The Parent Trap

Everyone Prefers Blondes
The camera loved her; men swooned for her; and ladies are still mimicking her iconic style. Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe traces the definitive blonde bombshell from Norma Jean to screen queen in an exhibition of 300 Marilyn-centric works by more than 80 artists and photographers, including...

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The It List

This Week's Nightlife Buzz

1. Crimson Lounge celebrates its one-year anniversary—a lifetime in bar years—tonight, Thursday the 17th, with an event called Grand Opening 2.0 (we don't quite get it either). Entertainment includes New York's DJ Kiss and Belmont Burlesque. The party runs from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.; RSVP to crimson1year@zapwater.com.

2. It's always someone's anniversary somewhere: Also tonight...

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On The Market—Spacious Cape Cod in Wilmette

List Price: $1,099,000
The Property: Unlike ostentatious new houses that flaunt their thousands of square feet with soaring roofs and phallic turrets, this Cape Cod–style house in Wilmette is a classic 1950s exercise in self-restraint, with a taupe exterior and a sheltered porch. The broad, low-hanging roof suggests a modest house huddles beneath, but, in fact, there are...

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Burgers, Bagels, and Boasts

Quick Hit

Perennial (1800 N. Lincoln Ave.; 312-981-7070), the newest spot from Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz (Boka, Landmark), looks sharp. Natural organic touches dominate: birch trees, wood-grained tables, aqua-striped upholstered banquettes. The canvas flaps stretched across the ceiling seem a sly reference to Boka’s décor. But that was the beginning and end of any connection to the team’s other enjoyable restaurants. Wings and beer sounded like fun but the weird combo of...

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Housing Bulletin—The Money’s on Naperville, Again

City-lovers who refuse to venture west of Harlem Avenue may not get why a whole lot of other people have such affection for Naperville, but the town collected yet another laurel on Monday, when Money magazine released its 2008 list of the best places to live in the United States. Naperville was No. 3, after towns in Minnesota and...

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Animal Magnetism

Everyone knows that a child's early years are the most crucial developmentally of her whole life. This fact seems to scare the hell out of most new parents. We're constantly worrying that we've managed to screw up our child in some profound, irreversible way, the kind of issue that won't be pinpointed until the kid is on a therapist's couch in 25 years trying to make sense of what went wrong.

Therapist: What about your childhood?
Hannah: I don't know . . . My parents took me to...

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Indian Jewelry Store in Schaumburg

East Meets West

India’s largest jewelry store brand, Tanishq, has opened its first U.S. store in the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg (847-240-0166). The shop, from décor to its merchandise, has an organic, holistic philosophy. Unlike most jewelry stores that places a counter between the customer and the staff, the store is very open and inviting, with the jewelry displayed in windows along the...

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Tune in Thursday

LGS is off today. Check back later this week for the latest from the nightlife front.

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Sale(s) of the Week: Two $9-Million North Shore Sales in Two Days

The Properties: July started off with a bang on the North Shore, and that’s not a reference to the many fireworks displays hosted by towns and country clubs. Two separate lakefront mansions sold for stratospheric prices: on July 1st, a Kenilworth estate went for $9,710,913, and two days later, one in Wilmette went for...

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Francophone Call

It’s Quebec versus France in a battle royale of weekend whimsy: While Canada’s Cirque du Soleil continues to camp out in the parking lot of the United Center, Paris’s Compagnie Transe Express stakes out some prime lakefront airspace. In the latter’s free spectacle, Maudits Sonnants: Celestial Carillon, performers suspend themselves...

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The It List: This Week's Nightlife Buzz

1. Relive the 1990s, Peach Pit-style. Bucktown's Silver Cloud goes back to Beverly Hills, 90210 tonight, July 10th, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. when tapered jeans-clad servers deliver liquid nostalgia in the form of sex on the beach shots ($3) and neon coolers (Effen vodka, Sprite, and a Jolly Rancher, with a glow stick; $6). On the tube: 90210 reruns, classic Bulls games, and throwback flicks like Pretty Woman.

2. Chicago's premier eco-conscious lounge has gone even greener. Mark Klemen just completed an earth-friendly cleanup of his...

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On The Market—Downsizing in Lincoln Park

List Price: $1.495 million
The Property: Nine years ago, this redstone townhouse from the early 1890s and its neighbor to the east were coupled together in an unusual approach to expandable housing. In 1999, when their family of five was outgrowing the house on the east (where they had lived since 1980), Susan and Tom Kuczmarski bought this house to...

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Doing the Bristol Romp

Monkey See, Monkey Eat

The Bristol, an “affordable artisanal neighborhood eatery and bar” from John Ross (former GM of One Sixtyblue) and a couple of other partners, is coming to Bucktown on September 9th. (We are sworn to secrecy on the location. Soon, readers, soon.) One of his partners, Chris Pandel, is a former sous-chef at Tru and right-hand man to Rick Tramonto; he says nothing on his regular menu at The Bristol will...

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Housing Bulletin—Amy Jacobson Sells Her Lake View “Dream Home”

Amy Jacobson, a former reporter for WMAQ–Channel 5, has sold her four-bedroom Lake View graystone for $938,000—a 4.2 percent gain over the purchase price three years ago, but a significant loss, says Jacobson, given what she...

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More Songs About Chocolate and Immigration

Cool town, Melbourne. It's a clean, cosmopolitan city of nearly 4 million, and routinely lands on those lists of the most livable cities in the world, usually second to Vancouver. The skyline glitters at night, and everywhere we go are these sort of half-indoor, half-outdoor malls and cafés. Even the alleys are cool-looking.

One problem. Everyone pronounces Melbourne "MEL-bin," which makes me think of Melba toast, which...

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Stationery and Gifts in Lincoln Park

Pretty Papers

Since opening last September, Elizabeth Grace Paperie and Gifts (2438 N. Clark St.; 773-477-9830) has quickly become a must destination for brides-to-be and hostesses alike. The quirky gift and stationery shop, located on...

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