October 1, 2014 | Best of the South Side by South Side Weekly

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY OCTOBER 1, 2014

A R T S , C U LT U R E , A N D P O L I T I C S

S O U T H S I D E W E E K LY. C O M

october 1, 2014

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south side weekly

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south side weekly

october 1, 2014

all has been awards season at the Weekly for almost a decade. In these pages you can find our 2014 picks for the best secret access to funk and blues, the best cup of cobbler, the best teenage doom punks, the best nonprofit philosophy, the best singular cultural experience you can get drunk at, and seventy other best things (we think). We’ve aimed to create something relevant to the longtime resident and the fresh transplant, to a grandmother who’s seen it all and a fresh-faced college student. Don’t consider this issue exhaustive. Rather, take it as an invitation to some urban exploration. So here it is: our love letter, tip sheet, crash course, to-do list, ode, celebration. Enjoy. Know a South Side best not featured in this issue? Send pitches and tips to editor@southsideweekly.com

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26 october 1, 2014

south side weekly

The South Side Weekly is a newsprint magazine dedicated to covering the arts, culture, and politics of the South Side of Chicago. The Weekly is distributed across the South Side each Wednesday of the academic year and in occasional special summer issues. In fall 2013, the Weekly reformed itself as an independent organization. Previously, the paper was known as the Chicago Weekly.

HIGH SCHOOL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM The South Side Weekly seeks three high school sophomores or juniors to join our team as interns. Interns will participate in all elements of the newspaper by assisting at production nights, attending pitch meetings, and drinking a lot of milkshakes. Students will also be paired with a staff member of the paper to publish an article at the end of the semester. Applicants must be available on Monday evenings from 6-9pm and Tuesday evenings from 5-7:30pm. The internship runs October 12-December 2, with opportunities for future involvement. For more information, go to southsideweekly. com/internship, or email editor@ southsideweekly.com. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, October 8 at 5pm.

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

Editor-in-chief Senior editors

Bea Malsky Spencer McAvoy, Meaghan Murphy, Hannah Nyhart

Contributing Editors

Lucia Ahrensdorf, Jake Bittle, Elizabeth Bynum, Bess Cohen, John Gamino, Lauren Gurley, Maira Khwaja, Jack Nuelle, Osita Nwanevu, Hannah Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Grady, Himabindu Poroori, Linus Recht, Harrison Smith, Rachel Schastok, Olivia Stovicek Stephen Urchick

Photo Editor Web Editor Web Developer

Juliet Eldred Sarah Claypoole Shuwen Qian

Business Manager Harry Backlund 5706 S. University Ave. Reynolds Club 018 Chicago, IL 60637 southsideweekly.com Send tips, comments, or questions to: editor@southsideweekly.com For advertising inquiries, contact: (773)234-5388 advertising@southsideweekly

Cover and index art by CHema Skandal! chemaskandal.com

ridgeport on a Sunday morning: a seating queue winds snugly around the corner of the organic eatery Nana, its outdoor café space buzzing both with young brunchers and the bees that dive-bomb them from the planters. There’s a sidewalk sale assembled on the stoops of Jackalope Coffee and Tea House, attracting a crush of folks who are perhaps too cool for you. Bridgeport Coffee is also looking pretty hip. The one dude absently staring into his mug might well be nursing the aftereffects of an evening spent at Maria’s Packaged Goods—the titular Community Bar directly across the street, which has only just announced an expansion. The vintage neon signs of the coin-operated laundromats that line 31st Street match the neon joggers who trek the neighborhood’s nature preserve. Below its summit, parents and children celebrate local Little League with painted trophies and a feathered mascot, reveling in Jackie Robinson West’s ticker-tape triumph. In your pedestrianism, a dozen bikes overtake you, and you almost blunder into two of them head-on. The “community of the future” seen here actually qualifies as one of Chicago’s oldest neighborhoods. This nineteenth-century Irish enclave, once named Hardscrabble, shares roots with the canal-building squatters who founded McKinley Park, just to the west. Although many of Bridgeport’s red-brick blocks still stand intact, and the Art Institute has even restored a few churches in the area, the neighborhood is layered with cultural accretions. The Polish and Lithuanian cohorts, the newer Chinese and Latino communities, the Zhou B Art Center and St. Mary of Perpetual Help have combined almost as smoothly as the flavors in Filbert’s Old Time Root Beer, first bottled in Bridgeport in 1926. Accessible by the Red Line, the 62 bus, and—as we’ve learned—positively crisscrossed by cycling paths, everything from a monastery-housed bed and breakfast (Benedictine Bed and Breakfast) to a “Front for the Left in the Arts” (Lumpen Magazine) has flowed in over the years. Look to the shelves of Let’s Boogie Records or the Monster Island Toy Store for the neighborhood in microcosm: a lightly curated place populated with well-loved odds and ends drawn from around Chicago and abroad. (Stephen Urchick)

Bridgeport

stephen urchick

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

bridGePort

best shot At riVAliNG chiNAtowN

Homestyle Taste Chinese Restaurant

stephen urchick

south side weekly

A rule of thumb for dining in Chinatown is to listen in on the ambient conversation. If you don’t hear much English, you’re probably right where your stomach wants you to be. Homestyle Taste is approximately ten blocks and a Dan Ryan Expressway south of Chinatown, but the rule still holds true. Tucked into Halsted’s main drag but conveniently flagged by the bright red canvas enclosure over the doorway, Homestyle boasts a gratifyingly thick menu with a dizzying number of options. The Chef ’s Specials leaflet is positively crammed with his hand-written novelties and experiments. Cumin stir-fried lamb? With the bone? Lamb kidney? (We settled on the more sedate scallion accompaniment.) Semantic quibbles like translating mushrooms as “fungus” ought only to tempt your curiosity. Heartwarmingly nutritious cabbage and tofu soup on a cloudy day; rich sauces that take “savory” seriously and exhaust you with meaty tones; a spicy dish that has a Taiwanese national loudly snorting to her local friend is righteously (read: unexpectedly) fierce! These and other offerings from Homestyle Taste will prove that it lives up to the near and dear sensibilities that its name invokes. Homestyle Taste Chinese Restaurant, 3205 S. Halsted St. Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-10:30pm. (312)949-9328. homestylesy.com (Stephen Urchick)

october 1, 2014

best wAy to briNG hoMe the bAcoN

Mr. Spanky’s Farm Fresh Artisan Foods

There it was, in my mailbox—not frozen. I’d never had bacon that hadn’t come from a freezer case. It looked safe though, and this bacon had a reputation. Mr. Spanky’s used to be a South Side institution. Before the owner, John Schultz, left the bacon-making trade to follow his passion for catering, the company made—among other meat-lovers’ favorites—bacon, breakfast sausage, and Sicilian sausage. Though the Bridgeport butcher has closed his doors for good, you can still have the dry-cured bacon— an applewood-smoked classic and, for the all-organic folks, a nitrite free variety—delivered directly to your door. I was initially skeptical; there’s something unsettling about having a mound of meat arrive alongside your letters and electricity bill. But the bacon fulfills Mr. Spanky’s promise of bringing “the party to your mouth.” When thrown into a frying pan, the bacon crisps quickly, and its smoky scent lingers in the air for considerably longer than your ordinary store-bought varieties, sating your bacon craving for days to come. Mr. Spanky’s Farm Fresh Artisan Foods. Available online. mrspankys.com (Alexandra Garfinkle) best hyPerGlyceMic rush

Sugar Shack

There’s a foolproof way to end a good summer day in low-slung, sunny Bridgeport. Wait for nighttime, emerge from whatever cool, dark room you have been taking cover in, and make the trip to Sugar Shack. More often than not you’ll find yourself waiting in a long sidewalk line behind everyone else who had the same notions in mind—notions like soft-serve, waffle cones, malts, rainbow sprinkles, and fairground fare like funnel cake and frozen bananas. It’s all deliciously excessive, reminiscent of a fiftiesera ice cream joint somewhere in corn-fed Middle America. “Shack” is a dubious name as far as eateries go, but that’s just a nod to the modesty of the operation: one bright room on a quiet street, with one window where money goes in and one where snacks come out. It’s cash-only and strictly seasonal. For seating, most patrons avail themselves of curbs, stairs, and stoops, sweating and chatting over the drone of dripping air-conditioners. Sit awhile and you’ll realize it’s a frontier of sorts; delegates from Armour Square, Bronzeville, and Chinatown have all crept here over the interstates and under the viaducts in search of late-night treats. You might spot some takeout bags from Ricobene’s up the street, indicating a dining combination that really hits the spot if you happen to have been without solid food for a period of weeks. Sugar Shack, 630 W. 26th St. Sunday-Thursday, noon10pm; Friday-Saturday, noon-11pm. (312)225-6568. sugarshackon26th.com (Andrew Lovdahl)

best kePt secret

Filbert’s Old Time Root Beer by robert sorrell

“I

don’t sit behind a desk and count all the money,” joked Ron Filbert, fourth generation Filbert and present owner of Filbert’s Old Time Root Beer and its additional twenty-nine varieties of pop. “Even though I’d like to be able to do that,” he added, on his way to bottling a batch of ginger beer in the back room. Dressed casually in a t-shirt and shorts, Filbert radiated boyish joy when talking about his products. With a contagious grin across his face and a look in his eye that could only be called a twinkle, Filbert doesn’t seem too let down by the absence of cash counting in his life. About the size of a middleschool classroom, the area where Filbert bottles soda makes up a little less than half of his plant on the first floor of a brick building at 3430 South Ashland Avenue, in the McKinley Park neighborhood. It’s this small space, however, that helps make Filbert’s soda something special. The room is a protean sprawl of conveyor belts, clunking metal pieces, and alien-looking do-dads all snaking along two walls. To Ron Filbert, this assemblage is simply “the machine that makes the pop.” The bottling and barreling machine was bought new, Filbert will proud-

ly tell you, in the year 1965. None of the equipment except the “taper,” a contraption that, well, tapes the boxes shut, has been replaced since then. At full-fledged bottling mode, when Ron and his crew are packaging up to 120 cases an hour, the machines let off a cacophony both wonderful and terrifying. The bottling and barreling machine produces “clunk-clunks” and “chuckchucks.” The conveyor belts whir. The labeling machine produces the loudest floor-shaking thunk, grabbing labels off a spool and slamming them down in front of glass bottles queued anxiously, jostling gently in their metal tracks. All of the noises are heavy and mechanical except for the bottles’ light dings off of each other, as if toasting to their sweet contents. From here, the bottles just need to be tucked cozily into boxes, a job reserved for the most experienced workers, and usually carried out by either Ron Filbert himself or a man named Dennis. Dennis has white hair and glasses, occasionally wears bright red, noise-cancelling headphones in the bottling room, and almost always dons a black stocking cap, despite the heat. Ron jokes that he “bought Dennis with the building.”

robert sorrell

He’s not too far off the mark— Dennis worked at 3430 S. Ashland when it was still churning out Newport beverages. “We thought we’d buy Filbert’s, and Filbert’s thought it’d buy us,” Dennis remarked. In the end, Filbert’s won out. The only bottles that leave the plant with Newport labels these days are “Mr. Newport Lemon-Lime,” a flavor that Filbert’s picked up in homage to the previous tenants. The 3430 S. Ashland building even predates Newport Beverages—it housed Rush and other Chicago bottlers all the way back to 1890 or 1891; Ron and Dennis still quibble about the precise year. During the early 1900s, around the same time the Ashland plant

first opened its doors for bottling, George Filbert delivered milk, ice, coal, and other necessities in his horse-drawn wagon to his Bridgeport neighbors. His son, Charlie Filbert, started making root beer in 1926, during prohibition. For years, the bubbly brown liquid was bottled at 3033 S. Archer, until a fire in 1984 forced them to move, first to 3307 S. Archer, then in 1989 to 2996 S. Archer, and finally in 1993 to their current location. According to Ron Hazucka, who handles Filbert’s marketing, “Nobody else on the planet does what Ron Filbert does every day.” That is: mixing, bottling, and barreling his own beverages in one plant. (“Brewing,” Hazucka added,

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

bridGePort

robert sorrell

“is a bad word for sodas. No heat touches it.”) “You want orange cream soda? We can barrel it for you,” Hazucka insists. The same is true for every other Filbert’s flavor you could want, or perhaps didn’t even know you might want, like their banana soda: a Ron Filbert original. Ron dreamed up twelve of Filbert’s current thirty flavors himself, including the ginger beer the crew was bottling when I visited. The whole process gives the impression of a Gilded Age torture session crossed with some odd form of robotic ballet. It’s a sight worth seeing. Although it appears pretty complicated, the whole assembly process is only a few steps, which, as I sip a ginger beer handed to me fresh off the production line, Ron and his team gladly narrate. First the bottles are loaded by hand onto the machine from huge pallets holding 4,050 glass bottles. Filbert’s uses clear or brown glass depending on the soda being bottled. Root Beer is always brown; the more colorful flavors, such as blue raspberry, come in clear bottles. Guided by metal railings, the bottles head one-by-one down a 8

south side weekly

conveyor belt to be rinsed, and are then dried as they pass through a sideways loop worthy of an amusement park. From there they receive a spurt of concentrated syrup from vats upstairs and are promptly filled

a slow shake to mix the drink. From there the virgin sodas need only a label (noisily affixed) before they’re ready for boxing. Suddenly, a bottle drops to the floor and shatters. The few more

The whole process gives the impression of a Gilded Age torture session crossed with some odd form of robotic ballet with carbonated water before being sealed with a Filbert’s bottle cap from a contraption not unlike the ammo belt on a Gatling gun. Next they’re seized by a machine nicknamed the “Octopus Arm,” a many-limbed device that picks up each bottle individually and gives it

october 1, 2014

that follow suit keep time with the machinery’s clunking and chucking. Someone quickly slams a button, and the machine stops before any more soda is spilled. Ron, Dennis, and the other workers fiddle with gears and inspect the metal gates shearing the bottles like bum-

pers in a bowling alley. The noises almost wind down entirely. But there’s little breathing time before the problem is found and the conveyor belts are spinning again. Ron takes up his spot at the end of the line, deftly grabbing four bottles at a time and loading them into brown cardboard boxes. Ron and Dennis paced themselves to the machine. Arms flicking outwards, hands splayed to grab two bottles in each hand, tucking back and up to drop the bottles into boxes. It was active meditation, neatly synchronized and totally unvarying. I had to wonder how often the spell was broken. After all these years—after every 4,050 bottle pallet—does Ron still sneak a bottle of the pop he spends his days sweating over? “Oh, all the time I drink ‘em,” he said. “If you’re having a soda you’ve gotta have a Filbert’s.” Filbert’s Old Time Draft Root Beer, 3430 S. Ashland Ave. Found throughout Chicago. (773)847-1520. filbertsrootbeer.com

bridGePort

best MoNkey wreNch

Blue City Cycles

Having recently celebrated five-plus years of business with a badminton soiree at Promontory Point, the mechanics of Blue City are a welcome fixture among Bridgeport’s can-do small businesses. Drop in at their corner storefront and they will give you a nice hello. They will ask, “Does this bike sleep in the rain?” and you will feel like a bad parent, and blame your roommate. They will not make a big deal about the cats running around the shop, so neither will you. They will get to work in their shop—right behind the counter, so you can watch the sordid proceedings yourself. They will refer you to a refreshingly precise service menu that lets you decide, piece by piece, how closely your ride aspires to the mythical condition of “fixed.” That’s anything from a wholesome “tune-up” to an exciting, possibility-fraught “overhaul.” They will get you back in business—depend on it—whether it’s right away or overnight. (In the latter case, they might call you at work the next day for a cheery status update, as if they were running a bicycle daycare.) When everything’s good to go, they’ll scoop the cats off the register, ring you up, wish you a good one, and remind you to use your shifter more often. You will leave with your thirtyday labor warranty, your five percent cash discount, and your two wheels below you. You will get back to the important stuff in life, like hexing taxi drivers, and working on your farmer’s tan. And you will, thanks to Chicago’s moonscape streets, be looking forward to another visit soon. Blue City Cycles, 3201 S. Halsted St. Hours vary. (312)225-3780. bluecitycycles. com (Andrew Lovdahl)

best wAy to bike oVer the dAN ryAN ANd eMerGe with All your liMbs iNtAct

33rd Street

For a place that’s only a couple miles from downtown, Bridgeport sure plays hard-to-get-to—there’s only one L station in the neighborhood proper and two more on the outskirts. That leaves a lot of people bumming around the bus stops on Halsted and 35th, a pair of supremely unreliable routes. It’s not all bad—it’s surely one of the reasons for the area’s low, low, tell-your-friends rents. But a daily winter slog to the Sox station is more than enough to sow the seeds of car ownership in even the staunchest young idealist. Biking is effective if you’re not going far; the short, skinny, angled streets conspire to keep local auto traffic slow and docile, and neat secret routes like the Loomis bridge to Pilsen help you venture a little further out. The problem with longer-distance forays is that Chicago has backhandedly blessed Bridgeport with an abundance of interstate highways. Take the Dan Ryan, a concrete canyon spanned only every now and then by a bridge choked with meat-grinding traffic. Bike lanes have a habit of quietly disappearing as you approach, which is the Department of Transportation’s way of saying “Good luck, kid.” But fear not—someone built a bridge extending tranquil 33rd Street. This creates a straight shot from Halsted (around Nana’s and Taqueria San Jose) to Bronzeville’s King Drive. Sights along the way include pretty Armour Square, Mies van der Rohe’s retro-futuristic IIT campus, and plenty of connections to northsouth arteries. You can make short work of this trip even when the Sox are playing at home. If you prefer to cross further south, Canaryville’s Root Street (between 41st and 42nd) is another fine option. (Andrew Lovdahl)

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october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Bronzeville

maira khwaja

walk on the main boulevard of Bronzeville, Martin Luther King Drive, brings sights of grand stone homes that are slightly chipped around the edges, tree-lined parking lanes, and detailed murals—both fading and fresh, on the same block—of poetry and religion. From Ida B. Wells’s former home to the Sunset Cafe where Louis Armstrong frequently played to the grandiose Cultural Center and carefully landscaped street dividers, Bronzeville has an air of historical grandeur. Storefronts and murals filled with Pan-African and civil rights art set the tone of the neighborhood as proudly African American. During the Great Migration, restrictive housing covenants—legal contractual agreements that prevented the selling or renting of property to non-whites— made 22nd to 31st along State Street the city’s “Black Belt.” The necessary creation of black Chicago’s own economy and entertainment made that same area the “Black Metropolis.” In the overpopulated townhomes and, later, high-rise housing projects like the Robert Taylor Homes, families built the social capital that was the foundation of Bronzeville culture. Reminders of Bronzeville’s artists, businessmen, and organizers speckle the sidewalk on King Drive, with subtle diamonds memorializing some of them in what is perhaps the country’s 10

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most overlooked historical “walk of fame.” Though Bronzeville is still a black neighborhood, not much of the grand Metropolis from history books remains. While much of the neighborhood’s middle class moved out of the area when legal segregation ended in 1948, recent years have brought the destruction of historic CHA housing and thus the dispersion of its poorer families throughout the South Side. Historic doesn’t mean deserted—Bronzeville’s main drag of locally owned shops and chain restaurants on 35th is filled with shoppers and crowded buses. Despite some loss of unity, many activists and organizations are working within the community to build new businesses and initiatives that retain the spirit of artistic and cultural pride. “The Forum,” a famous dancehall from the twenties, boasts a timeline of its future reopening in 2015, as its new owner, Bernard Loyd, ambitiously renovates the long-closed behemoth into a new community hub. This spirit—the kind that brings about neighborhood-driven development as well as the renovation of public art—is tangible, and it can be found on the rediscovered, reinterpreted, renewed corners of Bronzeville. (Maira Khwaja)

broNZeVille

best PlAce to be huNGry lAter

Bronzeville Cookin’

best PlAce to Get your bike FiXed, Get A tour, ANd MAke New FrieNds

Bronzeville Bikes

Perched diagonally across an intersection from the Bronzeville Community Garden is a freshly painted, bright orange shipping container. A large yellow sign—custom designed and cut by the students at nearby Illinois Institute of Technology— reads, invitingly, “BIKE BOX.” Biking, it seems, might be Bronzeville’s new favorite pastime. Two smiling mechanics, oil permanently smeared on their hands from careers in other repair shops around the city, joke around with their young and old customers as they oil bike chains next to flower planters. Their handpainted box has recently been filled with refurbished bikes sold at, they claim, slightly lower prices than brick-and-mortar used bike stores around the city. In addition to selling and repairing bikes, Bronzeville Bikes offers a new development in Bronzeville: themed bike tours. On the first, third, and fourth Sunday of every month, from 3pm until 6pm, residents and visitors meet at the garden. The first Sunday is a tour of “Art in Public & Private Spaces” with longtime art collector and Bronzeville art expert Patric McCoy, the third Sunday is a “Sustainability in Bronzeville” tour, and the last is “Celebrating Bronzeville History.” Bronzeville Bikes, 51st St. & Calumet. Thursday-Friday, 3pm7pm; Saturday-Sunday, 2pm-7pm. (773)614-7433. bronzevillebikes.com (Maira Khwaja)

maira khwaja

best PlAce to Go GreeN while PlAyiNG chess

best PlAce to be

Bronzeville Community Garden

huNGry Now

On a pleasant day, walking out of the Green Line Station at 51st Street, you are likely to find groups of elderly men playing chess within the half-block garden that occupies the corner of 51st and Calumet. This particular garden is among the largest of the neighborhood’s growing number of community green spots, and it gives off the glow of community pride with its bright flowers, friendly mural, and chess tables buzzing with retirees. A happy place. The garden, started by the Urban Juncture Foundation, boasts a growing garden of fresh produce and hosts garden building workshops. Founded in 2010 by Urban Juncture, the leaders want it to be more than just a garden: an aspiring community hub, they provide a venue for shows and children’s activities, too. Bronzeville Community Garden, 343 E. 51st St. Free. facebook.com/bronzevillecommunitygarden. (Maira Khwaja)

