Pete Lit

Quote

"Here is the difference between Dante, Milton and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years."
- Carl Sandburg

Beautiful...and that reminds me that I really need to delve back into Sandburg's Chicago Poems one of these days.

Royko vs. Sinatra

Oh god, this is fantastic: Frank Sinatra's angry letter to Mike Royko, in which Old Blue Eyes threatened Royko after the latter had written a column that criticized the Chicago Police Department for providing free bodyguards to Sinatra during a 1976 visit to the city, will soon be up for auction. Royko's followup column, "Don't Bet Against Sinatra" (or something like that - I lent my copy of Sez Who? Sez Me, which includes the column, to a friend), is one of my very favorite pieces of his. Though I'll follow the auction with interest, I won't be bidding, as the pdf copy is more than enough for me.

And coincidentally, the current owner of the letter, Vie Carlson (the mother of Cheap Trick drummer Bun Carlos), is a very distant shirttail relative of mine, whom I've never met.

Chicago: A Biography

Local historian Dominic Pacyga has a new book out, Chicago: A Biography, from University of Chicago Press. Pacyga is interviewed in the video clip above by Phil Ponce on Chicago Tonight. I greatly enjoyed his Chicago: City of Neighborhoods which I read several years ago, and am looking forward to this one. And check out the gallery of photographs from the book - I especially like this one, of the "Burnt District Coffee House", one of the many fledgling businesses to arise in the ashes - literally - of the Chicago Fire. Nothing represents the city's relentless commercial ambitions quite like some chap who opens a coffee house amidst all of that rubble and devastation.

A pantheon of one's own

This is a very welcomed development: The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. The nominees for the inaugural induction class of 2010 are the usual local luminaries, plus several more that I must admit I've never heard of: Gwendolyn Brooks, Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Richard Wright, Studs Terkel, Harriet Monroe, Mike Royko, Carl Sandburg, Lorraine Hansberry, Ben Hecht, Shel Silverstein, Jane Addams, Leon Forrest, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway, James T. Farrell, Ida B. Wells, John Callaway, Edna Ferber, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edgar Lee Masters, Sherwood Anderson, Franklin Rosemont, Fenton Johnson, Oscar Brown, Jr., Cyrus Colter and Norman Maclean.

I don't have an official vote, but if I did my votes for the Original Six would go to Brooks, Algren, Bellow, Terkel, Royko and Sandburg. And once the old guard is adequately represented, I expect future inductees to include Stuart Dybek (who is one of the current judges), Joe Meno and Aleksandar Hemon, among others.

(Via Robert Duffer.)

The Wieners Circle

Atlas Obscura is one of my new favorite websites. With its content focusing largely on geographical phenomena, oddball museums and outsider art, I was pleasantly surprised to see their entry on the infamous Chicago hotdog stand The Wieners Circle, home of both the char-broiled cheddarburger and the gleefully verbally-abusive staff. I recently saw a hilarious clip about Wieners Circle on local news channel CLTV (sadly, I can't find it online) in which they sent in a stooge who asked a bunch of insipid questions ("Do you have anything that's organic?" "Is there a lot of salt in that?") which, given the staff's tendency to demand that customers order quickly and get the hell out, soon had the order-taker exasperated. The questions escalated until this priceless exchange ended the segment:

Customer: Do you take credit cards?
Employee: Oh, sure, I'll take your credit card. And I'll just swipe it in the crack of my ass!

That final word was bleeped out, but it was clearly obvious what it was. Beautiful.

"A Bar on North Avenue"

Great piece at Granta by Roger Ebert about O'Rourke's, his old hangout near Old Town. It's pretty safe to say that the boisterous era of journalism that he so lovingly describes will never be seen again. I've never read Granta, but I'll definitely pick up the next issue, which will be entirely devoted to Chicago and is already garnering plenty of local praise. Really looking forward to it.

"Chicago, the Beautiful"

Here's a relic - a 1948 MGM travelogue on our fair city. Plenty of physical superlatives abound, such as "tallest" (Stevens Hotel) and "largest" (Merchandise Mart). I hope the Chamber of Commerce bankrolled this entire project, because they certainly got their civic-booster money's worth.

(Via Lake Claremont Press.)

"The other side of the Burnham Plan"

Daniel Burnham is getting a lot of attention here in Chicago right now, with 2009 being the centennial of his landmark Plan of Chicago. I've been meaning to read Carl Smith's well-received The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City.

But I've now come across another book, What Would Jane Say? City-Building Women and a Tale of Two Chicagos, by Janice Metzger, which postulates how the great social reformer (and Burnham contemporary) Jane Addams would have responded to the Plan. On the blog of Lake Claremont Press, Erik Germani writes:

Instrumental as they were in shaping the development of Chicago’s neighborhoods and creating its social institutions, the women were left on the sidelines while Burnham and the Commercial Club laid the course of Chicago’s future. The men knew that there was no profit in catering to the poor and downtrodden, as they certainly wouldn’t be footing the bill for their grandiose designs. So the Plan of Chicago was published, representing only the voices of the elite.

Though the plan’s drafters may have been uninterested in what Addams had to say, Janice Metzger cares, and makes the case that we should care, too. Her book, What Would Jane Say? City-Building Women and a Tale of Two Chicagos, breaks down the plan (and details its break downs), then imagines how the women would have responded to it, substantiating her speculation with detailed research.

Sounds like Metzger's book would be an excellent companion piece to Smith's. I think I'll read Smith first, and then Metzger as a sort of rebuttal.

From sublime to schlock

Nice (and exasperating) then-and-now series: Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking Ball (And The Crappy Stuff Built In Their Place). Particularly galling are the Chicago examples of Grand Central Station and the Illinois Central Depot (pictured above), both of which were demolished decades ago for vacant lots (in the South Loop at Harrison & Wells and Roosevelt & Lake Shore Drive, respectively) which still remain undeveloped. The Chicago and Northwestern Station was a great loss, too, though at least there somebody bothered to build something (albeit something hideous) in its place. In retrospect, it's a minor miracle that Dearborn Station is still standing.

(Via Boing Boing.)

