Mayoral Races Paul Vallas, Sophia King, Rod Sawyer, Willie, Lori, Chuy, doesn’t matter because once elected (or reelected) the knives-out cycle of mayoral electability will repeat itself in another four years. And four years after that. And four years times forty after that. As politics will forever be the “thing” that makes Chicago “Chicago,” it has been and will continue to be the race for the fifth-floor office which truly defines the character of the city we live in. (Scoop Jackson)
Steppenwolf Theatre Company Is any other theater in the world so reliably wonderful as Steppenwolf? Even weaker plays excel in the hands of the company. I play a game when I am in the audience, asking myself how disastrous a Steppenwolf show might be were it produced by another outfit. The depth of the company’s talent, actors and production crews alike, gives Steppenwolf the chops to make nearly everything, from classics to new works, from modern tragedy and quick-talking comedy, into riveting theater. (Ted C. Fishman) 1650 N. Halsted, steppenwolf.org
Henry Gerber House Henry Gerber lived in this house on Crilly Court in 1924, during which time he founded the Society for Human Rights, an organization advocating for the civil rights of homosexuals. It was the first gay rights society in the United States. The address listed on the charter as the organization’s business office was 1710 North Crilly Court. Shortly afterwards the house was raided by the police. Gerber and other members were arrested and all material relating to the organization was confiscated. Gerber nevertheless spent his life writing for gay periodicals, often in secret. Due to the significance of this organization in the fight for gay rights, the Henry Gerber house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2015. (David Witter) 1710 N. Crilly Court, nps.gov/places/henry-gerber-house
Al’s #1 First to offer Italian beef sandwiches, Al’s #1 in Little Italy continues to draw crowds, and it does a fine version of this iconic sandwich. There’s no guarantee that the first maker of a menu item will be the best, but Al’s is. Meat is cooked and sliced in-house; giardiniera is unusually piquant and also made in-house, and the tables along the wall are suitable for those of us who adopt the “Italian stance” (feet apart, lean into—and rest elbows on—the counter), so as not to slop gravy on our tracksuits. (David Hammond) 1079 W. Taylor, alsbeef.com
Wilco It sometimes happens—though not often—that a world-class band is inextricably, immortally associated with its city of origin. Think the Beatles and Liverpool; Foo Fighters and Seattle; R.E.M. and Athens, Georgia. In Chicago, we’ve got Wilco. And unlike the aforementioned, which eventually went international—global—hell, goddamn celestial, in the Beatles’ case—Wilco is still here. And frontman Jeff Tweedy has become a patron of local musicians, charities and nonprofits. Music is, famously, a leveler; but Wilco’s commitment to social justice reaches beyond its ravishing sonic landscape. (Robert Rodi)
Billy Goat Tavern Under Michigan Avenue Refreshed, recently enough, most of the Billy Goat remains the same (even with new toilets). The neon, beckoning beneath Boul Mich. Artifacts of long-gone journalists and transformed newspapers line the wall. There’s a new roll in town for the cheezborger; prices are up; the l’il steins of beer cost dear, but oh that seasoned grill, decades greased, that heavenly flattop. Nothing else in the city can singe a beef patty so. (Ray Pride) Lower 430 N. Michigan, billygoattavern.com
2003 Cover Photo: Dana Tashima | Cover Design: Sean Hernandez and Lizelle Din
South Shore Cultural Center The former exclusive country club at 71st and South Shore Drive, once WASPs-only, has, since 1975, been the Chicago Park District’s architectural crown jewel. The stately entrance gate now welcomes all residents to avail themselves of the seventy-acre grounds, including beach, golf course, nature sanctuary, and youth and adult educational programs, concerts and events in the studio spaces, Paul Robeson theater and grand ballrooms. The view of Lake Michigan from the solarium rivals that of any seven-figure condo on the Lakefront, a triumph of public space and historic preservation. (Sharon Hoyer) 7059 S. South Shore
Music Box Theatre The Music Box Theatre, that grand big barn on Southport, a sound sensation since 1929 (and now a premiere showcase for silent films), boasts 700 seats and an improbable amount of programming—over 300 movies per annum and a raft of miscellany on two screens and in its lounge and garden all year-round. (It’s a cinema but also a community center for other arts attractions.) Stars twinkle above, lights drifting across the thirty-foot ceiling, like catching a picture show under the night sky in a Mediterranean garden. (There are warm-weather shows with seating for forty in the back garden, tucked behind the lounge, under the real sky.) It’s a playground and a castle, a sandcastle that washes clean each time the projector shuts down and then starts up again with hardly a halt. (Ray Pride) 3733 N. Southport, musicboxtheatre.com
Robie House Never mind that Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House is one of the most famous homes in the world. Never mind that you can build your own model from kits of Lego or tagboard. Each viewing of this home, from outside or in and from any angle, is a revelation. Wright was a completist and his innovations embodied in the Robie House offered a wholly new vision of the family home. The linearity of the Robie House permeates every decision Wright made for it. So does his strong sense of interior space as theater, where every step brings a new vista that changes one’s sense of the space and light in the home. Oh, and there’s the fact that the home just feels like a perfect building and beholding it ushers in the sublime. (Ted C. Fishman) 5757 S. Woodlawn, franklloydwright.org/site/robie-house
2012 Best of Chicago item
Fat Johnnie’s On the Southwest Side, there’s a ramshackle white frame shack, Fat Johnnie’s, home of a sandwich known mostly in the environs of Marquette Park. It’s the mother-in-law, a Chicago corn roll tamale in a bun, dressed like a Chicago hot dog and covered in chili. Anthony Bourdain, in an early episode of “No Reservations,” judged this sloppy sandwich to be “disturbingly designed, yet strangely compelling… Perhaps the greatest, most uniquely Chicago food invention.” (David Hammond) Fat Johnnie’s Famous Red Hots, 7242 S. Western
Lyric Opera Lyric Opera celebrates its seventieth anniversary next year, the longest run of any Chicago opera company. From its 1954 inception, the world took note of the company as it secured the much-anticipated American debut of Maria Callas. That set the template for the who’s who of the opera world to come to Lyric through the decades: the best singers, conductors, directors, designers. Also significant is Lyric’s legendary publicist Danny Newman, who created the industry-imitated subscription model where the only way to ensure getting into a sold-out performance was to buy a season as a subscriber. Reflective of company continuity, Anthony Freud is only the fourth general director in Lyric history, at the helm since 2011 and set to remain through 2026. Enrique Mazzola, only the third music director in Lyric history, began his initial five-year contract last season in 2021-22. (Dennis Polkow) 20 N. Upper Wacker, lyricopera.org
Dance Center of Columbia College Year after year the Dance Center has made our list for the best place to see dance, and its perch remains secure. With a large stage running the width of the audience space and well-raked seating just ten rows deep, the black-box theater is both intimate and expansive, the ideal spot for solo or spectacle performance alike. Programming has been equally inclusive, presenting local and international artists each season. Best of all, because it’s part of Columbia College, tickets tend to be cheap and the audience diverse in age, race and background. (Sharon Hoyer) 1306 S. Michigan, dance.colum.edu