Ain’t She Sweet

Jerk chicken or jerk salmon—served up in a variety of wraps, salads, bowls, and sandwiches—is the most satisfying lunch you could hope to find, with just the perfect amount of spice. If you don’t like jerk (why?), Ain’t She Sweet still has plenty to offer, from their enormous paninis—just half of the Spartan Panini, with its tangy pesto on chicken underneath crisply toasted bread, is enough to fill you up—and fruit smoothies, to selections from their generous deli and mindboggling dessert case. The staff and customers of the café feel familiar after just one visit; the same chefs work in the open kitchen and the same smiling cashier serves the generous scoops of ice cream each day. Enjoy your treat in the sizeable and homey dining room, complete with comfy couches and a portrait of Jimi Hendrix. But seriously, get the jerk chicken. Ain’t She Sweet, 526 E. 43rd St. $5-$9. (773)373-3530. aintshesweetcafe.com (Maira Khwaja)

Sitting in the shadow of the 51st Street Green Line, the only striking thing about this blocky lowrise is its particular lifelessness. Its terra-cotta husk is stripped white, a tattered neon sign teeters dangerously from a corner, and a few faded advertisements for food and liquor are the only clues pointing to former life. But there’s a colorful future in store for this building, which is set to be redeveloped into a culinary hub called Bronzeville Cookin’ under the direction of community development group Urban Juncture. Bronzeville Cookin’ will house four restaurants focused on black cuisine, each taking its ideas from different cultures of the African diaspora. In addition, a produce market will sell groceries, grown on a planned rooftop farm, and Urban Juncture has emphasized “sustainable rehabilitation,” using green technologies to reduce energy consumption. Construction began in April 2013, and the group has set a goal of a partial opening by the end of this year. An artist’s rendition of the buildingto-be shows a vibrant vision, with solar panels blinking from the roof, bright orange awnings capping the windows, and lush green trees shading the bustling sidewalks. In the plans there is little left of the building’s current forlorn state except the faintly recognizable shape of the facade, and of course, the Green Line running on behind. Bronzeville Cookin’, 300-314 E. 51st St. Set to open in late 2014. (773)285-5000. urban-juncture.com (Peter Xu)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Hyde Park

kiran misra

veryone knows that in Hyde Park the Medici has the best milkshakes (get the mexicana with a shot of espresso), Valois the best post-anything brunch, Blackstone Bikes the best quick fix, Open Produce the best 1am raspberries, the Point the best bonfire, LSD bike path the best way out, Grounds of Being the best $1 coffee (cash-only), Kimbark the best student-friendly liquor store, the quad the best shade, Powell’s the best cheap books, the Seminary Co-op the best class books, Clarke’s the best place to avoid at all costs, Swift Hall the best fire escape, Mansueto the best thunderstorm view, Rajun Cajun the best palak paneer and butter chicken, Harold’s the best half dark with salt and pepper (hot sauce on the side), Hyde Park Produce the best greens, WHPK the best 2am tunes, and Jimmy’s the best thing to do when there’s nothing else to do, and Maravillas the best thing to do after that. As a neighborhood, Hyde Park is an embodiment of the phrase, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” The neighborhood has historically been a site for great change and great resilience, with the University of Chicago often playing a central role in these dramas. Its boundaries have been reshaped many times over—by the landmark Columbian Exposition of 1893, by the architecture of Daniel Burnham, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright, by a brutal period of urban renewal, by subsequent preservationist campaigns, and now by the University’s commercial development initiatives on 53rd Street. University-spurred construction has brought about the additions of Yusho, The Promontory, A10, and the retail strip Harper Court. But a Sunday morning in Valois looks the same as ever, with the same set of president-worthy specials and the same waves of post-church Hyde Parkers wandering in for some eggs and french toast. (Meaghan Murphy and Bea Malsky)

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

best liNeuP

Court Theatre

Court Theatre, building on its strong reputation for reinterpretation of the classics (“classics” defined broadly), has kicked off its sixtieth season with the world premiere production of Richard Wright’s iconic Chicago novel, Native Son. Co-produced with American Blues Theater and written by Bronzeville-born actor and playwright Nambi E. Kelley, Court’s production investigates Wright’s themes of oppression, justice, and survival, clearly aware of the story’s resonance for a contemporary Hyde Park audience. Currently in the middle of an extended run, Native Son closes October 19. This season’s classical offering is Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis, which will run November 6 through December 7. Following up on the incredible success of An Iliad, Artistic Director Charles Newell directs Iphigenia in Aulis as the first installment of a three-year Greek cycle, which will include Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Sophocles’ Electra. Court artist-in-residence Ron OJ Parson will return mid-season with a departure from his usual August Wilson repertoire, with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, running January 15 through February 15. For its second world premiere of the season, Court will bring back the artists behind An Iliad—Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson—to tackle another great text of the Western tradition: the Bible. The Good Book, running March 19 through April 19, travels from ancient Judea to medieval Ireland to suburban modern-day America and examines stories of creation and devotion and doubt. Closing out the spring with a family-friendly musical, The Secret Garden, Court Theatre’s sixtieth season looks to be a strong one. Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Call or see website for show information. (773)753-4472. courttheatre.org (Meaghan Murphy)

hyde PArk

best ZAleski & horVAth MArketcAFe

Zaleski & Horvath MarketCafe, 57th Street location

The 47th Street Z&H has one really great study table: sturdy, wooden, big enough to sprawl a term paper across. They panini their bagels instead of toasting them. When my friend from New York came to visit and I gave her a Z&H bagel with cream cheese, she said, “It’s different,” which is the nicest thing a New Yorker has ever said about a Chicago bagel. They once gave me free soup. It’s the original. Less like a sequel and more like a prettier, brighter, sibling, the 57th Street Z&H thoroughly outmatches its predecessor. Ten blocks south and two years younger than the original, the 57th Street Z&H sits just next to its natural rival, the Medici, and across an alley from FedEx. I have never mailed a sandwich, but if I did, it would be the Tenzing Norgay, which layers ham, bacon, a fried egg, and cheese between a halved croissant. At Z&H, you can put an egg on anything. In the midst of finals, you can eat three square meals a day here: breakfast sandwich, lunch sandwich, dinner sandwich. If you do this often enough, they will give you ten dollars off your next order. Two sandwiches are featured on Z&H t-shirts: people like these sandwiches enough to wear them. Last year the management rearranged the tables to maximize space, adding a thin metal bar along one wall that provides enough room to type on your laptop or enjoy a sandwich, but too little to do both at the same time. This is probably a case of social engineering. “Slow down,” says the metal bar, “multitasking does not increase productivity (according to Forbes Magazine).” There still aren’t enough tables during a rush, but Z&H consumers are good people to sit in communal silence with, brows collectively furrowed. Almost always, a few of these people are editors of the South Side Weekly. The bathrooms at the 57th Street Z&H are gender neutral. This is true at the 47th Street location as well, but they only have one bathroom. The wifi code at Z&H is baconbaconbacon. The network grows fainter on the back patio, which sits past two alleys and a chain link fence. It used to feel like a secret, but has grown more popular since Z&H provided a chalk access map on their indoor “House Rules” sign and started hosting weekend taco nights. Friday and Saturday, the café stays open until around 10pm to provide four kinds of tacos, all of which are delicious—consumed on the premises, carted home, or forgotten and eaten for breakfast the next day. They also offer a kale bowl topped with your choice of taco filling, which sounds gross but isn’t. The food is good. The back patio is full. Cold beer (BYO), warm conversation, and the promise of tacos; on a Friday night in Hyde Park, there’s nowhere better to be. This past summer, as I wrapped up six months away from Chicago, I dreamt that I walked into Z&H and didn’t recognize anybody. No one knew anyone I knew. The next day I decided that in my nightmare, Z&H had represented home. That Friday night I flew back from the East Coast, and twelve hours later I was back in Z&H, a wide-mouthed cup of coffee in front of me. Like most homes I’ve had, they seemed almost as happy to see me as I was to see them. Zaleski & Horvath MarketCafe, 1323 E. 57th St. Monday-Friday, 7am-7pm; Saturday-Sunday, 8am-6pm. $7-$12.5. (773)538-7772. zhmarketcafe.com (Hannah Nyhart)

best liQuiFied NutrieNts

Bonne Sante Health Foods

Tucked away on 53rd Street where it’s sandwiched between Mellow Yellow and Valois, Bonne Sante stocks an impressive range of natural health products. These include but are not limited to: vitamins, supplements, protein powders, essential oils, shampoo for your child, shampoo for your dog, cod liver oil, and anything else your grandmother says is good for the skin. They can sell you the oil of just about any nut imaginable, from walnut to lychee to Brazil. With a deli counter and a panini menu, Bonne Sante does lunch as well, but the smoothie bar is where they really shine. With standouts like the Perfect Life shake—a standard and excellent medley of fruits, juices, and health supplement powders—and the Avena Shakedown, which can only be described as oatmeal in smoothie form, Bonne Sante somehow manages to blend all that health into something you actually want to drink. Bonne Sante Health Foods, 1512 E. 53rd St. Monday-Friday, 9:30am-8pm; Saturday, 9:30am-7pm; Sunday, 11am-5pm. (773)667-5700. bonnesantehf.com (Meaghan Murphy)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

hyde PArk

best lANdlord

Dev Bowly by jack cella

he story of 57th Street Books began with Devereux Bowly in 1982 and continued with him until just a few months ago. Dev, as everybody called him, was the owner of the apartment building at 1301 East 57th Street in Hyde Park, occupying the south-east corner of Kimbark Avenue and 57th Street. He passed away on August 6, at the age of seventy-one. I knew and worked with Dev Bowly for over thirty years. For many years I managed the Seminary Co-op Bookstores, and we rented space in the basement of Dev’s building. Dev was my landlord, as I worked with him at that location, but describing him in that way simply fails to do him justice. He was a landlord like no other, and without him there would have been no 57th Street Books. Dev called me at the old Seminary Co-op location in the fall of 1982 and asked if we could meet, as he had a proposal for us at the Co-op. A few days later we met at his building, and he made a strong case that the Co-op should consid14

south side weekly

er opening a store in his basement, which then comprised of four distinct, non-connecting rooms, totaling about 4,000 square feet. He proposed a bookstore with a wideranging inventory and aimed at a customer base beyond the University clientele, indeed beyond just Hyde Park. He and I talked that morning about a bookstore with Hyde Park customers as its base, but one that reached out to encompass the entire South Side, and more. I had always felt that the Coop’s goal should be to operate the best bookstore possible, one that tried every day to live up to the expectations of its extraordinarily demanding (and appreciative) customers. I knew we could never be as good as our customers expected us to be, but we could certainly get closer and closer to that ideal, and the closer we got to what our unique neighborhood wanted in a bookseller, the more likely we would be to attract customers from outside our neighborhood. Dev’s suggestion of a location on 57th Street, in a block of shops and restaurants with a lot of foot

october 1, 2014

traffic, some parking, near the University yet distinct from campus, seemed the perfect next step for the Co-operative. Moreover, Dev and I seemed to share the same feelings about what a bookstore should be. I don’t think any of us at the Co-op had ever thought about a second location until Dev suggested it, but his enthusiasm for us as tenants got us thinking and acting. We had to decide what sort of inventory we should carry, how it should differ from the store then at 5757 S. University (now at 5751 S. Woodlawn), what name the store should have, how we would staff it, how we could build everything, how we could finance the expansion and the considerable renovations we needed, what sort of lease terms both Dev and the Co-op could agree to, and untold other things. After we came up with some answers, the board of the Coop gave its go-ahead with the aim of opening in the fall of 1983. The lease was signed in the spring of 1983, and from that moment on Dev showed himself to be an enthusiastic, thoughtful, selfeffacing yet genuinely unflagging advocate for 57th Street Books and the role he thought it should play in the neighborhood. When Barack Obama published The Audacity of Hope in the fall of 2006, the nation’s signing event for the book was at 57th Street Books. Hundreds of people lined up early in the morning, and Dev had a picture of the event, taken by a Hyde Park Herald photographer, framed. It still hangs in the store. In the fall of 2008, when Obama was elected president, I asked a Coop employee to make up a banner for 57th Street’s window congratulating our president-elect (and Co-op member and customer) on his election. Photos of that banner appeared on television and in newspapers around the world. Dev and

I had several conversations about the election, and it was clear how pleased he was with the bookstore’s connection to the president. We got a letter from the White House last October, on the occasion of 57th Street Books’s thirtieth birthday, with a hand-written note from the President: “We miss you guys!” Over the past thirty years, millions of books have been bought at 57th Street Books, several thousand authors have stopped by, and many thousands of young people have been helped to develop a love of reading by the books and the booksellers at the store. None of this would have happened at the corner of 57th and Kimbark if Dev Bowly had not extended the invitation. Dev was an attorney with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago for most of his working life. He was the author of The Poorhouse: Subsidized Housing in Chicago, and was a founder of the Hyde Park Historical Society. He was also the owner, restorer, and genius behind two beautiful inns near Lakeside, Michigan: The Gordon Beach Inn and Lakeside Inn. My understanding from Dev was that the rent we paid at 57th Street Books went toward the restoration of those inns, a true win-win situation. He was also one of the originators of the architectural tours given by what is now the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and a lead participant in several restoration projects in Hyde Park, South Shore, and Washington Park. Dev was a great citizen of the city of Chicago and the Hyde Park neighborhood, and a landlord beyond compare. Two memorial services have been planned for Dev, the first on Saturday, November 1 at 2pm (CST), at the First Unitarian Church in Hyde Park, and the second on November 2 at 2pm (EST), at the Lakeside Inn in Lakeside, Michigan.

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

University Village & Little Italy

oth “University Village” and “Little Italy” could be considered misnomers—titles that describe the neighborhood by certain identities as others have been successively carved away. In fact, the story of this neighborhood contains many of the processes of change that mark the history of Chicago at large: the rise and fall of public housing, shifts in demographics, and urban renewal. In 1889, sociologist Jane Addams founded Hull House at the corner of Polk and Halsted Streets. Addams was a key figure in the settlement house movement, a social reform movement of the late nineteenth century in which largely middle-class academics and reformers moved into lower-class neighborhoods in an effort to work with residents to improve conditions. Hull House sociologists meticulously mapped the nationalities of the Little Italy neighborhood in 1895, showing it to be an immensely diverse area at that time. Still, the Italian community that began settling along the Taylor Street corridor in the late nineteenth century grew ever denser, eventually becoming home to a plurality of the city’s Italian Americans. From the 1930s onward, Little Italy underwent several rounds of reinvention. Considered a crime-

south side weekly

ridden slum by the time of the Depression Era, the neighborhood became the site for some of the nation’s first experiments in public housing. Many homes and businesses on and around Taylor Street (the main commercial strip) were razed for the construction of the ABLA Homes, a complex of four CHA housing projects. In the 1960s, the neighborhood underwent a massive demographic shift. Despite strong outcry from neighborhood activists like Italian-American Florence Scala, then-Mayor Richard J. Daley approved the construction of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus—a development that displaced thousands of residents. Today, just a single building remains from the ABLA Homes, and it’s in the process of being converted into a national museum of the public housing experience. A piece of the original Hull House property still stands as another museum, although it’s been hemmed in by UIC buildings. Taylor Street remains dotted with Italian restaurants and businesses. Filled with informal cafés and foot traffic, the neighborhood is now largely built around its college-aged residents, but an observant visitor can still catch glimpses of the past in its streets. (Rachel Schastok)

october 1, 2014

best Future MuseuM

National Public Housing Museum

At the corner of Taylor and Ada Streets is a three-story brick structure. Its simple, clean lines are unembellished, and each of its square windows is boarded up. A teardown waiting to happen? Not quite. This is the last building remaining from the Jane Addams Homes, once part of a massive grouping of four public housing projects called the ABLA complex. While all other buildings in the complex were razed as part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation in the mid-2000s, this 1938 structure endures as a remnant of an era in which public housing was defined by optimism and experimentation. The building will soon be the site of the National Public Housing Museum, a project that aims to recover and preserve the experiences of the countless people who grew up in public housing, from its Depression-era roots to the present day. According to its website, the Museum will also serve as a national focal point for discussions about the immense value of affordable housing across the country. Though the Museum board is still working to plan and fund their move into the building, the site offers a glimpse at both the past and the future of Taylor Street. National Public Housing Museum site, 1322-24 W. Taylor St. nphm.org (Rachel Schastok) best boArd ANd books

Ghareeb Nawaz Express

Named for a twelfth-century Sufi saint from India, Ghareeb Nawaz Express features a condensed selection of favorite dishes from the menu at their larger Devon location, with speedy service, cheap prices, and heaping portions that draw many hungry UIC students. The spicing on the meat thali sauces is hit or miss, with some that fall flat. But order any of the biryanis and dig in to a pile of beautifully seasoned rice with your choice of meat or vegetables, served on a thin silver plate with separate compartments for raita yogurt sauce and sliced onions. The storefront itself isn’t much to write home about, just a few small tables with a clear view into the kitchen and a television that might be showing Seinfeld. Bookworms take note, though: the restaurant opens up onto the University Village branch of Powell’s Books for a seamless transition from dining to book browsing. Ghareeb Nawaz Express, 807 W. Roosevelt Rd. Monday-Friday, 11:30am12:30am; Saturday-Sunday, 1pm-11:30pm. (312)433-0123. ghareebnawazexpresschicago.com (Rachel Schastok)

dmitry samarov

best workiNG breAkFAst

Eppel’s Restaurant by dmitry samarov

ppel’s is the kind of place that’s rarely written about by food critics. It’s simple diner food done quickly and well for working people. It’s been open since Maxwell Street was on Maxwell Street, and it carries on even though few early patrons would recognize its surroundings as their city anymore. I’ve only ever ordered two or three things here, but it’s one of my favorite places to eat.

The last time I came in, the waitress let me look over the menu but knew my order without prompting. Eppel’s Combination #1 Omelet with grits and holly toast. Cheese on the omelet. Coffee and two glasses of water. I hadn’t been in in over a year and she wasn’t my regular waitress but she knew anyway. Eppel’s sits in the middle of the block on Roosevelt Road between Jefferson and Clinton. A currency

exchange, a city uniform shop, and several clothing stores neighbor the restaurant. You can buy alligator shoes and a CTA shirt, cash a paycheck, and eat a meal that’ll keep you going the rest of the day, all without having to cross the street. What remains of Maxwell Street Market is staged every Sunday just a block away. These businesses are a remnant of a disappearing Chicago. All you have to do is look south across Roosevelt. In the last few years Home Depot, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Best Buy have all opened outlets and cast their faceless corporate shadows over the few little stores that remain. Yet inside Eppel’s it is as it always has been. The customers are almost all regulars. They work at the UPS

just up the street, carry mail, drive trucks, or police the city’s streets, and the waitresses know them all by their orders if not by their names. The first time I came here was with an old painting professor from SAIC. We went in through the rear entrance, past the bathrooms, and into the narrow room lined with booths. Most tables were filled and as two white guys we were a distinct minority. The waitresses navigated the narrow aisles, loaded down with plates of pecan pancakes, omelets, toast, orange juice, and bacon. Fare made to get you through long work shifts, served quickly and with good humor. When I started driving a cab in Chicago in 2003, Eppel’s became my last stop before going home.

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

uNiVersity VillAGe + little itAly

Eppel’s Combination #1 Omelet with grits and holly toast. I’ve always loved breakfast food, but driving afternoons until the bars closed made eating in the morning untenable. Fortunately this place opened at 4:30am, just after the late-night bars kicked out the last of their patrons and I’d driven them home. I often arrived just as Lynn, the waitress, or Pete, the cook, was unlocking the front door. If I was lucky, the Sun Times delivery man would have already dropped off the morning edition. Lynn often had coffee, two glasses of water, and the paper on the table of my windowfacing booth before I’d even locked the door of the cab. She may never have caught my name—she usually just greeted me with “Cabman!”— but she knew what I was going to order before I went through the motions of studying the extensive menu. A time or two I’d throw her by asking for pecan pancakes, but usually it was my usual, Eppel’s Combination #1 Omelet with grits and holly toast. Cheese on the omelet. Coffee and two glasses of water. I have no doubt there are at least a half dozen other great options on the menu but I never saw a need to find 18

south side weekly

Cheese on the omelet. Coffee and two glasses of water. out. There’s something to be said for a predictable, comforting choice when the rest of the day is so tense and chaotic. Eppel’s at 4:30am with the paper, bottomless coffee, and a rapidly filling ashtray was my place to meditate on the night that had just ended. No drunks, no traffic, no constant vigilance. Just a half hour to forget the previous twelve to fourteen hours behind the wheel. When Chicago’s restaurant smoking ban went into effect in 2006, some of my early-morning ritual went with it. It wouldn’t have been the same to run outside to suck down a cigarette between cups of coffee, only halfway through last night’s baseball box scores. The thing that made a visit to Eppel’s the calm in my night was the chance to just sit and let the hours in the cab recede. I still came two or three times a week after the smoking ban but didn’t linger as long. There usually weren’t many other customers at the hour I was there.

october 1, 2014

Postal workers grabbing a breakfast sandwich and coffee before ducking out to start their day, cops in for their lunch hour, UPS workers girding themselves for a day of lifting boxes, and maybe the occasional group of nightclubbers still done up to the nines, but with makeup smeared and tired eyes, shoveling waffles, eggs, and bacon into their mouths. I never got to know any of them, rarely exchanging words with anyone aside from giving Lynn my order and thanking Pete, who often came out from the kitchen to ring up the check before the morning cashier came in. This is a place for quiet communion at the beginning or the end of one’s day. Working people’s diners are rarely celebrated because the food served there is more for sustenance rather than entertainment. Much of the purpose of a place like Eppel’s has been replaced by the McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts drivethru windows. Those who work

long hours rarely have time for a sit-down meal anymore. Like the big-box stores that have replaced most of the shoe, hat, clothing, and fabric shops that once dotted the area, Eppel’s is of another time. A time of simple work done well but not done quite like everywhere else. Chains offer the comfort of knowing exactly what you’re going to get. You can go to the dozens of Dunkin’ Donuts dotting the city and have the same donuts and coffee handed right through your driver’s-side window. The disembodied voice in the lit-up menu’s speaker may even recognize you if you come back enough times. But it will never be the same as sitting at your regular table with the newspaper and coffee and having a few minutes’ respite from a long workday. For all those who leave their homes before the sun rises or return when the rest of the world is only waking up, I hope there will always be an Eppel’s to get them through. Eppel’s Restaurant, 554 W. Roosevelt Rd. 4:30am-4pm. $5-15. (312)9222206. eppelsrestaurant.com

