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July 2008
Stick a Pitchfork in It

Here you go: the best and worst of Pitchfork, which sits firmly atop my list of favorite local summer festivals (my other picks: the Hideout Block Party Sept. 20-21 and the African Festival of Arts over Labor Day weekend). If you didn't get to Union Park over the weekend, you missed a reunion of Public Enemy that people either loved or hated, some great up-and-coming musical talent, and a few Hobbesian moments in the mud—all of which I'll tell you about below. If you did make it to the fest, I'd love to hear your...

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Forget and Forgive

You know those couples who celebrate their relationship almost as often as they sneeze? I'm not just talking about married people. For these folks, nearly anything is a cause for celebration: the anniversary of a first date, a first kiss, a first joint trip to the grocery store. I find it irritating as hell. It's almost as annoying as some of my female friends who refer to their husbands as "my husband" rather than just using his name—as if I won't know whom they're talking about...

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Sale of the Week—Trading Up from the Park Tower
By Dennis Rodkin

List Price: $1.4 million
Sale Price: $1.3 million
The Property: This two-bedroom condo on the 44th floor of the prestigious Park Tower at 800 N. Michigan Ave. was the “in-town” second home of a pair of Indiana physicians for seven years, until they traded up this year to a...

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Au Revoir, Le Magasin!


I really hate starting a post with an expression of farewell, in any language. Another of my favorite shops, River North’s Le Magasin, is closing July 31. The impossibly charming owner, Didier Milleriot, is moving back to his native France to be near his partner, who is off to Germany for a fellowship. The good news is that many of Milleriot’s lines—including Point à la Ligne vegetable-shaped candles, glassware, and linens from Garnier Thibaut (shown here) and Alexandre Turpault—will now be carried at Oak Park’s year-old Botanica. Milleriot reports that there’s not much left in his shop, but what is there is all 50 percent off. Milleriot will make a special appearance at Botanica on October 16. Details to come.

—JAN PARR


 

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The Parent Trap
By Rebecca Little

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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Dining Out: Luxe Lives
By Dennis Ray Wheaton
Forget the recession. In a trio of downtown hotels, three glittering, ambitious restaurants—Mercat a la Planxa, Sixteen, and Lockwood—appear to have done just that. Read more
Bars 2.0
By Miriam Gottfried
No one's been able to come up with an adequate name for them—bastraunts? restobars?—but these restaurant-lounge hybrids have reached a critical mass. Their tantalizing promise of good cocktails, beers, and food is impossible to ignore. But are they any good? We ate and drank at ten spots that have opened in the past year to find out. Read more