Richard Babcock
By Richard Babcock
His passions for food, fashion, and fine cars melded perfectly with his work in publishing. Read more
By Richard Babcock
As the editor of Chicago magazine, I am pleased to announce that we have just published our first Russian edition! Just kidding. But a Chicagoan might be entitled to wonder, if he or she happened to be visiting the south Russian town of Krasnodar and picked up the local city magazine. Witness above the basis for confusion: Our “40 Reasons to Love Chicago” cover from December 2010 and Krasnodar magazine’s “30 Reasons to Love Krasnodar” dated February 2011. The striking similarity was first brought to my attention by Olga Smolkina, a... Read more
By Richard Babcock
Saturday night, I took in the Signal Ensemble Theatre’s rendering of The Real Inspector Hound and I was reminded that the highlight (for me) of the play comes when Moon, finally given the chance to showcase his talent, spins into an hallucinatory imagining of the review he will write—a thunderously inflated speech... Read more
By Richard Babcock
I made my first visit of the season to Wrigley Field on Sunday, and everyone sent me off with the obvious question: How are the restrooms? Read more
By Richard Babcock
He spent lavishly and hung out with the city's elite, including Al Capone. His murder in a passageway under Michigan Avenue outraged the city, until the truth emerged—that he was corrupt to his core. Read more
By Richard Babcock
Is Barack Obama the second coming of that other "elitist" Democratic presidential candidate from Illinios, Adlai Stevenson? Read more
By Richard Babcock
Fifty years ago this April, a young man from Woodstock, Illinois, named Johnny Stompanato was stabbed to death in the bedroom of his lover, the movie goddess Lana Turner. Stompanato was a minor hoodlum and notorious Lothario, and news accounts eviscerated his character in the media frenzy after his death. Now a writer, also from Woodstock, follows a fading trail to find how a small-town Midwesterner landed at the heart of one of Hollywood's most enduring scandals. Read more
By Richard Babcock
Why is this beloved ball club so good at being bad? One tortured fan journeys to the heart of Cub darkness, looking for answers Read more