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Chinatown

hicago’s Chinatown is changing. Geographically, the area can be divided into two parts: the long, familiar stretch along South Wentworth Avenue, and the somewhat brighter section surrounding the Chinatown Square mall, directly to the north. A recent increase in investment is apparent—the southern half in particular has hitherto unimaginably glitzy stores opening up alongside, or in place of, the older restaurants and kitsch shops. The languages one can expect to hear walking around are changing too. For a long time, Chicago’s Chinatown, the second-oldest in the U.S., was a largely Cantonese (loosely, Southern Chinese) area. These days, however, its language is increasingly Mandarin (again loosely, Northern)—and maybe its culture as well. These changes may not be immediately obvious to the casual visitor, but their impact is deeply felt; there’s a fresh and also anxious feeling in the air. The new is metabolizing the old: perhaps this is responsible for the area’s recent surge in signage denigrating the Chinese Communist Party, but that’s just speculation. Most people know Chinatown primarily for its cuisine and distinctive architecture—each admittedly enticing. But narrowing one’s focus invites the risk of missing out on some of the neighborhood’s other features, which, though less immediately welcoming, are not any less worth exploring. A few tourist-friendly mainstays seem to attract most of the traffic, leaving many of the true gems more-or-less undiscovered. We’ve aimed to broaden the scope a bit, then: we’ll touch on a few food places that remain relatively undiscovered, and a few miscellaneous other options for those seeking out cultural enrichment. But of course, Chinatown is a lovely place to simply walk around, and for the most part inviting, even when a language barrier might suggest otherwise. (Linus Recht) 20 south side weekly october 1, 2014

caroline hauGhton

best tiNy MuseuM

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum

Easy to miss, this odd, somewhat fusty old single-room museum is dedicated to Sun Yat-Sen, the founder of what is now known in many quarters as Taiwan. For what it’s worth, the museum sports a particularly beautiful entry staircase. It keeps unreliable hours, often other than what’s marked, but it’s worth making it inside. There are many relics and a fairly complete narrative of the life of Dr. Sun, though (depending on who is on duty) the guide may be unable to explain anything in greater detail. Some of the exhibits are in German or French without English translations, but in some way this adds to the charm. There’s something sort of mysterious and also inspiring about the place: a well organized but seldom tended narrativization of events in a man’s life that someone thought it very important to memorialize. This ROC (Taiwan) museum is somewhat ironically situated, almost directly across the street from the Maoist monument that is Lao Hunan, but our investigations turned up no evidence of turf wars ever having taken place. There are reading materials that cannot be taken off the premises, a guestbook, and no gift shop. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum, 2245 S. Wentworth Ave. Saturday-Sunday, 1pm-5pm. Free. (312)842-5462 (Linus Recht)

chiNAtowN

best siNGulAr culturAl eXPerieNce

best buddhAs

you cAN Also Get druNk At

Enlightenment Temple (Chanh-Giac-Tu)

Pop KTV

This is a Chinese-style karaoke parlor (KTV) located on the second floor of the Richland Center. For the uninitiated, KTV goes by a somewhat different procedure than what is common in the States. Instead of singing in front of a group of strangers, you rent a private room with a few friends (rooms are available in a few sizes: for twelve, twenty, twentyfive, or thirty-five plus). Each room has a karaoke machine, and these tend to have every song one can imagine, with an especially large number of East-Asian choices. This particular KTV is well-outfitted, modern, mostly clean, and has all the crazy lighting you could want. Alcohol and other drinks are available for purchase, as is food, much of it seldom used as party food elsewhere in the U.S. (meat skewers, squid, etc.), and most of it reasonably overpriced. The setup may sound somewhat tame, but it can lend itself to a pretty crazy night. Know what you’re getting into. Best enjoyed with a party of at least ten. Private rooms fill up quickly on the weekends, so making a reservation at least a day or so in advance may not be a bad idea. If the private rooms are all full, one can sing in the neon-lit lobby until a room becomes available. Pop KTV, 2002 S. Wentworth Ave, second floor. Daily, 2pm-2am. Rooms $48/hour, rate increases after 2am. $15/ person minimum to sing in lobby. (312)225-2828. (Linus Recht)

This is a real, take-your-shoes-off Chán ( Japanese: Zen) Buddhist place of worship, with large and intricate statues and shrines, as well as reading materials in both English and traditional Chinese. The entryway leads the casual visitor straight into a rather dinky (though well-stocked) gift-shop; presumably this is as much to divert tourists from the central chamber as it is to hawk merch. There are some nice books, figurines, incenses, and related ephemera available for purchase, but the real attraction is the main room. It is quite beautiful, the air thickly scented and quiet; there’s plenty to look at, and those interested can meditate or peruse the literature. The amount of English you can expect the monk on duty to know is somewhat variable, but everyone is friendly. The shrines are often vacant and free for examination. Of course, those interested in attending Chán services need look no further. When services are in session, wanderers are obviously not as welcome. International Buddhist Friendship Association: Enlightenment Temple (Chanh Giac Tu), 2249 S. Wentworth Ave. (312)881-0177. ibfausa. org/EN (Linus Recht)

best uNiForMs best subterrANeAN cheAP eAts

Richland Center

Here we have a somewhat out-of-the-way underground food court with a distinctly foreign feel. Those who have been to China will recognize the layout immediately. Very clean, though somewhat echoey. Small booths ring the room, most of them restaurants, with a few other random stores thrown in; with respect to these latter, individual mileage will vary. The food, however, is some of the cheapest, quickest, and most eclectic available in Chinatown, and the setup makes it very easy to try a little bit of everything. If pressed, you could easily eat to satiation for around $5. This may be a location best for initiates, as some of the restaurants don’t have English signs, but newcomers should not be intimidated. Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese food are all available at press time, though there seems to be a somewhat high turnover rate for new shops. A kabob shop with a red, Chinese-only sign is particularly worth visiting—try the lamb skewers. The takoyaki ( Japanese fried octopus balls) at a neighboring stall are also highly recommended. The Richland Center is rarely very crowded, and something of a hidden gem. Richland Center, 2002 S. Wentworth Ave. Monday-Friday, 9am-6pm; Saturday-Sunday, 10am-4pm. $5-$15. (312)225-2828. richlandgroup.com (Linus Recht)

Lao Hunan

As you enter Lao Hunan, you’re confronted by the Maoist paraphernalia adorning the walls: to the left, the words “SERVING PEOPLE” appear in English and Chinese, framed by the smiling face of the Chairman himself. Then there’s the fact that the wait staff are all decked out in Red Army uniforms. Gimmicky though the decor may be at first glance, Lao Hunan is no-nonsense when it comes to the food—it comes in mere minutes and is unfailingly delicious, quite spicy, and cheaper than most of the supposedly more glamorous Chinatown offerings. Particularly recommended are the famous stir fried lamb ($15), salt and pepper fish fillet ($14), and Sichuan string beans ($9). Portions range from large to enormous and dishes are meant to be shared. The usual bubble tea and sweet drinks are available, but overall they’re nothing special. Upon examination, the restaurant’s decorations don’t seem to be politically motivated after all: on the Hunan wall of fame, there are Taiwanese politicians as well as mainland cultural heroes. The apparently Maoist theme, then, stems primarily from the fact that Mao himself was from Hunan province; and, as the name of the establishment would indicate, this is a Hunan-centric restaurant above all else. Lao Hunan, 2230 S. Wentworth Ave. SundayThursday, 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-10:30pm. Meals $10-$20. Delivery and pick-up available, delivery minimum $15. (312)842-7888. laohunanonline.com (Linus Recht)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

best heAliNG

Nam Bac Hang by caroline hauGhton

I walked past a kind of fool’s gold in South China Plaza; plastic bobble-headed cats nodded ni hao in windows full of glittering souvenir kitsch, inviting my gaze to skim the surface. Crossing Cermak Road and feeling unnerved by the sense of culture up for sale, I spotted a blue-eyed Siamese cat peeking its head out of the shop door at 243 West Cermak. Above the cat was a sign: “Nam Bac Hang.” Entering the tiny shop, I saw rows of boxes with Chinese characters written on them, and glass jars filled with mushrooms and dried herbs. Locals were walking up to the counter asking for tea and formulas for their colds and allergies. Curious, I asked a young man standing nearby about the nature of the shop; he told me it was owned by his father, Long Huynh, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine whose family traces their healing lineage back to the days of the emperor in ancient China. Intrigued, I sat down with Long Huynh to ask him about his family’s history, qi, and his medicine. How long have you been in this location? We have been in this location at the very end of Chinatown for thirty years. Where does your family come from in China? Our ancestors came from Guang Dong province a couple of thousand years ago, but because of a misunderstanding the emperor was offended, and my family had to move south. But the south was already occupied, so we moved to Hakka, which is mountainous. Hakka means “guest”—because one day we must go back to claim our land—this means the family of visitors. Can you tell me about acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine? 22

south side weekly

Acupuncture is noninvasive, but what makes it so useful is the Chinese belief in qi, or the source of energy that already exists on the planet. There is no English equivalent for this word. Qi is a thing you cannot see; it can be likened to a mist. It is an internal source of power. We do acupuncture to motivate the qi. What makes the qi is the physical interaction with our planet. Most of the diseases that we treat today existed four thousand years ago. What causes sickness? Most of sickness is artificially created. It is the need to want. Our society wants us to show that we are successful, and the way society wants us to show success is possession of objects—this makes people go crazy. How does Chinese medicine work? Our body has something like a

october 1, 2014

caroline hauGhton

river, which we call meridians. They have junctions that we manipulate that we can turn on or turn off so they will not flood, or the place will be too dry. Fortunately, the Taoists studied this and wrote the knowledge down. They were farmers called Divine Farmers. They tasted the herbs and had the ability to neutralize the poison. They could also tell which meridian the herbs could go to. All the formulas to treat patients were written thousands of years ago.

Western medicine, instead it is in the root, the tree, the bug.

What makes traditional Chinese medicine powerful?

Doctor, are you able to feel the points?

We are able to modify the ancient formulas to fit you; that is what makes it so wonderful. The formula fits exactly to your condition. Chinese medicine is not in a pill as in

No, then I would be a master, but I can feel their meridians. This medicine is not about me treating the patient. This medicine is about partnership. The patient has to be

How are people able to maintain optimum health? Chinese medicine is not just about taking herbs, or putting the needle in—we also have abilities through meditation like the Taoists. Mediation allows us to empty out the world and calm the mind. This is how the ancient Taoists saw the meridians and acupuncture points.

chiNAtowN

best bAkery

Tasty Place

“A good doctor treats, a superior doctor teaches. I can teach you to fix yourself so that you can teach

This truly excellent bakery has an extensive menu, superb drinks, and the lowest prices around. True to its name, it has great cream puffs, buns, sandwiches, and soups presenting varying levels of Chinese-ness. Some items may appear a bit intimidating to those less familiar with the culture, while others are more innocuous; the vast majority are priced at or around one dollar. One would be well advised to spend a few dollars trying various things on the menu, as nearly everything is rather good, and many items are of the sort one would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Milk teas and other drinks are also available, and by and large come without fault. The staff is friendly if occasionally brusque. Seating is ample; nevertheless, the store is often crowded around lunchtime. It is frequented by locals and surprisingly undiscovered by outsiders. At the risk of belaboring the point, the food here is not only good and unusual, but also very cheap. This makes it an ideal place for a low-stakes culinary adventure. Tasty Place, 2339A S. Wentworth Ave. Monday-Sunday, 7:30am-9pm. $1-$10. (312)225-5678 (Linus Recht)

others.” ready to participate. If the patient continues to eat bad food and not take herbs, this medicine will not take effect. A good doctor treats, a superior doctor teaches. I can teach you to fix yourself so that you can teach others. Can people of the community come to see you? A lot of Westerners come in because their health insurance copay is too expensive. I cater to very poor, all the way up to people who have more money to spend. People don’t leave here empty handed because they are poor. Can people call and make an appointment for depression, flu, or even to be more beautiful?

want this to be formal. They come here first and they tell me their symptoms. If they want faster results I charge $20 and create a formula specific to you. Some people want acupuncture, the results are faster but you need herbs between visits. The combination of herbs and acupuncture is beautiful. Acupuncture is an experience; we are not treating a disease, we are treating you. It is a moment in time to realize who you are. Your body can talk to you, but you are not listening. And because you are not listening you separate yourself and your body. You are not synchronized. With acupuncture we are going to put it back together—the spirit, and the physical being. That is why after the session everything feels activated. All the qi is flowing.

Yes, they can call, but we do not october 1, 2014

south side weekly

South Shore

luke white

t seems almost impossible that the geographical bulk of the South Shore neighborhood—running from Stony Island to Exchange and from 71st to 79th—encompasses only a few square miles of land. The neighborhood gives off the impression of being far more expansive. The commercial arteries are fat and long, stuffed to the brim with knickknack shops, convenience stores, and steam-filled restaurants. Stony Island is a massive six-lane thoroughfare cut along the middle by a huge median, while 71st Street and Exchange are both bisected by the Metra Electric tracks. Turn off any one of these boulevards, though, and you’ll find yourself on quiet, tree-lined side streets like 73rd or 76th, Paxton or Constance—streets filled with old houses where kids play in the street and men sit smoking on porches. Those same streets have seen the crime and gun violence that ranks South Shore just behind Englewood and West Englewood, the two South Side neighborhoods with the most incidents, according to Red Eye’s homicide tracker. Certainly, the neighborhood has seen its share of violence and systemic neglect; these oft-cited crime statistics are accompanied by a litter of vacant lots and boarded-up community centers. But for every crusading church like South Shore Bible Baptist on 72nd and Cornell, whose sidewalk evangelists say there’s nothing good to do or eat in the neighborhood, there’s a woman like Teyonda Wertz of the South Shore Chamber, who defends her neighborhood to the teeth. Wertz falls fiercely in line behind the group of students from Bradwell School of Excellence who, in July, trumpeted South Shore’s life and spirit in an op-ed published in the Tribune. For every mess of vacancies on 75th between Jeffery and the lake there’s a bustling street like 79th or a lively stretch of the same 75th from State to Cottage Grove, home to one of the city’s most diverse collections of restaurants.

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

If any street in Chicago deserves the title of “heterogeneous,” it is Stony Island, where the Nation of Islam mosque looms above the landscape, across the street from a Harold’s Chicken Shack and a chop suey joint. The multiple neighborhoods that intersect with South Shore, whose boundaries blur depending on whom you ask, do not offer themselves up for easy summarization. The Jackson Park Highlands, north of 71st between Cregier and Jeffery, are some of the city’s quietest and most historic streets, filled with columned mansions and ancient trees—just blocks away from the sign-filled sprawl of 71st Street. West of Stony Island is the strange amalgam known as Greater Grand Crossing, where elements of Woodlawn, South Shore, Englewood, and Chatham collide. These side streets and embankments are some of the city’s densest and most dangerous, but the neighborhood also hosts strange delights like Oak Woods Cemetery and community centers like the Gary Comer Youth Center. South of 79th is South Chicago, a residential neighborhood where the majestic St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church towers at the center and the empty fields that will soon become the futuristic Lakeside Development sprawl towards the east. Running up from South Chicago through the heart of South Shore is Jeffery Boulevard, home to the city’s only Bus Rapid Transit route, the J14. Jeffery is a multifaceted street, home to residential, commercial, and communal spaces. Some of its blocks are wide-open and exposed and others are intimate and tree-covered. At 76th, steam rises from the See Thru Chinese Kitchen, while blocks away the chalk-coated playgrounds of South Shore College Prep wait for recess—neither is any less or any more South Shore than the other. ( Jake Bittle)

south shore

best oP-ed coluMNists best (oNly) PotAto chiP cookie

Give Me Some Sugah Bakery

Bradwell School of Excellence

The authors of the most incisive commentary about the South Side this year may be a group of fifthgraders too young to know what “incisive” means. Earlier this summer the Tribune published a moving submission from a fifth-grade class at Bradwell School of Excellence at 77th and Burnham, in which the students of this South Shore neighborhood school argue that the mainstream media presents an inaccurate picture of their neighborhood, misconstruing it as a “heartless” “Chi-raq” full of the “uneducated, jobless, and thieves.” They mount a stirring defense of South Shore that includes descriptions of local storeowners and jump-roping elementary school girls. “When the sun shines here,” they write, “it’s not God saying he wants to burn us; he sees us all with bright futures.” In a summer that saw almost eighty shootings over Independence Day weekend alone, this is an imporbest uNeXPected chiNese restAurANt tant reminder that the “reporters with fancy suits in front of [a South Shore] laundromat” don’t have the whole story. Myra Bradwell School The locals in South Shore, whether polled on 71st, 79th, or any other main of Excellence, 7736 S. Burnham Ave. boulevard, are in agreement: the House of Bing is one of the best restau- (773)535-6600 ( Jake Bittle) rants in the neighborhood. It’s hard to see just how everyone managed to find the place at all: it adjoins an apartment building set back from South Shore Drive and appears to be housed in some kind of refurbished hotel conference room. Sometimes the restaurant is almost empty, but there’s no arguing with the food. The menu is so robust as to be daunting, but personal favorites include the Hunan Beef and the Shrimp Egg Foo Young. The restaurant also has a rich history: before its twenty-year tenure in South Shore, it was the House of Ing in Hyde Park (no word on where the “B” came from). It also used to host the Mo Better Jazz Collective on Friday nights, but the City of Chicago ordered the restaurant to desist after finding out its owners lacked something called an “entertainer’s license.” Not to worry. The food is attraction enough.House of Bing, 6930 S. South Shore Dr. Monday-Thursday, 11:30am-10:30pm; Friday, 11:30am-11:30pm; Saturday, 2pm-11:30pm; Sunday, 2pm-10pm. (773)363-5400. www.hobsouthshore.com ( Jake Bittle) Though owner Lenore Lindsay claims there are potato chip cookies all over the world, the only one I’ve ever seen is hers. The idiosyncratic delight is one of a vast array of cookies, lemon bars, cupcakes, and other desserts available in neighborhood staple Give Me Some Sugah. Everybody knows about this place, and for good reason: Lindsay wakes up every day before sunrise to fire up her hundred-year-old oven and set to baking a myriad of treats, including the mysterious potato chip cookie. Does the existence of such a thing surprise anyone else? It doesn’t surprise Lindsay, who found the recipe in the labyrinth of her mother’s Tribune clippings and “massaged” it a little to make it marketable. Whether or not it’s unique to Lindsay’s kitchen, the potato chip cookie is delicious, as is every other concoction Lindsay serves. Nor is the baking grandmistress, who opened the store after spending a quarter-century in the accounting business, willing to rest on her sugah-coated laurels. Since last year’s Best of the South Side issue she’s added an adjoining café and soup restaurant to the original bakery unit. The intention, she says, is to give people a place to relax, chat, and take a load off in a neighborhood that is otherwise low on public spaces. “We have nothing,” she says, gesturing out at 71st Street. Well, Ms. Lindsay, that’s not exactly true. South Shore residents have you, your café, and your delicious potato chip cookies—and that seems to me like a good place to start. Give Me Some Sugah Bakery, 2234 E. 71st St. Monday, 3:30pm-7:30pm; Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30am-7:30pm. (773)363-9300. givemseomesugah.com ( Jake Bittle)

House of Bing

best bird For your buck

Royal Caribbean Jerk

Tucked into a cubby on 71st Street scarcely bigger than a walk-in closet, Royal Jerk offers the most unapologetically flavorful meal in South Shore. But it’s not the volcanic sauce and juicy chicken that keep you coming back—it’s the almost frightening calorie-per-dollar ratio. The store’s billboard advertises a half-dark lunch special as $7.50. Fair enough. But in addition to the standard four hunks of chicken, the meal comes with a huge mound of rice and beans, two different kinds of sauce, two sides (get the mac and cheese), and a canned soda. But then, when everything gets rung up, the total comes out, every time, to…$7.13. Um, okay. I’m not complaining. Royal Caribbean Jerk, 2126 E. 71st St. (773)363-6855 ( Jake Bittle)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

best PlAce to FrAMe your MAsterPieces

Studio 71

“This is your clubhouse now,” said Benyamin Maccabee when I sat down to talk with him. “We want you to feel at home.” We are sitting in the main gallery of Studio 71, a small shop with big windows, tucked into a corner on 71st Street. He offered me a beer as he chatted the afternoon away with two friends who had stopped by to visit. For almost a decade now, Maccabee—tall, dreadlocked, extremely candid—has run Studio 71 as both a forum for his own work and a community art gallery. He studied art as a child, but went on to pursue a career in the culinary arts; he opened Studio 71 after leaving a decades-long culinary career that included a high-ranking chef position at Michael Jordan’s Steak House. Now he runs the gallery full-time during the summer; during the school year he keeps it open and also teaches art at a public school in Beverly. Though small, the gallery boasts an impressive variety of work: surrealistic depictions of Ghanaian children sit alongside close-up portraits of CPS students and minute renderings of Chicago’s skyline. The contributing artists include longtime friends of Maccabee’s and South Shore locals like a seventeen-year-old student (now at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) whose portraits Maccabee cites as some of his highest-fetching pieces. Maccabee’s own paintings range from abstract color schemes with titles like “Energy” and “Spring Rain” to portraits of Bob Marley to interpretive allegories about the African slave trade. Maccabee’s variety of artistic subjects bespeaks the diverse experience of a self-described “jack of some trades, master of some” who moonlights as a radio voice actor. (Ask to see his demo tape, which includes all the car dealerships and pesticides and diabetes medications he’s advertised over the years.) Most of the money that keeps Studio 71 afloat, Maccabee tells me, comes not from original art but from cutting and selling wooden picture frames. Hundreds of frame corners hang on pegs behind Maccabee’s desk like a mosaic. The floor of his workshop in the back is silvered with a layer of sawdust. As we talk, a woman comes in looking to buy a frame for a piece she did in an art class at the Hyde Park Art Center. Maccabee inspects the painting, gives it an appreciative “Oooh,” and then haggles with the woman and her husband to find the right frame for the right price. Studio 71, Maccabee admits quite openly, is not making a killing. But in his ten years selling art in South Shore, Maccabee has carved a niche for himself in the community: people on the street trust his talent (Though he swears his wife Kathy is the inspiration and motivation behind his pursuits). He’s also known as the brains behind the South Shore Art Fair, in which businesses painted their storefronts and art was sold up and down 71st Street. The Fair didn’t run this year, due to a lack of finances, but Maccabee isn’t content to confine his influence to the walls of his shop. Even in the absence of the Art Fair he’s constantly connecting with neighbors. He seems to have everyone’s name and most people’s phone numbers. “I like to see what people bring in,” he says after selling a woman a frame. “It’s nice to put art on display, but it’s not about me. I like it to be a balance, with everybody contributing. That’s the way I’ve always done it, since we opened.” Studio 71, 1834 E. 71st St. Monday-Friday, 11:30am7:30pm; Saturday, 11am-7pm; Sundays by appointment. (773)324-5904. studio71art.com ( Jake Bittle) 26

