Wherein we pat ourselves on the back for our prescience, duck under cover for our stupid mistakes and generally wallow in nostalgia for a city so much younger then
1993 City Life
Best Recovery from a Colossal Civic Blunder: Block 37 In 1993, we were hailing the arrival of an “open-air arts-and-crafts workshop for youth” in the summer and an “ice-skating rink” in the winter to make use of the gaping empty space left after a developer convinced the city to destroy the landmark McCarthy Building before they bailed on the entire project. Today, a huge retail, entertainment and residential project stands on the site, a couple decades behind schedule, and that “workshop for youth” has morphed into the year-round nonprofit After School Matters “that provides life-changing after-school and summer program opportunities to more than 15,000 Chicago high school teens each year.”
A full-page ad for First Chicago Bank, the then 130-year-old Chicago institution. Soon it would become a division of National Bank of Detroit, then Banc One, then Bank One and finally Chase. No longer a Chicago institution…
Best Use of Public Space in the Loop: Pritzker Park Back then, we wrote of the new park: “Besides being the only grassy space enclosed by the El, Pritzker Park is a cultural reference point: an example of the alternative use of urban space, and how easily art and daily life can be merged.” Today, it’s plagued, as one publication described it, as a “refuge for crime and homelessness.” The city tried, unsuccessfully, to find a mixed-use developer for the site in 2015.
An ad for the “1993 Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition” at Navy Pier, which would morph the next year into the still-running SOFA Fair.
An ad for the Randolph Street Gallery as it celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. It would be forty now, but it folded when the new MCA opened and absorbed most of its programming while absorbing its programmer Peter Taub.
Some things change… Best Daily Newspaper Columnist: Mike Royko Best Imitation of a Celebrity by a Gossip Columnist: Irv Kupcinet Best Local Broadcast News Personality: Joan Esposito Best Reason to Read the Tribune: Tempo Best Reason Not to Read the Tribune: Bob Greene
And some things don’t… Best Reason to Read the Sun-Times: City news Best Reason Not to Read the Sun-Times: Sneed Best Place to Feel Like You’re Still Living in the Sixties: Heartland Cafe Best Place to Feel Like You’re Still Living in the Seventies: Park West Best Place to Feel Like You’re Still Living in the Eighties: East Bank Club Best Place to Take Out-of-Town Guests: Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise
An intentionally cheesy full-page ad for Casey’s Liquors had multiple messages to impart: “Where the Cool People Buy their Beer”; “ Cheapest Beer in Chicago” and “More than a liquor store, it’s a lifestyle.” A decade or so later, its self-proclaimed prophesies came true when it was converted into the ultra-cool electronic music club Sonotheque and later Beauty Bar. (Except for the cheap beer part.)
For twenty or so years, we ran a section in Best of Chicago called “Sports & Recreation,” always a challenge for this culture-centric publication. Sports is now part of City Life.
In that first year, we covered fishing, bowling, billiards and just a little bit about the pro sports teams that our town obsesses over.
Best Place for Perch Fishing in the Dead of Winter: Calumet River, off Ewing Avenue
An ad for “The Cue Club” offered “more sports and live bands than you can shake a stick at.” The city’s fascination with sports bars and rock clubs hasn’t waned but the mania for shooting pool seems to have been a fleeting moment. Today? We have table tennis bars instead.
Still at Play Best Pool Hall: Chris’s Billiards Best Bowling Alley: Southport Lanes & Billiards
Gone but Not Forgotten Best Sports Bar: Schaller’s Pump Best Indoor Miniature Golf Course: Art Golf (Eighteen holes designed by artists!)
Photo: Monica Kass Rogers
1993 Culture & Nightlife
In addition to a seminal cover by Chris Ware, this issue established our tradition of dramatic splash pages for each section. In this issue, City Life was drawn by (even then a New Yorker!) Melinda Beck; Culture & Nightlife by Archer Prewitt (now best known as a musician); Food & Drink by Jennifer Riegler; Good & Services by Cherise Mericle (now better known as a children’s book author); and Sports & Recreation by Chuck Death, aka Jon Langford (then and now better known as a musician)
Best Gauntlet to a Club Bathroom: Get Me High Lounge “This Wicker Park jazz dive puts the ‘p’ in performance—or rather the performance in ‘pee’—for patrons as well, who are forced to cross the bandstand to access the restrooms.”
