Life
"I'm sorry you can't get your bagel at 3 a.m."
In today's Crain's Chicago Business online, another look at New Yorkers versus Chicagoans, from the perspective of Gothamites who move here and do -- or don't -- fit in.
Latest
Getting Around
Stupid Is as Stupid Drives
Dear idiots who groused about driving in Chicago in today's Sun-Times: that's why God invented public transit.
Food and Drink
Rigid, Firm, and the Darker the Better
Any cook will tell you, good food is like good porn. With that, I give you this totally double-entendred trip, taken verbatim from the Ladies Home Journal lightstyle section. Really.
Getting Around
Carless in Sun-Times on CTA "Pink Line" Name
Today, the Chicago Sun-Times Letters page published my response to the CTA's use of a grade-school contest to determine an appropriate name for the impending new route for the Cermak Branch of the Blue Line--a folly that countermanded the educated judgment of the CTA's own, well-paid planners and ca
Life
A Tale of Two Citizens
Being a transplanted long-term Brooklynite now living about as far into Chicago as you can get, I've had plenty of opportunity to muse about the peculiarities of Gothamites vs. Chitowners. New Yorkers take Chicagoans for pushovers. Chicagoans take New Yorkers for rude. I think on the inside there's
Life
No Sudafed for You
According to Willamette Week, a Portland, Oregon weekly, Illinoisans and many other Americans are now restricted from buying cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine--an ingredient of homemade methamphetamines--based almost entirely on false pretenses.
Life
Corner Shot
Sunday, March 26, at 12:09 p.m. marks the one-year anniversary of the day I accidentally met the man of my dreams -- on a street corner, wholly by accident, and entirely in spite of myself. It happened at Fullerton and Clark. It happened just like in the movies. And I thank God every day that it hap
Food and Drink
The Stew That Dare Not Speak Its Name
I am a kimchi chigae crack ho. Give it to me three squares a day. Blend it and stick it in an IV. Hell, just let me drag my futon over to Kimball and the Kennedy and I'll just live in Chicago Food Corp. Fie on you, dear Korean friend (I - don't - friggin' - look - like - Margaret - Cho) Rozella, for
Getting Around
Busway to Nowhere
The City of Chicago is surveying downtown residents about their traveling habits. Why? To spend tens of millions of dollars to build an exclusive bus transitway between...Union Station, Mag Mile, and Navy Pier. Hmm.
Urbanism
Tall Tower Tossed
According to an article in today's Chicago Tribune, ne'er-do-well developer J. Paul Beitler's plan to plant a 2,000-foot TV antenna in the middle of Streeterville is no more. In the face of stiff opposition by local residents and limp interest from area broadcasters, the plan was shelved in favor of
Marina City
Marina City On Fire: Oops! Staff Forgets to Tell Residents
Marina City mismanagement reached a new low Tuesday night after a fire broke out in a unit on the 45th floor of East Tower. Fire fighters were dousing the flames, the smell of smoke was filling the upper floors, and 60 stories of elevators were taken out of service. But the evening's biggest casualt
Getting Around
Brown Line Closure in Hispanic Nabe: All CTA Outreach in English
Although thousands of Brown Line riders are Latinos who speak little English, the CTA's Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project website includes no Spanish content whatsoever--even though the agency's own Inspector General warned that many Latino residents along the route were unaware of the impending