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

Far Southeast Side

he strip of land that tapers to a point at 93rd Street, bounded by the slow-moving Calumet River to the west and north, and by the Indiana border to the east, is known as the East Side, though it was once called The Island. It is the East Side because it is on the east bank of the Calumet. Regionally, with the neighborhood of Hegewisch two miles farther south, it is also the East Side inasmuch as it is not quite part of the South Side: the only train stop east of the river, the Hegewisch South Shore station, is operated not by Metra or the CTA but by northern Indiana’s commuter rail agency, the NICTD. The wetlands and connected waterways that made the area The Island have largely receded or been destroyed, and they would have vanished entirely had Mayor Daley’s proposal to build an airport in Hegewisch gone through in the nineties. But Hegewisch and the East Side—as well as South Deering, Altgeld Gardens, and Pullman, on the opposite side of the river—are (with few exceptions) as isolated as that name, The Island, suggests. Tying these neighborhoods together into a loosely defined region called the Far Southeast Side is the river itself. The Calumet has been straightened and dredged, at greater and greater depths, since the late nineteenth century. Even before it passes Lake Calumet and becomes the Cal-Sag Channel, carrying boats south to the Mississippi River, it has the feel of an industrial waterway, course determined by compass rather than contour. Over seven miles it forms a fishhook in the land, catching Lake Calumet at its tip. Along the banks are a pouch and tube packing manufacturer, a scrap metal recycling yard, a yacht yard, a natural gas plant, a marine supplier, and a barge renter, as well as three separate open-air storage facilities for petcoke, a byproduct of the crude oil refineries just across the border. There is a cement factory and food warehouse and truck parts supplier, another salvage yard, and a rail yard that loads and stores salt, coal, stone, and more petcoke. There is a zinc plant and a cement plant and a salt plant and a chemical plant and a Ford assembly plant, which manufactured Model Ts when it opened ninety years ago. Past the banks and the wetlands are single-family homes and green lawns, turn-of-the-century mansions in Pullman, and two of the oldest public housing projects in Chicago, Altgeld Gardens and Trumbull Park Homes. The only trailer park in the city, Harbour Point Estates, occupies an isthmus in eastern Hegewisch, a low-lying area between Wolf and Powder Horn Lakes. It was marshland, some years ago, but as elsewhere on The Island the land has been reclaimed and may someday—will certainly, someday, just as certainly as the old Wisconsin glaciers and the marshlands and the steel mills came and went—be claimed again, for better or worse. (Harrison Smith)

FAr southeAst side

best bike throuGh the woods

Burnham Greenway

Greenways—those strips of land, often elevated, set aside for bikers and walkers—are often a bad idea. They create dead space in what could be an otherwise dense area, and are often less trafficked than the streets and sidewalks they’re supposed to replace. (Not that this is surprising. Why walk down a greenway that faces backhouses when you can walk down a street that faces homes, offices, and shops—a street that faces people?) The Burnham Greenway, which starts at 104th Street, on the East Side, and runs south parallel to Avenue E, is much like this for its first mile. It’s used by walkers, often with dogs, and, though it’s surrounded by grass and brightened by occasional plantings, it’s largely a glorified berm. Further south, however, it becomes a gateway to the Far Southeast Side’s vast green spaces: Eggers Grove, a Forest Preserve park with picnic benches and a few hiking trails, and the William W. Powers State Recreation Area, at Wolf Lake. Without a car, the trail is the best way to reach the lake, which is split by the Indiana state line and features birding, fishing, and a defunct Nike Ajax missile, a memorial to the lake’s role as a missile defense site during the Cold War. Pack a lunch and spend the day. (Harrison Smith) best uNioN oF old ANd New

Local 1033

Outside of the ArcelorMittal strip mill in Riverdale, there are no steel mills in Chicago. There are, however, steel unions, among them the South Chicago chapter of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees, or SOAR. The chapter, a branch of United Steelworkers—which represents almost all steelworkers during their working lives—meets once a month at 117th and Avenue O, in the main hall of a United Methodist church. The building was formerly Memorial Hall Local 1033, permanent home of the local USW chapter. It’s still commonly known as Memorial Hall, though the union lost it due to funding issues. Thirty-odd retirees attend a recent meeting, most of it devoted to discussion of labor issues—“plutocrats” is a common word, the Koch brothers a common enemy. Scott Marshall, the union’s president, brings up the organizing effort underway at Walmart. It’s similar, he says, to “what happened across the street, when people got shot. Hopefully it won’t be like that, but....” Across the street is the site of Republic Steel (closed since 2002) and of the Memorial Day Massacre. In 1937, striking steelworkers marched on the gates of Republic to gain recognition of their right to unionize; ten were killed by police gunfire, and dozens were injured. A memorial stands next to Memorial Hall. At the meeting, Scott talks about “the need to revive the labor movement in this country.” Another retiree is concerned about the high price of prescription drugs. Others voice their concerns (pollution from the petcoke facilities to the north, a Republican forecast for this November’s election), and many are angry. Some are nervous. Leaving the meeting, though, one shrugs and says, in a tone that expresses more than an observation, “We’re steelworkers.” (Harrison Smith)

best Ghost PlANt

Thismia americana and Opuntia humifusa (tie)

Over a hundred years ago, a graduate student at the University of Chicago discovered a small flowering plant in a low, wet prairie in South Deering, not far from where the Calumet Bike Park will open next year. The plant, Thismia americana, is invisible for most of the year; in midsummer, three white petals push through the soil, and for just a few months it appears as a white button on the prairie. This is what’s supposed to happen, at least. Despite a few recent efforts to locate the plant, Thismia hasn’t been seen since 1916. The prairie wetland where it was discovered has since been developed as landfill. On the other side of the river, at Powder Horn Lake in Hegewisch, is a more well-known ghost plant: Opuntia humifusa, eastern prickly pear, the only native cactus in Chicago. As in South Deering, much of the land here is wetland, or former wetland. (According to the Sierra Club, 22,000 acres of wetland used to cover the area around Lake Calumet; only 500 of those acres remain.) Though the cactus is common at the Indiana Dunes across the border, officials at the Audubon Society and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which maintains Power Horn Lake, say the prickly pear can be found near the ridges and swales just north of the lake and its parking lot. They may be correct, but Opuntia—like Thismia—is still elusive: a survey of the parkland by the Weekly came up empty. To see the only native cactus in Chicago, your best bet may be to leave Chicago: eastern prickly pear is on display at Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland, a short drive south of Hegewisch. (Harrison Smith) best PlAce to Get your GoAt

Birrieria Ocotlan

The best goat tacos in Chicago may be two blocks west of the Indiana state line. Like all of Chicago’s great birrierias (goat vendors) and taquerías— and there are many of these in Pilsen and Little Village, even a few others farther west on 106th, the same street as Ocotlan—this place is no-frills. Nowhere, however, is the meat as good, certainly nowhere is it as tender, as here. The corn tortillas come right off the stove, two per taco, and you’ll need both to hold the meat, chopped onions, and cilantro in place, as well as to soak up the salsa verde and lime you’ll be drizzling on top. The cabeza (goat head) taco is the best, though you’ll need to watch out for gristle and bone. But, off the menu the ribs, with meat that falls right off the bone, and can be eaten without tortillas or fixin’s, are a serious contender. Spanish skills recommended but not required. Birrieria Ocotlan, 4007 E. 106th St. (773)374-0384 (Harrison Smith)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

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south side weekly

october 1, 2014

ou can feel the pulse of the community best on a summer night along 79th Street. The sky is pink and perfect, wispy with clouds, while cicadas mingle with the rumble of traffic. People are driving home from work down Racine and Halsted. On Loomis and Parnell children are playing before dinner. From the grey monolith of St. Sabina Church the strains of an organ pour out in waves. Singing rattles the slightly open windows. Further south, where side streets dead-end at railroad tracks, men sprawl on front stoops, chatting. Further east down 89th Street, the roads widen. Huge plots of land come into view, hosting sprawling houses, most ramshackle Victorians, one with a barn stacked alongside. At the corner of Halsted and 79th the skyline of another city, gleaming and far away, towers in the distance. Like many neighborhoods on the South Side, both communities share a history of white flight and disinvestment. Yet at the end of every summer, the 79th Street Renaissance Festival brings thousands of people to celebrate the food and flavor of a community in the name of non-violence. The community garden surrounding the Gary Comer Youth Center is bustling. In the upper windows, teen girls from the surrounding neighborhood practice complicated flag routines. Day by day, people meet to talk outside storefronts on Emerald, and Union, and Normal. A contractor refurbishing a walk-up grabs his tool belt from the sidewalk before rushing back inside through the newly painted door. Life doesn’t stop, and people press on. ( Jack Nuelle)

Auburn Gresham & Greater Grand Crossing

best cuP oF cobbler

BJ’s Market and Bakery

Snug in the elbow of 79th Street and Racine, BJ’s Market and Bakery is, at least physically, in the heart of the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Decked in gaudy yellow and green, with a replica street market awning over the register and bright advertisements reminiscent of a neighborhood grocer in its windows, BJ’s presents itself as a friendly spot. It’s a place to bring the kids, to sit down for a home-cooked meal. BJ’s is the project of locally grown and trained chef John Meyer, a graduate of Chicago State University and Washburne Trade School’s Culinary Arts Program. The standout dinner item is the smothered dark meat chicken. It’s tender, drenched in gravy, with heaping sides of mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. The mac and cheese is surprisingly delicate and explodes with flavor, with hints of brown sugar lingering around the end of each bite. The highlight, however, is the peach cobbler, comfort food of the highest caliber. Piled in a cup, it’s glazed and warm, each bite rich and inviting. Meyer and his establishment create comfort first and foremost, from the hostess eager to give recommendations, to the students, cops and neighborhood regulars rubbing elbows in line, to the cobbler in a cup. BJ’s Market and Bakery, 1156 W. 79th St. and 8734 S. Stony Island Ave. Monday-Thursday, 7am-9pm; Friday-Saturday, 7am-10pm; Sunday, 7am-8pm. (773)7237000. bjsmarket.com ( Jack Nuelle)

camden bauchner

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

hyde park produce market

Boarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head is proud to recognize Hyde Park Produce Market with the title â&#x20AC;&#x153;Deli of Distinction.â&#x20AC;? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an honor given only to a handful of outstanding delis across the country, those that are truly the best of the best.

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south side weekly

october 1, 2014

AuburN GreshAM

best hAuNt

best dANciNG AltAr serVers

Oak Woods Cemetery

St. Sabina’s

Is it strange to hang out in a graveyard? Maybe. But Oak Woods Cemetery, with its nearly 200 acres of manicured lawns, stately oak trees, man-made lakes, and 100-year-old masonry is one of the most hauntingly beautiful historic sites in all of Chicago, and an irresistible pocket of tranquility amongst the noise and bustle of the surrounding neighborhoods. Visitors with morbid sensibilities will be drawn to the numerous Gothic crypts which dot the grounds, many of which date back to the 1800s. The more historically minded can visit the graves of Jesse Owens and Enrico Fermi, as well as the infamous Confederate Mound, final resting place of 6,000 Confederate prisoners of war and the largest mass grave in the Western hemisphere. Of course, with so many souls interned here, the question must be asked: is Oak Woods haunted? Yes—by a family of rare gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), who can sometimes be seen scurrying between the headstones of the overgrown Jewish cemetery. And, ghostly or not, there are some delightfully eerie landmarks worth seeing: the tomb of stillliving Senator Roland Burris (who constructed the mausoleum for himself in advance of his death) is a creepy curio, and on the cemetery’s south end you’ll find an ancient lych-gate that leads...nowhere. Enter, if you dare. Oak Woods Cemetery, 1035 E. 67th St. Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm; Sunday, 9am4pm. (773)288-3800 (Will Dart)

GreAter GrANd crossiNG

The first thing that hits you is the noise. It’s a thrumming, a constant backbeat. It takes a second before you realize that it’s the congregation, murmuring in agreement, arms outstretched in prayer. On the altar, dancers sway and a saxophonist wipes his brow. This is Unity Sunday, St. Sabina’s monthly mass to bring the entire parish community together. On Unity Sundays there is a single service in place of twin masses, and the congregation is out in force. Father Michael Pfleger, the dynamic head of St. Sabina’s since his appointment—as the youngest-ever pastor of a Chicago parish—in the mid 1980s, gives a rafter-rattling sermon as his congregation rises in front of him. In the wings, senator Dick Durbin pays his respects, and the father of Hadiya Pendleton watches from a seat of honor by the altar. Unity Sunday is Auburn Gresham’s monthly pep talk. From his pulpit, a roaring Father Pfleger offers encouragement for overcoming unemployment, violence, racism, and oppression. It’s a community celebrating itself, the liveliest Sunday in the city. St. Sabina’s Catholic Church, 1210 W. 78th Pl. First Sunday of every month, 10am. saintsabina.org (773)483-4300 ( Jack Nuelle)

best AFterschool drill GrouNd

Gary Comer Youth Center

Rising like a Technicolor monolith, the Gary Comer Youth Center cuts a notable figure in the otherwise low-slung landscape of Greater Grand Crossing. Built and dedicated in 2006, the Center is named for and funded by Gary Comer, the Land’s End clothing mogul whose investment in the surrounding neighborhood has dramatically changed the face of urban education in Greater Grand Crossing. Designed by John Ronan Architects, the Center is some 80,000 square feet, with facilities ranging from the academic (classrooms, college readiness centers) to the extracurricular (horticulture classes, performance halls). Especially notable, however, is the center’s role as host to the South Shore Drill Team. The team, known for its annual appearance at the Bud Billiken Parade, is often a staple at other Chicago public events. Made up of 250 South Side students, it’s built around giving at-risk youth a creative and structured extracurricular outlet. As eighteen-year-old member Khalif Toler says, “The Drill Team [has] encouraged me to strive for greatness.” Aside from the Drill team, the Center also sponsors and hosts community events, conferences, and conventions, notably the Pocket Con comic book convention this past July. At once a resource for students and a community center for art and cultural programming, the GCYC is helping to build all sorts of futures. Gary Comer Youth Center. 7200 S. Ingleside Ave. Monday-Friday, 8:30am-9pm; Saturday, 10am-4pm. (773)358-4100. gcychome.org ( Jack Nuelle)

Culinary Preview Friday, October 3rd, 6:30-10pm (ticketed) Public Reception Saturday, October 3rd, 7-10pm (free)

HOOFPRINT WORKSHOP 2433 S Oakley Ave, Chicago IL 60608 Hoofprint Workshop is pleased to present Basilica Chymica, a collaboration between six visual artists and six chefs, working in pairs to create a synesthetic experience based on the ancient discipline of alchemy. Curated by Raeleen Kao. Culinary Preview: Guests will enjoy six courses of small plates and six cocktail pairings, and receive a hand-printed lithograph ticket, relief printed menu, and a catalogue documenting the plates and portfolio. CHEFS: ARTISTS: Edible Alchemy Sanya Glisic SOBREMESA Supper Club Vesna Jovanovic Hillary Grossman, Avec Kelly Riker Dean Williams, underground dining Damarak the Destroyer Griffin Benko, The Terrace at Trump Tower Raeleen Kao Suley Dimas, Soho House Chicago Vanessa DellaMorte & cocktails by Mike Zell of Little Goat

Tickets may be purchased online: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/754058 For more information, visit: w w w . h o o f p r i n t w o r k s h o p . c o m october 1, 2014

south side weekly

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“I

Little Village

llinois” might not be the first response if you were planted in the middle of Little Village (or “La Villita”) and asked to guess your location. “Es como estar en un pueblito en México,” (“It’s like being in a village in Mexico”)—a sentiment frequently expressed with a smile in conversations with shop owners, waiters, and other residents—indicates how successfully Mexican immigrants have created a home away from home here since roughly the 1970s. And in truth, standing on the corner of 26th and Trumbull next to a shaved-ice stand offering raspados de hielo con jarabe de fruta, the musical cadence of Spanish and street signs bearing “ñ’s” all around, the steely skyscrapers of the Loop seem a lot more than five miles away. An ornate archway welcomes the visitor to the Mexico of the Midwest on the far east end of 26th Street. A gift to La Villita from the Mexican government, the archway is crowned with an impressive clock from one of the oldest clock manufacturers in South America. However, despite its distinctness, Little Village is very much ingrained in Chicago politics and affected by the neighborhoods surrounding it, especially economically. In 2012, Mayor Emanuel suggested changing the name of 26th Street, the second most affluent street in the entire city, to “The Second Magnificent Mile.” The neighborhood is at home in the greater city, but it’s also a tightknit village. The ingredients and the clothes are imported, and the people sitting in Taquería Milagros have millions of stories sewn into the lines of their smiles. There’s no show for tourists. The feeling is overwhelming: when you come into Little Village, you are coming into someone’s home. (Lucia Ahrensdorf ) best PlAce to buy literAlly ANythiNG

Little Village Discount Mall

All the retail stores and malls in Chicago must be frightened of the day when the general population discovers the Little Village Discount Mall. Why go to the hardware store, then drive to the pet store, then take the CTA to a boutique for formal dresses when you could find it all in an endless labyrinth of small shops and kiosks? Imagine the strangest, most specific commercially produced item and chances are, they have a dozen of them in a variety of colors, including zebra print. Need to replace the rusty carburetor in your car and pick out a wedding dress at the same time? Look no further. Want to give yourself a tattoo? Tattoo kits are available for only $250. There is no better place to pick out an intense Halloween costume, or else browse for formal attire. Little Village Discount Mall showcases all the options for elegant toddlers, including tiny tails, tiny mariachi suits, and fluffy, white, First Communion dresses. So when you’re looking for a industrial-sized mixing bowl for the next time you want to make soup for a thousand people, BMW-brand cleats to kill it at your next fútbol match, or a tiny green parakeet to sing you to sleep, you know where to go. Just don’t forget to grab a refreshing scoop of cheese ice cream on the way out. Little Village Discount Mall, 3101 W. 26th St. Monday-Saturday, 9am-9pm; Sunday, 10am-6pm. (773)254-9207 (Lucia Ahrensdorf ) 34

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

best lAte NiGht driVe-throuGh

best AroMA

Carnicería Aguascalientes Situated at one side of a small convenience store at 26th and Kedzie, with a modest white sign and plastered in advertisements for beer, Carnicería Aguascalientes is unlikely to grab your eye. If you’re led by by your nostrils, however, a glorious smell hangs so thick around the whole block you’ll find yourself wandering in even if you’re not hungry. The restaurant proper is a surprisingly large and cheery space with an open kitchen and rows of booths with bright orange and green walls. Inside, the deliciously meaty smell—nearly faint-inducing on the street—is overpowering. Ask the wait staff what smells so good, and they’ll respond with only one word: “carne.” Their answer is confirmed by the enormous carnitas en salsa verde taco piled with slabs of avocado and doused liberally with sour cream. The spice warms the back of your mouth and slowly numbs your tongue and lips. And the meat— well, it would be an understatement to say that it melts in your mouth. It’s so good that after one heaping, steaming, monument of hot, spicy pork, I started to get a bit teary. And no, it wasn’t just the salsa verde. Carnicería Aguascalientes, 3132 W. 26th St. Daily, 8am-9pm. (773)254-3466 (Robert Sorrell)

Taquería Los Comales

The next time you’re craving Mexican fare past midnight, head down 26th Street and into the heart of Little Village. There, you’ll find the neighborhood favorite Los Comales, first opened by Camerino Gonzalez in 1973. The drive-through—one of few within the city—is reason enough for celebration, but the speed and wide variety of traditional, handmade Mexican fare available late at night makes it well worth the visit. Try the tacos al pastor or the bistec torta, either of which can easily be consumed in a moving vehicle. The menu contains seemingly endless combinations of meats featured in different iterations, ranging from fried tilapia to beef tripe and tongue. Family-friendly and serviced by attentive staff, the interior of Los Comales boasts enough seating for large groups as well as the more casual meals and the latenight fare Little Village locals come for. Whether you dine via vehicle or in a booth, don’t leave without getting a cup of their horchata—the milky sweetness of the rice-based drink serves well to cut the heat of the grilled jalapeños that feature on most dishes, and it won’t last long in a cupholder. Taquería Los Comales. Monday-Thursday, 8:30am-2am; Friday, 8:30am-4am; Saturday-Sunday, 8:30am-5pm. (773)247-0977. loscomales.com ( Julianna St. Onge)