Algren at 100

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Algren, my hero and anti-hero, who was born in Detroit on March 28, 1909. Donna Seaman has a concise overview of the great man's career over at Booklist. For the initiate, I'd suggest you pick up his greatest novel, The Man With the Golden Arm, or his prose piece Chicago: City on the Make, which is the one book of his that I keep returning to again and again, and which I'm convinced is the best thing he ever wrote.

Algren would undoubtedly have a bemused chuckle at his centenary passing without a peep of official recognition from his home city, which right now is otherwise preoccupied with hastily filling the countless potholes and otherwise gussying things up for the arrival of Olympic committee muckamucks. The city, desperate as always to overcome its self-perceived secondary status, is throwing itself (and untold billions of dollars) at the world, as obsessed with its self-image as it was in the days when it ostracized Algren for daring to present Chicago as it really was.

Hoist a glass today to Chicago's greatest writer and one of America's most unappreciated literary talents. I'll be hoisting several.

Update: Jeff McMahon has an excellent Algren essay at Newcity. Very well done.

Only in Chicago

Secondhand bookstore...as front for a bookie joint. ("Yeah, sure, buddy, we got yer Chaucer...sixth race at Hialeah.")

Red and Norm

I don't follow sports nearly as much as I used to, but I can't help being touched and saddened by the passing (one not so sudden, the other quite sudden) of two local legends, Johnny "Red" Kerr and Norm Van Lier. My mom grew up in the same South Side neighborhood as the Kerrs, and knew Johnny's older sister quite well. He's always been a favorite of mine - despite being a shameless partisan as a Bulls broadcaster, he brought boundless enthusiasm and passion to the job and was a bigger fan of the team than anyone else. His knowledge of the game was deep but he never talked down to the fans - it was easy to imagine him sitting at your elbow, at a bar or your living room couch, excitedly commenting on the action as it unfolded. With all that this man accomplished in the game, as a player, coach, broadcaster and tireless goodwill ambassador, it's simply unconscionable that he still hasn't reached the Hall of Fame. Regardless of whether he ever gets there or not, he'll always be in my own personal Hall of Fame as one of the all-time greats.

And none of the above should in any way slight Van Lier. Much of it applies to him as well, though he's not quite of Hall of Fame caliber. Nobody ever worked harder than Stormin' Norman.

Farewell, gentlemen. You will truly be missed.

A treasure trove of old restaurant menus!

Here's a website that I'll be wallowing in quite contentedly for the near future: the Los Angeles Public Library Menu Collection. The database lets you search by city, so of course I pulled up all the Chicago restaurants. Here are my favorite menu covers (and if you click through the links, you can see the inside of the menus too):


Barney's Market Club


Cafe Bohemia


Colosimo's


Edgewater Beach Hotel


Henrici's


Riccardo


Walgreen's

Probably my favorite of the bunch is the Riccardo menu, whose stylishness is not at all surprising given how renowned the restaurant was for its art collection. And though the Colosimo's and Walgreen's menus have little artistic merit, I included them here for the sake of curiousity. Colosimo's was located in the notorious Levee vice district and was operated by Big Jim Colosimo, who was the kingpin of the Chicago mob before Capone took over. And the Walgreen's menu is notable for the breadth of its food selections - I've always imagined the old Walgreen's to only have soda fountains, but clearly they were regular short-order grills. (And I love how "perch" is crossed out with red ink on "Deep Fried Filet of Perch" and replaced with "haddock." Perch happens to be native to Lake Michigan, while haddock is an ocean fish. Odd that they ran out of the local species.)

It also occurred to me that this database is an excellent resource for fiction writers, especially those who write historic fiction. If one of your scenes is set in a 1950s restaurant, this would be a great place to skim old menus so you can get the old menu items (Swiss steak, anyone?) and prices just right.

Showmen's League building, Harry's Hot Dogs are doomed

Well, it looks like the quirky Showmen's League building and its anachronistic tenant Harry's Hot Dogs (which I first mentioned here) are in their final days. While I'm pleased that the John Buck Company is buying out the properties instead of making the city play the eminent-domain heavy, I still can't understand why the most powerful real estate developer in the city needs a $7 million subsidy from the city to build a plaza (in the not-exactly-blighted West Loop) which will primarily benefit - surprise! - the adjacent Buck office tower on Wacker.

"The last thing Chicago needs is another windswept plaza, another vacant lot," said Jonathan Fine, executive director of Preservation Chicago. "It sounds like a stupid way to go about urban planning."

The Showman's League building is one of the few left in the Loop that date from the 1870s, Fine said. He said it doesn't merit landmark consideration because of severe alterations, but still is more productive than a plaza that would mostly benefit Buck.

Nice words, but Fine and Preservation Chicago are tilting at windmills. The deal will get done, Buck will get richer, taxpayers will get poorer and City Hall will pat itself on the back for fostering "progress", just like it's always been here. Get yourself over to 300 W. Washington and enjoy the carved elephants, and a hot dog at Harry's, while you still can.

News from the home front

Two great pieces of news were passed along today by the good folks at Gapers Block:

First, the original Goose Island brewpub (on Clybourn Avenue in Chicago) will remain open, thanks to a renegotiated lease.

"I could not be happier," said founder John Hall in a press release. "I felt terrible, like I was losing a part of my family. We would not have been able to reach an agreement with our landlord without the support of our loyal customers. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support with e-mails, letters, and petitions."

I'm very glad that my earlier eulogy was premature.

Second, Ben Tanzer's Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine (which I reviewed here) is the latest selection of the Gapers Block Book Club. I'll take a tiny bit of credit for that, since I pitched his debut Lucky Man to the club a while back. Though they passed on that one, he apparently got their attention and his next book has now made the cut. As it should be - an engaging local writer and an entertaining book with plenty to discuss. Perfect for the book club.

Correction: Per Alice's comment below, Ben Tanzer's book was reviewed by but is NOT the next selection of the Gapers Block Book Club. I assumed, very much in error, that if a book was reviewed there, that meant it was the club selection as well. My bad. However, I stand by my earlier "great news" comment - a strong review like this one is always great news.

