The View of Downtown from Rainbow Beach It’s understood that the best shoreline views of downtown are from the south, and Rainbow Beach, running from 75th to 78th, provides the first breathtaking glimpse of the Chicago skyline as one travels north into the city. And for natural beauty one need only redirect their gaze to the modest stretch of dunes preserving a border of native plant and animal life along the lakefront. (Sharon Hoyer)
Congress Interruptus The maybe-someday-promised return of the 1926-built, 2,900-capacity Congress Theater at the foot of Logan Square has been promised again. But for now, it’s another big stinking block of what-could-be for a movie palace-turned-live venue that sits in disrepair. Finance, as always, is the biggest obstacle to such a leviathan. “Expected to cost a total of $70.4 million, the project will be funded with $13.3 million in equity, $28 million in debt, $9 million in historic tax credits, $5.5 million in a deferred developer fee, and the tentatively approved $20 million in TIF,” Urbanize Chicago reported last summer. “The project costs include $12.8 million for the acquisition, with $57.5 million for the construction and soft costs.” Saved from multiple threats of demolition for condos until it was landmarked by the city in 2002 and was the raucous home for live concerts until 2013. C’mon, Weezer’s waiting to return. (Ray Pride) 2135 N. Milwaukee
David Hernandez He was Chi-Town Brown, the man whose poetry talked of marijuana smoke rising from fire escapes, fights in the alleys, and the smell of homemade tortillas wafting through the streets. He wrote about Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park and Roscoe Village when they were ethnic neighborhoods filled with street characters and gangs. His poetry was often accompanied by bongos, Spanish guitars and other “street sounds.” He would perform in coffeehouses, on the streets, and along the rocks at Fullerton Beach on hot summer days. For this he was asked to read at the inauguration and the funeral of “The People’s Mayor,” Harold Washington, and was hailed as the unofficial poet laureate of Chicago. (David Witter)
Italian Fiesta Pizzeria The grease is magical. It seeps through the paper covering. It drips down your wrists. It escapes that perfectly char-burned, perfectly thinned bottom crust. It holds the cheese, sausage and pepperoni (and any and all and every topping you choose to load your square-cut pie with) in place so that the next bite seems like the meth- or crack-addicted first bite you ever took of the greatest “neighborhood” pizza of all of the ‘hoods that make up this city. IFP has been doing the same thing for almost eighty years, you think they gon’ to stop now? (Scoop Jackson) 1919 E. 71st, 1306 E. 47th, 8058 S. Halsted, italianfiestapizzeria.com
Renegade Craft Fair The queen of craft fairs went national some time ago, with events from coast-to-coast and a few cities in between. But it all began here, as a one-day street vendor pop-up in Wicker Park. Now Renegade sets up temporary shop for hundreds of ceramicists, jewelry and clothing designers, soap makers, painters and many, many more at Pitchfork Fest, in the massive Morgan Manufacturing building and, of course, on Division Street. It’s the definitive place to pick up a perfect, one-of-kind gift. (Sharon Hoyer) Renegadecraft.com
Grant Park Including Millennium Park with the iconic Cloud Gate (aka “The Bean”), interactive fountains, life-size sculptures and tranquil botanic gardens, as well as historic landmarks—the Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum Campus—Grant Park is known as “Chicago’s front yard.” Extending over 300 acres, across the city’s downtown and alongside Lake Michigan, it is what you make it: a cultural experience (besides museums and public art it is home to some of the city’s biggest festivals including Lollapalooza and Chicago Jazz Festival), a meditative stroll through tree-lined paths, a family outing with activities aplenty—including a skating ribbon during the winter months. Chicago’s motto is “City in a Garden” and Grant Park certainly proves it true to its name. (Vasia Rigou) Bordered on the north by Randolph, on the south by Roosevelt and McFetridge, on the west by Michigan and on the east by Lake Michigan
2015 Cover Illustration: Tristan Young
Rebuild Foundation The beautiful note at the core of the many projects of Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation is the variegated and protean ambition of transforming urban spaces with traces of spaces’ former lives within imaginative and innovative metamorphoses that leap into the civic commons of the South Side. “Our mission is to demonstrate the impact of innovative, ambitious and entrepreneurial arts and cultural initiatives,” Rebuild writes. “Our work is informed by three core values: Black people matter, Black spaces matter, and Black objects matter.” (Ray Pride) theastergates.com/project-items/rebuild-foundation
Manny’s Cafeteria and Delicatessen The iconic Jewish deli with the iconic corned beef and pastrami sandwiches turns eighty-one this year. The matzo ball soup still stars a matzo ball the size of a sixteen-inch softball. Alas, Manny opens at 9:30am these days so the early morning lox and bagel or latke runs are over. Manny’s makes up for the change with evening and Sunday hours. There’s also a fully stocked deli counter with classic Ashkenazi-style savory dishes and baked goods. Come as hungry as possible; you’ll still take half your giant sandwich home. (Ted C. Fishman) 1141 South Jefferson, mannysdeli.com
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts The Logan Center, located on the University of Chicago campus, is a destination and incubator of the arts on the South Side. The extensive development houses studio classrooms, an art gallery, café and rehearsal rooms, but the centerpiece is a beautiful mid-sized theater that presents excellent music, dance and other performing arts in the heart of Hyde Park. Recently, the Logan Center partnered with the Joyce Foundation on the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, which will announce a new three-year group of companies this year. (Sharon Hoyer) 915 E. 60th, logancenter.digital
2008 Best of Chicago item
The Uptown Theatre To what does the Uptown Theatre stand as a monument? From gilt to hidden treasure, the Spanish Baroque Revival dreadnought of ninety-eight years grace is also a great lady in deshabille since its 1981 closing and the many foiled attempts to restore the luster and bluster to its Versailles-patterned forty-six-thousand square feet. How many millions (aside from “not enough”) have gone into keeping the 4,381 seat theater standing and from caving in on itself, the roof from raining down, the boilers from bursting, unattended in scorching Chicago cold? Will—can?—refurbishing come at the center of an already-transformed Uptown? Once promoted as “an acre of seats in a magic city,” the Uptown stands as the sagging legacy of so many forms of Chicago-style chicanery—land, legal and political—that the stories would make a fantastic book of urban power and edifice dereliction, but only with the happy ending that somehow the money for restoration—estimated at least $70 million—was already invested and the bright lights are turned back on. (Ray Pride) 4816 N. Broadway
Calumet Fisheries On the Calumet River, once a bustling waterway, stands the small white shack, with a line of cars out front, many filled with folks dining al trunko. Every now and again, someone runs out to tend the two smokehouses out back. Inside, people step to the counter knowing just what they want. This small fish stand is, due to EPA regs, one of Illinois’ last remaining smokehouses. It’s a drive from downtown Chicago, but that journey seems to make every smoked shrimp seem all the more delicious. (David Hammond) 3259 E. 95th, calumetfisheries.com
The Violet Hour There’s always one drink, right? One cocktail that when either poured or crafted to perfection validates why Chicago is the drink champ of the world. And as long as the Violet Hour keeps crafting and pouring the “Them Thangs Thangin’” (along with elevating the beverage profile of its menu to heights that not few in the city have or can), then all will be right in our good kids, drunk city’s future. (Scoop Jackson) 1520 N. Damen, theviolethour.com
