Hindman Auctions announces the appointment of Ashley Galloway as vice president of marketing in a release. “As an accomplished strategist, Galloway brings more than fifteen years of arts and cultural marketing experience to her role, where she will lead marketing initiatives, including expanding digital projects and advertising, events, buyer and audience engagement strategy, and partnerships. Galloway brings extensive experience in the art, corporate and nonprofit worlds.” “We are delighted that Ashley has joined Hindman and will be leading the growth of our Marketing Department,” Hindman’s CEO Jay Krehbiel says. “Ashley’s wide-ranging experience in the cultural world – from editorial to major events and fairs to leading her own company – is sure to strengthen the business.” More here.
Mid-Summer River North Gallery Walk On Friday
Participating galleries in the July event from 5 to 8pm: Addington Gallery, Jean Albano Gallery, Gallery Victor Armendariz, Carl Hammer Gallery, Hilton | Asmus Contemporary, Vale Craft Gallery, Zg Gallery and Zolla/Lieberman Gallery.
DESIGN
NYTimes Anatomizes The Modern Downtown Business District
In a graphics- and analysis-heavy takeout, the New York Times looks at the fate of the twentieth-century office in the twenty-first, analyzing the downtown or central business real estate market in each of the fifty largest metropolitan areas, including Chicago. “The past year has also upended questions about who gets to shape the future of downtown. Historically… a handful of executives inside companies promising new jobs wielded outsize influence. Now decisions have shifted to individual workers, said Kristopher Larson, head of the Hollywood Partnership in Los Angeles… Larson previously led the downtown improvement district in Raleigh, N.C., which has changed in fifteen years from a quiet state capital to a more animated and populated downtown. David Meeker, a downtown resident, said the transformation helped sustain business during the pandemic at a brewery he co-owns… He prefers the steady traffic of neighborhood regulars who come in on a weeknight over the boom-and-bust of convention visitors and business clientele. ‘If there weren’t residents during the pandemic, it would just be ugly — really, really ugly,’ he said, imagining the pandemic with the downtown Raleigh of twenty years ago. ‘It would be just… annihilation.'”
JPMorgan Chase Plans New Skyscraper With A Million Square Feet Of Offices
“JPMorgan Chase is looking at development sites where it could lease as much as 1 million square feet in what could lead to one of the largest office leases in Chicago history,” reports Ryan Ori at the Tribune. “The banking giant, which owns and occupies the 60-story Chase Tower, recently toured several sites and listened to pitches from developers looking for an anchor tenant to kick off construction of a new skyscraper, according to people familiar with the search. If Chase does move, it likely would look to sell its distinctive, sloped tower. Chase occupies much of the 1.9 million-square-foot tower, but it also leases space to tenants including Exelon.” Preservation Chicago’s Ward Miller reacts: “Let’s landmark the Chase building, plaza, clock and artwork! We saw this coming a few years back as part of our Chicago 7 Most Endangered-20th Century Art in the Loop, and these plazas. So much to potentially lose, including sunlight, air & [affecting] quality of life issues.”
Fulton Market To Become More Residential?
Gazette Chicago checks in with developments including in city council that could transform the Fulton Market area into a residential zone. “Historic Fulton Market and the surrounding manufacturing district in the 27th Ward [are] about to experience a new level of transformation, as a result of recent City Council approval to allow residential development.The council’s action green-lights residential development north of Lake Street between Ogden on the west, Halsted on the east, and Hubbard on the north. The area is part of the Fulton Market Innovation District, which extends south to Randolph Street.”
More Developments For Bronzeville Lakefront
The City’s Department of Planning and Development team and its Chicago Plan Commission and Community Development Commission, have made further steps for the Bronzeville Lakefront development. “Once completed, the development will have approximately 7,000 housing units; eight million square feet of office, retail and research facility space; and ten acres of parks and open space,” reports Chicago Gazette. “The project will occupy a 48.6-acre site bounded by 31st and 26th Streets, the Metra tracks, and King Drive, which held Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center for 120 years before it closed in 2009. That year, the city purchased the site for $90 million and razed the medical center so the area could serve as the home of the 2016 Summer Olympics.”
DINING & DRINKING
Southport Lanes Will Roll No More
After much back-and-forth, the trappings and real estate of ninety-nine-year-old Southport Lanes will go under the gavel, reports the Trib. “Items to be sold include the bowling lanes, the antique manual pinsetters, the nearly century-old bar and an even older Illinois Bell phone booth,” writes David Roeder at the Sun-Times. “Southport Lanes operates in a building that started life in the early 1900s as a tavern tied to the Schlitz brewery. In the distant past, it’s been a brothel, speakeasy and gambling den… The city has awarded landmark designation to several taverns that were long ago affiliated with the Schlitz brewery, but Southport Lanes was not among them.” Preview the July 20 auction at Winternitz here.