Studs Terkel

As many others have already reported, Studs Terkel passed away on Friday at age 96. I can't say I was at all surprised - you have to expect it from anyone that age, obviously, and Edward Lifson mentioned several weeks ago that he had heard Studs was in his last days - nor am I particularly saddened. For him, at least. Don't grieve at all for Studs, for he lived an incredibly long, joyous and productive life. (I'd guess that one of the few regrets he would have had was not living to see Barack Obama in the White House.) Instead, grieve for the rest of us who now have to live in a world without Studs' warmth, compassion and wit. He was a tireless champion of common sense and the common man, and his departure leaves us everyday people without one of our greatest advocates.

Growing up in Chicago, I was inevitably familiar with his name. My parents had a copy of Working on the bookshelf, though I don't remember anyone reading it, as I didn't either back then. I first read his prose from his introduction to Nelson Algren's Chicago: City on the Make, which I first read in college; Studs provided the perfect overture to what has become one of my very favorite books. But I didn't read Terkel proper until several years later, when on a warm day off from work I stopped at a used bookstore on Broadway Street in Chicago and chanced upon an old copy of Division Street: America, which I bought and carried to the lakefront. I sat on the boulders along the shore, basking in the sun, fully absorbed in his conversations with everyday people - their joys, sorrows, hopes and fears - and in a way felt, from the yellowed and musty-smelling pages of that book, a little more connected with the world. Discovering the rest of his works during the ensuing years has been nothing less than a fascinating and often exhilarating experience.

When a major public figure passes away, particularly a very elderly one, it's almost become cliche to say that they don't make them like him or her any longer, and that the deceased will truly be missed. But in the case of Studs Terkel, those words are perfectly appropriate. He was one of a kind, and will truly be missed.

Farewell, Studs.

The Chicagoan

Wow. This looks awesome.

While browsing the stacks of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago some years ago, noted historian Neil Harris made a surprising discovery: a group of nine plainly bound volumes whose unassuming spines bore the name The Chicagoan. Pulling one down and leafing through its pages, Harris was startled to find it brimming with striking covers, fanciful art, witty cartoons, profiles of local personalities, and a whole range of incisive articles. He quickly realized that he had stumbled upon a Chicago counterpart to the New Yorker that mysteriously had slipped through the cracks of history and memory.

While this might sound like a fanciful work of fiction, it's for real. Check out the stunning pdf preview. I particularly like the cartoon on page 13, with the caption "The 'W.G.N.' Staff discovers a pacifist." (W.G.N.: "the world's greatest newspaper", as the Chicago Tribune used to immodestly and inaccurately call itself.)

Ah, what could have been.

Hell has frozen over...

...pigs are flying, the Cubs have won...okay, the Cubs didn't win the World Series, but this is still quite monumental:

Tribune endorsement: Barack Obama for president

Of course, the cynic in me wonders if Obama wasn't from Illinois - or even if he was from as nearby as Indiana, Wisconsin or Iowa - if he still would have gotten the endorsement.

That faint whirring sound you hear is Colonel McCormick spinning in his grave.

Save the Castle Car Wash!

From the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois:

Castle Car Wash was built in 1925 and is the last remaining historic gas station structure on Route 66 (Ogden Avenue) in the city limits. Chicago was the eastern terminus of Route 66. Originally Murphy's Filling Station, the building stopped functioning as a filling station in 1966 and later became a car wash. The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program of the National Park Service recognizes this building, with its unique castle design, as one-of-a-kind along the roadway and in April of 2005, the building was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Joliet area has a few quirky Route 66 relics of its own, but nothing close to this gem. If this was located in Joliet, I'd buy it myself and turn it into a hotdog stand. I'm not sure what a new owner would do with this at its current location at 38th & Ogden, but surely somebody can think of something better than tearing it down for a bland new strip mall.

Oh dear gawd

As the subject line says, OH DEAR GAWD. That image shown above is a prototype for the redesigned Chicago Tribune, as reported by Editor & Publisher via Crain's Chicago Business. Apparently the Tribune is hellbent on making USA Today look, by comparison, like the New York Times. Suffice it to say that the day this prototype becomes will be the exact moment I stop reading the Tribune for good.

Given the state of the newspaper industry, it's likely the Tribune was already dying when Sam Zell took over, but he seems intent on finishing it off once and for all, as if administering chloroform to a stricken animal.

Quote

"I learned that, if you truly want to enjoy something, you have to share it with others."
- Ralph Freese, master canoe builder and waterway conservation activist

Memo to Mayor Daley

Just a thought: before you blow a billion-plus bucks on a temporary Olympic Stadium in Washington Park, you might consider this marvelous idea from 1958: Mechanized Stadium of the Future. Assemble and use it for the Olympics, then sell it to the next Olympic host city. Saves money while also representing the largest single act of recycling in the history of the world, thus further burnishing your "green" credentials. At least think about it, okay?

"That's a mighty fine Goose."

Well, this news thoroughly blows: Goose Island loses lease, to close its Clybourn spot.

It's truly sad that Goose Island and its landlord can't come to terms on a new lease, especially given the fact the brewpub was a true pioneer for the commercial redevelopment of the Clybourn Corridor area. When Goose Island opened in 1988 (in a former Turtle Wax factory, of all things), the neighborhood was pretty dicey. Now that the area has exploded, Goose Island is on its way out.

I've got a lot of great memories of that place, most notably:

+ Office Christmas parties in 1988 and 1989, with the second one immortalized when two over-indulged co-workers took a strong liking to a plastic, interior-lighted goose on display on a counter. The goose was spied from the adjacent tap room several times during the evening, prompting one of said individuals to repeat the phrase in quotation marks above. So great was their admiration for this object of dubious aesthetic merit that, at last sufficiently fortfied and emboldened by the tenth or twelfth microbrewed draft of the evening, they finally marched over to the counter, concealed the goose under a coat and snuck it out through the back door. Although I categorically deny any knowledge of who either of these nerfarious individuals might be, I've heard rumors that the goose's residence has alternated between their two homes ever since.

+ My going-away party when I left NBD in 1991 to return to grad school. Highlights were a) a male co-worker drinking out of female co-worker's shoe; and b) the evening ending with that same male carrying that same female out of the building, slung over his shoulder. The male was married, and the female single, and I can only guess what happened after that. Whatever it might have been, it would have occurred in a Toyota Celica. (Ewww.)

