CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS – LINCOLN SQUARE SOUTH LOOP PORTAGE PARK LAKEVIEW NAPERVILLE
CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS – LINCOLN SQUARE SOUTH LOOP PORTAGE PARK LAKEVIEW NAPERVILLE
Some boys dream of being an astronaut or hitting a home run as a major league ball player. Peter Strazzabosco has dreamed of arranging hot dogs Italian beefs and gyros sandwiches next to each other and comparing them. A little bizarre he’s even admitted but it helps explain his on-line-ego-Chicago’s GreaseFreak.
"I was 7 when I first tasted an Italian beef and I thought ‘What an amazing thing!" says the 40-year-old grease freak. He is not overweight as one might suspect from reading and viewing his Web site greasefreak.com.
"I just like eating and photographing these foods" explains the Lincoln Square-based writer. "This is my small goodwill gesture to mankind." People are taking note. Strazzabosco claims 5000 daily visitors to his site from former Chicagoans seeking nostalgia to tourists hungry for some greasy grub.
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SOUTH LOOP
The South Loop has been an "up and coming" neighborhood for some time now. Because of its flood of residents in new luxury condos and townhouses as well as college students attending the more popular Columbia College and School of the Art Institute. When the area was given its own Target and Whole Foods that pretty much sealed the deal: the South Loop had credibility.
New businesses and eating and drinking establishments arrived too to satisfy the young professionals moving in. But something was still missing: live music.
Or was it?
Lately Reggie’s Rock Club (2109 S. State) and Reggie’s Music Joint (2105 S. State) have attracted music lovers and has become a hot spot for live shows. Reggie’s isn’t the only spot to hear South Loop sounds.
Cal‘s Bar (400 S. Wells) has been around since 1947. It has been featuring live music every weekend for several years now. According to Mike Feirstein (nephew of the bar’s namesake) Cal’s is "sort of like the city’s CBGB."
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PORTAGE PARK
For 46 years Sherry Miller brought in many students from age 5 to 55 into her bungalow in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood. She seated them at her 6-foot Steinway piano and asked them to play the classics of Bach and Beethoven no matter how difficult.
"She was strict but she expected a lot out of her students" said one of her former students Amanda Mitar. "She didn’t just let you slide or slack off. If she gave you a piece to do she expected it to be done."
Mrs. Miller died Friday May 30 at the age of 82 in Dallas of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease said her daughter Charlotte Bennett.
Sherry was the only child of Hungarian and Austrian immigrants. Mrs. Miller known then as Sherry Husak began playing piano at age 5 learning the instrument from a neighbor in their Rogers Park neighborhood.
Her skill progressed quickly. She performed with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra by age 15 and earned a scholarship to Chicago Musical College where she studied under famous pianist Rudolph Ganz. To read the entire article click here.
LAKEVIEW
The Chicago International Film Festival will be staying downtown this fall set at two AMC theaters – four at 600 N. Michigan and four at River East. The Music Box Theatre will be used for some special events and the Landmark Century Cinema Centre a Lakeview film festival hub for years is out of the picture.
"We’re not going to be working with Landmark this year" said Ryan Jewell the festival’s managing director. As a former Landmark employee he added that one of the main complaints about the festival was the difficulty of getting from one screening to another. "We liked the idea of everything being in walking distance of everything else."
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NAPERVILLE
Two Depression-era dams are on the West Branch of the DuPage River and are slated for removal in order to help restore the river’s natural flow and drain two polluted lakes.
Both dams are DuPage County Forest Preserve District property. One is in the McDowell Grove preserve in Naperville and the other in the Warrenville Grove preserve in Warrenville.
Small lakes have formed behind both dams and are gradually filling with sediment from upstream said the district’s director of natural resources John Oldenburg. The residue which contains some radioactive thorium from the former Kerr-McGee Corporation factory of West Chicago will be removed and the riverbanks restored to their original flood plain configuration Oldenburg said. Click here for the entire story.
JENNIFER GARRITY & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO
