Former La Luce Building Getting Historic Landmark Status
The Queen Anne Victorian building at 1393-1399 West Lake Street—“one of the few remaining and best preserved early examples of a Schlitz Brewery tied house,” according to Kandalyn Hahn, a staffer with the Department of Planning and Development—is closer to preservation, with its landmark designation referred to the full City Council on Tuesday, with likely approval, reports Block Club Chicago. Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) said, “One of the things that I think makes it more historical is that there used to be Michael Jordan’s office upstairs… But the Schlitz thing is cool, too.”
Pritzker Joins Call For Illinois To Become “The Next Silicon Valley”
Kicking off his reelection campaign, Governor Pritzker talks tech, reports Crain’s. “The governor, a former tech funder, said he… wants to create jobs by solidifying Illinois’ position as a national capital for quantum computing and tech startups. ‘I want us to be the next Silicon Valley, that will do as much for job creation and raising incomes and the economy in Illinois as anything,’ he said, adding that aims to take the success of tech hub 1871 and replicate it at smaller Innovation Network hubs around the state, in addition to launching small-business centers statewide.”
Chicago Architecture Biennial Names Initial 106 Cultural Partners For 2021
Comprising in-person and digital programs, The Available City moves outside of what has historically been the main venue of the Chicago Cultural Center to upwards of ten outdoor sites and two indoor exhibition venues, the CAB says in a release. The 2021 Biennial spans ten neighborhoods and features eighteen projects created by more than sixty-eight contributors, with site partners ranging from community gardens and historic sites to schools and vacant lots. Each will bring The Available City’s community-focused exploration of architecture and the urban landscape into neighborhoods throughout Chicago, augmented and broadened by the participation of cultural partners across the city. More than a hundred museums, architecture studios and community organizations—including Douglass 18, SOM, Museum of Contemporary Art, 6018 North, Studio Gang and Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs—will offer lectures, panels, performances, workshops and other events in neighborhoods across Chicago. More here.
Logan Square’s 110-Year-Old Hollander Storage & Moving Building To Be Renovated
The Hollander Building may soon be converted into lofts, a daycare center and ground floor retail, reports Block Club Chicago. “The nearly 110-year-old Hollander Storage & Moving building on Milwaukee Avenue could finally see new life after a key city panel backed a zoning change,,. The city’s Zoning Committee signed off on a plan for GW Properties to redevelop the property at 2418 North Milwaukee. The renovation would bring in offices, retail, nine loft-style, live-work apartments and salon lofts. Guidepost Montessori, a daycare, also has signed onto the project.”
Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans Intends To File Suit Against Chicago Park District
The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans (JCCIA) says in a release that it is filing a complaint in the Chancery Court of Cook County against the Chicago Park District in an effort to get the Arrigo Park statue of Christopher Columbus reinstalled. A press conference is scheduled for Thursday, July 22, 10am at Arrigo Park. “We have reached out to the Park District and to the city on several occasions, including a formal letter and ten-exhibit outline of our position, with no response from either,” JCCIA President Ron Onesti says in a release. “We have been respectful, communicative and resourceful. Their lack of response has made litigation unavoidable so as to protect the interests of Chicago’s Italian American community.”
DINING & DRINKING
Tamale Guy Debuts Today On Randolph Street Before Getting Back To The Bars
Claudio Velez’s Authentic Tamale Guy, debuts along Randolph Restaurant Row in West Loop today. “Velez is taking over food operations at Lone Wolf bar where he has an agreement in place with the tavern’s owners, Heisler Hospitality (Sportsman’s Club, Estereo), to stay for six months,” reports Eater Chicago. “Velez will not only serve Lone Wolf’s customers, but he’ll once again go out on runs to seek out bars in Wicker Park, West Town, and Ukrainian Village to make tamale drops. This is a separate operation from the Tamale Guy Chicago restaurant that opened last year in Ukrainian Village. Velez and his partners had a falling out over control of finances. There’s a pending lawsuit that led to that restaurant’s closure. Velez’s former partners have denied all wrongdoing.”
