Category USA
And then we said “What the hell, let’s get the cats a new apartment”
I live with three dudes. Only one of them has intact testicles. There’s the dude I married. (More on him later.) And then there’s Shinto. When we lost our cat Janacek, a sweet old boy remarkable only for his shedding, we went to the shelter looking for a similar cat. We asked the attendant to […]
Wabash Arts Corridor—much better than a hole in your eye
You may recall from my last post that when HOB and I were in the marvelous Rookery building, he spied a glasses shop. Soon after he made an appointment with an optometrist there, because, as he told me “I think I have a hole in my eye”. And damn it if he didn’t—for real—have a […]
Find the rooks (and a dorky bat) in The Rookery
Hey, WOB, how do I find The Rookery in Chicago? Well, dearest reader, you will find The Rookery on LaSalle, between Adams and Quincy. If you’re me—meaning you’re lucky—you can visit on your lunch break. Easy enough just to casually walk by and check it out from across the street. You’re probably going to want […]
Brighton Park: Parisian novelties, Flemish rooflines and Mexican submarines
Though I’ve lived in Chicago since 1994, this was the first time I’ve visited the Brighton Park neighborhood. I was not expecting Parisian Novelty. This is where we jumped off the bus, 17 miles south of our neighborhood, Rogers Park. The Parisian Novelty Company dates from 1898 and—back in the day—made trendy celluloid cases and […]
Tacos in the parking lot: how we do street food in Chicago
Last fall it was our 25th anniversary and HOB asked me how I wanted to celebrate, and I was like, “Hmmmm…I think I want to eat something in a parking lot while standing over a trash can.” We ended up eating dumplings from the food court in this ginormous grocery store. Due to various annoying […]
Frank Lloyd Wright’s System Built Houses in Illinois
There was a time, from 1911 – 1916, when Frank Lloyd Wright came up with a system to make beautifully designed houses accessible for middle-class folks. The idea of a Frank Lloyd Wright home being considered “affordable housing” is kind of hilarious. These days his homes are for rich people; really rich people. Wright was […]
Be the kind of tourist that goes to Pullman
Chicago is huge and most tourists see very little of it (probably true to say this of most residents too). I work in the tourist industry and often get asked for directions to Navy Pier, Giordano’s Pizza, and—if they are feeling daring—to Wrigley Field. So it really shocked me when a few years ago a […]
The Bridgford Foods Mural is Genius
If you’ve been keeping tabs, this would be the time you’d normally expect find HOB and I travelling somewhere. But here we are—another Chicago staycation. There’s still Covid, but now on top of that I’ve had vertigo for three months and I am unable to take long distance transportation, Anyway, not here to whine but […]
Thanks for the sunrises, COVID-19
Anyone can love a beach in the summer. Deep winter is my favorite beach time, and this winter, while I was forced to work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, I loved it best at dawn. Instead of packing my lunch and catching a train to work, I left my apartment in the dark […]
Our Ladies of the Kennedy Expressway: Chicago’s Polish cathedral style
I admit it is weird; I’m all crazy for church architecture and I travel great distances to see it, but until recently I didn’t know about the Chicago Polish cathedral style. Perhaps I overlooked it because these churches are located in my unofficial no man’s land—west of the Kennedy Expressway. There are many adorable neighborhoods […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 