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March 2008
A Boutique Pops Up in the Loop
By Rebecca Little

See More, Spend More?

SeeMore Shopping Chicago Boutique (175 W. Jackson Blvd.; 312-360-1344)—the event organizer, shopping tour operator, and shopping site dedicated to promoting Chicago shopping—has opened a “pop-up” boutique exclusively featuring Chicago-based designers in the atrium lobby of the office building. The mix ranges from clothes and jewelry to specialty food items, with prices ranging from $7 to $550. Find items from designer Cyndi Chan, whose clothing line Ori’en was featured in the Macy’s Fashion show in October; beautiful silver...

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Back on Thursday

LGS is returning from a weekend of bonding with The Boyfriend’s parents; check back Thursday for her report on John Legend and all things glitzy at Art Smith’s World Festival.

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Sale of the Week—Doing a Double Take in River North
By Dennis Rodkin

Southeast Condo - List Price: $4.95M - Sale Price: $4.95M
Northeast Condo- List Price: $4.65M - Sale Price: $4.7M
The Properties: Two adjacent nine-room penthouses occupying parts of the 59th and 60th floors of the Millennium Centre (at 33 West Ontario Street) sold over the past few weeks, each for more than $4 million. Although the penthouses went to separate buyers, their sales were connected. Only the northeast penthouse was on the market in November, when two different buyers showed strong interest, says Steve Graf, the @Properties agent who was representing that unit. So he approached the owner of....

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Neiman Marcus Lalique Architectural Launch
March 6, 2008 - Guests gathered at Neiman Marcus for the launch of their Interior Design Exhibition, a collection of LALIQUE architectural masterworks. The exhibit (which will be in place from March 6 to March 27) will feature an assortment of Lalique crystal masterpieces from its interior design collection, past and present. Read more
Week 42: Water, Loo

The contractions were coming faster and faster on that floor, and every now and then Sarah would mumble something incomprehensible. "Please give me a minute here," I heard her say at one point.

"Who are you talking to?" I asked.

"I'm making a deal with my body here," she said. "Shut up."

I did, no matter how much she pleaded with the contractions. Her natural response was to...

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The Green Machine
By Rebecca Little
Easy Being Green

The South Side Irish Parade took place on the 9th, and the weekend ahead is riddled with green beer drink-offs. Isn’t there anything authentic left to celebrate on St. Patrick’s Day? It’s FitzGerald’s (6615 Roosevelt Rd., Berwyn; 708-788-2118) to the rescue when the nightclub hosts its annual féile (that’s Gaelic for “festival”) on Monday the 17th. The merriment includes ten hours of music and dancing, 2 p.m. to midnight, with headliners the Dooley Brothers back for the band’s 26th year of playing its signature Irish-folk-meets-rock-n-roll. Other performers include the multitasking dancing/fiddler April Verch, and Kevin Flynn and the Avondale Ramblers, whose rock repertoire is...

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On The Market—TV Time in Old Irving Park
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $749,000
The Property: This four-bedroom condo occupies the top (fourth) floor of a nondescript building on busy Pulaski Avenue in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood. But once the private elevator ascends and the doors open on a Chinese red foyer decorated with beads and vases, the commonplace has clearly been left behind. Off to the left...

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In Giuseppe’s Shoes
By Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby
Next Gig

Giuseppe Scurato (formerly of Boka and MK), who recently parted ways with Fox & Obel, has joined forces with Branco Palikuca (owner of Amber Cafe, 13 N. Cass Ave., Westmont; 630-515-8080) to open Topaz (780 Village Center Driveway, Burr Ridge; 630-654-1616), a 150-seat contemporary American place in a new shopping center. “It should be ready to open by the beginning of April,” says Scurato, whose plans to open his own place are still on hold. “Most of our ingredients will be organic. We’re not going to ...

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Trauma Queen
By Anne Kavanagh
Trouble keeps finding Betty Loren Maltese, the imprisoned former town president of Cicero. Read more