A selection of advertisers in the section still at it, for which we’re generally thankful: Old Town School of Folk Music Rolling Stones Records Empty Bottle Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding (it just came back) Buddy Guy’s Legends Sedgwick’s Bar & Grill Big Chicks The Dance Center of Columbia College Elbo Room Heartland Cafe Court Theatre Beaumont Timothy O’Toole’s 3rd Coast Coffeehouse & Winebar Fitzgerald’s
Best Latin Dance Club: Mario’s Ballroom Best Comedy Club: The Funny Firm Best Classical Orchestra: Chicago Sinfonietta Best Gay Bar: The Vortex Best Jazz Club: The Green Mill Best Gallery Openings: World Tattoo Gallery Best Rock Club < 1,000 Capacity: Lounge Ax Best Rock Club > 1,000 Capacity: Metro Best Movie Theater: Music Box Best Cabaret/Piano Bar: Joann Piano Bar Best Painting at the Art Institute: El Greco’s “Assumption of the Virgin” Best Theatre Space: Remains Theatre Best Place for World Music: Equator Club Best Dance Bar: Crobar Best Heavy Metal Club: The Thirsty Whale Best Late-Night Theatre Show: “Hellcab” Best Performance Artist: Joan Dickinson Best Lesbian Bar: Paris Dance Best Local Comedian: Jeff Garlin Best Theatre Company (we spelled theater that way then): The Goodman Theatre
A selection of advertisers in the section no longer with us but likely to stir memories: ArtGolf Indoor Miniature Golf Dr. Wax The (Jazz) Bulls Don’s Coffee Club The Jazz Buffet of Chicago Sweet Alice Espial Bistro & Bar Yako’s Everleigh Club Great Lakes Hot Tubs Maxtavern Top Shelf Chicago The Bop Shop Lakeview Links The Lizard Lounge Johnny Rockets Jersey Shore Subs Cornelia’s Roosterant
Photo: Monica Kass Rogers
1993 Food & Drink
Best Locally Brewed Beer: Baderbräu Draft We chose this then-Elmhurst-based product from the very nascent craft beer upstarts at the time, including Goose Island’s Blonde Ale and Legacy Red Ale.
Best Rib Tips: Ms. Piggies Bar-B-Que We took our work very seriously for this debut edition, and for category of Best Ribs, it meant literally visiting every BBQ place in Chicago, a tasty task. This was before the internet, before Yelp, and it meant a mix of library time and Yellow Pages, but the South Side rib joints like Lem’s were not yet widely known outside of their more immediate environs. (Today Lem’s has a website!) On our way to visit Lem’s in the course of our research, we exited the Dan Ryan at 59th Street and saw a smoker out near the street, with the unmistakable fumes of barbecue in the air. Completists that we are, we stopped to investigate and met the proprietor of a tiny, even by BBQ-shack standards, joint called Ms. Piggies Bar-B-Que. We wrote: “It’s the kind of outdoor rib pit that legends are made of, and it’s home base for cooks and customers alike in the summertime.” We returned many times to Ms. Piggie’s after that, until, eventually, it was no more.
Best Italian Ice/Lemonade: Mario’s Italian Lemonade Still the best, in our books. We wrote then, and still believe, that “For some of us, Mario’s Italian Lemonade is the very evocation of summer, and, frankly, one of the best things about living in Chicago, period.” Though we were already fans of Mario’s when we undertook this first edition, journalistic integrity forced us to investigate further, and made us also lifelong fans of Johnnie’s Beef in Elmwood Park.