Saturday, October 4, 2014 / 1-5pm Nichols Park 55th & Kenwood

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south side weekly

photos by lucia ahrensdorf

best discouNt destiNAtioN

Village Discount Outlet Store #9

best eye cANdy

Dulcelandia del Sol

You don’t need to find a golden ticket to experience the candy-colored psychedelic vision of Dulcelandia on the corner of 26th Street and Spaulding. Crazy-eyed red and orange piñatas stare at you from the glass windows, inviting you in. The shop offers every possible party accessory, and as the window display suggests, the piñata selection is very impressive. Papier-mâché blue unicorns, magenta dragons, green racecars, and Transformers hang from the ceiling and line the walls of the front of the store. However, shop’s main attraction is its incredible array of vibrant and delicious candy. Cases of gummies, lollipops, chocolates, hard candy, and gum span from floor to ceiling. Mixed with the expected bubble gum, chewy fruit snacks, and sweet, flavored lollipops, are the most unusual flavors and textures you’ve ever seen. Cut into thin strips to look like pasta, pineappleflavored sticks with chili are doused with a tamarind sauce to make a treat called Salsaghetti. Little clear packets of a paste-like substance offer pineapple pulp with spice. Chili turns out to be a wildly popular flavor for the candy. Watermelon lollipops covered in chili, gummies with chili, tamarind chili—as the sun on the store’s sign suggests, this saccharine establishment also brings the heat. Dulcelandia del Sol, 3300 W. 26th St. Monday-Friday, 10am-8pm; Saturday, 9am-8pm; Sunday, 10am7pm. (773)522-3816. dulcelandia. com (Lucia Ahrensdorf ) 36

south side weekly

For bargain-lovers who scoff at the high prices of North Side resale shops, a pilgrimage to Village Discount Outlet Store #9 is exhilarating. Shoppers enter through a turnstile into the gymnasium-sized sales floor packed with racks of clothes, organized vaguely by color. The three-floor complex sells women’s, men’s, and children’s clothes, along with accessories and miscellaneous home goods. The chaos is initially disorienting, but a bilingual female voice over the intercom welcomes customers to “The Village” and informs shoppers that they have made it to the largest thrift store in Chicagoland. There are no fitting rooms, and color-coded pricetags are stapled to the merchandise. Most items are under $5, but each day, at least two colors are 50% off. (Approximately once a month, Village Discount has weekend sales and offers 50% off of all its merchandise.) There is a consistently plentiful supply of sweaters, flannel shirts, mom jeans, dresses from decades past, mugs, and other quirky objects, and it is not uncommon to find great deals on what the Village considers “Better Brand” merchandise from labels including J.Crew, Ann Taylor, and Coach. Take a granola bar and a bottle of water, wear clothes that will allow you to easily try on potential purchases, and spend a few hours treasure-hunting. You definitely won’t leave emptyhanded. Village Discount Outlet Store #9, 4020 W. 26th St. Monday-Saturday, 9am-9pm; Sunday, 10am-6pm. (886)545-3836. vdoil.com (Kirsten Gindler)

october 1, 2014

best biliNGuAl reFuGe

Librería Girón by lucia ahrensdorf

n 26th Street—where the eye is attacked with displays of quinceañera dresses so incredibly pink that they melt your eyeballs—it is easy to miss the understated black awning announcing the presence of Librería Girón. Were it not for an intriguing (and misleading) subtitle that caught my eye—“Discoteca International”—I would have passed right by the Librería’s unassuming storefront. Walking into the primarily Spanish-language bookstore, there are no books and no dance floor in sight (as “Discoteca International” might suggest). Birthday cards, festive guitars, and miniatures of the Virgin Mary take up the whole front half of the store. But tucked away against the back walls are crowded shelves housing the books that one expects. The woman behind the counter, Patricia Girón, the daughter of the store’s founder, strikes up a conversation and tells me about her amusement surrounding one of her

biggest sellers: the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. “It’s been like crazy. I have nothing. Only the English ones in the store right now. Those books—oh my goodness.” She elaborates: “The stories of the ladies [picking up Fifty Shades] are like, ‘Oh, I’m reading the book and my husband’s like, what are you reading? I’m like…nothing.’ And all of a sudden, the wife gives the husband the book and then the husband comes and says, ‘Give me the other two books!’ ” Girón continues, “Three people have told me the same thing, that they give it to the husband and the husband loves the book too. I’ve read them. They’re…okay. I don’t know how they’re going to make that movie. It’s a funny seller because people try to cover them up.” As we continue our conversation, she proudly recounts the history of the store. The familyowned business, launched in 1957 by Girón’s Guatemalan parents, was originally based in Pilsen. Girón’s

little VillAGe

“Here I get so many stories I could be a psychiatrist. You could even write a book about the stories that I’ve heard.”

mother, a book-loving schoolteacher, convinced Girón’s father, an electrician, that they should open a bookstore. “We had difficult times, but there were good times,” says Girón with an air of nostalgia. “We had, at one point, nine stores. But little by little, as you know, even Borders went down, so, for us it was very hard.” With seven children, including Patricia, the Girón family placed the weight of their entire livelihood on the success of the bookstore. Now with only three stores, Girón says the family must sacrifice some of the integrity of the bookstore to stay afloat. “It’s more of a love of the art, love to help people, be a part of the community, but it’s not paying the rent. So now we have a lot of religious figures, a lot of guitars, it’s just not the same. As they say, it’s easy to write a book, it’s easy to make a book, but it’s not easy to sell a book.” Though it may appear that Librería Girón’s sale of non-literary

that I’ve heard. I tell people books are their best friends. You can read with them, they’ll give you consejo [advice], they won’t say anything to you, they won’t slap you.” Girón laughs. However, self-help manuals are not the only ones doling out advice; novels, too, are sought for guidance. El alquimista (The Alchemist), a fantasy novel about finding one’s destiny, is one of the most-purchased books in the store. “I always have to have El alquimista because it’s for people that don’t know what they want in life,” Girón explains. “It’s about a young man that doesn’t want to get married and just have kids and that’s it. In the end, he goes all over the place looking for

something that was really right next door to him.” In a perhaps more powerful way, novels give the most sage counsel by showing and not instructing. Girón gracefully concludes, “I guess what we try to sell is faith. A lot of people have faith. And we’re trying to help them to hang on to the faith. God’s here, we’re here, and we’re going to work it out. We’re going to be fifty-eight years old at the end of the month. If the community helps us, we’ll keep on going.” Librería Girón, 3547 W. 26th St. Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. (773)521-5651. gironbooks.com

merchandise to support themselves is a signal of the death of literature and ultimately the end of the world, that is not the case. In a way, Librería Girón has achieved the dream of every young bookstore. It attracts not only those seeking the practical—dictionaries or school supplies—but also (and in larger quantities) those looking for counsel and escape. Self-help manuals and new age literature take up a significant portion of the shelves. Titles (translated from the Spanish) include: 7 Steps to Turn Your Dreams into a Reality, 60 Ways to Raise Your SelfEsteem, How to Make Your Husband Happy, The Language of Goodbye, Amulets and Talismans, How to Read the Aura, and Gypsy Magic. “People buy self-help books because a lot of people can’t get jobs. These companies are helping them, telling them that they can do it. Here I get so many stories I could be a psychiatrist. You could even write a book about the stories october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Chatham

luke white

anisha Byron steps out of Target and into the early evening on 86th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue, laden with bags of back-to-school supplies and worry etched into her face. “All I’m saying is that if he doesn’t do his homework on time this year, there’s gonna be consequences,” she laughs. Cottage Grove is busy at this time of day—with places like the strip mall here, Walgreens down the road, and a multitude of local businesses, it’s been one of Chatham’s commercial lifelines since the early 1940s. Even along relatively quiet stretches, Byron passes by people who greet her cheerfully on the sidewalk—the smiling men outside the neighborhood mosque, mechanics taking a break outside the auto shop, and Houston Myers, her neighbor and a resident of Chatham for three years. The neighborhood is home to many members of the middle class. Still, property values are low, and over the past decade Chatham has consistently placed around tenth in the city’s violent crime rankings, according to the Tribune’s latest crime statistics. In just the thirty days between August and September 19, twenty-nine robberies and fifteen charges of battery were reported to the police from the Chatham area. Conversation today in Cottage Grove establishments like King’s Café revolves around the president’s address regarding the violence in Ferguson. People milling around TVs talk about how those kids are like brothers and sisters, that they know too many Chatham teens whose lives have been put in danger in the same way. But these statistics and worries aren’t what you see in the relaxed poses of the young men and women outside taverns on Cottage Grove, or from 38

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

the bickering residents in front of businesses. Folks seem to exude a sense of camaraderie and neighborliness, even though Byron points out that we’re walking across gang lines as we head south. Byron works as a nursing assistant during the day and goes to computer science classes in the evening. She is one of many single mothers in a neighborhood that has over twice the number of single-mother households than the city average. But Houston Myers and other neighbors of hers help to ensure that Lanisha Byron’s son is always being taken care of. “They make me feel like family. I feel safe knowing that my neighbors will always look out for me and my son,” she says. “It’s one of the things that keeps me going.” You see the same pattern in other businesses on Cottage Grove— Ralph Driver, owner of King’s Café on 81st Street, employs former felons and addicts in his kitchen. “People always deserve a second chance, and this country doesn’t give it to them,” he says. “So it’s gotta be my responsibility.” You see the same sentiment at the Kaaba Masjid and Moorish Temple down the road, with brothers speaking proudly of how they’ve kept peace and allowed refuge along the block. Mike (who asked that his last name not be published), the owner of the Family Food Mart on the corner, always makes sure to give out food and transit money whenever he can to those who walk into his shop and ask. Houston Myers isn’t surprised by any of this at all. “Chatham’s the jewel of the South Side,” he says. “Nothing will change that, because we love each other in this neighborhood like nobody else does. We keep each other up.” (Himabindu Poroori)

Discover events, exhibitions, and performances from world-class, emerging, local, and student artists at the Logan Center, a multidisciplinary home for the arts at the University of Chicago.

OCTOBER EVENTS

EXHIBITIONS

Logan Center Cabaret Series

Szalon Through Nov 23

Fri, Oct 10 & 24 / 8–10 pm

Logan Center Family Saturday

Through Oct 12

Sat, Oct 11 / 2–4:30 pm

Pictured: Willie Pickens for Logan Center’s Third Tuesday Jazz Series

The Pulse of Africa

Logan Center Third Tuesday Jazz Series

Szalon artists reception Fri, Oct 10 / 6–8 pm

Tue, Oct 21 / 7:30–10 pm

Diasporal Rythms Collectors Home Tour

Full calendar online.

Sat, Oct 11 / 9 am

LOGAN CENTER 915 E. 60TH ST. AT DREXEL AVE. 773.702.ARTS

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

best secret Access to FuNk ANd blues

FireSound Records

FireSound Records is the only establishment in what seems like an otherwise empty building on 90th Street. Though it’s boarded up, a sign proclaims that it’s open from noon to six. A quick call to the number on the sign, however, reveals a very different story. FireSound owner Gregory Pitts is definitely in business for patrons who want to buy and sell records from the extensive collection still housed in the closed store, and still serves loyal customers from the days when his store was at the famed Maxwell Street Market. He bought the building on 90th in 2011 with a desire to fulfill a dream of his: to open up a funk and blues museum catering to collectors and amateur DJs keeping the genre alive in Chicago. Unfortunately, the building itself came with multiple building code violations for which Pitts has been tirelessly going to court in recent years, living in the same building and subsisting off a salary from another job. But FireSound’s hiatus is soon to end, with Pitts predicting a successful opening of both store and museum to the public by early next year. Until then, interested buyers and sellers can call him directly and set up a time to gain access to his hidden-for-now treasures. FireSound Records, 9017 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Appointments upon request between 1pm and 3pm. (773)340-7037 (Himabindu Poroori)

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

chAthAM

best MeAl For stoMAch ANd soul

King's Soul Food Café

I’m not a churchgoing woman, but if the Lord can serve up a lunch like King Soul Food Café does, then I am down with the Lord. The café, set back from the curb on the corner of 81st and Cottage Grove, is easy to miss, but miss it you must not. From the moment you enter, its gregarious owner, Ralph Driver, invites you into the King Café family. Ralph Jr. works in the kitchen, and a younger son, a high school senior, plans to study accounting in college, “to help with the business.” I believe too—though it has not been confirmed—that the restaurant runs on the energy produced by Driver’s innumerable grandkids, assembled and antsy in their Sunday best. On Sunday mornings, Driver preaches formally. The space transforms, with chairs rearranged to face a high folding table that serves as a podium for a Sunday morning sermon. Driver calls it the Transforming Minds Ministry. On every other day breakfast is served all day starting at 8am, but when hopeful customers walk in hours before Sunday’s noon opening, Driver’s son-in-law greets them with an invitation. “We’re closed, but you can get some spiritual food.” Some stick around, some pre-order lunch. After a brief reading from the Bible, Driver—who has been preaching for about a year—delivers a rollercoaster of a sermon, his voice rising and falling and filling the sparse restaurant. He uses the names and stories of the assembled congregation (composed mostly of Driver’s extensive family, former and current employees, and customers) for emphasis, keeping the service as personal as it is the on the six other days of the week. And though I was enthralled by the sermon that Driver delivered that morning, as the smells from the kitchen wafted in, my mind did begin to wander, to debate, to panic: What should I order? When I asked Driver’s children and grandchildren, at least ten of whom were present for Sunday morning prayer, for the best thing on the menu, every item on the menu was recited eagerly back at me. Though these reviewers are perhaps a little biased, their reviews ring true. King Café offers a variety of meal combos, ranging from $9.99 to $13.99, as well as breakfast. To sweeten the deal, an employee told me, you can try everything before you order it. For $10.99 lucky customers can get one entrée, corn bread, and three classic sides. Pineapple chunks give the sweet potatoes a special sweetness, the macaroni and cheese is rich enough to require sharing (though you won’t want to), and the short ribs fall off the bone, melting in your mouth like the visible and copious amounts of butter in the silky mashed potatoes. Driver’s personal recommendation is his pancakes, made perfectly fluffy thanks to a secret ingredient that he only revealed to another Weekly writer under a strict oath of secrecy. The storefront is also home to Bess Cakes and Cookies, so called (according to an employee) because of the name’s similarity to the word “best.” It’s an appropriate name. The lemon pound cake is perfectly dense, filled with the requisite butter, and yet serves as a light finale to a morning that has fed both body and soul. Can I get an Amen? King's Soul Food Café, 8103 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Monday-Saturday, 8am-10pm; Sunday, 12pm9pm. (773)994-9909. Transforming Minds Ministry, Sunday, 9:30am (Bess Cohen)

best keePers oF PAVeMeNt PeAce

Masjid Kaaba and The Moorish Science Temple of America

On most weekday evenings, you can find a small group of men seated on the pavement outside the side-by-side mosque and temple on 81st, warmly greeting each person who passes them by. You can hear them planning and offering to help organize each other’s services, and trading stories that go way back into a shared history. According to Uriel, who currently holds the position of Amir at the masjid, many of the brothers in the mosque were once part of a well-known street organization. Today, they preach peace and protect the block through their position at its center. “It’s quieter at night since we came here a few years ago,” says Uriel, who calls out greetings and asks after each person who passes him by on the sidewalk. The masjid itself is associated with Imam Jamil Al Amin, a famous former Black Panther who, among other accomplishments, helped form the Midwest Coalition for Peace and spread Islam as an alternative lifestyle in Chicagoland. The mosque and Moorish temple often collaborate on fundraisers and life skill classes for members of the community, and serve as refuge to the community’s young men, who know that they can greet Uriel and other members of both organizations from across the street, and maybe even cross the street to find out more. “That’s my joy,” beams Uriel, nodding at a shy young man who just walked up to ask for a Koran, “to sit here and just see who comes by.” Masjid Kaaba and The Moorish Science Temple of America, 8008-10 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Open daily for prayer times (Himabindu Poroori) best PlAce to Get the crAZiest cAkes

A Piece of Cake Bakery

This tiny joint has a vast selection of sugary goods that belies its size and has won it many fans throughout the neighborhood. Established in 1981 by sisters Gail Parker and Annette Ricks, A Piece of Cake Bakery offers everything from traditional cookies to sweet potato pies to daintily decorated cake pops and chocolate-covered strawberries. They offer seven different varieties of cake by the slice, slathered with buttercream frosting that melts in your mouth. But this bakery’s true talent lies in the extravagant decorations they have been known to do for their made-to-order cakes. Whether you need a handbag, a princess, or even a sketch or painting that you want made into reality as dessert, they will deliver. Feeling left out, but don’t want a whole cake? You can also get it by the slice—on Tuesdays, slices are only $1.50, almost half-price. A Piece of Cake Bakery, 412 E. 87th St. Tuesday-Friday, 10am-6pm; Saturday, 10am-5pm. (773)224-7200. apieceofcakeinchicago.com (Himabindu Poroori)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Pilsen

stephanie koch

afe Jumping Bean, on the 18th Street main drag in Pilsen, is a microcosm of the eclectic neighborhood. On any day of the week, you can find large Mexican families, UIC students, and disheveled artists caffeinating and chatting over hearty paninis and freshly baked pastries. Although the Jumping Bean has served as a nucleus of the neighborhood for two decades—“in the nineties, it was the only place of its kind,” one artist said—recent history has seen the opening of many new coffee shops and cafés, not to mention monthly art events like 2nd Fridays Gallery Nights, hip eateries like Dusek’s and Nightwood, a burgeoning Sunday farmer’s market, and the newly renovated Thalia Hall. This summer, a prominent real estate firm selected Pilsen as one of twenty-three neighborhoods nationwide to keep an eye on, citing “a lot of commercial revitalization.” But this is no new story: Pilsen residents have decried gentrification since the early 2000s, and (with varying degrees of success) have pushed to preserve Pilsen’s legacy as a stronghold of the Mexican working class. Since the first factory workers settled in the area in the 1840s, Pilsen— bound by the trappings of an industrial past, canals and railroad tracks— has been a gateway neighborhood for immigrants: German, Irish, Bohemian, and since the fifties, Mexican. Throughout its waves of immigrants, Pilsen has maintained a tradition of strong community organizing and an appetite for art. The neighborhood is full of artist cooperatives, colorful murals, and one of the country’s largest museums of Mexican art. In 2014, gentrification is no longer a question but a reality. On Pilsen’s main streets, Mexican bakeries, taquerias, and groceries sit adjacent to trendy galleries, sleek bars, and curated vintage clothing shops. But the traditions of art and community organization that have defined Pilsen for generations have remained resilient. Walking along the streets of Pilsen at night, the colossal Willis Tower radiates from the heart of the Loop. The tidy streetscape, with its weathered cantinas and dimly lit storefronts, reminds you that Pilsen, too, remains in its own way a heart of Chicago. (Lauren Gurley)

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

best ViNtAGe selectioN

Knee Deep Vintage

Like panning for gold, vintage shopping requires a rare combination of persistence and a well-trained eye. At Knee Deep Vintage, you could argue that neither of these qualities is necessary. Although the inventory stretches seven decades (twenties through nineties), the offerings are so meticulously selected by the friendly, trendy staff that striking gold isn’t an impossible feat for most shoppers. Located across the street from Cafe Jumping Bean, Knee Deep has a rare collection of corseted dresses from the twenties, alongside seventies polyester shifts, nineties flannels, band shirts, and assorted vintage swimwear. Racks are organized by item and color. Aside from clothing, the tightly packed store has an extensive selection of shoes, handbags, jewelry, housewares, and furniture with fair prices and occasional steals on the sale rack outside. Save the date for the midnight sale (6pm-midnight) on the second Friday of every month for twenty-five to fifty percent off all merchandise, the only caveat being that you may leave with a hole in your pocket. Knee Deep Vintage, 1425 West 18th Street. Monday-Thursday, 12pm-7pm; Friday-Saturday, 12pm-8pm; Sunday 12pm-6pm. (312)850-2510. kneedeepvintage.com (Lauren Gurley)

PilseN

best bottoMless MArGAritA

best locAVore MeAl

La Vaca Margarita Bar

Nightwood

La Vaca Margarita Bar is always a good choice for a healthy dose of margaritas and tacos, with its outdoor patio seating, large discoteca dance floor, and round-the-clock catchy Mexican pop music. Pitchers of frozen or onthe-rocks margaritas in a variety of fruity flavors flow freely around tables, and the crispy fish tacos garnished with lime, cilantro, and liberal servings of ceviche are all affordable and satisfying. The former site of the restaurant Cuervanaca, La Vaca is now run by the former owners’ granddaughter, Carmen Gutierrez. Definitely not fast food, it’s sort of place where families and large groups of friends sit for hours, enjoying each other’s company while keeping a tab. The 18th Street entrance, with a billboard featuring a bewildered-looking bovine and neon lights, is impossible to miss. La Vaca Margarita Bar, 1160 W. 18th St. Sunday-Wednesday, 9am-10pm; Thursday, 9am-11pm; Friday-Saturday, 9am-12am. (312)829-1147 (Lauren Gurley)

best NoNProFit PhilosoPhy

Come for dinner, come for brunch. Tucked into an unassuming corner of Halsted Street just feet from the Dan Ryan, Nightwood—with its simple, modern décor and locally-sourced offerings—is nothing if not a surprise. With handwritten menus featuring a smattering of Midwestern meats, fruit, vegetables, and grains and an open kitchen—a stage for young, pony-tailed chefs to flaunt their skills—the five-year-old restaurant epitomizes the farm-to-table style of dining that has taken Chicago by storm. A recent sampling of their ever-changing dinner menu included city farm head lettuce with crunchy vegetables and crumbled bacon, wood-grilled Illinois duck with sishito peppers and marinated romanesco, and an apple pie with locally-grown Seedling Fruit, marcona almonds and buttermilk cream. Queues are known to wrap around the block for the famous Sunday brunch, featuring donuts in unusually appealing flavors like dark chocolate custard and bacon butterscotch. Nightwood, 2119 S. Halsted St. MondayThursday, 5:30pm-10:30pm; Friday-Saturday, 5:30pm-11pm; Sunday, 9am2:30pm. (312)526-3385. nightwoodrestaurant.com (Lauren Gurley)

The Resurrection Project

It is difficult to identify precisely what has made The Resurrection Project (TRP) such a successful organization. After nearly twenty-five years in Pilsen, they’ve developed almost 600 units of affordable housing, along with education programs ranging from leadership development to entrepreneurship to financial wellness. TRP is an organizing powerhouse, playing large roles in various Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) campaigns. TRP also created La Casa, a dormitory and resource center in Pilsen open to college students from any institution. Working with TRP this summer, I had the opportunity to witness their projects firsthand, and to see why community development nonprofits like TRP are thriving. TRP takes a particularly broad approach to community growth. A strong community, they believe, does not come from affordable housing, educated and engaged citizens, or vibrant business alone, but rather from all these aspects working in tandem. By focusing on many elements, TRP acknowledges the complexities in any neighborhood. Equally integral to the organization’s success is TRP’s respect for the community members in the areas it serves. TRP treats a community resident as a “stakeholder” in the neighborhood, knowledgeable and capable of changing it. An example of this philosophy in action is La Casa; TRP leadership began to develop the idea for the project after talking to commuting college students, who expressed a need for a quiet place to live and study. Another striking example of this philosophy is TRP’s “ELLAS,” a breast cancer support group. ELLAS centralizes medical resources and connects those diagnosed to one another, both of which are services in themselves. However, TRP does not stop there: they see each woman as a powerful advocate for health within the community. Every ELLAS member completes leadership development training, and as a group ELLAS educates thousands of women each year about health issues. The Resurrection Project, 1818 S. Paulina St. (312)666-1323. resurrectionproject.org (Isabelle Barany)

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october 1, 2014

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south side weekly

best Arts reAch

The National Museum of Mexican Art by christian sancheZ

When I was twelve years old, my oldest brother brought me to visit the National Museum of Mexican Art. I took in everything around me, excited to know that someone who shared my culture and experiences had created the pieces that I was seeing. When I think back to this first visit I remember knowing with a fierce confidence that my history and culture were important. On September 19, the NMMA held an opening for “Rito y Recuerdo,” its annual Day of the Dead exhibit. The event drew so many people that the museum staff was forced to turn away visitors, and even as they did more people continued to make their way to one of Pilsen’s most vital cultural centers. The NMMA boasts a great history coupled with an impressive permanent collection of 7,500 pieces. Founded in 1987 by Carlos Tortolero and a team of educators, the museum has since grown, not just in the scope of its collection and programming, but also in its impact on the community. Vanessa Sanchez directs Yollocalli Arts Reach, a youth education initiative of the museum. I recently had the chance to speak to her about education, Yollocalli’s beginnings, and the museum’s 60,000 students. 44

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

Could you describe the work you do for the education department, and how that fits into the bigger system of work the NMMA does? Yollocalli is an innovative learning environment that encourages youth autonomy through a progressive dialogue in urban and youth culture. We provide free art and new media programs all year round such as street art, mural internships, experimental video, music, storytelling, and journalism. We also have a youth council, a team that works to develop projects that they see fit with the mission of Yollocalli and the community.

