Pool Hall Wisdom
Long before he wrote for shows like Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D., the author got some life-altering advice from a hustler named Banks.
Ad Categories: City Life
Mr. T in Lake Forest and Woodward in Wheaton: Famous Folks Who Lived in the Burbs
Wherever you live in the Chicago area, someone famous once lived there, too. Here’s a list of the best known — or at least the most interesting — people to have inhabited our suburbs.
1 The Way the Season Asserts Itself in the City
Winter in Chicago is a gift for a writer. It is a force of nature capable of changing not just the face and pace of a city, but the vision of it. A magical snowfall opening a story signals a different city than an ice storm would. Winter in fiction, and in life, exists in … Read more
2 The Feeling of Stepping Into a Bar on a Frigid Night
In our local mythology, winter is an annual trial, bleak and interminable, that we survive on delivered food and fervid dreams of day drinking in the sun. But what if it’s also just about the warmest you can be? I’m talking about that moment when you step into a Chicago bar from the cold. The … Read more
3 Frozen Custard Tastes Better in Frozen Weather
One of my beloved indulgences is to eat frozen treats outdoors in subzero temperatures — specifically frozen custard from Lickity Split, whose Edgewater location wisely stays open year-round. Counterintuitive though it seems to put something cold inside your body when it’s cold outside, it’s a leisurely luxury to consume a sundae or cone (I’m partial to vanilla … Read more
4 You Can Explore the City in a Whole New Way: On Skis
I’ve been cross-country skiing in Chicago for a quarter century, since the days when winter was winter, before global warming put a squeeze on the number of snow days. The flat Chicago Lake Plain is a perfect surface for cross-country skiing — all glide and no grunt. Here are four of my favorite spots. Skokie Lagoons There … Read more
5 Future Olympians Compete at Chicago’s Coolest (and Coldest) Winter Party
The most entertaining winter sports festival in America isn’t in Aspen or Park City — it’s in Fox River Grove. At the Norge Ski Club’s annual tournament, Olympic hopefuls soar off a 70-meter jump, while down below 8,000 to 10,000 spectators revel in the Chicago area’s wildest outdoor winter party. It’s equal parts U.S. Cup competition and … Read more
6 You Can Take a Florida Vacation Without Leaving the City
For Florida natives like me, winter in Chicago is a time of reckoning. Why, I often find myself wondering, did I forsake 75-degree days in February for this? Plenty of Chicagoans flock to the Southeast when the temperature drops, but you don’t have to spend all that money (or suffer the indignity of a Spirit … Read more
7 The Strange Beauty of Christmas Trees Ready to Be Recycled
On New Year’s Day, just when it seems all joy has fled the world, we recover from the previous night’s festivities by taking down the Christmas tree. Our kids quietly put away the ornaments, and then we drag the disrobed tree outside while everyone else on our block is still asleep. We tie the poor … Read more
8 Eating Outdoors by the Fireplace at Elske
The Danish-influenced West Loop restaurant has the most alluring, cozy outside space in the city, with a fireplace and fur blankets and a menu featuring seasonal fare that is rich and comforting. It feels like you are visiting some ice-laden country for a few hours, complete with a glass of hot glögg. 1350 W. Randolph … Read more