The Dry Season
In recent years, Chicago has become a tough town in which to get a liquor license. Credit Mayor Daley’s strict policies on booze—and enforcement by a stern and obscure bureaucrat.
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Week 7: Babies are the New Black
With this . . . thing . . . growing in Sarah, keeping the Big Secret means nonstop paranoia. We feel like sophomores who have been smoking pot all afternoon, certain that everyone can tell we’re baked, and that everyone is whispering behind our backs. They’re not, not yet. But it does feel like everyone is talking about babies, which of course isn’t true. It’s just that, for the first time, I’m paying attention.
We had a big deck party and it was babies this and babies that all afternoon. Sarah and I tried hard not to make eye contact in fear that we would be found out. One guy, a creative director at DDB or something, told me he was looking to patent a strap-on vest for fathers filled with milk so they could “breastfeed” their babies when Mom wasn’t around. He called it . . . wait for it . . . “The Milkman.” I thought it was brilliant, until Sarah asked me if I would ever consider wearing one. (Editor’s note: not long after, the writers of Meet the Fockers had the same idea and put Robert DeNiro in one. Coincidence? Editor’s note #2: Boy, DeNiro’s career has really blossomed.) …
The Ex Files
Over the years, many of our local public officials have capped off their careers with a stint in the pokey on corruption charges. Here’s how a few of them are faring today as ex-cons
The View from My Window
Looking south from my 11th-floor office in the Tribune Tower, I can see Pioneer Court, the Michigan Avenue Bridge, and a string of stylish skyscrapers. But perched above the spot where Chicago began, it’s also easy to pick up intimations of the city’s past.
Start Your Own . . . Franchise
Finding the right job-or any job at all-can be tough these days. Then there's the falling ax of downsizing. What to do? You might think about joining the growing number of people who are buying franchise businesses. Peter Birkeland, a local consultant and author of Franchising Dreams, sees more and more would-be entrepreneurs and … Read more
Laissez-Faire Be a Lady
UIC economist Deirdre McCloskey talks freely about capitalism, the fallout from Enron, and her sex change.
Sudden Impact
In the 1969 Days of Rage, antiwar radical Brian Flanagan and city lawyer Richard Elrod, collided, changing their lives and creating an indelible image.
Shore Patrol
While scouring the long stretch from Jackson Park up to Hollywood Beach, we discovered some of the lakefront’s native dwellers. Meet the characters, photographed last year, who make our shore more than just a pretty place
Heartbreak Hotel
Only a few years after J. W. Stevens opened his grand Michigan Avenue hotel, the Depression devastated his family, inducing a series of calamities that included suicide, bankruptcy, and criminal charges. But from the debacle of the Stevens Hotel (now Chicago Hilton and Towers) emerged a young man who today, at 86, sits on the U.S. Supreme Court
Feeling the Heat
Many scientists cite world-impacting weather phenomena—melting glaciers, vanishing snowcaps—as proof of a warming planet. But what does that mean for Chicago?