Though Charlie Trotter’s was already thriving (and well beyond our budget), Chicago’s great moment in culinary acclaim was a ways away as evidenced by both winners that year and the categories we chose to highlight. Best Burger: John Barleycorn Memorial Pub Best Ribs: Lem’s Bar-B-Q House Best Drive-In Restaurant: Superdawg Best Chinese Restaurant: Moon Palace Best Italian Restaurant: Vivere at Italian Village Best Steakhouse: Morton’s of Chicago Best Beer List: WeinKeller (in Berwyn) Best Greek Restaurant: Pegasus Restaurant and Taverna Best Margarita: Hat Dance Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Blind Faith Cafe Best Coffeehouse: Urbus Orbis Best French Fries: Doggie Diner Best Brunch: The Florence Hotel Best Mexican Restaurant: Frontera Grill Best Hot Dog: Fast Track
Food & Drink advertisers in that issue. See if you can guess which are still in business: Cafe du Midi Trattoria Dinotto Kopi, A Traveler’s Cafe Monroe Merlot Joe Cafe Penelope Cafe Mozart Blue Iris Cafe Raw Bar Fireside Restaurant Alfo’s Ristorante Pat’s Pizza Ristorante The Third Coast Coffeehouse & Wine Bar (the one located on Lake Shore Drive and East Delaware versus the other on North Dearborn) Luigi’s of Hong Kong Bella Vista The Berghoff Conte Di Savoia Grizzly’s Bareo Le Café Bongo Room Sweet Spice Italian Village Club Lucky Avanti Populo Christopher’s Sorrev’s Chicago Diner Andrzej Grill Café Amore South Loop Club Abbey Pub Poor Phil’s Osteria Tutto Bene Frida’s September’s Gypsy’s Cove
1993 Goods & Services
Talk about a time capsule of changes. Some of these concerns, like Paper Source, grew from a single mom & pop location into mighty chains. Others, seemingly mighty chains, vanished in the wake of the digital-driven retail revolution. Little did we imagine that legends of retail in Chicago, or that whole categories of stores would soon disappear.
Best Record Store: Tower Records Going to Tower Records used to be a form of entertainment in itself, something to do on a Friday if you did not want to go to the movies. “The generous hours (till midnight every day of the year, including national holidays) make Tower truly a secular temple of infotainment, a haven for souls seeking ritualized comfort—and redemption, completion—amidst racks and shelves of cultural artifacts.”
Best Sporting-Goods Store: Morrie Mages For those of us who grew up in the suburbs where the typical sporting-goods store at the time was the local mall outlet of a national chain, this place was truly magnificent, even if you were not sports-obsessed. We wrote then: “They actually call it MC Sporting Goods now, a nod to the faceless corporate parent that acquired Chicago’s sporting goods legend when its founder passed away a few years ago. Fortunately, the only thing they wrecked at the flagship store is the name—Mages still offers an extraordinary eight floors of sporting goods (the eight wonders of Wells Street), from scuba to volleyball supplies, in a store that still reflects very much the imprint of its up-from-Maxwell Street founder.” Sadly, the store soon passed through multiple hands, finally closing when the Sports Authority, its final owner, went bankrupt.
Best Women’s Shoe Store: Lori’s Shoes Best Place to Get All Wrapped Up: Paper Source Best Bookstore Decor: Bookman’s Alley Best Toy Store for Kids: F.A.O. Schwarz Best Toy Store for Adults: Uncle Fun Best Place to Buy Cowboy Boots: Alcala’s Best Mustard Selection: Treasure Island Best Place to Buy Parts of Old Buildings: Salvage One Best Thrift/Vintage Store: Urban X Best Women’s Boutique Concentrating on Chicago Designers: Pentimento Best Metaphysical Bookstore: The Occult Bookstore Best Bookstore: Seminary Cooperative Bookstore Best Used Record Store: Reckless Records Best ‘Zine: The Baffler Best Department Store: Marshall Field’s at State Street Best Video Store: Facets Video at Booksellers Row Best Wine Shop: Sam’s Wine & Liquors Best Place to Buy Authentic African Garb: New Boutique Africa
