Chicago Stories

[everlong]

Hi all,
Since Chicago is such an important part of who the Lovehammers are, I thought it might be interesting to hear everyone's opinions on the city, those who live there and those who have visited. What did you enjoy? What was great about the city? Tell us your Chicago stories.

I went to the Loyola University (based in Chicago) Rome Center in Italy for a year (1985/86) and I met lots of people from Chicago while I was there. A few years later we had a reunion in Chicago just after Christmas including New Years.

I loved the city. It's my favourite American city (Boston is a close second). It seemed like home to me. I think there are a lot of similarities between Chicago and Toronto.

My favourite part was going through a street where everyone had decorated their houses for Christmas. It was amazing how much work people had done on their houses. There was a traffic jam of cars driving through this neighbourhood. The best house had three trees. A big one in their downstairs window, a middle sized one in their upstairs and a small one on the roof. It looked like they had a giant tree going through their entire house!

I wonder if my old friends knew the Lovehammers before RSINXS? Maybe I should look them up? It's only been 20 years.

[rockfan]

I have only visited Chicago one time. I went there with my husband to a trade show a very long time ago that was located by O'Hare. A bunch of girls and I took the train into the city and I was quite impressed. It is very scenic and I went to the top of the Sears Tower. That was amazing. We ate at some good spots and one in particular, can't recall the name, was a brick oven pizza place (real simple name) that seemed like it was under the streets somewhere downtown. Anyways, I was very impressed with Chicago and hope to visit again.

[everlong]

Chicago pizza is amazing!

[albrmo]

Where did you go for the pizza?

I've grown up here all my life and I just assumed that pizza everywhere was the same. I've now found out that is not true. Good pizza is something we always miss whenever we go on vacation outside of Chicago.
We have even tried places that are chains that started in Chicago and it still isn't the same.

[RayneDove]

Before Lovehammers Chicago was Oprah to me lol. It looks like a beautiful city and I hope someday to go for a visit. I love a little wind in my hair

[chk]

oh I don't know where to start. i was born in Chicago, but haven't lived there in sooo long. The reason my sister and I decided to meet there last spring to see U2 --when we could have met anywhere in the world, was that we love the city so much. Here's a pic I took at the concert:



The people are so down to earth; the architecture is amazing; the music (from blues to Hammers) is fantastic; the food (c'mon those steaks, nachos, pizza) is unbelievably delish. I could go on and on. I just love it -- a real HOMEtown.

[chk]

bumping this as it's an interesting thread -- and all those chitown chicks need to add their stories! (We know you're out there....)

[chk]

okay maybe I am the only one who's intot his thread. so let me add a little more of why chicago rocks:

[radioclash]

heartotexas said:

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I'm excited to see this, heartotexas, but I'm getting an error page..............

[7of7]

I currently live in Chicago, but was born in the 'burbs. The metro area is the only place I'd ever want to live, for many reasons. My family is here, but there's definitely a home vibe to the actual land. And of course there's the Lake, which I can't go more than a few days without going by. There's something truly magnetic about it. It always surprises you, the way it reflects the sky in completely unexpected ways, how the colors change with the daylight and the weather, and it never looks the same twice.

I went to Illinois State University (in Normal, IL, about 2 1/2 hours south) for school and ended up meeting my husband down there (he went there too and his family's from there), so I spent way longer than just my college years there. Even though I was only 2 1/2 hours south of Chicago, I never felt completely at ease til I hit at least the south suburbs on my way up for a visit. No matter where I've traveled, my internal compass always points back here. The people, the energy, the architecture are all important, but there's so much more.

I love the feeling that there are so many people here that are just like me (Polish-Irish Catholic from a big family) who know all the experiences and traditions I grew up with, and I love the feeling that there are so many people here that are so different from me, from different parts of the world, who speak different languages and dress, eat, and worship differently than me. Just getting on the bus and hearing so many languages being spoken just makes me sigh and think "I'm home!" So many diverse people who all want to live here together (true of many cities, but each mix has got it's own unique flavor).

