Last week my friend Suzette and I visited Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. We had a wonderful time walking around and taking in the culture of the neighborhood. We explored beautiful artwork, stores and buildings and had a delicious lunch of Teriyaki Chicken at the Richland Center Food Court. Chinatown is easily accessible from Downtown Chicago. You take the CTA Red Line train to the Cermak/Chinatown stop.
The Chopin Theatre is located at 1543 West Division Street in Chicago’s Polish Triangle in the Wicker Park neighborhood. It was built in 1918. It hosts hundreds of shows/presentations per year ranging from theatre to jazz and classical music, literature, film and social events. The main stage area seats over 200 and the black-box studio area seats approximately 175. It is currently showing Pinocchio through May 19th.
The terra cotta building was designed by architects Worthmann and Steinbach. It underwent some name changes over the years. It was first operated by Victor Bardonski and in 1923 it was renamed Harding Theatre. In 1931 it went back to Chopin, then to Pix Theatre and back to Chopin (which it remains today).
It has been owned by the Dyrkacz family since 1990. They bought it when it was largely vacant and have restored it to its present charm and it just celebrated its 100 year anniversary!
Some famous people that have presented there are: Gwendolyn Brooks, Studs Terkel, Kevin Koval, John Cusack, and Ed Pachke.
Find out more about the Chopin Theatre at http://www.chopintheatre.com
The St. Joseph Mercy Hospital building was erected and dedicated in 1931. It was originally called Mercy Manor. It is located at 421 N. Lake Street in Aurora Illinois. It was designed by architect Wybe Jelles Van der Meer of Rockford in the Collegiate Gothic style. It is six stories high and has a seven and a half story tower. It is the current home of the Presence Fox Knoll Retirement Center. It overlooks Wilder Park and the Fox River.
The Flat Iron Arts Center is located in the Flat Iron Building at the corner of Milwaukee, North Avenue and Damen in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. It has been an artists colony since the 1980s and houses studios for visual arts of any type, musicians, hair design, etc. The building is open 24 hours a day/ seven days a week for viewing the art in the hallways. And artists studios open houses are held on the first Friday of each month.
The heart of the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago is at the intersection of Damen, Milwaukee and North Avenue. The locations shown below are all at this intersection, which is just steps from the CTA Blue Line Damen stop. The Damen stop (and this vibrant community) is just minutes from Downtown Chicago. Hip Wicker Park has been a residential community since Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837.
The Polish Triangle (or Polonia Triangle) is located in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago. It used to be referred to as the Polish Downtown area of Chicago. It is located at the intersection of Milwaukee, Division and Ashland Streets.
The Polish Downtown is the city’s oldest Polish settlement. It dates back to the 1800s in Chicago history. The area is still home to numerous Polish institutions such as the Polish Museum, Polish National Alliance and the Polish Daily News. It’s also home to the Chopin Theatre and Podhalanka Polish restaurant.
The area near the triangle has two beautiful Polish Catholic Cathedrals: St. Stanislaus Kostka and Holy Trinity Polish Mission. Pulaski Park is also nearby.
The triangle is conveniently located right at the CTA Blue Line Division stop. The actual triangle is a park around a fountain called the Nelson Algren fountain. It was named after the famous poet/writer because he lived in the area and wrote about the Poles.
I really enjoyed visiting the Polish Triangle, because to me it represents everything Chicago was in the past, is currently and will be in the future. I attribute this to the area’s architecture with buildings from the 1800s and tall futuristic looking buildings. What a special place!
The Thompson Center (as it is mostly referred to) is located at 100 West Randolph Street in Downtown Chicago. It houses State of Illinois government offices. It was completed in May 1985 and was designed by architect Helmut Jahn in the postmodern style. The building has 17 stories and takes up an entire block in Chicago’s Loop. It is bounded by Randolph, Lake, Clark and LaSalle Streets. The sculpture in front of the building is called Monument With Standing Beast, by Jean Dubuffet.
The building hs been called both outrageous and wonderful in its open-plan design. All 17 floors can be seen from the building’s large skylit atrium. The open office plan was meant to convey the message of an open government.
In addition to the sculpture in front of the building, it also houses many specially commissioned artworks funded by the State. The Illinois Artisan’s shop is also housed in the building.
The spot was previously the location of the Sherman House Hotel until 1973.
Amid controversy, the building is expected to be sold, because the State says it is too expensive to do the needed renovation and maintenance. It is hoped that it will be sold to someone who will maintain it rather than destroy this beautiful “work of art” building!
Whether it’s Eastside, Westside or Aurora Downtown, this is Aurora – one Aurora and the City of Lights!
Klaus Department store was located on Milwaukee Avenue near Diversey in the Avondale neighborhood. Today, the Kay Shoe store is in the location where Klaus once stood. Klaus was kind of an upscale store compared to the nearby Goldblatt’s. It was like a small Marshall Field’s or Macy’s. I remember there were a lot of stairs right away when you entered the store. When I was growing up we lived a few blocks from the store and my mother and I would always walk there and shop. Those were some great times!
The Boulder Hill subdivision was developed by Don Dise in the early 1950s. Boulder Hill is an unincorporated area near Montgomery and Oswego Illinois . The Boulder Hill Playhouse was built on the former stock farm that was previously owned by John Bereman (described in my last post on The Bereman House). One of the largest barns of the former stock farm was developed into a playhouse that had a revolving stage. The revolving stage allowed for quick scenery changes and enabled three stages to be built at a time and rotated. It was a 500 seat theatre located right off Illinois 25/ River Street. The debut performance on June 5, 1958 was “Teahouse of the August Moon”, starring Boulder Hill residents Hal Anderson and Jack Goring and Oswego High School senior Rita Lantz. Other performances during that opening season were: “Janus”, “Darkening Shore”, “The Reluctant Debutante”, “I Found April”, “Ladies in Retirement”, and “See How They Run.” Shows generally ran every evening except Monday and Tuesday during the summer season. People came from all around the Chicagoland area to see the plays. They used local talent and it was a very popular place for entertainment, often playing to a full house. The playhouse is no longer in existence. It was destroyed by fire in 1967.