+ My wife's going-away party after she quit her job at this horrible equipment leasing company which happened to be in the same neighborhood. She and her soon-to-be-former co-workers arrived in midafternoon, but I only got there after driving back from my job in the suburbs. By the time I got there the only ones left were her and this goofy guy Jim, who was the only other normal person in the company and who quite valiantly kept her sane for the last several months she worked there. The three of us stayed for several more rounds, ruthlessly mocking the other employees.

+ Stopping in with Julie for a quick dinner last summer after my first-ever public reading. The mood was pleasantly celebratory, and the food and drink was as good as ever.

Good times, good times. While I wish Goose Island the best of luck finding a new location in the area, for me it will never be the same.

At Maurice Lenell, one taste will tell...

Marshall Field's becomes Macy's, fine. Jay's Potato Chips goes bankrupt and gets sold to an out-of-state company, fine. Wrigley Field might change its name, fine. But one thing in transition in Chicago business that ISN'T fine: Maurice Lenell Cooky Company is in Chapter 11 reorganization and is being forced out of its long-time home.

The 70-year-old Maurice Lenell Cooky Co. factory and store at 4474 N. Harlem Ave. have been sold to a developer who wants to open a Costco-anchored retail center on the site and surrounding property.

Maurice Lenell Cooky Co. — whose Jelly Stars, Almonettes and other cookies are a Chicago tradition — is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and could either reorganize or be sold, according to Ken Mann, president of Equity Partners Inc., the broker Maurice Lenell hired to find investors or buyers for the business.

The company has apparently been done in (at least partially) by our federal government's perpetually misguided agriculture subsidies which prop up domestic sugar and corn production, those same subsidies that have already killed off most of Chicago's candy industry. Nice work, Washington.

Maurice Lenell was a cherished staple of my childhood. Quite frankly, though, I hadn't thought much about Lenell literally for decades, until this past Christmas, when a client of my company sent over a gift package of Lenell cookies that briefly found a home atop a filing cabinet ten feet from my desk. And I do mean briefly - I blissfully gorged myself on all my old favorites, delighted to discover that all of them tasted exactly the same as they did thirty years ago, and did more than my fair share of polishing the assortment off. This is one local institution whose demise would truly sadden me.

Say it ain't so, Maurice!

Chicago Cultural Center

This month's art exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center look quite interesting, especially these three:

Petronele Gerlikiene: Embroidered Myths and Everyday Stories
through April 6, 2008
Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Avenue Galleries
78 E. Washington Street
Free

One of the most acclaimed, self-taught Lithuanian-American artists, Petronele Gerlikiene was born in Chicago in 1905 and died in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1979. She spent most of her life working in the countryside but, after retiring in 1972, she moved to the capital to live with her artist son. Fond of needlework and embroidery, she started to create her own compositions on curtains and rugs, with different trees as the central motifs, often surrounded by people and animals, sometimes referring to Lithuanian myths or simple daily life experiences. Organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs in cooperation with the Lithuanian Art Gallery Ciurlionis, Inc. and the Lithuanian Consulate in Chicago.

Women of Islam: Photographs by Rania Matar
through March 30, 2008
Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Avenue Galleries
78 E. Washington St., Chicago
Free

Boston area photographer Rania Matar originally hails from Lebanon, where she has repeatedly returned in pursuit of images of her homeland. This newest body of black and white work provides an insightful, inter-generational study of women and the volatile issue of the head scarf in Muslim culture. Organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

Marcelino Stuhmer: The Recurring Dream
through March 23, 2008
Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Avenue Galleries
78 E. Washington St., Chicago
Free

Marcelino Stuhmer's new installation of paintings presents a 12-foot diameter panoramic painting depicting the famous dream sequence from the Cold War film classic, The Manchurian Candidate (1962). In this scene, the camera pans 360º around the room, transforming an elderly women’s meeting on hydrangeas into a brutal Communist display of mind-control. As part of the installation, Stuhmer is also exhibiting a series of portraits of the American character actor Henry Silva, who has consistently been typecast in movies as an ethnic bad guy. While Silva's Korean Communist character Chunjin actually appears in the panoramic dream sequence, the portrait series entitled The Silva Screen, consists of manifestations of the actor, drawn from the numerous minority menaces he's played throughout his career. Organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

And I also see there's an upcoming exhibition by one of my favorite artists, Tony Fitzpatrick, starting in May that I'll be sure to attend as well. When I first starting working downtown, over five years ago, I was very diligent about regularly attending art exhibitions in the Loop (including the Cultural Center, the Illinois Gallery at the Thompson Center, and Columbia College) but even though I saw some great shows early on (most notably Gary Stochl and Jay Ryan) I haven't done much of that lately. I'll certainly be rectifying that soon, starting with these shows.

Memo to Sam Zell

To: Sam Zell, new Tribune head honcho
From: Pete Anderson, longtime reader (and former employee of yours)
Re: Reviving the Tribune

Sam, I know you're looking to make a big splash in media circles by reviving the Chicago Tribune, which you've recently taken control of. Everyone says newspapers are a dying medium, but you've defiantly retorted that they ain't dead yet. Given your history of contrarianism, along with the hundreds of millions of dollars you stand to gain if you are proven correct, I'll assume your statements are sincerely felt. Although your maverick status implies you're not terribly receptive to outside opinion, I still have a few ideas to suggest for the Tribune.

Although substantial improvements are needed on the editorial side of the business, I can't comment on much there other than to point out that your front section on Sundays reads like a glorified wire service sheet. While I haven't tabulated any hard figures, I could swear that at least half of the stories there come directly from the Associated Press - in other words, the same stories that every other newspaper in existence has access to. Bolstering your non-Chicago correspondent ranks and foreign bureaus, and thus delivering much more original content, would be a big first step.

But on a more basic level, even if your editorial product improves dramatically, it doesn't mean a thing if you can't deliver that content to the reader. On the internet side, drop the silly site registration formality that's currently required to read Tribune articles online. People will be much more likely to share your stories with others, thus increasing your site traffic and the rates you can charge advertisers, if they can do so without burdening their friends and acquaintances with the annoyance of site registration.

