The Slinger. The Jumpball. The Garbage Plate. The Deuces Wild RIP.
If you’re a regular at Chicago-area diners, you may know that these are the names of some legendary signature specials. And if you don’t yet, you’re in for a treat because Curious Citizen Rachel Kimura asked us:
Even in the midst of an epidemic of violence that’s earned Our Town the nickname of Chiraq, life on the South Side is anything but one-dimensional. Gangs, drugs, poverty, a fundamentally flawed school system, and the despair that comes from knowing that so many people in a position to help just don’t give a crap are inescapable facts. But so are love, hope, community, and reveling in a thousand humble joys—from grilled cheese sandwiches to birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese, and from smoking weed to dissing Kobe Bryant—all of which combine to make life worth living.
Alternately giddy and profound, veering from braggadocious to comically self-deprecating, and equal parts slacker pothead and street philosopher, on his second mixtape Acid Rap, Chance the Rapper paints the most complete portrait of young male African-American life on the South Side of Chicago since Kanye West gave us The College Dropout in 2004.
Those cool kids at University of Chicago take part in an epic scavenger hunt each year, so legendary that Patricia Marx immortalized it in the New Yorker last year. This year's hunt ended Sunday. Here were my favorite items from the full list:2. Jump the shark. Literally. Points based on length and vivacity of shark. [Up to 40 points]
11. Official swag from Arthur Andersen LLP, Lehman Brothers Inc., or Enron Corporation. [9 points]
14. Reanimate a dead invertebrate using nothing more than edible, common kitchen ingredients. [6 points]
20. Get an animal at the zoo to wave at you. [14 points]
24. Every girl needs a cocktail dress! Yours should hold at least a liter of Mai Tais. Keep it classy, though—we expect neither VPL nor VLP (visible liquid placement). [33.814 points]
27. It’s not about the money; we just find zeroes deeply and inexplicably appealing. Bring us the highest denomination banknote you can find in whatever currency you want.
Angelina Jolie may be one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the silver screen. In real life, she seems almost too perfect: an alien-like presence of unattainable sexuality (ask any geekboy who first ogled her curves in Lara Croft Tomb Raider) whom many women have been quick to hate despite her outstanding work as a UN Ambassador and comittment to feminist causes around the world.
If you are a gay man looking to go out in Chicago on a Saturday night, a spider web of events spin out from Boystown. Lakeview has Sidetrack and Spin. Rogers Park offers Mayne Stage and Jackhammer. Edgewater boasts Big Chicks and the Granville Anvil. If you’re downtown, check out Second Story and the aptly named Downtown Bar. The South Side offers Jeffery Pub, Club Escape and InnExile.Mayor William Hale Thompson celebrated his 51st birthday on May 14, 1920. He marked the occasion by dedicating the new Michigan Avenue Bridge. Now, that was something worth celebrating–and Chicago did.
Michigan Avenue had always been a South Side street. It ended at the south bank of the Chicago River. If you wanted to cross over to the North Side, you had to go a block west to Rush Street.
North of the river, there was no Magnificent Mile.