The program began in 1997, when the museum purchased an FM radio station and a new building. Two youth programs were developed: Yollocalli and Radio Arte. The museum wanted to create an educational space for the Pilsen community that would provide awardwinning, creative programs. What was unique about the space was that it was solely for teens and young adults. It allowed for youth to feel safe and open to tell their own stories and create artwork that felt true to them and their peers. Although Yollocalli is no longer in its original home, the mission and

PilseN

vision stay the same, and our new home has provided us an opportunity to work with youth we have not worked with before. We have created a space in La Villita that was developed for teens and young adults to again provide an environment youth can feel welcome to and creative in.

we serve.

Do you think that Yollocalli and the education programs sponsored by the NMMA make an impact on Pilsen?

How do you think the museum fits into the community? How do you think the neighborhood views the NMMA?

The museum is located in Pilsen, and the education department has a strong history in Pilsen. From workshops, to tours, to being a part of a community event, the education department works very hard to provide arts programming to Pilsen. This past year the education department has partnered with six Pilsen schools and provided educational programming with teacher professional development, artist residencies, and afterschool classes.

The community values the museum just as much as the museum values the community. The museum would not be in Pilsen if not for the support of the community in the 1980s. Today we may still hear from neighbors and other Chicago residents who have never been to the museum. But from people who do visit the museum or have participated in a program of the museum, you will only hear positive reviews about the staff and services it provides.

With all programs, we worked with eighteen classrooms with approximately 540 students; just within Pilsen schools. Because the museum is nationally recognized, its reach extends beyond Pilsen. With Yollocalli in Little Village, community schools in the south and west sides of Chicago, and even through an artist exchange in New Mexico, the education department continues to expand its reach every year. Annually the museum serves over 60,000 students. On a personal note, I am an alumni of the Yollocalli program. I started as a student in a mural program while in my first year of college and then became an intern, continuing to director of the program in 2011. Yollocalli helped me grow as an artist and a community member and I see that every day with the youth

We have many young people who go through the museum’s educational programs and grow up into the next community leaders and mentors. The museum is really unique in the services that it provides for the community.

For people who are new to the NMMA: what is your favorite part of the museum? It is free! You can’t say that about many museums, and it only shows how much the museum values providing art and cultural resources to all community members. Not only is the artwork beautiful and the content rich, but the building you are entering was made for the community, by the community, and will continue to serve the community in any way it can.

michael tropea

Left: Veronica Soto and Marissa Rangel, D.O.D. / Día de los Muertos, 2004, serigraph, 22/118, 26” x 20” (paper size), National Museum of Mexican Art Permanent Collection, 2008.351, Gift of Self Help Graphics Above: Michael Roman, Taco Stand / Taqueria, N.D., oil and silkscreen collage on canvas, 36” x 29 1/2”, National Museum of Mexican Art Permanent Collection, 2007.39, Gift of Dick and Holly Altman.

The National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. Free. (312)7381503. nationalmuseumofmexicanart. org

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

The story of the Medici... The Medici Gallery and Coffee House has been a fixture of Hyde Park since 1962, when Hans Morsbach bought the spot for $1,750. In the beginning, we just sold art and coffee from a tiny shop in the back of the Green Door Bookstore. Eventually, we added pizza and hamburgers, and then a full menu, and we’ve since grown to be Hyde Park’s largest restaurant. Over the years, we’ve been a lot of things to a lot of people. We’ve been a hippie haven, a student hang-out and a latenight urban oasis for generations of south siders. During the sixties, the Medici was a hotbed of anti-war activity (the Conspiracy Seven hung out here) which made our restaurant unpopular among more conservative neighbors. We’ve changed a lot over the years, but a devoted staff and commitment to good food and service remains the same. The majority of what we serve is made from scratch by people who care. We are proud to be locally owned, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible. The Medici restaurant today is a place for thought and discussion. We’ve served a future president, and we’ve employed actors, directors, musician, cartoonists, and all sorts of other artists. It’s a place where we showcase the artwork of our employees and the artwork of Matisse. It’s a place where everything you see on our walls has a story.

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

Back of the Yards

et the name be a clue—more than anything, this community, alternately known as New City, is and has always been defined by its proximity to what is perhaps Chicago’s most storied industry: the stockyards. The area was put on the map in 1865, when the Union Stockyard was established in what was then land outside city limits. The community area was segregated along lines of class and ethnicity from the start. With no means of transportation, the poorest Irish and German laborers settled close to the southern and western borders of the stockyards, while immigrants who held cleaner clerical jobs within the industry formed their own residential district to the east. Though the predominance of these ethnic groups in Back of the Yards faded, segregation along class lines did not. Lower-class Eastern European immigrants entered the neighborhood beginning in the 1880s, in a ploy by stockyard managers to break strikes. This spurred an exodus of earlier generations of immigrants from Back of the Yards, a pattern that only increased with the influx of African-American and Mexican populations beginning in the first decades of the twentieth century. The neighborhood has seen reform efforts come in waves. In 1894, Mary McDowell, a participant in the settlement house movement and an affiliate of the UofC, founded a settlement house there. Under her leadership, the settlement house sought to improve living conditions through the founding of community organizations, the addition of a public park, and the improvement of city services, especially waste disposal, in the area. In the 1930s, the settlement house re-established itself as the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, taking on issues of labor and housing rehabilitation under the leadership of organizers Saul Alinsky and Joseph Meegan. The BYNC still exists, one of the longest-standing organizations of its kind. Today, a walk down Ashland, the neighborhood’s main artery, reveals the overwhelming dominance of its Mexican population. Spanish is the norm for speech and signage, and grocery stores do good business offering Mexican-imported products. There are, as well, new institutions with the potential to change the look and feel of Back of the Yards. The Plant, a sustainable-food business incubator that occupies a former meatpacking facility, is increasing its presence in the neighborhood with volunteer and educational opportunities. Their public programs, such as an annual summer food truck rally, engage with other South Side businesses in nearby Bridgeport and Pilsen to provide pasties, locally brewed beer, and other products to visitors. The new organization’s energy is exciting—still, it remains to be seen just what shape this and other new developments will take. (Rachel Schastok)

dmitry samarov

best PlANt

The Plant

So you think you want to be a farmer. Or maybe check out a new part of town. Perhaps you just need a change of pace. Whatever your incentive, The Plant can be a great place to spend some time—if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty. Situated in a former meatpacking facility, The Plant is in the process of being converted into a food-business incubator that will have net-zero energy expenditures. The huge brick building—still emblazoned with the old “Peer Foods” logo, alongside a new, delightfully bucolic mural—houses indoor demonstration farms, educational facilities, and sustainable food businesses. The Plant features an anaerobic digester and an aquaponics farm—a closed-loop growing system powered by a symbiotic relationship between plants and fish. The facility is ultimately expected to create 125 jobs in Back of the Yards, but for now, they’re looking for volunteers. The Plant is open Tuesdays and Saturdays to even the least experienced of aspiring farmers. The work isn’t easy; you may find yourself covered in sweat and soot from head to toe, shoveling debris and hauling cinderblocks and scrap metal from a cave-like room still reminiscent of its gory past. If you’re lucky, though, you can spend the morning plucking tender carrots from the ground and filling buckets with green and purple beans under a gentle sun and a refreshing breeze. Whatever the case, you’ll leave The Plant—either at 1pm, if you work a half-day, or at 5pm, if you opt for a full one (this option gets you a free lunch made from the garden’s produce!) feeling like your time has been well spent. The Plant, 1400 W. 46th St. Public tours on Saturdays, 2pm. (773)847-5523. plantchicago.com (Hannah O’Grady)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

best Frutos del MAr

El Patio

If you walk along Ashland, Back of the Yards’s main commercial strip, El Patio’s humble sign—“El Patio Inc., Mexican Restaurant”—might not call your attention. Inside, it’s a smallish, sparsely decorated restaurant with a tiny retro-style bar at the back, complete with orange vinyl chairs. The bilingual menu includes a full range of staples of Mexican cuisine—enchiladas, tortas, breakfast foods, and the like—but nearly half the menu is devoted to a diverse offering of seafood dishes. The camarón rebosado, actually a Spanish-inspired tempura-like dish popular in Filipino cuisine, is juicy and delicately fried, served with a tartar sauce and plenty of lime. The rice that comes with most dishes is on the bland side, but can be put to good use soaking up the delightfully mild, cinnamon-y mole sauce. El Patio, 4527 S. Ashland Ave. Monday-Sunday, 8:30am-8pm. (773)847-2595 (Rachel Schastok) best PeNNy PAstry

Central Bakery

Just to the right of El Patio is Central Bakery. Its unwritten rules are as follows: first, grab a tray and a pair of tongs at the door. Then wander through rows of sliding-door cases containing a huge assortment of traditional Mexican cookies, cakes, and pastries, most ranging between forty and fifty cents apiece. You’ll find that everything from the cuernos (“horns,” the croissant’s doughier cousin) to the conchas (“conch shells,” round rolls with a sugar topping that resembles a seashell) is fresh and tasty, but the standout item is the enormous glazed doughnut—so soft and doughy that it might even give Dat Donut a run for its money. When you’re ready, turn in your tray at the counter, where they’ll bag your lot for you, leaving you free to wonder whether you really needed four of everything. Central Bakery, 4523 S. Ashland Ave. (773)523-0293 (Rachel Schastok) 48

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

dmitry samarov

best GAtewAy to VeGetAriANisM

Union Stockyards Gate

Try as you might, it’s nearly impossible to imagine the sheer scale and extent of Chicago’s Union Stockyards, which occupied a large of swath of the community that came to be known as the Back of the Yards. But the arched gate, designed in the 1870s by all-star architectural firm Burnham & Root, might help. The gate, which now looms over train yards and industrial buildings, was once the entrance to the sprawling acres of pens, slaughterhouses, and other facilities for meatpacking, one of the industries that put Chicago on the map—with equal parts fame and infamy—in the nineteenth century. The yards were known for their stench and their pollution of the South Branch of the Chicago River, giving it the unsavory nickname “Bubbly Creek,” as social reformer Upton Sinclair reported in his 1906 novel, The Jungle. The stockyards are also associated with the rising racial tensions that led to the Chicago Race Riots of 1919. When the Great Migration brought African-American laborers to the area, many white workers saw them as unwelcome competition, though the newcomers were relegated to the goriest and lowest-paid positions in the yards. Though the stockyards closed down for good in the 1970s, no visit to Back of the Yards is complete without a visit to the gate, the neighborhood’s namesake and a humble monument to a place that has done so much to shape Chicago’s industry and history. Union Stockyards Gate, 850 W. Exchange Ave. (Rachel Schastok)

best NoN-reQuired reAdiNG The stockyards have taken on near-mythical proportions for generations of poets, journalists, and historians, appearing in Chicago literature throughout their existence and even after their doors closed. Here are a few selections that show the stockyards and the Back of the Yards community’s strong presence in the city’s literary production. Whether to romanticize, investigate, or condemn, Chicago writers have often drawn on the city’s expansive killing floors. (Rachel Schastok)

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

A classic of muckraking journalism, Sinclair’s fictionalized account of a Lithuanian stockyard laborer’s experience was the product of several weeks of undercover investigation. Exposing the abusive treatment of laborers and unthinkably unsanitary production methods, the novel brought the realities of conditions in the stockyards to light, making them impossible for consumers and lawmakers to ignore. In fact, while President Theodore Roosevelt was initially skeptical of Sinclair’s claims due to his socialist leanings, further investigation confirmed his portrayal and led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration.

Edna Ferber, “Blue Blood”

Ferber was a thoroughly Midwestern writer—though a native of Michigan, much of her adult career in journalism and literature took place in Chicago, and the city figures strongly in her early short stories and novels. A contemporary of other prominent Chicago author-journalists such as Ben Hecht and Carl Sandburg, her 1927 story “Blue Blood” deals most directly with the stockyards and the surrounding neighborhood.

Carl Sandburg, “Chicago”

Perhaps one of the best-known odes to the “City of the Big Shoulders,” Sandburg’s poem opens by bestowing upon Chicago the title of “Hog Butcher for the World.” In characterizing the city in the early twentieth century, he assembles a set of impressions that together form a cohesive yet dynamic image: Chicago was for him a proud city, but also a city rough around the edges, nothing without its seamy underbelly.

Rick Halpern, Down on the Killing Floor: Black and White Workers in Chicago’s Packinghouses

This work of labor history takes a close look at the interactions among the immigrant and migrant groups that coexisted in the area around the stockyards and the ways they alternately competed and colluded as employees. Halpern investigates the role meatpacking executives played in reinforcing racial and ethnic tensions, as well as the alternating triumphs and failures of organizers to unite workers across these lines during the era of industrial unionism. He pays special attention to the role of these dynamics in Chicago’s infamous 1919 race riots.

Rob Hill, Coming of Age in the Back of the Yards

Photographer Robb Hill’s work seeks to create a visual record of how people relate to the space they grow up in. This photojournalistic project focuses on a group of Latino teenagers in Back of the Yards—shot exclusively in black and white film, these portraits showcase teenage life against a backdrop of workers’ cottages and industrial spaces, leaving open questions about neighborhood change over time and the nature of the stockyards’ legacy.

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

oodlawn and Washington Park sprung up in the late-nineteenth century, accompanied by a rapid influx of (primarily European) immigrant populations and increased industry driven by the 1893 World’s Fair. During the twentieth century, Woodlawn and Washington Park served as a hub of political and cultural activity: important figures from Saul Alinsky to Jesse Owens are associated with the area. More recently, Woodlawn and Washington Park have seen the departure of industry and the decline of infrastructure. This past year, the city began an effort to unload vacant properties in these neighborhoods by selling them for $1. Still, Woodlawn and Washington Park continue to live up to their historic reputation for activism. Offices for STOP—Southside Together Organizing for Power—remain at 61st and St. Lawrence. Community organizations have successfully advocated for change at the site of the formerly dilapidated Grove Parc housing units. The now-shuttered Woodlawn Mental Health Center stands as an epicenter (both symbolic and geographic) of the ongoing movement to prevent the city from closing the rest of its public mental health clinics. STOP’s youth advocacy group, FLY—Fearless Leading by the Youth—has received national attention for its efforts to bring a trauma center to the South Side. The trauma center campaign is a particularly fractious example of Woodlawn and Washington Park’s frequent interactions with the University of Chicago. In a 1964 agreement with Woodlawn residents, the UofC agreed to not expand southward past 61st Street. In 2013, as part of a UofC initiative, the artist-planner-entrepreneur Theaster Gates opened the Washington Park Arts Incubator. This year saw the opening of Gates’s second Washington Park venture, the Currency Exchange Café, designed in Gates’s typical “reuse model” of repurposed production. The café neighbors the Incubator across from the Garfield Green Line. Amidst widespread external buzz for both projects, the Incubator and café have drawn criticism from the Washington Park Advisory Council, which has called for more transparency in the UofC’s plans concerning Washington Park properties and local residents. Yet Washington Park retains a distinct identity and independent history—as does Woodlawn. (Sarah Claypoole)

Woodlawn & Washington Park

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

juliet eldred

woodlAwN

best coFFee shoP AssociAted with theAster GAtes

Currency Exchange Café

Thanks to the Currency Exchange Café—situated just steps away from the Green Line 55 stop—long, miserable winter nights waiting outside for the bus may become a thing of the past. The new café serves as a place for CTA commuters, Washington Park residents, and UofC students alike to stop to refuel or sit down for a full meal. Located in an abandoned currency exchange building, the café features repurposed everything: repurposed wood on the tables, repurposed mugs, repurposed doors from the old Crispus Attucks Elementary building, and repurposed stairs and hand-painted signs from the old currency exchange itself. The resulting aesthetic is eclectic, and with its high ceilings and large blue-and-white ceramic-tiled tables, the Currency Exchange Café is the perfect space to settle down and wait for inspiration to strike. Currency Exchange Café is a Theaster Gates project, connected to his efforts to repurpoe materials and revitalize communities. The café’s basement will soon house a collection of around 150,000 35mm slides of world art and architecture, donated by the Art Institute, available for public use. It is located next to the Washington Park Arts Incubator, in a building owned by the UofC, leased to Theaster Gates. The menu blends soul food along with Mexican and Filipino cuisine, and offers economical prices for creative, delicious dishes. Items like the street corn, which combines shaved corn, lime, spices, and cilantro, make use of few ingredients for a clean and flavorful appetizer. The entrée items—like tacos, mac and cheese, and sandwiches, as well as a diverse dessert menu of popsicles and homemade truffles—round up the comfort food classics. Currency Exchange Cafe, 305 E. Garfield Blvd. Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm; Saturday,10am-5pm. (773)855-9163. cexcafe.com (Kiran Misra) best diAsPorA lit

Black Ink Book Exchange

The Black Ink Book Exchange (BIBE) reflects a pride in curation. First set up in the front room of the Arts Incubator, the collection features hundreds of titles, some class staples—Heart of Darkness and The Wretched of the Earth among them—and others more obscure. Having opened the exchange with the help of an Indiegogo crowdfund project in early 2014, founder Savannah Wood has used her skills as a working visual artist to create a warm, welcoming space. The intention of BIBE is to create an extensive library of books by and about people of the African Diaspora. Through the process of exchange, BIBE’s collection of materials now ranges from slave memoirs to more modern reflections on blackness regionally; its texts pass through centuries of often-tumultuous history. While BIBE was initially housed at the Incubator, the project moved for part of the summer to the Rebuild Foundation. Wood intends to reopen the library in the fall; guests are limited to two exchanges per day, and thoughts about materials intended for exchange are always appreciated. Black Ink Book Exchange. blackinkbe.com (Sarah Claypoole)

wAshiNGtoN PArk

best biscuit

Ms. Biscuit

Ms. Biscuit’s small, unassuming brick exterior hides this Washington Park classic from the uninitiated. In its previous incarnation, the restaurant existed as a shack entitled Mr. Biscuit at 67th and Chicago. Now, forty years later, it sits on Wabash near 54th, owned by the nephew of the original owners. This version is friendly: small tables are packed closely together, befitting the occasional rush of regulars for mid-morning breakfast and early lunch. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the classic order at this soul food powerhouse is the biscuit, fried and still soft, flaky enough to satisfy but still easy to eat. Pick up a dozen biscuits for less than twenty dollars, or sit and enjoy with a variety of classic breakfast dishes: omelets, gravy, grits, and the classic breakfast sandwich with eggs and ham. Particularly suited for early birds, the restaurant opens at 5am daily and stays open until 6pm. The neighborhood vibe and friendly service complement the sense that Ms. Biscuit is on its way to becoming a local institution. Ms. Biscuit, 5431 S. Wabash Ave. Monday-Sunday, 5am-6pm. (773)268-8088 (Sarah Claypoole) best coFFee shoP Not AssociAted with theAster GAtes

Greenline Coffee

Cottage Grove. 64th. King Drive. Garfield. 51st. 47th. 43rd. Indiana. Bronzeville-IIT. Roosevelt. What are all of these places? If you guessed Green Line stops, you’re correct. But if you need to brush up on your CTA geography, there’s no better place to do so than Greenline Coffee, located on 61st and Eberhart, which boasts a bold black and white poster of the aforementioned stops right beside their menu. With off-beat soda flavors like mango lime and delicious fruit smoothies and blended drinks, Greenline aims to create “the ancient future,” blending new ideas with a revitalization of a once-bustling commercial strip. The café is owned by Sunshine Gospel Ministries, a small business incubator located at the same intersection that offers a comprehensive range of job training, youth outreach, and business development initiatives. “A lot of people ask us, ‘Why would you want to open up a business in this neighborhood?’ But it’s a great neighborhood, it’s our neighborhood,” explained Jacqueline Allen, a member of the Greenline team. The specialty at Greenline Coffee is the Belgian waffles, made with dough imported directly from Belgium. These were inspired by manager Paula Hamernick’s time as a flight attendant in Europe, where waffles were a common midday snack. Stickier and crunchier than your average waffle, Allen describes the waffles as “a funnel cake mixed with a beignet. They’re not breakfast waffles, they’re more like desert waffles.” If waffles aren’t your thing—or if you’re looking for a bit more of a meal—Greenline also has a wide range of breakfast and lunch sandwiches, as well as tea and coffee roasted by Bridgeport Coffee. Greenline Coffee, 501 E. 61st St. Monday-Saturday, 6:30am-9pm; Sunday, 9am-5pm. (773)4930656. greenlinecoffee.net (Kiran Misra)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

woodlAwN

wAshiNGtoN PArk

need a quart of milk... How far are you willing to walk to get that milk and come back in a round trip? best VillAGe

Blacks in Green by julianna st. onGe

“Greetings, cousins!” Naomi Davis’s voice booms across the crowd seated on folding chairs and hay bales at the Green Village Pavilion, a space of calm tucked into a corner of the African Festival of the Arts in Washington Park. Out on the festival’s pathways, women double-dutch in the shade. Reggae music floats over from the booth down the lane. Davis is the founder and leader of Blacks in Green (BIG), a West Woodlawn-based organization that focuses on sustainability, economic development, and land stewardship in African-American communities. BIG was sponsoring both the Green Village Pavilion booth and Circle in the Grove, an arts-focused gathering circle made of hay bales thirty yards away. Over the course of the festival’s four days, Davis led an impressive program of discussions, demonstrations, performances, and speakers ranging from mayoral candidate, education specialis, and lawyer Amara Enyia, to Kelsey Taylor, a civil engineer involved with the campaign to bring the Obama Presidential Library to the former Michael Reese Hospital in Bronzeville (a bid which did not make the short list of sites). Over the four days, Davis brought energy, kindness, and undeniable passion to the issues she unpacked. Between panels, I sat down with her to discuss her reasons for starting Blacks in Green, what makes a viable walkable village, and the future of community-vetted land development in and around Woodlawn. In BIG’s parlance, what is a village? What does a village have that a Chicago neighborhood doesn’t? The first thing to recognize when we’re distinguishing things, is that a village is a walkable unit. In our parlance, we’re looking at sustainability, one square mile at a time. For example, where BIG is headquartered, we have a green village building pilot that we launched in 52

south side weekly

Here in Chicago, like many cities that are planned on the Platt system, they would have a commercial corridor every few blocks. A lot of times in the black community, those commercial corridors have become taken over by blight—there are many vacant lots, there are many abandoned buildings. The vibrancy of the merchant class...that’s gone. Where we talk about a village, we talk about a self-sustaining whole, we talk about self-sustaining black communities everywhere. We talk about sustainability one square mile at a time. We talk about whether every household can walk to shop, walk to work, walk to learn, walk to play, and in that context we talk about the local living economy. From what I’ve gathered, a lot of community organizations on the South Side target very specific issues like violence or school closings. How do you see BIG addressing those issues with its more systemic approach?

