Chicago is still that todlin’ town. I don’t know exactly what that means,(to walk with short, tottering steps???) but it seems to fit. The windy city is still full of energy and vibrance. A blustery, bluesy sense of urgency that you don’t find even in New York, with it’s trendy 5th Avenue style and it’s faux Eastern culture.
Chicago is where you get a real pizza or bratwurst and savor it like a good steak. It’s a city where the legend of a goat has kept the Cubs from winning a national championship for decades. It’s a town where Billy Sunday crusaded against the bars and Al Capone and Frank Nitty ran the lawless side of Chicago during prohibition. It’s a city of contradiction, and that may be what keeps it alive. Excitement crackles at every streetcorner and it’s my favorite city in the country. My kind of town, Chicago is…
We saw Jersey Boys this week, and the cast was as good or better than Broadway. We ate at the Italian Village, although we could have found about 10,000 great restaurants all over the city. We finished off one evening drinking champagne at Pops, a bar dedicated to champagne…and sinful desserts.
Then we drove up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin where our friends have a cottage. It’s a lake where the rich Chicago folks go for the weekend. Oprah, The Wrigleys, and hundreds of people who have huge bucks to toss around have built mansions on the shores of this storied lake. Ten thousand square foot palaces are common. Unfortunately our friends don’t have one of those.
Fireworks over the water while drinking wine on a boat in the middle of the lake capped off a perfect Friday. Hope you all had a great holiday!
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I like Chicago, too, Don. When I was a kid (oh, so long ago!), I had an uncle who lived in Elmhurst, a suburb of Chicago. In the summer, my grandparents would scoop us up and take us there on the train. It was a grand adventure! I remember visiting the science museum and going down into the “coal mine.” That was scary for a little kid! I’ve been to Chicago any number of times since and I always find it fun and interesting. You’re right, it’s full of energy! How can we make our other cities like that?
by Casey
on July 8th, 2008 at 7:27 am
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Don’t get around as much as I use to, but when I did, Chicago was my kind of place.
I always tell my kids when they ask about Chicago that Chicago is Cleveland…..just 10 or 15 times larger. And because of that size difference it has things Cleveland should have….and may well after I’m dead and gone.
Its the people that make Chicago what it is…..a real blend of everything. Which is where all that great food comes from. Mmmmm, Mmmm, good.
Was there last year for a world soccer thing with my son. We did the game and also a bunch of the micros. Got around town on foot and via the L…the CTA….the light-rail.
It was neat.
Zz
by Zorro
on July 8th, 2008 at 7:38 am
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Big Chicago fan myself. During my business press years I made more than a few pilgrimages to Uno’s for deep-dish pizza. And then there’s Carson’s for ribs, au graten potatoes on the side.
And Casey, I once did a story in Elmhurst on a local micro brewery, a very decent Checzoslovakian pilsner called Bauderbrau.
by C.R.
on July 8th, 2008 at 7:45 am
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Right you are, Zman.
I’ve always called Chicago a great big Cleveland — and mean that as a compliment to both cities.
by C.R.
on July 8th, 2008 at 8:17 am
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I love Chicago, too. As a kid growing up in Indiana, when we wanted to go to the big city, that’s where we went. Saw the Chicago Symphony different times, as well as Les Miz.
Glad you had a great time, Don. I wouldn’t mind trying those desserts!
by Judy
on July 8th, 2008 at 8:43 am
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Speaking of Chicago . . . that’s where the next book in my Pepper Martin series is set. Yup, Pepper travels to Chicago for a cemetery conference. It was fun letting her travel a bit, but for book #5, she’ll be right back in Cleveland where she belongs.
by Casey
on July 8th, 2008 at 9:05 am
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Casey;
Restvale has the remains of Muddy Waters. Woodlawn is the final resting place of the victims of a 1918 circus train wreck ( there’s a story for you Casey), Bachelor’s Grove is considered the most haunted cemetary in Chicago, and Resurrection is the home of Resurrection Mary, the legendary vanishing hitch hiker who has become a folklore tradition. Holy Sepulchre is where Mayor Daly is buried, and the Waldheim Jewish Cemeteries have over three hundred adjacent Jewish cemeteries, each with its own entrance. Steven Douglas, who debated Lincoln, is buried at Douglas Monument Park, and Oak Woods Cemetary on the South Side houses the remains of Mayor Harold Washington, Olympian Jesse Owens and 6000 Confederate prisoners. 6000. Assassinated Mayor Anton Cirmak’s grave is at Bohemian National Cemetary and Charles Dawes, Vice President in 1925 is buried at Rosehill Cemetary.
There are a lot of tales in Chicago cemeteries. I look forward to the book.
by don
on July 8th, 2008 at 9:35 am
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Ah, but who is buried in Grant’s tomb?
by C.R.
on July 8th, 2008 at 11:41 am