I love how neighborhood-y Chicago is, that my friends who visit from out-of-town are shocked that there are mainly houses with well-tended (albeit small) yards in my hood instead of monolithic high-density housing; that every few blocks you've got a different feel, from the hip and trendy to the old-world traditional, and that people walk most places and we by and large know each other; that like another poster mentioned, everybody decorates their houses, not just for Halloween and Christmas, but for St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, Fourth of July and Groundhog Day (and of course the Cubs shrine down the street from just after New Years til they go down in defeat in the fall). I love that people tend their gardens and you may not know everybody's name, but you know their dog's name and you chat with their people when you see them out walking. I love that it's not just impersonal highrises and strangers.

I love that it goes from below zero in the winter to over 100 in the summer, and that there sometimes seems like there's barely time to breathe in between, and that we're proud to be "hearty stock," or tough enough not just to take it, but to revel in it.

And of course I love the food, esp. the pizza. Lou Malnati's, Gino's, & Pizzerias Uno and Due are given, but my favorites are D'Agostino's in Wrigleyville for deep dish & Bill's Pub in Mundelein (my home 'burb) for thin crust.

And it don't hurt that we produce gracious, salt-of-the-earth, amazingly talented people like Marty, Bob, Billy, and Dino!

[shuckra]

Wow! I love Chicago! I grew up in the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo side of Michigan, so Chicago is where you went to have fun! From shopping trips with my mom as a kid, to nightclub trips with my then-boyfriend-now-husband as a young adult. Since my first trip to Chicago in elementary school, I always knew I would live there one day. Somewhere along the line, I moved to North Carolina, I guess I was needing the warm weather and sweet tea. The Aragon show was my first visit to the city in 7 years, and it still has that magic to it. It's a combination of the lake, the architecture, the neighborhoods, the food, and being there welcomes you unlike other large cities that overwhelm you.
I find myself thinking once in awhile, had I moved to Chicago 7 years ago, I may have been an original hammerhead! Though I would have missed out on NC sweet tea!!! I do love NC, but still hope to live in Chicago one day. Cheers! ;D

[Trees]

Here's a Chicago Story I stumbled over looking for Marty Interview. B.B. King always turns my heard when I see or hear the words BB King or Lucille

Waited for 20 minutes to listen to Lucille. According to BB she wouldn't come out of the Bathroom Awesome intimate venue.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - While other 80-year-olds might dust off their rockers, blues dynamo B.B. King will be rocking and rolling when he launches what he said will be his final world tour later this year.

King will begin an international Farewell Tour in March, part of a domestic tour that starts Feb. 16 in Chicago, King's publicist, Jerry Digney, said in a news release Wednesday. King said he will continue to make U.S. concert appearances after the tour.

"I hardly remember I'm 80, unless I have to run up a hill or stairs," the singer and guitarist said .

"As long as people buy my records and come to my concerts, I don't see anything else I'd like to do."

King has toured every year for 60 years, Digney said Thursday.

The musician celebrated his 80th birthday in September and released an album, B.B. King & Friends - 80, featuring Eric Clapton, Elton John, Sheryl Crow and other musicians.

A $10-million B.B. King museum is slated to open later this year in the Grammy winner's native Mississippi.

"I think the clock is ticking, yes," King said.

"In fact, I know it is. Frank Sinatra sang about the September of (his) years."

"I think I'm in the November of my years."

[cjspas]

I grew up in Rockford, Illinois about 75 miles from O'Hare. My favorite excursions as a child and young adult were to the Museum of Science and Industry and downtown to see musical theatre like the Wiz and Evita. Shopping at Marshall Fields at the Watertower (sigh! as I hear there will be no Marshall Fields anymore!) Summertime Concerts at Navy Pier.

What I love about Chicago is that it has all the benefits of the big city but still the neighborhoods and friendliness of a much smaller town.

What else do I love about Chicago? The lake and lakeshore drive. Chicago style pizza. Mom and Pop Italian restaurants. Bratwurst and beer at a picnic.

I live in the los angeles area now and when I'm back in the Chicago area I alway think about whether I could live with the winters. My blood has gotten awfully thin but part of my heart will always be with the city with big shoulders on the lake.

[chk]

how beautiful

oh, and, amen!