We believe that only a whole systems solution can transform a whole systems problem. We have identified... the whole system problem common to black communities everywhere. And when we mean everywhere, we mean if you are this color [points to self ], wherever you live, if you’re 2007. We are an almost literal square brown, it turns out you have certain mile—we go from King Drive to common problems. Cottage Grove, from 60th Street to South Chicago. That almost- When I first started researching square mile is the southernmost tip this in 2000, I was in despair about of Bronzeville. It is a Great Migra- the condition of the black commution community. It is Chicago’s first nity. I found out I’m what they call black middle-class neighborhood. a systems thinker—that I look for how everything connects to everyIt is a blighted community. thing else. So the eight Principles Our rule of thumb regarding the of Green Village Building emerged walkable villages: say you’re in the out of my inherent nature of lookmiddle of your workday and you ing at what could combat that clus-

october 1, 2014

ter of whole system problems. The approach to fixing something needs to take into account all of the factors that are sourcing that symptom—violence is a symptom of despair, anger, frustration, hopelessness. It’s strange for me…to think that many of these young men and women do not believe that they are going to live past twenty-five years old. They figure they’re going to go out guns blazing—that’s what they know, that’s what they do. That level of despair, of ignorance, really, starvation, is a systemic product of a society that has predetermined they have no worth in the first place. You said at a presentation yesterday that African-American communities have been hardest hit by climate change, first and worst. Why is this? It’s not just African Americans, it’s communities of color all around the world. For example, the extreme weather associated with climate change is drought, flood, drought, flood. People [who farm] the land, growing crops and feeding their families, are hit by these droughtflood sequences that are no fault of their own. Millions of people of color around the world are being forced out of their homelands because the land has become unusable, infested, they don’t have the water that they need to grow anything. They argue that the heat wave that killed people in Chicago a few years back...was a result of climate crises. If we don’t have local living economies where we’re inventing, investing, manufacturing, merchandising locally, we’re waiting on the truck to come. Increasingly, in these days of climate crisis, the truck ain’t coming. So we’ve got vulnerable communities with a lack of relationships, they cannot afford to stockpile anything, they contribute

the least to global warming: they don’t mine resources to make new things. We’re not caught in that vicious cycle. There’s a lot of thrift, there’s a lot of reuse, there’s a lot of passing down going on, which is the conservation lifestyle. Can you speak to some of the successes that you’ve had as an organization?

to be continuing the work of the West Woodlawn botanic farm and garden association, which is a land use planning vision that we brought through the green and healthy neighborhood process. It is about a food enterprise system, where we are taking things from seed to production and really working through the process with the community’s support, creating a master plan

“We talk about a self-sustaining whole, we talk about selfsustaining black communities everywhere.” One of the successes that we’re really very excited about is that we’re going to be doing real estate development. We have been talking about place, studying place, we’ve been teaching place, we have been advocating place. We’re delighted to have reached this phase in our organizational evolution where we’re developing land, a new style for living in the urban center. It’s called the homestead and we have five different styles of that homestead development. We had our first annual South Side homesteader’s fair back in April where we began to frame the concept of what it meant to live in a twenty-firstcentury climate crisis environment. What were the new styles of living? What were the new structures we’d be living in? How would they be built and financed? Our sustainability teaching garden, on the corner of 60th and St. Lawrence is our first work. We’re going

around the cultural legacy of West Woodlawn—it cannot be lost. It is alone in the history of Chicago. We have a unique cultural legacy that we are committed to preserving. At the end of the day, BIG came with interest in what the people have to say, with support for what was already happening, we came with an established system and hypothesis of what could work, and we have been consistently at work since then. We are inviting people to come to 6011 South St. Lawrence, ring the bottom buzzer, meet with us, to garner with us the resources that we need, the organizing strategies that are necessary. Let’s get organized for this next phase where community-controlled development decides the future of the walkable villages of the city of Chicago. Blacks in Green, 6011 S. St. Lawrence Ave. (773)678-9541. blacksingreen.org

october 1, 2014

juliet eldred south side weekly 53

Englewood

nglewood has long had an outsize reputation. The corner of 63rd and Halsted was once one of the busiest commercial districts in the city, second only to the Loop. There were magnificent buildings and a Sears department store. In 1930 the neighborhood was home to 90,000 people. The story of Englewood’s economic decline is a familiar one across the South Side. But when redlining and white flight hit there, they did so on Englewood’s grand scale. The Dan Ryan was built through the neighborhood, slashing property values. The Southtown Theater, once a rococo performance center and a neighborhood icon, with a swan pool and chandeliers, has been replaced by an Aldi grocery store. In 2010 there were just 30,000 people in Englewood. From 2000 to 2010, the population of the Englewood community area fell by 23.8 percent; among Chicago’s seventy-seven community areas, that was the second-largest decline. The population of West Englewood fell by 21.6 percent over that same time, the fifth largest in the city. Still, if you were to put Englewood and West Englewood together, it would be the most populous community area on the South Side. Today, Englewood, which sits at the geographical heart of the South Side, is often used as a metonym for the violence and poverty that pervade huge swathes of the city. As you might expect, many residents find that unfair. And many are also frustrated by the extent to which the current lack of resources lies beyond their control, and at the scarcity of help from City Hall. Activist and community groups have taken up the task of empowerment and improvement for themselves (interviews with which will appear in forthcoming issues, when the Weekly can give them more space). The intersection at 63rd and Halsted is still a center of attention in Englewood. Its four corners include the Kennedy-King bookstore, the restaurant run by the campus culinary school, a demolition zone, and a fenced off lot, where two months ago ground was broken for a Whole Foods. Outside the fence, dandelions poke through the untamed grass. Just behind it, barely visible, is a “Building a New Chicago” sign. ( John Gamino)

south side weekly

october 1, 2014

best Good word

Shanah B by osita nwanevu

Rashanah Baldwin is perhaps the busiest person in Englewood. She is the cofounder of the Residents Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.), a group of residents who work to further civic engagement, development, and education in the neighborhood,. She also runs Shop Talk, a monthly speaker and town-hall series based out of an Englewood barbershop, and What’s Good in Englewood, a brief weekly radio show that highlights positive happenings in the community. All this work has recently culminated in a flurry of citywide and national media attention for both Baldwin, who goes by Shanah B, and her neighborhood—a place with more positive stories to tell than what, in most places, gets heard. I recently sat down to talk with Baldwin at Englewood’s Kusanya Café about her work. In May, you and What’s Good in Englewood were featured in the Tribune and the Huffington Post. What was getting that attention like for you and the community? It’s been good. It’s fascinating to see that the media is now paying attention to what we do. When I say “we,” I mean all current residents who’ve been at the forefront of changing the perception of the community. So that’s all good. The Tribune was a big deal because I didn’t think that would happen. The front page. So that really shook things up a bit. Helped to clean up the media’s perception of the community. Gave residents a chance and a hope to actually go out and see things differently from the perception the mainstream media has been putting out on TV—that there’s nothing but gunshots and violence and poor people and vacant lots. If you just watched the news, you would think

that was our entire community. So I’m happy to make them pay attention to what we’re doing. How would you describe What’s Good to people who haven’t listened in yet? It’s a five to ten minute segment that I do on the show at 2pm (every Tuesday). It’s just snapshots of good things happening in the community. Just a minuscule portion of what is really happening that no one talks about—that the media doesn’t care to talk or report about. I’m always coming across programs for kids, interesting people, and asking myself, “Why isn’t the media covering this? Where is the headline on this event? Where is Channel 2 on this?” Well, we know what’s in the papers. We know what drives coverage there. So you come across these stories...

Just by living in the community. I hear it, I talk about it. I mean, I talk to people in different meetings I’m at with R.A.G.E., and now people will actually send me a lot of stuff. So you can never run out of good things to talk about. Just as much as there’s bad stuff, there’s good stuff. This café is a good story. The market is a good story. At my old school the principal is having top black men come to the school and mentor kids. And no one’s talking about that. No one’s hyping that. No one’s making a big deal out of it. So if no one else is going to make a big deal out of it, then why can’t it be me? I’ve been here thirty years. I’m thirty. Why not? You also do a regular town hall at a local barbershop? Shop Talk at Powell’s Barbershop. That’s another good story—a barber who’s from the community, who is a business owner and a community leader. But it’s a speaker series where we talk about solutions. Not anti-violence. Not peace walks. Not the marches. I’m not about that. To create peace, you have to have peaceful events that change perceptions. So this solution-based speaker series is about important things happening in the community and is titled things like “Who Owns Englewood?” Do we own Englewood? We have so many people coming in here—we’ve got a Whole Foods. There are folks out there trying to displace our homeowners. Who really owns the Englewood community? I’m still trying to see where I want to go with it. I want more solutions to come out of it, not just huffing and puffing. Yeah, we’re all riled up about this and that, but what’s the action? That’s always my goal. What’s the action? What are we doing? Are we just talking and pointing fingers about violence, violence, violence? What are we committed to doing?

Is that why you don’t like peace walks and anti-violence rallies? Because you feel they’re cathartic and not based in the need for action? To be anti-violence—to have a poster with a kid saying “Don’t shoot, I want to grow up”—is, to me, like saying “Shoot me.” That doesn’t create peace. That’s not stopping the violence. The marches, the rallies, okay. Then what? The next day, you’re gone. The next day, you go back to your regular job. Okay, you rally, you put on the shirts—then what? What action is coming out of that? In order to create peace, you must have peaceful events, mindsets, and spaces. We, here in the community, want organizations to raise Englewood by talking up the resources in the community, instead of marching in the streets and saying put the guns down. Did you know about this café? Did you know that we have an organic garden? Did you know about the reentry services available for people trying to get back into society? Did you know? Here are some positive things, instead of talking about violence. You’re bringing violence up! You’re creating it. It’s like you’re stuck in the mud. Do you consider yourself more a journalist than an activist? Yes. You won’t catch me down there at City Hall rallying and arguing and debating. I don’t have time for that. You don’t get paid to be an activist. To be an activist, you have to be full time. But I work for residents who live in the community and say, “Wait a minute, what I see on TV is not the same community I live in. My mother wasn’t on welfare. My dad wasn’t on drugs. I’m not a bastard. My father lives across town. I know where my father is. So what the hell are they talking about?” I’m tired of seeing all these nice, fluffy stories—they’ll go to Lincoln Park

courtesy of rashanah baldwin

and highlight little, stupid fundraisers. But I’m like, come down to Englewood or the South Side in general and do some stories here too, because there are good things happening. It’s not us, it’s not them, it’s all of us. ‘Cause if good things happen in this community, you’ll be affected as well. Lincoln Park and Hyde Park, everywhere. [Laughs] Everyone seems to think that I’m an activist and wants to label me as an activist. And a lot of my mentors, you know, came up in the era of the rights movement. They say, “I see it in you! You just need to go ahead and be the mayor of Englewood.” I’m like, no, I’m not doing that. When journalists come to Englewood, who should they talk to, to find out about the other, more positive things happening in the community? Well who are you talking to, right now? People like me. Not the ones who are at home, who’re asleep, who’re on the corner selling drugs.

That’s all you see on TV or in a headline. They’ll get the typical ones who are on the street, who are not working, who are uneducated, who are a poor representation of the community. And, again, I’m not dumb enough to think that violence isn’t out here. Unfortunately, someone’s going to get killed whether I do anything about it or not. That’s a bigger issue and a bigger battle that I can’t fight. But, if anything, what I’m trying to do is hold a candle in the dark and say, “You know what, there is hope here.” If anything, with this segment, I hope to get others inspired, or maybe reach a mom who’s looking for somewhere to take her child or find some fun event or someone who didn’t know about this café or someone who didn’t know about the great programs that happen in the community. Are there positive things about Englewood today that are unique to it? The beautiful homes, the park, the beautiful gardens, the booming

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

OCTOBER SPECIAL ganic garden here in Englewood. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another thing. We have the beautiful Kennedy-King College, which harbors a sit-down, upscale restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;student run. This cafĂŠ. [Gestures above]

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With your work and the work of others that you report about, how do you see the perception of Englewoodâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and Englewood itselfâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;changing within the next few years? If this momentum keeps rising, I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be a great place. We just need the residents already here not to get pushed out. It makes a dif-

ference to say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You know what, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to stay here too, I want to be a real part of the community.â&#x20AC;? So I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definitely a change for the better. People start appreciating things, start wanting to be at the table. Before doing these interviews, I was one of the people who was like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yeah, this place sucks.â&#x20AC;? Or, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m scared.â&#x20AC;? And, you know, I could have been somewhere else. I could have gotten my degree and said Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m better than the community. But would I feel comfortable? Would I get those same friendly folks that I see when I sit there and engage with them? And I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Well what am I leaving?â&#x20AC;? My home.

best PlAce to FiX ANythiNG

Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hardware & Bicycle Shop

The yellow sign above Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hardware & Bicycle Shop, next to a picture of John Stallworth with a smile on his face, says â&#x20AC;&#x153;No job too big or small.â&#x20AC;? On a recent afternoon, the job was a screw. A customer strode in, slapped a single screw on the counter, and asked for copies of the same. â&#x20AC;&#x153;About a half dozen is all I need, but youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d better add one more just in case.â&#x20AC;? Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is the kind of place you can actually feel comfortable bringing in a part you â&#x20AC;&#x153;The single best donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what to do with or a repair job that has you stumped. The wide F C H I C A checkout counter is at the center G of the store, but you O see it immediately experience F C H I C A G O upon walking in. There are three or four chairs against the opposite wall, I have ever just close enough for conversation, but too far away to read the all the pricG O B O O K S B O O K T O R esS that are listed above and around the counter. Wheel frames hang from had with an the ceilings, and hardware stock seems to spill from the shelves. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a auto repair shop.â&#x20AC;? feeling of controlled chaos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We basically do anything from taking a piece B O O K T R of dirt to building S a home,â&#x20AC;? says Stallworthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son and O partner, Johnny. In :FMQ SFWJFXFS *MTF the spring and summer there are a lot of bike repairs; in the fall a lot of plumbing; in the winter, snow removal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Then its back to spring and bikes again,â&#x20AC;? Johnny says. John Stallworth opened the store in 1969. He got into $PNF TFF XIZ 4PVUI 4JEFST IBWF USVTUFE VT XJUI T EXTBO O K S the bike business in 1970. He got into the contracting business in 1977, T EXTBOOKS UIFJS WFIJDMFT GPS ZFBST BOE BXBSEFE VT e T e xtb o originally to recover from a fire that had gutted the shop thato year. Since k e T e xtb ook B QFSGFDU PO :FMQ S A V E UP then, the store has been joined by a nearby Home Depot, at 87th Street, OKS 6 0 % S A V E UP T which Johnny says is onewnload of the busiest in the country. But righ Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s has Instant do 6 0 % fr om UChicago .bnc o tbook s N e w Ins tant do wnload righ c om. Do wnload the fr ways of getting by: personable service, customers.bnc who come back, knows N e w Y e a r fr om UChicago ol eT extbook applica tion E UP T O F R E c om. Download the PC and Mac OS (incl. 8F PĂ˛FS UJSF SFQBJST TBMFT BOE JOTUBMMBUJPO UVOF VQT ing the market. Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s carries parts that are now hard to find, built to fr fit T O F R E S H S eT e xtbook applica tion a t : If(incl. you li PC and Mac OS wnload right If you lo ve cr acking o ne w bo Englewoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s older homes, whilea Home Depot often c forces its s customers a t : BOE TDIFEVMFE NBJOUFOBODF PJM DIBOHFT YUZU .c om/ olle cago.bncollege . ne w book t the tar quart er ge. nload the free quart er . o k s N e w Y e YUZU . c om/ c olle to get a wholesale upgrade. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For the most part thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true,â&#x20AC;? Johnny says IFBUJOH BOE DPPMJOH CFMUT FMFDUSJDBM TFSWJDFT applica tion for UChicago.bn Sell you or ac OS (incl. iPad) Sell your newthe books end T O F R E S H UChicago.bnc of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;fix anythingâ&#x20AC;? claim, leaning over from behind the counter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For ad) ment of UChicago gear , the end of the quart t o half CSBLF TFSWJDF BMJHONFOUT JOTQFDUJPOT BOE NVDI NPSF to half the cash back o coffee mugs, and... If you love crack ent of UChicago gear , om/ college. the most part, yeah.â&#x20AC;? Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hardware & Bicycle Shop, 7350 S. the Halsted St. ght ne w book at ge. o coffee mugs, and... ollege. quarter . o.bncollege.c free Monday-Saturday, 9am-6pm. (773)483-7444. johnshardwareandbicycleshop. college.com on for Sell your new bo gear , l. iPad) com ( John Gamino) the end of the qu XXX DJUZUJSFDPSQ DPN t d...

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South Loop

n the lush, winding Women and Children’s Park in the Prairie Avenue Historic District, kids play hide-and-seek near a bubbling fountain while day camp counselors mediate tiffs between toddlers. A mother of two pushes a stroller, picking a few apples from one of the garden’s trees and stowing them in her backpack. “I’ve already baked two pies,” she admits. The scene is peaceful, bucolic—it’s hard to believe that it unfolds just blocks from the pulsing commercial center of Chicago. The South Loop, or “Sloop,” as it is commonly called, stretches from the Stevenson Expressway to Congress Parkway and from the lake to the Chicago River. The area has seen waves of affluence and decades of desolation, high culture and heavy crime over the last century. In the past two years, after suffering through the 2008 housing crash, a tight-knit community has begun to spread its roots in the Sloop, reflecting a desire among Chicagoans to live, once again, in a commercial center. That’s the mindset of Emily Mooney and her husband, Todd, recent transplants from Lombard, Illinois, who moved into a condo apartment on Michigan and Roosevelt in September. Mooney, a lover of cities who got her undergraduate degree in urban studies, wanted to be in a place where she could take full advantage of Chicago’s cultural offerings. “I wasn’t trying to live anywhere fancy,” she said. “Just somewhere urban.” Ready to leave the suburbs, Mooney shied away from other North Side neighborhoods—many annexed suburbs themselves—which felt isolating. This isn’t the South Loop’s first stint in the residential spotlight. In the mid- to late nineteenth century, Prairie Avenue was prime real estate. The 1800-2100 blocks of this street are where Chicago’s wealthiest industrial engineers and entrepreneurs—George Pullman, Marshall Field, and Philip Armour, to name a few—made their homes, leading to the neigh-

juliet eldred

borhood’s nickname: “Millionaire’s Row.” That was the case until the early twentieth century, when noise and pollution from booming printing, publishing, and auto industries began to encroach, and proximity to the Loop began to be seen as a disadvantage rather than a boon. Moneyed Chicagoans moved north and south, taking up residence in neighborhoods that provided them access to—but also considerable distance from—the city center. The Sloop’s revival as a residential area can be seen in community projects such as Sloopin’, a popular blog devoted to “all that is and could be life in the South Loop.” South Loop residents post on a daily basis about everything from store openings to food drives to photo contests. The blog’s founder and editor, Ryan (who declined to give his last name), started Sloopin’ after moving to the area from the North Side in 2008 and finding a dearth of consistently updated information on the neighborhood. Like Mooney, he extols the benefits of the South Loop’s central location. For him, proximity to the lake, CTA, Grant Park, and Museum Campus— where he often picnics on the grass with his family—are hard to beat. “If you’re living in Chicago, and you like Chicago, you want to live in Chicago, not Chicago-light,” he said. Ironically, he says, the area is quieter than some of the busier North Side neighborhoods, like Wicker Park or Lincoln Park, where blocks are nightly flooded with bar and restaurantgoers. “It’s not really a destination yet,” said Ryan, “and a lot of people like that.” The diversity of the South Loop’s current population is also a draw for many. Mooney, who says parts of the North Side felt like a “lily-white enclave,” appreciates the racial and cultural variety in the neighborhood. South Loop citizenry, according to Ryan, including its share of young professionals, is balanced between college students, retirees and—increasingly—young families like his own. “You see a lot of babies and dogs around october 1, 2014

south side weekly

here,” he said. This is not to say the South Loop is homogenous, consisting of several small but distinct neighborhoods, each—like Prairie Avenue—reflecting a different episode in South Loop history. Printers Row, which runs along Dearborn between Congress and Polk and was once the heart of Chicago’s literary industry, exemplifies the South Loop’s efforts to preserve its past while catering to new residents. The red brick Donohue Publishing House has been converted into loft housing. The Old Dearborn Station, the oldest train station still standing in Chicago, has been turned into retail and office space. The rustic exterior now houses doctors’ offices, legal practices, and a ballet studio. Even Sandmeyer’s Bookstore, a neighborhood staple since 1982, seems to be straddling two worlds. Exposed brick and pipes on the ceiling hark back to an earlier time, but the books, mindfully arranged on metal racks, angled somewhat sparsely throughout the single room, are all new. At times, the old Printers Row feels somewhat abandoned, with historical remains blending in among new growth. That isn’t necessarily a turnoff, though. “I kind of like the ghost-town vibe,” said Mooney. Other parts of the South Loop more actively celebrate the neighborhood’s past. The exclusivity that once defined the Prairie Avenue Historic District seems to have disappeared along with Pullman and Field. Posters detailing the history of the homes and restoration line the streets, and tours of the inside of the Clark and Glessner Houses are available to the public. Meanwhile, the Clark House backyard has been repurposed as the Women and Children’s Park, from which, on a recent afternoon, the shouts of kids from the local soccer league could be heard hawking their wares from a lemonade stand nearby. The South Loop may well be a place where history and community can coexist among big business and new development. It certainly looks that way from the Mooneys’ living room window, where, from twenty-five floors up, Emily and Todd can see both Grant Park and the train tracks that hauled freight and passengers into the city over 100 years ago. (Hannah O’Grady) best PlAce to PlAy choPsticks