Perilla And The Role Of Constant Reinvention
At Resy, Maggie Hennessy profiles Fulton Market’s Perilla. “Since opening Perilla, [partner and executive chef Andrew] Lim and [partner and general manager Thomas] Oh have had to balance the often-competing ends of creative expression and financial viability. They streamlined the menu to make it easier to cook — and to make service better for guests. They eased off of cheffier plates like tartare dotted with edible flowers. Instead they leaned into the modern, Midwestern-tinged Korean comforts they were becoming neighborhood favorites for, like chile-flecked fire chicken covered in melted chihuahua cheese. They cross-trained their staff, and instilled tip sharing across the front-of-house crew to boost retention and morale, and tacked an optional service fee onto guest checks, which has helped lift back-of-house wages from $15 to $20 an hour.” A knack for reinvention came in handy “when the pandemic pushed the entire industry to the brink last spring. Perilla suddenly became a to-go restaurant, which meant Lim had to evolve the menu again, leaning hard into his Korean food preservation roots via kimchi-heavy stews, and surfacing travel-friendly rice bowls and budget-friendly comfort dishes, like the warm hug of Korean-Chinese jajangmyeon noodles. They tapered use of third-party delivery providers in favor of direct orders through Square, and embraced grassroots marketing tactics, like slipping notes into third-party delivery bags encouraging direct ordering, and depositing flyers in the mail rooms of condo buildings during food runs.”
Back To The World At Chicago Pizza And Oven Grinder Company
Neil Steinberg returns to the social world with a study of a visit to Lincoln Park’s Chicago Pizza And Oven Grinder Company. “You know what I didn’t worry about? Not once in the two-hour dinner? Not from the first tongful of salad to the final spoonful of tortoni and the farewell chocolate-covered toffee that Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder distributes with the bill because they’re great? Dying,” he writes. “The whole COVID nightmare which began in February 2020 has receded enough, for me, that I no longer automatically feel for the bulge of a mask in my pocket when I go out the door into the vast and glorious world. Yes, there is still a sheet of plastic running along the bar here, like a salad bar sneeze guard. But that has to be on its way out. As for the half of the country who won’t get vaccinated because Fox News told them not to, or they don’t believe in science, or whatever, well, I wish I could offer insight. But I can’t… They aren’t the first to throw away their lives out of ignorance, and I needn’t be so rude as to observe that thousands will die because they’re dupes in thrall to a fraud. Be that way; I’m not going to argue with you. This life business, it’s a good thing. You shouldn’t need me to tell you to hold fast to it with both hands.”
Dill Pickle Food Co-Op Faces Closure
The city’s only food co-op may not be long for this world, reports Block Club Chicago. Logan Square’s Dill Pickle is looking at closing in the next couple of months. General manager Talia McCarthy and other Dill Pickle leaders “are pleading for the community’s support to prevent the co-op from closing. But it may be too late: The co-op is $5.6 million in debt with only two to three weeks of cash remaining… ‘We are looking at closing our doors in a couple of months the way things are continuing right now.'”
FILM & TELEVISION
When “The Real World” Came To Wicker Park
Chicago looks back twenty years: “During the 1990s, Wicker Park was a nexus of art, theater, and music… But by the summer of 2001, those spots, along with the popular Polish diner Busy Bee and others, had closed, leaving locals to bemoan what they saw as yet more signs of gentrification. Rising rents had been forcing out struggling artists and longtime residents, altering what had been a working-class pocket of Puerto Rican, Mexican and Polish families. Enter ‘The Real World,’ MTV’s juggernaut of a reality show. Its premise: Throw seven twenty-somethings of different backgrounds into a house together and tape them twenty-four hours a day during their four-month stay… When ‘Real World’ producers picked Wicker Park as the location of its eleventh season, they didn’t realize their presence would prick insecurities about the neighborhood’s changing character. Local bohemian activists organized a series of protests that summer to disrupt the filming, which they saw as contributing to gentrification and symbolizing the outsized power of capitalism and the media. Their efforts peaked on July 21 with a large, frenzied demonstration in front of the cast’s house. Chicago police arrested seventeen protesters, some of whom in turn sued the city and MTV…” The complete oral history is here.
MUSIC
Lightfoot Lollapalooza Will Require Proof Of Vaccination Or Test
Like the Tokyo Olympics, Lollapalooza appears to be the huge freight train that can’t stop: The mayor announced requirements for those who plan to be among the potential 400,000 attendees of Lollapalooza, quoted by Block Club’s breaking news editor Kelly Bauer: “With Lollapalooza coming, you must ‘Be prepared to bring your vaccine card or bring proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the last 72 hours before you go.'” From Bauer’s later report: “Lightfoot said she does not regret allowing Lollapalooza… ‘I think we made the best decision that we could, as always, based upon the data and based upon projections and modeling… I feel like we made the right decisions, but we’re sounding the alarm today because we’re starting to see this uptick.’” Bauer notes, “A Dutch music festival now linked to 1,000 coronavirus cases had even stricter requirements: proof of vaccination or a negative test within 40 hours of festival attendance.” Asked if she would still greenlight Lolla based on current information, Lightfoot said “yes.”
