Events Newsletters Subscribe

Year: 2009

I Wanna Be Sedated

by

“All the sidewalks in Bangkok are cracked,” I recall thinking just before I stepped in a hole near the National Museum and heard my right ankle snap like a Village beatnik circa 1954. As I hopped around in agony on my one good foot, my daughter began clapping, assuming this was some funny impromptu dance for her entertainment. It may as well have been. Once the pain subsided enough for my wife to examine my ankle, we realized I hadn’t broken it, just twisted it unnaturally, and everyone but me lost interest…

Room & Board Floor Samples

by

I love antiquing, thrifting, and small, locally owned showrooms. It’s great to mix and match furniture and accessories for that collected-over-time feel. But if I had to choose only one store to furnish my home—the one that best suits my taste and budget—it would be Room & Board. I like it even better when they’re having a sale. The company has swept up all the floor samples from its Chicago-area stores and brought them to its Oak Brook location, where they’re discounted up to 50 percent. Shop through Sunday. I dig this chair, which is on clearance for $699 on the Web site, but no telling if it’s part of the floor sample sale.

—Jan Parr

The Funny Bowl

by

Details Are Sketchy

The Super Bowl is still a good three weeks away, but those hankering for a taste of hard-fought competition fraught with blood, sweat, tears—and, bonus: laughs—can get their fill this weekend at Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, a 131-show collection of the best of short-form comedy running through January 18th at Theatre Building Chicago (1225 W. Belmont Ave.; chicagosketchfest.com). Highlights include Unintentionally Hilarious, written and performed by junior-high students (because what’s more painfully funny than those awkward tween years?), 1 p.m. Saturday the 10th, or, for the truly bloodthirsty, Fordham University Comedy Troupe (whose acronym we’ll avoid spelling out here), a group that pulls no punches—seriously: check out their skit Nun Ruler—8 p.m. Friday the 9th and Saturday…

On the Market: Old World Elegance, Gold Coast Views

by

List Price: $3.6 million
The Property: The immense living room of this fifth-floor condo at the northern tip of the Gold Coast offers a majestic view over the lawns, soccer fields, and statuary in the southern stretches of Lincoln Park. “We thought of all that as our own front yard,” says John Benjamin, who, with his wife, Esther, has lived in this condo in the 13-story confection at 1550 North State Parkway for about 17 years (the building itself dates back…

Do the White Thing

by

Le Creuset makes my hands-down favorite pots ‘n pans in terms of heat distribution and oven-to-table sexiness. The distinctive colors are cheery, easy to spot, and often imitated by lesser manufacturers, but it’s well worth investing in some authentic pieces—they’ll last forever. Sur la Table has just announced Le Creuset’s new line of white cookery, in case you’re trying to keep things visually calm in the kitchen or just don’t want anything to clash with your goulash. I dig it. 

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

The Library

by

In 1993, a would-be lawyer named John Huebl serendipitously acquired a phenomenal collection of books. Fifteen years later, as he recalls the joy those volumes brought him, Huebl uncovers the story of the man who once owned them