Michigan Avenue looked ghostly on Saturday, April 4, 2020. Click on the image to watch the eerie cab ride.
As our friend and neighbor Al Hippensteel puts it, I’ve been on a kind of blog sabbatical. Hope to get back in the rhythm starting today.
Three years ago this past April, after six days in the hospital and three days in a City-run covid isolation hotel, I got a cab home from Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood back to our Printers Row condo.
I took a video of that dystopian ride. Little did I know things would get worse before they got better.
The lockdown was bad enough, but a couple rounds of George Floyd riots (yes, there were also constructive protests—the looting and violence were riots) left a “Dawn of the Dead” air to Chicago’s once vibrant streets and businesses. Shattered glass, boarded up stores, and lonely streets.
The day after the May 31 looting in 2020. Plywood was too late for the SRO Sandwich shop, which never reopened. That awning is the entry to our building.
It’s been a long, arduous slog, and we’re still not exactly where we were before the pandemic (and likely never will be), but I’m happy to report Chicago has found its legs and is running hard again.
During the lockdown and beyond, I’d say that we city dwellers had it the hardest. Why? Because every place one could choose to live carries tradeoffs. For example, small town life offers peace, quiet and a sense of intimacy. But that can sometimes mean too peaceful, boring, and everybody in everybody else’s business all the time.
City life—as Beth and I have been lucky enough to experience—means drinking from a fire hose of cultural and sporting events, but also enduring the blare of sirens, the thundering L trains, daily reports of violent crime, and much less green space.
During covid, there was no tradeoff for us. We lost what we came for 20+ years ago. There was no jazz at Jazz Showcase down the street, no Chicago Symphony just blocks away, no SummerDance at Grant Park. No nothing.
Dearborn Street, outside our front door, this past Saturday during Printers Row Art Fest. (Click to enlarge.)
It was bleak but we improvised, having impromptu meetings in our little park just outside our door. Sitting in parkas next to wide open windows at Half Sour, our favorite watering hole, when it was freezing outside, seeking camaraderie as well as hoping against hope that it would help the place survive. Buying gift cards at Sofi, the Italian restaurant downstairs in our building, and maybe not using them right away (or at all) as a way of keeping it off life support.
Sometimes I wondered if it would be worth it, this trying to stick it out thing. Over the past few weeks I can, relievedly, elatedly, report: Damn right it was.
Taylor Swift, the Pride Parade, NASCAR, Beyonce, Lollapalooza, Ed Sheeran all in a month—a bunch of stuff we don’t do but that brings energy one can feel. (And in NASCAR’s case, hear.) Jazz Showcase has more programming than ever, including a Monday evening summer residency by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, a splendid big band. We took one of those in a couple weeks ago and then the next week we headed to Symphony Center to see Ben Folds in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one of the most moving, stirring performance of any kind I’ve seen anywhere, on any stage. (Their rendition of the Psychedelic Furs “The Ghost in You” was bring-you-to-tears beautiful.)
Our friend Nancy had her birthday party in a beautiful spot on a beautiful night. (Click image to enlarge.)
Last Friday night we cabbed up to Montrose Beach and Harbor to celebrate a friend’s birthday on a sublime, lakefront evening replete with puffy, peach-tinted clouds against the skyline. And this weekend our Dearborn block closed for the Printers Row Art Fest, with Lit Fest coming in September.
Chicago faces, as it always has, serious problems in addition to its gleaming skylines, beautiful public lakefront, and cultural gems.
Like I said: It’s a tradeoff, and one I’m proud and privileged to make.
Good story of the event progression. Great photos and video, too. Montrose Beach is my old stomping grounds. The house I grew up in was about 3200 west, just off Montrose. We took the bus to the beach.
Welcome back, Mike. Great to hear (read) your voice again. Lot’s to digest in this blog. But you are right about the tradeoff. There’s no place like home and, for us, it is Chicago.
Three years is a long time. Your video gives us a historical perspective of the times. And we naively thought it (the pandemic) would last only a few weeks or months. Thank you for the commentary. I agree, our city has awaken.
Here’s to Chicago and Mondays with Mike!
Such a great capture of Chicago! The good, the bad, and the ugly at times 🙂 And – Ben Folds in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. We’ve seen him TWICE with the Pittsburgh Symphony; what a gifted musician; it has been a spectacular experience on both occasions. Glad you had the same!
He’s a great advocate of symphonies and it was beautiful. How all’s well in the burgh! Hope yuns are good.
Yes, Chicago has revived from Covid. I love Chicago. I go to Poetry on the Beach every Sunday at Loyola Beach. Just one of thousands of choices of events.
Juuhuuu – I am throwing my hat in the air for joy of being part of this kaleidoscope in our city! Yes, the bad comes along with the fun and I can see plenty of fun.
I thought this was a very balanced perspective of what happened and how the future is progressing. Thank you for taking the time to write this important piece.
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