Remembering Aniello “Red” Fontano
Aniello Fontano, who was 92, is remembered at Gazette Chicago: “For decades, one could watch Aniello ‘Red’ Fontano make sausage and slice meat in the window of his full-service grocery store. As the neighborhood and type of customer changed, from predominantly homemakers to college students and University of Illinois Chicago employees, Fontano pivoted to selling mostly sandwiches at what became Fontano’s Subs at 1058 West Polk.”
Portillo’s Strikers Return To Work
“Workers at Portillo’s are back on the job after striking since last week in the west suburbs,” reports Fox 32. “Before they returned on Tuesday morning, pastors joined them for a prayer circle in Addison. The workers were concerned they would be locked out as they returned to their jobs, [but were allowed] in without a problem. Last week, Portillo’s also responded to another walkout. There will be no discipline for employees who participated in the strike and the company has raised wages, Portillo’s said in the response.”
Michelin-Starred Oriole Gets New Look
Oriole opens for the first time since 2020: “One of the restaurant’s investors owns the entire block of property where Oriole sits and there was a neighboring vacancy. Crews knocked down a wall and when work was finished, the loft-like restaurant had triple the space. That doesn’t mean reservations are easier to come by, Oriole increased seating capacity by only three,”reports Eater Chicago. “The renovations include a lounge where customers will nosh on bites and bartenders will pour drinks. A host will then escort them to the kitchen where they’ll meet chef Sandoval who will greet them before they make it to their seats. The new menu also comes with a price increase. It’s $285 compared to $175 opening menu price from 2016.”
Eating Through A Guide To Asian Food Complex 88 Marketplace
Nick Kindelsperger and Louisa Chu at the Trib: “[We] visited every food court stall, bakery and hot pot restaurant currently fully open, tasting bao to bubble tea and everything in between… Just west of Chinatown… a strangely shiny building has landed along a row of old brick warehouses. Jefferson Square takes its name from the building’s street address. Technically it stands in East Pilsen. To the outsider, little reveals that the glass-fronted facade hides an Asian food wonderland, with what’s touted as the largest Chinese supermarket in the city. 88 Marketplace sprawls across the second floor of the cavernous center.” A list of tastes follows.
The Midwest’s First And Only Indonesian Grocery Opens In Schaumburg
Mike Sula visits Waroeng, the Midwest’s first and only Indonesian grocery. “Before last month, if you found yourself in need of any of the fundamental ingredients of Indonesian cuisine, such as candlenuts, sambal, or the textural universe of crisps and crackers that serve as snacks and accompaniments, you might get lucky at one of the city’s Vietnamese supermarkets. But ever since Golden Pacific Market closed in 2017, if you were, say, Grant Achatz in search of kluwak kupas, it was no dice, chef. Tasya Hardono noticed that when John Avila [partners in Minahasa] needed Indonesian shrimp paste or kecap, he’d often strike out on Argyle Street. And when he’d order items wholesale from importers on the coasts, he’d get overcharged. A sales rep from an LA-based importer recognized their dilemma and suggested that Hardono cut out the middlemen and establish a midwestern retail hub for Indonesian imports, which would save on shipping and wholesale upcharges for the restaurant. At nearly the same time the Indonesian consul general stopped by Minahasa for banana fritters and suggested the very same thing.”
It Might Be Original: The Original Rainbow Cone And Buona: The Original Italian Beef Combine In Darien
An existing Buona location in Darien is expanding to hundred-seat capacity with sixty seats on a covered patio, making room for The Original Rainbow Cone. “The Buonavolanto family entered into a joint business partnership with The Original Rainbow Cone’s Lynn Sapp two years ago, ensuring the continuing legacy of the iconic Chicago ice cream treat and expanding the brand’s footprint into new communities. Since launching the partnership, The Original Rainbow Cone opened a standalone location in Lombard and expanded their fleet of ice cream trucks from one to five this summer,” Rainbow Cone says in a release. The Original Rainbow Cone opened its first location in Beverly ninety-five years ago in 1926, and began its first expansion, to Navy Pier, in 2016.
