My Kind of Town

Chicago IL

I loved being back in Chicago. That town just fits me like an old pair of … boxing boots.

My sister, who was born after we left Chicago for Tennessee, had visited there with family when she was a kid and again in her early 20s, then mostly in dive suburban bars while on tour with her boyfriend’s band, but she had never really spent much time in the city. We hit a few of the touristy highlights – Navy Pier, Grant Park, Michigan Avenue, the Loop – but my favorite part of being back was checking out some of the old haunts from both my suburban childhood and my law school days downtown.

We walked, a lot. I now realize why I was so much more fit when I lived there; well, that and I was a bit younger then, too. Besides the full photo study of Buckingham Fountain that I already posted, I took a lot of pictures. We went to Oak Street Beach and Montrose Beach. We hit up several vinyl record shops in Wicker Park; so much so that I had two vinyl mailers to send back from Chicago. We stumbled upon my old Elementary School by accident. We paid homage to Wrigley Field. We put the top down and blared "Lake Shore Drive" as we rolled down the real thing. And we ate, a lot. 

The spreadsheet had a disproportionate number of bars and restaurants on it for the length of time we were going to be in town, but we did our damnedest to get through as many as we could. Of course, there was deep dish pizza. We went to Carm’s for Italian Beef and Chicago Dogs. We had hummus and falafel at Old Jerusalem. We enjoyed brunch, including those killer cinnamon rolls, at Ann Sather’s. We went to Goose Island Brewery and Streeter’s. And yes, Streeter’s is still “The Greatest Bar Below Earth” – it says so right there on the sign above the door.

We stayed at the Claridge House in Gold Coast, a quaint little boutique hotel a block and a half from my old apartment. It was nice to hang out again next door at 3rd Coast, for breakfast and drinks. Our hotel room was very spacious, and we laughed that we even had our own stage – an odd, raised large platform where only a small desk and chair sat between the bedroom and the bathroom. I did two shows a day, if you didn’t count the extra dances in the middle of the night tripping (literally and figuratively) to the bathroom. You’ve got to love those old building and their workaround renovations. Our hotel room was also on the alleyway side of the building. 

One morning I was reminded of my old apartment down the street, which is right next door to the Ambassador Hotel and then the famous Pump Room Bar. I remember my first morning in that apartment, a first-floor unit with a spiral staircase down to the “garden level” bedroom. I woke to the most awful clanging and clattering. It was the garbage truck emptying the hotel next door’s trash bins right next to my bedroom window. Hotels create a lot of empty bottles, and they are very loud being tossed around at the crack of dawn. No wonder I had gotten such a deal on the rental. On the 6th floor of the Claridge House, garbage collection was more of a gentle nudge from one’s slumber, like a trash panda’s alarm clock. The bonus was that it got me up in time to walk a few blocks away to Lake Michigan, just past my old apartment, where I saw a spectacular sunrise.

Danke Schoen, Chicago, you never disappoint. Me and my boxing boots, we'll be back soon!

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post 

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2bPXpLZrpwwNRZBe9