Secondly, there will always be a substantial amount of people who prefer reading an old-fashioned newspaper in hand rather than online. (Assuming, of course, that your editorial quality is high - if a reader only expects to see a few articles they're interested in, they'll probably just read in for free online instead of paying for a copy of the paper.) But those people have to be able to physically access the paper to even consider making a purchase, and I've increasingly noticed instances in which the Tribune's distribution function is sorely lacking. Three pieces of anecdotal evidence from my own experience:

1. Until a month ago, I had home delivery of the Sunday Tribune for most of the past twenty years. Reading the Tribune was a cherished part of my Sunday ritual - in my younger bachelor days, I'd even read it cover to cover. But the Tribune has abdicated its home distribution role, instead outsourcing home delivery to an anonymous fleet of generally unaccountable independent contractors. Our home delivery service grew increasingly erratic, with the paper never arriving half the time, which required us to contact a call center (overseas, we suspect) which always assured us that the delivery person would be contacted immediately and our paper would be arriving shortly. It rarely did, even after calling, and even if it did arrive it wouldn't be there until 10 or 11 a.m. at which point my prime reading time had already passed. Since most such mornings ended up with me driving out to the drugstore to buy my own copy anyway, we decided to cancel home delivery and pick up our copy at the store.

2. Since then I've been picking up the Sunday Tribune at my local CVS. But the clerk there told me that the Tribune has recently been providing significantly fewer copies of the paper each day, which isn't a problem for me since I get to the store fairly early but increases the chances that the later-arriving Tribune reader won't find a copy to buy. On top of that, the Sunday final editions are often mixed up with the early editions (which should have been removed when the final edition was dropped off), thereby risking my arriving back home with a paper full of nothing but Friday's news. The paper's sections are also sorted haphazardly, so I never really know if I'm buying a complete paper.

3. Lastly, this past Sunday I stopped to pick up breakfast at the most popular doughnut shop in town. The place was particuarly crowded this week, with every seat occupied and a line that stretched out the door. Inside, copies of your rival Sun-Times and its subsidiary Joliet Herald-News were in plentiful supply, but no Tribune. While there was a Tribune coin-operated box outside, the box was completely empty - and given the early hour, my guess is that it had never been filled.

Not putting the paper where people can buy it - outside high-traffic doughnut shops and inside drugstores - or reliably delivering it to people's homes are just two aspects of the Tribune's business model which are clearly broken. No matter how good your paper is, if people can't get their hands on it, they won't read it. So fix your distribution system first, and do it quickly. Otherwise your newspaper's steady decline into irrelevance will be no one's fault but your own. Yes, the problems predated your stewardship, but they're your problems now. So fix them.

Algren's Long-Ago Cons

It's the holiday season, a time of peace and goodwill to men (and women), of nostalgic remembrances of the past. What better time to read about my patron saint Nelson Algren reflecting on some of the finest con jobs he pulled during his boyhood? I find it utterly impossible to resist, especially this Christmas-themed one...

Around Christmastime the paper guys had cards printed and sold them to us little paper guys for a nickel apiece. They read something like this:

Christmas comes but once a year
When it comes it brings good cheer
So open your heart without a tear
And remember the newsie standing here.

That got them, every time. Especially if there was a light fall of snow. And the swindle in the card routine was this: After he'd paid for the verse and would be thinking he owned it, you'd have to tell him no, it was your only card, you just wanted him to see the sentiment on it, it had cost you a nickel, so please mister could you have it back?

I've been meaning to pick up the reissue of The Last Carousel for a while now. Reading priceless reminiscences like this piece just might clinch my purchase.

(Via Destinyland.)

"Whoa!"

Hands down, THE news video of 2007. My wife and I have been fans of Ravi Baichwal on ABC 7's weekend newscasts for a while now, and after witnessing this I think he might be the most professional television journalist there is. I don't know about you, but if a minivan crashed through a wall right behind me at my workplace, my verbal reaction would have been quite a bit more colorful. After that brief initial shock, his composure was rather remarkable.

Lake Shore Athletic Club is saved!

I was quite pleased yesterday to read of this news item: the venerable Lake Shore Athletic Club appears to have been saved. As I've mentioned previously, the classic building had been in grave danger of being demolished by a high-powered local developer in favor of a new condo tower. But the developer backed off, apparently from the very public opposition of new ward alderman Brendan Reilly, and the building is now being sold to a preservation-friendly developer who plans to convert the building to high-end senior housing.

I can't begin to describe how satisfying this resolution is. Had the prevailing opposition to the building's demolition come from the city or the alderman's office, the resolution wouldn't have meant nearly as much. But the developer-friendly Mayor Daley wasn't about to interfere, and even the alderman stuck a neutral stance at first, only gradually coming around to the side of preservation. Instead, this victory came from the little people - grassroots activists and neighborhood residents - who opposed demolition from the very start, rallying public opinion and bringing the alderman into the fold. These are the very same little people who are so often marginalized and ignored in our increasingly undemocratic society. For once, everyday citizens win a victory which, while minor in the grand scheme of things, is heavy with symbolic significance. We the people can make things happen, if we band together for the common good, make our position known and never back down from the ensuring fight.

"Art's magic bond of light, and beauty's bloodless stain."

The Tribune ran a nice piece yesterday on the Cliff Dwellers, the social club - founded by author Hamlin Garland and named after the once-famous novel by Henry Blake Fuller - which is celebrating its hundredth anniversary. The club's commitment to the arts and intellectual discourse is quite refreshing (I like the quote from the UIC professor who said "I've had more intellectual conversations here than at a university") and in sharp contrast to the other downtown clubs and their profit-is-holy ethos; if I were to join one of the clubs, which admittedly is very unlikely, I'd opt for the Cliff Dwellers. The Trib quotes from verses penned by Garland:

Garland, its founding president, once took poetic notice of what the club was about:

"Down in the city's deeps we meet in savage fashion,
And play as best we may the selfish, sordid game,"

But after hours and up in the Cliff Dwellers:

"Man greets his fellow man, and only then remembers,
Art's magic bond of light, and beauty's bloodless stain."

As an aside, you might think from all the Hamlin Garland references I make, that I've actually read some of his work. Which is not the case, at least not yet. Soon, he insists, soon.

Bell's Beer coming back to Chicago!

Er, sort of - and likely only after what promises to be extensive litigation.

