BEA 2000: Sweet Home, Chicago
Sara Paretsky -- 5/8/00
I first saw Chicago at two on a June morning in 1966. I was driving north from Kansas to do community service work here--volunteer work in a time of great hope, a time when we believed that if we poured enough energy, enough goodwill into the problems of our country, we could change those problems for good.
The vastness of the city at night was overwhelming. Red flares against a yellow sky, and mile on mile of unbending lights: street lamps, neon signs, traffic lights, flashing police blues--lights that didn't illuminate but threw shadows, and made the city seem a monster, ready to devour the unwary.
During that summer, as I traveled the city with 40 kids, going to museums and ball games, attending neighborhood meetings, listening to Martin Luther King speak at Soldier Field, I started to know Chicago. Behind the veneer of lights is the warmth of the streets where people go about their business as they always do in cities great or small.
I also began to explore a city that's famous for theater, music, for food and above all architecture. Because you won't have 90 days to get to know the place, let me introduce you to a few shortcuts.
Chicago on foot or water is a great way to see the buildings. At the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan (across from the Art Institute), you can take walking tours of the downtown with a knowledgeable docent. You can also sign up for a boat trip along the Chicago River to see the buildings close up--and from behind. Or you can buy Chicago on Foot (Chicago Review Press) and explore the city's buildings on your own.
The Chicago Symphony finishes their spring season at Orchestra Hall (220 S. Michigan) on June 10, so it will still be possible to get tickets to our world-famous orchestra. For those who tastes run to blues, the Chicago House of Blues, for all its touristy gimmicks, is one of the best venues. It's in Marina City, Bud Goldberg's masterpiece overlooking the river, at 324 N. Dearborn. For club jazz, there are many venues for many tastes; my friends like Pops for Champagne at 2934 N. Sheffield. Hot contemporary acts are at Park West, 322 W. Armitage. For dancing, with live bands and jazz or blues in the side rooms, go to the Cotton Club, 1710 S. Michigan, or Hot House, 2234 W. Medill.
Nichols and May, John Malkovich and Joan Allen, the Blues Brothers and a host of others all came out of Chicago's many small theaters. To see the next crop of Broadway stars, check out www.theaterchicago.org--and you can always try for half-price, same-day tickets at the Hot Tix booth on State and Washington, across from Marshall Fields. If you're in Fields for a sundae on the seventh floor, get someone to direct you to the Tiffany ceiling, recently restored and on display for the first time in decades.
As for eating, you can get good ideas from Chicago magazine, or the Friday magazine in the Chicago Tribune. A few tips? W. Randolph Street between Halsted and Morgan offers many good restaurants, including Blackbird for unusual and beautiful food where the young hip crowd congregates; the Red Lantern for Chinese; and on Carpenter, across from Oprah's studio, Le Sardine, a French bistro brought to Chicago by Jean-Claude Rollevy, whose other bistro, Le Bouchon at 1940 N. Damen, is my own personal favorite place to eat. For beef, Lawry's Prime Rib is a golden oldie but still unbeatable. Natives who love our deep-dish pizza swear by Edwardo's.
If you want a baseball fix, the Cubs are playing Detroit at Wrigley Field June 3-5. True Chicagoans know that South Siders--salt-of-the-earth blue-collar beer drinkers--are Sox fans, while wine-sipping North Side Yuppies are Cubs fans. True Chicagoans want to know why I and my South Side blue-collar detective V.I. Warshawski break our hearts over the Cubs. When I came to Chicago in 1966, the Sox didn't care about our program, while the Cubs gave us passes for our 40 kids twice a month. Like an honest politician--defined in Chicago as one who stays bought--I have never forgotten the Cubs' generosity to our group all those years ago.
My friends and I didn't solve any of the city's problems in 1966, from the Cubs to the crime, but Chicago got in my blood that summer; I've never been able to leave. I hope some of the city's magic rubs off on you.
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