Citywide “Chicago In Tune” Events Will Mark 2021 as Chicago Year Of Music
August 19-September 19 are the dates for “Chicago In Tune,” “a new citywide festival celebrating Chicago’s diverse and legendary music scene and the 2021 Year of Chicago Music,” DCASE announces in a release. “This month of music will bring together iconic neighborhood venues, presenting organizations and musicians from across the city to celebrate all music genres and forms — with hundreds of free and ticketed events at dozens of venues.” The mayor is quoted, “Our city is our music — heard and felt in every church, club, park, dance hall, bar, concert venue and sidewalk in every corner of our city.” Details and schedule here.
STAGE
Founder-Artistic Director of 16th Street, Ann Filmer, Moving On After Fourteen Years
“It has been an incredible journey founding and leading 16th Street Theater,” Ann Filmer says in a release. “It will be exactly fourteen years at the end of August. This is a wonderful time for new leadership at 16th Street. I cannot wait to champion the next Artistic Director and their new vision.” Filmer started 16th Street Theater in 2007 after she and her family moved from Humboldt Park to Berwyn. She and her husband pledged to “make art for the community in which we live.” Filmer’s vision for a professional theater that would pay its artists a decent wage while being inclusive to the community resulted in 16th Street being the most affordable union theater in Illinois. Since its founding, 16th Street has amplified the voices of women and playwrights of color, focusing on Illinois artists. During Filmer’s tenure, out of sixty-one productions, plus nineteen free Pop Up Readings for the community, fifty-five were written by female-identifying playwrights and thirty-seven by writers of color. Under Filmer’s leadership, 16th Street created co-producing partnerships with Teatro Luna, Teatro Vista, Victory Gardens, Jedlicka, Lewis University, Tellin’ Tales, Goodman and Steppenwolf. As a producer, director and dramaturg, Filmer has been an advocate for playwrights remaining in command of their work. 16th Street has provided space and resources for writers to develop and present their new plays in the way that best serves the playwright’s voice. “Every artist that worked at 16th Street was asked to serve the playwright and that was no small task,” Filmer says. “Without every single artist being dedicated to creating with limited resources, none of 16th Street’s accolades would exist. Being an artist can be thankless: every actor, director, designer and staff member selflessly created for the good of the play. The artists, our dedicated audience, Board and staff are the ones who make 16th Street possible.”
Actors’ Equity Opens Up
Actors’ Equity Association, the national union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre,has announced a new Open Access membership policy, allowing any theater worker who can demonstrate they have worked professionally as an actor or stage manager within Equity’s geographical jurisdiction to join the union. Previously, eligibility for union membership was limited to those working for an Equity employer – whether by direct contract offer or through the Equity Membership Candidate program – or to members of a sibling union. Now, Equity is broadening access to union jobs that offer living wages, benefits and important workplace safety provisions. “The old system had a significant flaw: It made employers the gatekeepers of Equity membership, with almost no other pathways to joining,” Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association says in a release. “The entertainment industry is disproportionately white, including and especially theatrical leadership. The union has inadvertently contributed to the systemic exclusion of BIPOC artists and others with marginalized identities by maintaining a system in which being hired to work those contracts was a prerequisite of membership. We hope that artists from all backgrounds will join us in building a union that uplifts the entire theatre community, especially those who have not felt included or welcome in the past.”
ARTS & CULTURE
Burnett Wants Gambling At Wrigley Field, United Center, Other Large Stadiums
Ald. Walter Burnett will introduce legislation bringing gambling to stadiums, reports Crain’s. “While sports betting has been available online through betting apps and at casinos statewide since last summer, Chicago hasn’t pulled the trigger to allow physical sportsbooks to set up shop. Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, whose ward includes the United Center” has introduced the legislation to make that happen. “The city wouldn’t get direct revenue, aside from the licensing fees paid by the operators: $50,000 for the initial year and $25,000 per year after that. Instead, a portion of gaming revenue would go to the state, with the money in turn being used to fund vertical infrastructure projects as part of the Rebuild Illinois program. Some aldermen are concerned that stadium-based sportsbooks could cannibalize spending at the eventual Chicago casino… In-person sports wagering operations [are] limited to a single location, either inside the sports facility or in a permanent building within a five-block radius of the stadium. The city would bar stadiums from installing more than fifteen kiosks or wagering windows if the facility doesn’t sell food and drinks.”