The Kalamazoo, Mich., brewery stopped serving Chicago after a dispute with National Wine & Spirits Inc., the Indianapolis company that holds the rights to distribute Bell’s Beer in Illinois.

The label’s disappearance from local bars that cater to specialty-beer lovers, such as the Clark Street Ale House and the Hop Leaf, made headlines last year, and sparked a wave of hoarding among beer aficionados.

Brewery president Larry Bell says he has found a way to get around the impasse: He has created three new beers specifically for the Chicago market.

"This is a different beer," he says. "These are not the beers that were assigned to them."

Different beer (Kalamazoo Porter, Kalamazoo Amber and Kalamazoo IPA), perhaps, but I'm hoping they're suspiciously similar to Bell's Porter, Bell's Amber Ale or Bell's IPA. Or even - dare I dream? - Oberon or Two Hearted Ale.

Probably will never happen, given how slanted the liquor laws are in Illinois toward the distributors. But you still have to admire Larry Bell's chutzpah.

Boy's Gotta Have It, Part 2

Behold: Chicago under Glass: Early Photographs from the Chicago Daily News. Already, I'm salivating. And envisioning it on my bookshelf, right next to Real Chicago: Photographs From the Files of the Chicago Sun-Times.

On Public Transportation

In a remarkable coincidence, the Chicago-based Journal of Ordinary Thought (of which I've previously expressed great admiration) is holding a discussion of the role of public transportation on everyday lives, just as the CTA, Metra and Pace are about to institute draconian fare increases and service cuts in response to the state's chronically irresponsible funding. Should be a lively event.

Speaking of which, Springfield lawmakers: cut the crap, stop the political posturing, and get public transportation all of the funding it needs. There's no reason to delay in trying to tie it to expansion of the state's casinos, a highly contentious issue whose inclusion will only ensure that the funding never gets done. Instead, institute a significant regional sales tax for the Chicago metropolitan area, with all proceeds going to the CTA, Metra and Pace. Public transportation benefits every one, whether you ride it or not, so everyone in the region should share the burden of paying for it. Raise fares and cut service, and you'll just force more people into their cars and out onto the already overburdened highways. (Chicago already has some of the very worst traffic in the U.S. - I cringe at the thought of how much worse it would be with public transportation cutbacks.) And then we'd need even more roads to be paid for and maintained, along with more fuel consumption and pollution.

Rod Blagojevich, Mike Madigan, Emil Jones, all the rest of you - just do your frigging jobs. You know, the ones we elected you to do.

Great Chicago Novels

Chicago Magazine weighs in with its list of "the ten essential Chicago novels." No real surprises on the list, nor any glaring omissions either:

The Cliff-Dwellers (1893), by Henry Blake Fuller
Sister Carrie (1900), by Theodore Dreiser
The Pit (1903), by Frank Norris
The Jungle (1906), by Upton Sinclair
The Studs Lonigan trilogy (1932-35), by James T. Farrell
Native Son (1940), by Richard Wright
The Man with the Golden Arm (1949), by Nelson Algren
Maud Martha (1953), by Gwendolyn Brooks
The Adventures of Augie March (1953), by Saul Bellow
The House on Mango Street (1984), by Sandra Cisneros

Several of my favorite novels - in general, not just Chicago ones - are on that list. And I still really have to read Augie March and the last two books of the Lonigan trilogy. It's also nice to see Bayo Ojikutu get a nod on "the new school" list, for his debut 47th Street Black - his latest, Free Burning, is one of the best books I've read this year.

(Via Bookslut.)

Columbia College Acquires The Center for American Places

Two great organizations get together: Columbia College Chicago has announced the acquisition of the publishing house The Center for American Places. I own one CAP volume, Gary Stochl's gorgeous On City Streets: Chicago, 1964-2004 and the press also has several other noteworthy Chicago-related titles, including Bob Thall's City Spaces: Photographs of Chicago Alleys and At City's Edge: Photographs of the Chicago Lakefront, Brad Temkin's Private Places: Photographs of Chicago Gardens, Scott Fortino's Institutional: Photographs of Jails, Schools, and Other Chicago Buildings, Jay Wolke's Along the Divide: Photographs of the Dan Ryan Expressway, and Julia Bachrach's The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks. Lovely volumes all.

A great meal at Keefer's

I'm not much of a gourmand - I'm convinced that I have an undiscerning palate, and living in restaurant-challenged Joliet doesn't help either - but I really have to put in a strong word for Keefer's, in Chicago's River North. I'm one of three brothers-in-law in my wife's family, all of whom have birthdays in the fall. Rather than having three separate birthday get-togethers, we have one big dinner in October at a nice Chicago restaurant. This year it was Keefer's (surprisingly, it was my suggestion, having enjoyed a company holiday luncheon there a few years ago) and it was a truly excellent experience. Great food, courteous service, beautiful atmosphere. And the waiter even directed us to a nice Irish bar around the corner for a nightcap. I'm still savoring the halibut with wild mushroom sauce. Mmmm.

Here's to you, Mr. Weisner

No Weekend Multimedia this week, as we pause to honor the life of Kenneth Weisner, founder of Victory Auto Wreckers and the man behind that legendary TV commercial. Chicagoans, of course you know which one I'm talking about.

As Kenneth Weisner lay in the hospital Thursday, his wife and son spoke with the nurses, who couldn't help but notice their matching Victory Auto Wreckers sweat shirts.


One of the nurses finally asked about them, and the family told them: Mr. Weisner was the owner of Victory, the wrecking company best known for its iconic commercial that has run for more than 20 years.


"And all of them started reciting the commercial, and we heard the whole thing, right there," said his son Kyle. "My dad loved stuff like that; he always got a kick out of it."

From auto salvage to alpaca ranching. Quite the entrepreneur.

Daley's Nowhere

Missing from most of the political/racial hysteria about the proposed move of the Chicago Children's Museum to Grant Park is any discussion of what the potential site actually consists of. Lynn Becker provides an welcomed antidote, with a gallery of photos from the relatively bucolic and quite ironically-named Daley Bicentennial Plaza. And his accompanying commentary is dead-on accurate:

Opponents to the museum believe, as did Daniel Burnham, that it is essential to have places of beauty and nature that are not extensions, but antidotes to the congested density and frenzied activity of a great city.