Fatpour Tempts Olympics Lawyers With “Olympic Village” Pop-Up
An Olympics-themed pop-up will transform Wicker Park’s Fatpour Olympic Village, if the attorneys for the International Olympic Committee don’t get a whiff first. The attractions, Time Out Chicago reports, include a “giant Olympic rings sign, a faux torch, podiums and international flags from all 205 countries participating in the games this year. The pop-up launches on July 21 with a free curling tournament… before launching into high gear with a ticketed opening ceremonies event where you’ll find DJs, giveaways and contests. Attendees are encouraged to dress like Olympic enthusiasts and fans… As the games progress… guests can imbibe boozy snow cones and cheekily-named cocktails (like The Olympian, which melds tequila, strawberry syrup, limeade and seltzer) while watching your favorite events unfold onscreen… Order from the ‘Pizzas of the World’ menu, which includes [The Fassbender], a blend of white sauce, sauerkraut, beer brats, brown mustard, onions and gouda cheese… Guests can get a taste of sporting action with tournaments for bar-friendly games like shuffleboard, bubble hockey and Skee-Ball.”
FILM & TELEVISION
George Wendt On Starting Out: Cleaning Royko’s Office
George Wendt has a Chicago-centric banter with Chicago magazine: “I got hired at the Daily News. I started in the wire room. It was an eventful summer with Martin Luther King Jr. here, the Cicero march, the Richard Speck murders. My shift was from 6am to 2pm, and I was a jack-of-all-trades. I’d run out to the Billy Goat to get the most godawful lunches for everybody. When the proofreading ladies went to lunch, I’d sit where they sat and do the proofreading. And before Royko got in each day, around noon, I had to clear out all the coffee cups and cigarette butts from his office… I met with Sun-Times editor Emmett Dedmon. He looked at me with scorn and said, ‘Why should I hire you?’ I thought and thought and thought and said, ‘Because my grandfather used to work here?’ And he goes, ‘Get out of here!’ I spent that summer on a Pepsi truck.”
ARTS & CULTURE
Chinatown Slowly Reopens
At the Trib, William Lee covers the cautious reopening of Chinatown. “Following a year where the pandemic reduced Chicago’s tourist-dependent Chinatown to a ghost town, there are signs that life is slowly beginning to return to normal,” Lee writes. “’Chinatown is coming back to the way it was,’ Yu Xin Feng, 74, said through a translator at the Pui Tak Center, where he and his wife, He Yu Yong, 73, were receiving their second round of vaccinations… Still, unlike in some parts of the city, face masks are an ever-present sight, despite a massive push by local Chinese leaders to get older residents vaccinated and the high vaccination rate among the city’s Asian community. The neighborhood fell on lean times during the pandemic. While many are eager to get back to business in a neighborhood heavily reliant on tourism, there remains a sense of caution on several fronts.” “There are people who have lived here for generations. Their grandparents moved here, maybe 80 years ago, 30 years ago and their parents were raised here. Now a third generation,” one observer told Lee. “Chinatown is not just the shops and the restaurants,” another said. “It’s a community in Chicago. We have a true stake in the city.” At the Reader, Kayla Huynh finds Chinatown’s next generation: “Shifa Zhong, a 24-year-old Bridgeport resident and budding social media influencer… wants people of all ages to see Chinatown for more than just its dumplings and dim sum. On TikTok and Instagram, he shares with his 22,000 followers content ranging from the area’s oldest bakery to friends break dancing in Chinatown Square. With each post, he shows Chinatown through his eyes: a home to longtime community members and a ‘playground’ for young creatives. Zhong has become an unofficial voice for the youth of Chinatown through his marketing agency Tian Represent, serving as a bridge between older and newer residents in Bridgeport and Armour Square. Though nearly fifty years separate them in age, Zhong has teamed up with Gene Lee, the ‘mayor of Chinatown,’ to plan the community’s pandemic comeback—a two-day fair featuring local vendors, hip hop artists, cultural performances, and a Hong Kong-style night market. Zhong manages a crew of emerging creatives and entrepreneurs tasked with marketing and coordinating the Summer Fair, which will take over several streets in Chinatown on July 31 to August 1.”
Dina Dukhqan New Managing Director At RefuSHE
The U.S. and Kenyan board of directors announced in a release that Dina Dukhqan is RefuSHE’s new managing director. “This newly formed position leads our U.S.-based team and operations and is responsible for securing the resources needed to ensure our organization’s long-term financial sustainability and health. Dina will work in partnership with Geoffrey Thige, our CEO, to support RefuSHE’s overall mission and vision.” (“RefuSHE protects, nurtures, educates, and empowers young refugee women in East Africa through a unique holistic model that provides shelter, education and more, described here.)
3000 Voters Name Shedd Octopus
The Shedd Aquarium announces the new name of the giant Pacific octopus – Sawyer. Following 3000 votes cast, Sawyer is named after Shedd’s recently retired senior aquarist Ernie Sawyer. Visitors at the aquarium can come face-to-face with Sawyer in the Oceans exhibit as well as view “Octopus: Blue Planet II 4D Experience ®.”
