Cabs Move For South Loop-Area E-sports Arena
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about plans for a new e-sports arena just off State Street near McCormick Place. Now our tip line has scored with pictures of the site sent in by South Loop Spy Alex. March, 2021 photograph of 2500 South Wabash Avenue. (Courtesy of South Loop Spy Alex.) The location, 2500 South Wabash Avenue, is the former home of the Chicago Carriage Cab company. Today it sports a public notice about Smash...
Steppenwolf Theatre Expansion Struts Through Phase Two
If the COVID-19 pandemic has left you so starved for quality theater that you’re consuming Robert Green material like it was Kit Marlowe, you’re in good company. Chicago’s own Steppenwolf Theatre is laying the brickwork for thespian expansion. Steppenwolf Theatre expansion (Courtesy of Ranch Triangle Spy Joel) This photo was sent in by Ranch Triangle Spy Joel. It shows construction well underway on phase two of the...
Wayback Wednesday: Pedal-Powered Public Puppet Performances
Today’s Wayback Wednesday brings us to ten years ago today: January 22, 2010. That was the day we took this photograph of a puppet bike. A puppet bike on the corner of Randolph and Michigan on January 22, 2010. (File) A puppet bike is a large tricycle with a puppet theater grafted onto the back of it. They would be seen intermittently in the busier areas of downtown Chicago, entertaining tourists and being largely ignored by the...
Sterling Bay Not Putting All of Lincoln Yards’ Eggs In One Basket
Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards development is widely seen as one of the frontrunners if Amazon decides to build its second headquarters in Chicago. But now that northern Virginia is largely considered the leader in the race for HQ2, it’s a good thing the West Town real estate developer has other rabbits to pull out of its hat. One of those bunnies is a new agreement with Live Nation. The L.A. entertainment octopus is going...
Snow Days Chicago Celebrates Snow Sculpting at Navy Pier
It seems like lately my friends who live in South Florida have been posting more photos of palm trees and beaches on Facebook. I’m not sure if it’s meant to brighten my day, but as I’m trudging through slush on yet another frigid morning, all the sunny photos do is make me want to scream. Well, so what if southerners are walking around in shorts, dining al fresco and applying sunscreen right now. There’s one thing they can’t do: build...
Earth Day in Chicago: Moving Design And Chicago Conservation Corps Volunteers Celebrate Their Green Ideas
An Earth Day 2013 quick quiz: How long does it take a banana peel to decompose? How long for a plastic jug? (Answers at the end of this article.) Chicagoans produce 7.6 million tons of trash each year and an average family of four uses about 400 gallons of water each day. The local volunteer organizations Moving Design and Chicago Conservation Corps saw these sobering statistics as an opportunity to raise awareness about...
Slice of Life: Six Horse Town
Don’t let any of your East and West Coast buddies call Chicago a “one-horse town.” We have photographic proof that this is at least a six-horse town. The horses in question spend their days munching straw in a paddock at 1367 North Sedgwick Street, in Old Town. This was posted last week on our Facebook page under “Just when I thought I’d seen everything in this city…” Like so many people who...
Hollywood Blows Up Chicago. Again.
It seems like every month, Hollywood churns out yet another end-of-the-world movie. Sometimes armageddon doesn’t start in New York or Los Angeles. It happens on the shores of Lake Michigan. Coming out in July is the latest Transformers movie, called Dark of the Moon. From what I can tell from the trailer below, it’s about space robots that destroy Chicago. This is far from the first time Chicago has been destroyed by a...
The Sadness that is Chicago’s Oktoberfest
Chicago’s Oktoberfest has come and gone, and if you blinked — you missed it. It was held for two days at Federal Plaza (77 West Jackson Street) in the Loop and was a sparsely attended affair. Just a few rows of stand-up tables, and a long tent selling pretzels, beer, and brats. No offense is intended to those who organized it when I give it a “Whoop-de-freakin’-do” rating. Not that long ago, Chicago had...
Oak Street diamond may shine again
The former diamond of Oak Street may get a chance to shine again. The Chicago Tribune reports that South Africa’s DeBeers company is thinking about opening a boutique in the former Esquire Theater building. The Esquire has been vacant for quite some time. Plans to redevelop it into a hotel were nixed by the neighbors who worried about traffic and noise. A quiet upscale diamond merchant, however, would fit in nicely. After all...