As you will see from these photos, that's the indispensible role that the park at Daley Bicentennial Plaza plays. It is a place of scenic beauty and wide, untrammeled lawns. It is the place where neighborhood families take their kids to play, and people come to read in the sun or sit in quiet contemplation. It's a calm counterpoint to Millennium Park's fizzy, aggressive urban pop on the other side of Columbus Drive.

Count me among those opponents of the museum's move. Not every city park has to be a tourist spectacle on the scale of Millennium Park. Most of them need to just be city parks - Daley Bicentennial Plaza included. Give the place a few upgrades like those Becker mentions, but for heaven's sake don't drop a huge traffic-drawing museum in there. If the Children's Museum truly has to leave Navy Pier, there are any number of appropriate alternatives to exacavating Chicago's Front Lawn.

Courtroom sketches of the Chicago Seven trial...

(Image by Franklin McMahon.)

...are, rather surprisingly, quite artistic. That fine image above depicts Abbie Hoffman casually reading a book during the trial proceedings, to the obvious chagrin of the judge. And there's many, many more.

These images are among 483 courtroom sketches from the 1969-70 Chicago Seven conspiracy trial recently acquired by the Chicago History Museum. The pictures, the work of famed news artist Franklin McMahon, tell the story of one of the more bizarre spectacles in U.S. courtroom history, a trial that reflected the divergence of the youth counterculture of the 1960s from the previous generation.

Check out the Tribune's selected gallery here.

Chicagopedia

I just discovered a relatively new feature in the Chicago Sun-Times called Chicagopedia, which provides useful definitions of Chicagoese words, or English words which have unique meanings in Chicago. I particularly enjoyed daboddause, gratchki and couple two tree, plus I always enjoy linguistic discussions of pop. And the synonym listed for gangways is absolutely perfect.

(One quibble: I know they're trying to be all trendy and invoke Wikipedia here, but this feature actually follows the format of a dictionary, not an encyclopedia. I'll be nice and just assume they know the difference.)

Block 37: Before

Chicago's infamous Block 37 has been empty for so long - since 1989 - that recently I've begun wondering what it looked like before its ill-fated demolition. Well, reading Lynn Becker's post on the deterioration of the Uptown Theater and recent demolition of the Nortown Theater lead me to this listing for the old United Artists Theatre which was located on Block 37, at the northwest corner of Dearborn and Randolph. And reading the comments there ultimately brought me to the photo you see above. (Full-size image here; several more images here.) This view is from the corner of Dearborn and Randolph, looking southeast, with the building in the immediate foreground being the United Artists Theatre. The big white building at the left rear is Marshall Field's.

True, the block appeared to have been a hodgepodge of non-aesthetic buildings - and I could be very wrong; maybe there were some real treasures there - but even an unsightly mess still would surely have contributed more to city life than eighteen years of a vacant lot. Even if all of these buildings weren't worth saving, surely a few gems could have been restored and the vacant spaces between tastefully in-filled with new development.

Oh, wait. Gems restored? Tasteful new development? Sorry, I must have been thinking of another city.

Weekend Multimedia

Due to system restrictions, I'm not able to view streaming media at the office, so throughout the week I'll usually accumulate various links which I finally check out on Saturday morning at home. Here's this week's highlights:

+ Crain's Chicago Business profiles Jeff Dreyfuss of Chicago's Metropolis Coffee Company, which we visited last year and enjoyed a great deal. Any place that commissions poster art from the great Jay Ryan is already good enough for me (we own a framed copy of that one), but their coffee is excellent and their store is a very comfy hangout.

+ My old hero Bob Mould has licensed one of his best songs, "See a Little Light", to the pension fund TIAA/CREF. Check out the commercial spots here. On his blog, Bob wondered what his fans might think of such a decision, if they'd think he's selling out.

What would you think if one of my songs was used in a TV commercial? Would the product be of concern? Would it change the meaning of the song?

No concerns here, Bob. It's your art, so you're entitled to do whatever you wish with it, and it's a great song whose message generally fits with that of the sponsor. And besides, TIAA is selling retirement security and financial peace of mind - it's not like your song is helping to shill artery-clogging cheeseburgers or anything similarly egregious. Nicely done.

+ Ben Tanzer (yeah, him again) is charmingly interviewed by his five-year-old son, primarily (but not entirely) about his novel Lucky Man. I say "not entirely", because among several other bold queries, the kid has the audacity to ask the burning question that's on everyone's lips: "Why do you wear your hat backwards?" Clearly, the softball-tossing Larry King is thankfully not an influence on the kid.

+ And the multimedia gods at WFMU unearthed these two timeless gems which should bring a smile to any Midwesterner of a certain age: the Heileman's Old Style beer song and waltz. Prosit!

New Beer in Town

There's a new brewing company in Chicago: Half Acre Beer Company. I say "brewing company" instead of "brewery" since, while it's based on the West Side, the actual brewing is handled by a contract brewer in Black River Falls, Wisconsin - which is certainly the smart way to go for a startup. I heartily welcome Half Acre's arrival, and am looking forward to sampling their wares. The website currently lists only two bars where the beer is carried (and no stores yet) but I'm hoping they'll quickly add more.

Obligatory book-related comment: Black River Falls just so happens to be the setting for Michael Lesy's infamous Wisconsin Death Trip, which I've been hearing about for years but still haven't read. I hope to rectify this oversight soon, perhaps accompanied by a Half Acre Lager.

(Via Gapers Block.)

Three cheers for Alderman Reilly!

Finally, the forces of historic preservation and civic tradition have their day.

Brendan Reilly, freshman alderman of downtown's 42nd Ward, came out against the demolition of the old Lakeshore Athletic Club, saying the "historically significant" building can be saved. His opposition could kill a developer's $41 million contract to buy the property at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive.

It also puts him at odds with Northwestern University, the building's seller. A mandate to keep the 19-story building lowers its resale value.

The decision was Reilly's first involving a controversial and high-profile project in his high-rise ward. Last February, he beat nine-termer Burton Natarus in part by arguing that the incumbent had gotten too close to developers.

