Look for the unassuming, narrow doorway wedged in between an Armenian restaurant and the former staff entrance to the now-shuttered Gap behemoth on Michigan Avenue, climb the nearly vertical and […]
Category: Best of Chicago
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best local conservationist rocking it out on YouTube
Julian Baumgartner may be the sole owner of Chicago’s oldest conservation studio, but that doesn’t keep him from being simultaneously the master of old masters and social media. He’s a […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best new inquiry-minded design studio
“Material artifacts are the most concrete things that surround us in our homes,” writes Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book The Meaning of Things. Most of us, particularly since the pandemic […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best new artist-run project space
In August 2021, the new art gallery Ruschwoman announced its arrival with the group exhibition “Speculative Magenta Hauntology.” The lead image in the exhibition was by the late artist Chiara […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best cross streets for marriage and divorce
The most memorable doughnut of my life was from the Do-Rite that used to be right around the corner from Petterino’s. It was the morning of my divorce. My soon-to-be […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best supporter of local fashion talent
“The CFI played a pivotal role in my transition from aspiring designer to working designer,” says Anna Brown, a Chicago Fashion Incubator alum. “Some of my most meaningful professional relationships […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best place to buy luxurious menswear created by local Black designers
“To each their own, and Agriculture to all” could be the motto of Christopher Brackenridge, 43, and Milton Latrell, 42, the owners of Agriculture menswear boutique, which offers custom-made suits, […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best boutique that started on the back of a truck
The cat sign on the shop window says everything. “I have two cats [Sweet Pea and Naomi] that I bring to the shop when I’m in,” says Adrianne Hawthorne, 36, […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best reason to dare riding the CTA in the middle of a pandemic
When my boyfriend and I moved to Edgewater in June 2020, I had quiet weird feelings about becoming yet another white, north side Chicagoan, but the move brought me to […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best reason to look down
According to legend, fairy doors are portals to the world of fairies—but I’d argue they’re also gateways to the imagination. I came across one located in an alley near Clark […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best tour of non-sentient architecture in Chicago
When Will Quam was asked if all bricks want to be arches, he insisted that bricks have neither feelings nor desires, that as wonderful as they are, they simply aren’t […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best reason to catch a ride to the northwest suburbs with a hot-dog fanatic
I’m a gourmand when it comes to hot dogs and their crustier cousin, the corn dog. When I went to a Chicago Dogs baseball game on $1 hot dog night […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best mayor impersonation on social media
In the spring of 2020, as memes of Mayor Lori Lightfoot advising ballplayers to ditch basketball courts and stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic made rounds on the Internet, videos […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire’s sesquicentennial
2021 marked 150 years since the Great Chicago Fire. While acknowledged by major institutions, the anniversary was muted, perhaps because it’s difficult to commemorate a massive tragedy in the midst […]