Your Guide to the Pitchfork 2015 After-Parties
Where to be when the fest winds down.
Ad Categories: Culture
Best Art Tour
If the city were a museum, Rena Sternberg would be its docent. Most gallerists, artists, and collectors know her by sight, because she shows up everywhere. Sternberg isn’t your typical private art consultant (i.e., expensive and unavailable): She prefers to travel with an entourage. She helps collectors find great work by teaching them about it … Read more
Best New Public Art
The 2.7-mile urban greenway is the most adventurous thing to happen to Chicago’s public art scene since Millennium Park. Kay Rosen’s graphic repurposed billboard art; a graffiti garden with 78 murals; a solar observatory created from spiraling mounds of earth; Chakaia Booker’s scrap tire sculptures. What’s not to love? And this is just the beginning: … Read more
Best Golf Instructor
Suttie has the distinction of being the most recent Illinoisan named PGA Teacher of the Year (albeit back in 2000). He’s kept just as sharp since earning that award, coaching players both amateur and professional ($190 for a one-hour session; $550 for three hours). Look for his student Mark Wilson on the PGA Tour—he’s currently … Read more
Best Ballroom Dance Studio
Competitors and clubby types, move along: It’s all about social dance at this studio, which forgoes private membership and DanceSport for an arms-open approach. You’ll find the range of amenities you would at any top-notch studio—wedding prep, private lessons, a benevolent staff, classes from zouk to fox trot—and weekly dance parties ($15) that provide a … Read more
Best Used-Book Store
No grouchy, cell-phone-banning employees or mildew-stained novels here. Everything on the three floors of packed shelves is helpfully labeled, and knowledgeable clerks are eager to help you find that out-of-print Renata Adler you’ve been looking for.
Best Children's Bookstore
This whimsy-heavy spot does the typical kids’ bookstore one better: It hosts weekly storytelling sessions (Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.), runs immersive day camps (this summer’s theme: superheroes; $40 for four sessions), and offers a monthly writing workshop ($40) for pintsize J.K. Rowlings.
Best Art Fair
Art fairs are a dime a dozen in Chicago, but Expo presents the highest-quality work from the most far-flung places. This year you’ll see pieces from 140 top-notch galleries in 16 countries, among them New York’s David Zwirner (Jeff Koons, Richard Serra) and Paris’s Galerie Daniel Templon (Jean-Michel Basquiat, David LaChapelle). It runs September 17 … Read more
Best Street Festival
No sad has-been bands here. This West Loop party has in recent years brought the Black Keys, My Morning Jacket, and Delta Spirit to its stages. If you have to wait in line for food, it may as well be from the likes of Publican Quality Meats, Tête Charcuterie, and BellyQ. Not a fan of … Read more
Best Tennis Lessons
Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, and John McEnroe have all hit the courts at the world-class Logan Square outpost of this mini-chain. But you don’t have to be a pro to enjoy the seven levels of instruction, from intermediate beginner to advanced ($72 for a private one-hour session). You may run into some familiar faces, too—Sasha … Read more