebrate the Cubs making the playoffs will be held at noon on Monday in Daley Plaza. While Cubs fans celebrate downtown, the Cubs themselves will head to Arizona. While baseball's regular season concluded on Sunday, the wild card won't be determined until a...

For those interested in learning more about Scientology off the job, the church is expanding its Chicago presence. The Church of Scientology is setting up shop at the former Artcraft Building in the South Loop, at 650 S. Clark. When the flagship center opens next summer there will be activities, social services and, presumably, auditing. The building’s previous tenants, ACORN and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, moved out because the space and crumbling façade needed attention...

Chicago has a lot of newspaper columnists. We've been watching them ebb and flow for years. But the good ones, or at least the ones we like, have stuck around. Mary Schmich at the Trib is one of them. Her columns inform, provoke thought, remind us to wear sunscreen, and usually cause us at one point or another to laugh out loud. On the Brown line. During rush hour. And then everyone stares.

Phase one: Acquire somewhere between $480,000 and $2.78 million. Phase two: Develop desire to live right around the corner from the AMC River East 21. Phase three: Patience until 2010. Maybe you've accomplished these goals already, and if you have, this is your lucky day: Developers revealed plans for a new downtown high rise today that meets your criteria exactly. The Peshtigo (we can't stop saying it ...), which would be located at 515 N....

While the fish-taco revolution is swimming across the area, there are plenty of other events happening this week. Before we list them, however, we should let you know that the cockroaches are taking over our downtown restaurants. This week's victim of the ultimate survivor, Bice. Cockroaches were the least of their problems, however. A Health Department inspection also found no hot running water in a kitchen sink and fruit flies in the bar. If you...