PianoForte

Among the cluster of facades on South Michigan Avenue perches a lofty gathering ground for piano devotees. Three floors high, PianoForte offers a carefully chosen assortment of acoustic and electric pianos. They are displayed with artful intent throughout the first floor, like religious artifacts of ancient importance. The store is curated by friendly aficionados, eager to get to know you and guide you toward the perfect match. Options range from top of the line, pro-endorsed models with jaw-dropping design, sound, and price tags, to a line of more accessible pre-owned instruments. The second floor functions as a recital hall, hosting a piano-centric menu of live performance. The PianoForte Salon series offers a chance to both hear and meet world-class pianists, while their new Storytellers series offers a genre-spanning array of musicians blending live music with personal narrative. They also host kid-friendly events, in which piano demonstrations are supplemented with discussions about performance and music (also milk and cookies). If you are a pianist, or just an enthusiast, stop in. “Ode to Joy” will come rushing to your ears. PianoForte Studios, 1335 S. Michigan Ave. Showroom hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am – 6pm. (312)2910291. pianofortefoundation.org (Zach Upton-Davis) south side weekly

october 1, 2014

juliet eldred

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best rooFdeck, rockiN’ bus, rock club, Music JoiNt, bAr, ANd Grill

Reggies Chicago

Reggies has one of the most idiosyncratic music programs in Chicago. On the one hand, they love heavy metal: no other South Side venue is as likely to host bands with names like Pentagram (October 23), Bloodletter (October 28), or Metalucifer (November 28). On the other hand, they have a sixth sense for finding up-and-coming hip-hop acts and putting them on stage. Part of this has to do with their frequent partnerships with the local hip-hop blog Fake Shore Drive, which regularly showcases Chicago artists at the venue. Reggies’ last FSD showcase helped introduce many to Mick Jenkins, the South Side rapper whose recent mixtape, The Water[s], might be this year’s best Chicago hip-hop album. It’s also played host to some hectic shows from local stars like Alex Wiley, Chance the Rapper, and Chance’s younger brother Taylor Bennett. Yet Reggies’ programming isn’t strictly local. They also draw in some widely respected acts like the Detroit producer Black Milk, who will be coming to the venue on October 24. Overall, Reggies may be the best place to go for hip-hop if you’re trying to escape from the Shrine’s fixation with the nineties Golden Era and are looking for something more contemporary. If you’re in a nostalgic mood, though, there is also something for you: Reggies is still sporadically hosting its “Elton John Album Nights,” in which Simply Elton John, aka singer and celebrity impersonator Brian Harris, revives various deep cuts from the Rocket Man’s catalogue. Reggies, 2109 S. State St. Sunday-Friday, 11am-2am; Saturday, 11am-3am. (312)949-0120. reggieslive.com (Zach Goldhammer) best siGNAture driNk

Cafecito

When most people think of Chicago cuisine, hot dogs and deep dish likely come to mind before Cuban flavors. Unless, that is, they’ve eaten at Cafecito. Located at 7 North Wells Street, just off South Wabash, the homey establishment serves up a menu chock-full of the best sandwiches in the South Loop. Creations like the guava-q (roasted pork or chicken, caramelized onions, and guava BBQ sauce) and the ropa vieja (skirt steak, sweet plantains, black beans and tomato Creole sauce) mix Latin ingredients in a myriad of combinations, none of which will put you out over $6.50. And it doesn’t end there: Cafecito’s menu is complete with sides, salads, and perilously creamy batidos. The caldo gallego soup, featuring ham, collard greens, white beans, potatoes, and onions in a spicy broth, could thaw through any Chicago winter chill. You can get your caffeine fix with one of their Cuban-style coffee drinks, including their signature “cafecito,” a shot of espresso with what they claim is a teaspoon of sugar—though it tastes more like three. The lunch crowd is regular and hungry—the line is out the door by 12:30—so get there early or be prepared to wait. Then grab a seat at a table, armchair, or plush green couch, or take your butcher paperwrapped treasure to go. Cafecito, 7 N. Wells St. Monday-Friday, 7am-9pm. $2.99-9.85. (312)922-2233. cafecitochicago.com (Hannah O’Grady)

best book Fest

Printers Row Literary Festival

For one weekend every June, thousands of the city’s readers flock to Dearborn Street for their yearly allotment of all things books. From a workshop on the pamphlet stitch to readings by Chicago’s favorite storytellers to handmade, leather-bound journals to first-edition Penguin paperbacks, the Printers Row Literary Festival has it all. The weekend would feel like a step back in time—with “M.A. Donahue” still studded across the onceprestigious printing press building and the Dearborn Street Station majestic behind tents of comics and zines—except that Chicago was never quite as literary as it is during Printers Row. The festival transforms the neighborhood from a quiet community to a hub of activity, and Chicago’s authors, printmakers, editors, and readers come to greet it with open arms. Tents holding University of Chicago Press and Northwestern Press titles, Powell’s Books, and independent presses mix academic with trade. The weekend leaves festivalgoers with an armful of books and the elation that only comes from the mass exchange of stories. Printers Row Lit Fest, Dearborn and Polk St. Annual. Next year’s festival will be June 6-7, 10am-6pm. Free. Tickets required for indoor programs (Claire Gillespie) best wAy out

18th Street Bridge

During construction for the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair, a roundabout footbridge was built over the South Loop’s rail yards and scrapyards to grant access to the lakeshore’s attractions. It remains to be seen how many more centuries of progress will be necessary to devise a less bogus route to the shore anywhere between Roosevelt and 31st. This is easily the sparsest set of pedestrian access points to the lakefront path anywhere along its eighteen-mile length. In such a densely populated, attractionrich area, that fact makes about as much sense as handing out a heap of free land to George Lucas so he can build a museum full of Stormtrooper helmets. West access to the crossing is from Calumet and 18th (a proposed location of the Battle of Fort Dearborn, and just a block away from the Women’s Park and Gardens). First, one is led beneath a service road; next, in order to surmount the Illinois Central trackage, the path forms two ascending hairpin curves rising ever-so-slowly to a considerable height. A rickety staircase leads down to a whistle-stop Metra platform, while the main path continues east to ground level. From there, you can proceed under Lake Shore Drive to the southern tip of Museum Campus. Alternatively, you can head south through a desolate plaza and pick up a sneaky, maybe-legal road into the underbelly of McCormick Place. (Not recommended during a NATO summit.) In the end, you will have spent ten minutes moving a couple hundred feet, but at least you had some time to reflect on the intricate pressures that shape the ways we get around the city: the lay of the land, infrastructure old and new, expanding private enterprise, and Chicago’s laudable but fraught commitment to a public, accessible lakefront. 18th Street Bridge, from 1800 S. Calumet Ave. to 1600 S. Lake Shore Dr. Access at all times. No motor vehicles (Andrew Lovdahl) october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Beverly ov mar

a ry s

dmit

south side weekly

ainbow Cone, stately old homes, Top Notch Beefburgers, and the South Side Irish Parade. The highest natural point in all of Chicago. This is a short list of Beverly bites and sites you could easily scrape together with a few quick Yelp searches and a little Google sleuthing. Especially for an outsider, the neighborhood conjures a nostalgia for small-town life, whether real or imagined. There is an old school drive-in, a few small diners, and plenty of tree-lined streets. What distinguishes it from small-town America is that you can get there by hopping off the Dan Ryan Expressway around 99th Street. After you’ve seen the ice cream parlors and the important architectural drags in the area, it seems easy enough to cross Beverly off your list. However, you’d be missing out. The local description for Beverly is “the village in the city,” but that label can be misleading. It fails to mention that Beverly is integrally connected to the rest of the city, as a home to many city employees (teachers, firefighters, and police officers) required by their position to live within city limits, but who desire that spacious yard and an idyllic place to raise their kids. Beverly is also one of the most racially integrated neighborhoods in Chicago, with a breakdown around sixty-five percent white, thirty-two percent black, and three percent Hispanic residents, a figure more representative of the metropolis’s overall distribution than most other individual neighborhood areas. This fact is a direct result of the Beverly Area Planning Association’s (BAPA) concerted effort for planned integration in the mid-twentieth century, a testament to the community’s strong neighborhood organizing. Perhaps most importantly, it is that sense of community structure, from organizations like BAPA and the Beverly Arts Center, that makes Beverly unique, and more like a small town. The strong community ties are what make Beverly feel like a village, not the statistics about its size or its quaint eateries. That the streets are quiet, the parks beautiful, and the local restaurants plentiful is just gravy. Stopping in for a drink at the Horse Thief Hollow on South Western Avenue, you get the sense that this is a village with deep roots, or at least a place where you can go out for a beer at your neighborhood bar and find that everybody knows your name (maybe). (Elizabeth Bynum)

october 1, 2014

beVerly

best PlAce to sPeNd the MorNiNG

best trilby

Beverly Bakery and Cafe

Optimo Hat Co.

A morning spent at Beverly Bakery and Cafe is a very efficient way to meet three fundamental wants of any leisurely day: savory breakfast food, decadent pastries, and a really remarkable cup of coffee. Beverly Bakery and Cafe serves some of the best eggs benedict around, though the side of seasoned potatoes could easily be all the breakfast you need. Set back along a side wall is the pastry case, a sight that may prove moderately distracting during your meal. Fortunately, it is totally acceptable to pick and choose your donuts while you’re still eating; they can be brought to your table, or kept safe at the register as a snack for the road. The morsels of fried dough come in all variety of delectable flavors, and the “coconut crunch” seems to be the crowd favorite. If you can’t decide on one flavor, the miniature donuts make for good nibbles. In the same space as the dining room, customers can browse coffee blends from all over the world that are roasted in house in small batches. A package of coffee roasted in-house starts at about $15 but can cost as much as $48, depending on the blend. The constant coming and going of customers seeking baked goods and caffeine keeps the place lively, making it the perfect place to watch the world go by from behind your bottomless cup of coffee. Beverly Bakery and Café, 10528 S. Western Ave. Tuesday-Friday, 7am-2pm; Saturday-Sunday, 8am-2pm. 773238-5580. beverlycoffeeroasters.com (Elizabeth Bynum)

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best PlAce to PreteNd

best FiGure drAwiNG

it’s the eArly 1960s

Vanderpoel Art Janson’s Drive-In Museum On the corner of South Western Avenue and 99th Street, Janson’s Drive-In stands as a beacon of American fast food culture. The restaurant was founded in 1960, and both the menu and décor lend the place a certain mid-century charm (it helps that the overhead speakers seem to alternate tracks by the Beach Boys and the Temptations). Although Janson’s has transitioned smoothly to the 21st century, the prices are nostalgia-inducingly low, with most hamburgers and hot dogs under three dollars. Nothing includes sides, but an order of fries (yes, you do want the cheese fries) puts you out $1.69 at the most. Where Janson’s really shines is in its dessert lineup, which includes milkshakes, malts, sundaes, and soft serve cones. The generous helpings of real fruit enhance the various dairy concoctions, but it can be surprising to realize how much a strawberry milkshake can taste like genuine strawberries. Janson’s offers outdoor seating, but the standing room counter along the front window is the perfect place to cosy up to your sweetheart and feel the good vibrations. Janson’s Drive-In, 9900 S. Western Ave. Monday-Sunday, 10:30am-11pm. (773)941-6283. jansonsdrivein.com (Elizabeth Bynum)

John H. Vanderpoel, this museum’s namesake, was a Dutch artist who taught for many years at the Art Institute of Chicago. Through his tenure in Chicago, he guided later greats such as Georgia O’Keefe, who once said Vanderpoel was “one of the few real teachers I have known.” Vanderpoel additionally wrote the literal book on figure drawing (The Human Figure), which was perhaps the definitive textbook on rendering the human form in the early twentieth century. Although Vanderpoel was clearly fascinated with the body, the museum’s collection includes work that represents Vanderpoel’s other artistic muses as well, as well as works by other American artists of the period. The museum is tucked away, and bears few of the tourist tracks that have crisscrossed the Art Institute or the Museum of Contemporary Art. Visiting hours may be short and oddly specific, but the space is worth the carefully scheduled trip to Longwood Drive. Ridge Park Fieldhouse, 9625 S. Longwood Dr. Tuesday and Thursday, 1pm-4pm; Saturday, 10am-2pm. Additional hours by appointment. (773)7790007. vanderpoelartmuseum.org (Liz Bynum)

Optimo Hat Co. is a bit of a hike, but where else can you go to shop for handmade, tailored trilbys and bowlers in 2014? According to the staff at Optimo, nowhere. “We’re the last place in the world that makes a hat of this quality,” a store rep told me. And by “this quality,” they mean quality: perfectly weighted, impossibly comfortable, the kind of hats that can take any suit-wearing pretender and turn him into the bestdressed man in the room. It’s all in the craftsmanship. “There are easier ways to make hats, but it’s usually a bit sloppier,” said one of the talented tailors at Optimo, wrestling with a sewing machine that looked like it could’ve been a Betsy Ross hand-me-down. “We’re going for a classic look, so we do it the oldfashioned way.” Optimo’s hatmakers are mostly amicable hipsters, not mustachioed Italian men, but the store’s aesthetic is otherwise on point. There’s the requisite ancient machinery, the dark wood paneling, and the smell (think of your grandpa’s cologne). Delta blues plays in the background while felt hammers beat silk brims into shape. It’s the kind of place Cary Grant would shop at—if Cary Grant could afford to shop at Optimo. Felt hats, sourced from wild beaver and nutria fur, will run you from $600 to $1000; silk, up to a few thousand. “Their stuff ’s pricey, but you get what you pay for,” one client told me as he left the store with a hatbox under each arm. Optimo Hat Co., 10215 S. Western Ave. Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. (773)238-2999. optimo.com (Will Dart)

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

best surreAl duo

Sal Campbell and Sandra Leonard by eliZabeth bynum

his year the theme for the annual Chicago Artists Month (CAM) is “Crossing Borders.” In a city with so many distinct community areas, the topic seems particularly applicable and the event’s definition of borders includes “actual physical borders, or conceptual, genre or societal boundaries.” The concept has inspired Beverly artists Sal Campbell and Sandra Leonard to host their own event during CAM, entitled “Crossing into Dream.” The event is a jaunt into surrealist thinking and art that will bring together a variety of artists from Beverly to produce a fashion show “like no other,” to serve as a vibrant indicator of an evolving artistic scene on the southwest side of Chicago. Just travelling to the studio that Campbell and Leonard share with fellow Beverly artist Carla Winterbottom requires a trek across borders. Perched on the upper floor of a building that was once the Blue Island Opera House and later a movie theater, the studio carries a certain charm from the simple lines of the old building. Although the location 62

south side weekly

is well outside the bounds of Beverly and the city limits, Campbell, Leonard, and Winterbottom have been using the shared space for the past three years to pursue their distinct artistic projects. Currently, Campbell’s artistic output is concentrated on assemblages: “3D collage, out of found objects,” she explains. Campbell uses a variety of objects in her sculptures, including material from old books and pieces of so-called junk. By design, they combine shapes, colors, and materials that toe the line between the familiar and the unknown. Campbell approaches with a certain sense of wonder objects that could be called ordinary, using found objects like antique foundry plates and old postcards. “I like to mix machinery with hand tools and things that are well-used and wellworn,” she says. “I especially like tools and things that were useful or very common at one time, that now you can look at and say, ‘What is that?’ ” While Campbell reassembles tools of the recent past, Leonard channels the ethereal and other-

october 1, 2014

courtesy of the artists

worldly in her pieces. Leonard has both a BFA and a MFA in sculpture, and with her costumes she intends to transform the human body into a living sculpture. Leonard draws inspiration “from historical and theatrical couture to create wearable, kinetic art,” resulting in highly unique pieces that may stretch the viewer’s understanding of what the body can wear. The ensembles that Leonard showed me during my tour of their studio were in keeping with this sculpture motif. They demonstrated her Renaissance influences, with puffy sleeves, ornate pleating, and high, stiff, neck collars getting special attention. Her collection is composed of unusual fabrics—one piece employed a metallic gray cloth

that gave the shirt a resemblance to armor—and she is not afraid to mix materials or alter them, even dyeing some to create more interesting colors and patterns. In her new series, Leonard is striving to make costumes that cover nearly all of her models’ bodies and faces, “combining textures and exaggerated forms, in an attempt to minimize the human element.” To accomplish this, she makes use of engulfing sleeves, exaggerated collars, and enveloping hats. By reducing the visibility of the model, Leonard hopes to unite the wearer and the costume as one seamless piece of art. At her studio, Leonard shows me a costume that is still in the works. This particular piece in-

beVerly

cludes a large fabric panel, vaguely tear-shaped, that hangs between the legs of the model. As the model walks, the panel swings forward and backward like a pendulum. When I tell her I have never seen anything like it before, she tells me that neither had she, until she made it. Her sketchbook is full of pencil drawings that show human figures decked out in the most fanciful shapes; one is even topped with a tall hat that echoes the form of a leaf. Leonard’s imagery takes cues “from nature, absurd animals, and stylized foliage.” With those inspirations, she hopes to suggest “whimsical narratives that draw the viewer into a dream-like landscape.” The fantastical thread running through Leonard’s work is a nod to her background in surrealism, which she says has always influenced her work. As Campbell and Leonard explain it, the CAM theme of border crossing suits this surrealist impulse. “That’s how we decided on ‘Crossing into Dream’—because dreams are such an obvious subject matter for surrealists,” explains Campbell. The show in October is an opportunity for Campbell and Leonard to work together, with Campbell organizing the event and Leonard displaying work. The media release for the event reminds potential attendees that sometimes “the most powerful borders to be crossed exist within our own minds.” The event positions its venue, the Beverly Arts Center, as another important boundary between neighborhoods. Beverly is not often cited as one of Chicago’s burgeoning art centers, but the Beverly Arts Center has been operational in a rejuvenated form since 2002 and features a full calendar of classes, film showings, and performances. Still, even Campbell acknowledges the artistic scene’s relative obscurity to the rest of the city. “I wouldn’t have even realized that there was much of an artist community here. It’s really

kind of all percolating right now,” she explains, citing the Vanderpoel Art Museum’s one-hundredth anniversary. Over the past few years Campbell has worked to increase the visibility of local art around Beverly. Recently, Campbell has been working with Horse Thief Hollow, a neighborhood restaurant, to install art displays and to create a place for Beverly artists to display their work. The art scene that is developing in Beverly does not necessarily fit into common tropes about starving young artists—like Campbell and Leonard, most Beverly artists are solidly adults, with careers and homes in the neighborhood. However, the scene is not lacking in energy. The effort behind the fashion show is particularly communitydriven, and Campbell and Leonard are enlisting the support of other Beverly artists. The fashion show also features artists Alan Emerson Hicks and Courtney L. Schneider; Hicks “creates complex structures of found objects and societal detritus” in his art, and Schneider is a designer whose work employs satire to address social issues. The Chicago Artists Month’s city-wide push to cross borders offers an ideal moment to share the art-making that is happening past 99th Street, and in next month’s show Campbell and Leonard will urge audiences to consider not only the physical boundaries of their city but also the more abstract borders within their own minds. Attendees are encouraged to wear their own surrealist attire to complete the journey.

best teeNAGe dooM PuNks

Haki

Haki might make you do a double take or three. How do kids this young make music this brutal? Where did they learn their secrets? Which dark spirits are they channeling during their shows? Don’t be a jerk about it, just stand back and appreciate. Haki released two EPs in one month last summer, moving from a noisy self-titled debut to a sophomore collection both bluesier and angrier, with an (unexpectedly) eye-melting cover of Icona Pop’s break-up anthem “I Love It.” Drummer Ruby Dunphy and guitarist Yusuf Muhammad met at the Chicago High School for the Arts in Bronzeville, and began playing their first shows near Ruby’s home in Beverly. They soon found singer Kelsey Ashby, who—red curls flying in face—has the stage presence of a young Kathleen Hanna and the husky cool of Kim Gordon. With the addition of bassist Connor Tomaka, Haki was complete. Their most recent release, Positive, is everything a good punk album should be, with glimmers of classic rock ‘n roll and something slower, more sultry, eerie. “There’s no god inside me, don’t think you can pray,” screams Kelsey one one of the album’s lighter tracks. When they hit a groove, Haki digs deep. They’ve recently lost their drummer to an outof-state college, but the band reports that they’ll be releasing a new EP this fall. Haki. Music and show dates available online. smile2.bandcamp.com (Bea Malsky)

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Visit our garden patio!

Crossing into Dream: A Surrealist Fashion Show, Performance and Party will take place on October 10 at the Beverly Arts Center, where the reception will kick off at 6:30pm.

october 1, 2014

south side weekly

Humanities Day Saturday, October 18, 2014 The University of Chicago Explore topics in literature, visual arts, linguistics, music, and more Free and open to the public KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Languages in Danger: Why Should We Care? Lenore Grenoble John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor in Linguistics To register or request assistance, call 773.702.7423 or visit

humanitiesday.uchicago.edu

south side weekly

october 1, 2014