Somehow, I imagine Northwestern will survive the likely loss of a few million, and Fifield will find countless other buildings to tear down and toss up bland glass towers in their place. I'm not entirely anti-development, but Lakeshore Athletic Club is a gem that's undeniably worth saving.

Update: Lynn Becker has some appropriately sobering commentary on the powerful institutional resistance that Reilly is likely to face in his preservation efforts. But for now, I'm just going to keep wallowing in today's (perhaps momentary, perhaps moral) victory.

Farewell, Noble Car-Bob

Berwyn's infamous Spindle, aka the Eight Car Pileup or Car-Bob, is facing its final days.

The "car-kabob" is coming down in west suburban Berwyn -- a decision prompting kitsch fans to moan "No way!"

Way, says the mayor of Berwyn.

Officially known as the Spindle and made widely famous by the first "Wayne's World" movie, the artwork of eight automobiles stuck on a steel pipe will be removed this summer to make room for...

For what? What critical piece of infrastructure is slated to replace this wonderful piece of public art? Why, another Walgreen's, of course, even though there are already seven Walgreen's stores within three miles of this site. The bitterly cruel hand of progress squeezes a bit more life out of the urban landscape. Sigh.

Relentless scourge of progress continues...

The City of Chicago, in its never-ending quest to sate the petulant whims of powerful real estate developers, wants to tear down a block of buildings at 300-308 W. Randolph Street. Included in this block is 300 W. Randolph, the charming home of the Showmen's League of America, a fraternal organization of carnival workers, and 50-year Loop mainstay Harry's Hot Dogs. The building is one of the few quirky buildings left downtown, replete with carved elephants above each of the 24 upper-floor windows and a vividly-colored painted depiction of the league's logo.

Why does the city want to tear this endearing building down? Does it want a brand-new commercial building in its place, one which will bring hundreds of workers downtown? No. Does it want to build a new public park? Yes, but with a huge catch. Uber-developer John Buck Co. is pushing for the vacated space to become a publicly-owned plaza, not for the common good of the city's residents, but to enhance the value of its latest Wacker Drive office tower which is being built right next door. Never mind that the property owners don't necessarily want to sell, or at least not at the terms offered by Buck, which now wants the city, through eminent domain, to do all the dirty work instead. Never mind that, if the city really wanted park space in this area, there's a large surface parking lot right across Randolph which could be developed into a park at a substantially lower cost than acquiring and demolishing the buildings at 300-308 W. Randolph would require. But, of course, that scenario wouldn't directly benefit the value of Buck's property (since that park would be across the street instead) and thus, given the developer-friendly milieu of City Hall, will never happen.

Let's see, obliterating a unique relic of the city's past, at public expense, and removing productive commercial buildings from the property tax rolls, all for an amenity whose primary function is to greatly benefit the coffers of a well-connected real estate titan. Yes, indeed, the city's priorities are firmly in place.

Save Lake Shore Athletic Club!

An unsolicited letter to Alderman Brendan Reilly, of Chicago's 42 Ward:

Dear Alderman Reilly:
I strongly encourage you to support the preservation of Lake Shore Athletic Club. The building is an absolute treasure and a beautiful throwback to a bygone era which should be saved and cherished, not demolished to make way for yet another anonymous condo tower. For far too long real estate developers have had the upper hand, and in many cases the only hand, in Chicago and particularly in the Loop and Near North areas. Surely if the prospective developer of this property is intent on building a condo tower, there has to be a parking lot or at least a less important existing building to replace, even along Lake Shore Drive.

In addressing the subject of Lake Shore Athletic Club, please honor the balanced approach to development-versus-preservation which was such a key component of your successful aldermanic campaign this year.

Sincerely,
Pete Anderson
Joliet

Enshrouding the Bug

Farewell, dear Plug Bug. Yes, you grinned in mockery on the city's folly for eighteen years, but if there's one force of nature which is all but unstoppable, it's commercial real estate development in Chicago. Might take nearly two decades, but eventually it will get built. And yet, I can't help but admire this sentiment:

Thousands of years from now, when future archeologists pull down the last steel beams of the buildings currently rising, the Plug Bug will again be revealed, and future peoples will be amazed and perplexed as they create their own stories of what it must have meant to we lost-in-time primitives of today.

Three Lasts of Chicago

Last week's Newcity Chicago featured a charming trio of articles by Maude Standish, each highlighting a "last in Chicago": the last hand-set bowling alley (Southport Lanes, one of my favorite places in the entire city), the last silent movie theater, and the last typewriter repairman, Steve Kazmierski:

"Computers I hate. Oh yeah, `cause you get in trouble with the computers. That's why everyone has much problems. The computers. Don't you know the problems we are having? With the teenagers. They get in and they deal with narcotics and they buy narcotics. They steal the banks from the people. They cheat people. On computers!"

My late father, an unrepentant technophobe (I had to reprogram the speed-dial on my parents' phone every time I visited their house; they never learned to program the VCR; their six-month-long fling with a PC and the Internet earned them little more than a single, borderline-bogus purchase on eBay) would have gotten along great with Mr. Kazmierski. I really like the fact that the latter gives priority to fixing machines that will actually be used for typing, relegating the antiques destined to be mere display items to the back of the line. Fixing the antiques probably pays better, since that clientele is likely wealthier, but he still favors the writers and other old-school typists who keep typewriters' spirit alive in this digital age.

Tony Fitzpatrick Graces the Tribune

Chicago artist and writer Tony Fitzpatrick has a wonderful piece in today's Chicago Tribune in which he explains the creation of his stunning collages, which draw heavily on the city's history.

People walk in and out of my shop all day -- delivery guys, salespeople, kids selling those ratty Snickers bars "for after school programs," and art collectors. They always wonder how I can get any work done with all of the noise and traffic. I tell them that the noise and traffic is part of the music, and the music is part of the stories, and the stories are why I am here.

The print version of the piece also includes gorgeous, full-color reproductions of two of his collages: "Hannibal of Chicago" and "Night Train". Do yourself a favor and browse Fitzpatrick's entire website -- I guarantee you won't regret it.

(Tribune site requires registration. Use "chicagotribune123@mailinator.com" for the user name, "tribune" for the password. Thanks, as always, to bugmenot.com.)