Braver Angels Hosting Respectful Debate Re: Homeless Encampments

*This should be an interesting debate with respectful voices on both sides of the spectrum being heard. Learning about another person's perspective in a thoughtful way is definitely needed in these trying times.

Learn more about Braver Angels here.

821 W. Montrose Set To Undergo $2M Rehab

821 W. Montrose

A vintage building at Montrose and Dayton is about to undergo a $2M+ renovation after selling last November for $4.3M.

According to building permits, new owner Rockwell Properties will remodel the existing 23 units and add one additional unit in the basement. 

We look forward to seeing the building brought back to life and welcoming the new residents of 821 W. Montrose to Uptown! The changes around Montrose and Clarendon in the past 10 years has been incredible!

Sheridan Park Yard Sale Tomorrow, August 2nd

The yearly Sheridan Park Yard Sale is tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

Courtesy Magnolia Malden Neighbors Facebook Page / Sheridan Park Yard Sale Organizers

From the event organizers:

Looking for something to do this Saturday? Come to Sheridan Park (between Broadway and Clark from Lawrence to Montrose) and enjoy a beautiful day (9am-4pm) browsing sales set up in front yards throughout the neighborhood. This annual sale has over 50 households. Enjoy the lovely gardens as you walk along the streets, patronize the businesses along Wilson Avenue, and hunt for bargains in the sales along.

Looks like a nice day tomorrow. 

Uptown Gets A New Festival

We've heard chatter about people planning a replacement for Windy City Rib Fest since the dark days of COVID, and earlier today we saw the end product.

"Uptown Live" will run September 19 through 21. 

Like the old days, the festival will close Broadway between Leland and Lawrence. 

The Uptown Chamber of Commerce is the primary sponsor and the event planner is Duff Productions. 

According to the promo, confirmed acts (so far) include: 

• Joywave
• Mark Farina (DJ)
• Tortured Soul
• Liquid Soul
• Too Much Molly
• The Western Elstons
• Beyond the Blonde
• Soul Message
• Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute

Friends of Bezazian Library Announces September Book Sale, Seeks Donations of Books and Media

Got books, CDs, or DVDs you don’t want?

We need them for the annual Friends of Bezazian Book Sale!

Clear some space on your shelves, support the Bezazian Branch Library, and give your old treasures a new life instead of sending them to a landfill!

Bring them to the Bezazian branch of the Chicago Public Library, 1226 W. Ainslie (at Magnolia). Please, no textbooks, cassettes, records, or VHS.

Collection starts August 1!

Drop off your books, CDs, and DVDs at the Bezazian circulation desk any time during regular library hours.

Need a receipt? Make the dropoff at Bezazian on Saturday, August 16, 10am–1pm, or Sunday, September 7, 1–3pm

And don't forget to come back for the sale!

• Saturday, September 13, 10am–4pm, and 
• Sunday, September 14, 1–3:30pm at Bezazian.

Our annual sale helps the Friends of Bezazian fund materials and programming at the branch, from sewing machines and children’s furniture to holiday sing-a-longs and magic shows.

Thanks for supporting programs and services at your neighborhood library!

www.friendsofbezazian.org/booksale

Bezazian Branch Library, 1226 W Ainslie St. (at Magnolia)

Celebrate The Uptown Theatre's 100th Anniversary With A Community Portrait

At noon on Saturday, Aug. 16, Uptown neighborhood residents and fans of its endangered landmark will gather for a new portrait in front of the Uptown Theatre. Led by Friends of the Uptown with support from Uptown United and 46th Ward Ald. Angela Clay, the “Uptown Community Portrait" event recognizes the 100th anniversary of the theater and exhibits the continuing widespread support for restoring the 1925 movie palace that’s been closed since 1981. 

Check out the Facebook Event for more details!

Sheridan Park Yard Sale Planned For August 2

 The Annual Sheridan Park Yard Sale will be held this year on Saturday, August 2nd (rain date Sunday, August 3rd).  

To sign up just send name, address, email to sheridanparkyardsale@gmail.com.  

To get your name on the map, you must be registered by Thursday, July 31!

Neighbors living between Montrose and Lawrence, and Broadway and Clark fall within the Sheridan Park boundaries.

Brennemann Backpack Drive Deadline August 1

 

End of the Line

Courtesy of a reader, we saw the last elements of Dear Flo's being ported away yesterday morning. 

Courtesy Reader RJM

The front patio space, which made its debut with the former Kal'ish, was one of the last elements remaining from the three former restaurants that occupied the space (Kal'ish, Sephardic Sisters, Dear Flo's). 

When we broke news of Dear Flo's apparent demise last week, the Instagram page was still up and accessible, but that is gone is well, all but confirming that Dear Flo's is no more. 

It's a great space and a wide sidewalk, so we are hoping for a new tenant soon!  

P.S. - ICYMI, there's a new Italian restaurant (Piacere Mio) replacing the former Longacre / Floreen's space as soon as late summer.

Residential Proposal For 4612 N. Magnolia, Currently A Side Yard

The side yard of 4616 N. Magnolia (Real Estate Listing)

 From Ald. Clay's latest email:

"A potential buyer of 4612 N. Magnolia is seeking a zoning change to re-zone the property from RS-3 to RT-4 in order to build a six-flat at the location of the current side yard of 4616 N. Magnolia. The side yard is currently owned by the owners of 4616 N. Magnolia, and the sale of the side yard is contingent on approval of the zoning change. The existing building at 4616 N. Magnolia - which is beautiful! - would not be impacted by the development.

The proposed development would include six for-sale condo units - four simplex units on the second and third floors and two duplex-downs on the first floor - and six parking spaces. If a zoning change is not approved, the most likely development on this lot would be two single family homes.  As the development falls beneath the 10-unit threshold, no affordable units would be required.

The Ward Office will hold an online public meeting with the developer on Thursday, July 17 from 6-7 pm. The development team’s proposal will be available on the 46th Ward website next week.

The feedback form will be open from Thursday, June 10 to Thursday, June 24 - if you have any questions or comments before then, please reach out directly to the Ward Office via phone or email."

Of note, the property, which never officially hit the market before sale, is being sold for $1.325 million.

Welcome Piacere Mio to 1303 W. Wilson!

Courtesy Piacere Mio Facebook Page

We have been working on a new restaurant coming to 1303 W. Wilson since we first heard about a new tenant in March, and this afternoon, courtesy of reader RJM and Twitter user minc798, we finally know what's coming to the space. 

Soon, the first Chicago location of Forest Park based Piacere Mio will occupy the former Baker & Nosh / Longacre/ Floreen's space spanning from 1303 to 1307 West Wilson. Architect Joel Berman (Big Jones) is handling the interior.

Courtesy Piacere Mio website

We have been watching construction on the space for a couple of months. A kitchen is currently being built in the west portion of the space (essentially where the bakery portion of Baker & Nosh was located), with a bar and tables occupying the eastern portion. 

Piacere Mio is a relatively new restaurant but comes from deep roots in Italian cooking. Co-owner and head chef Jose Marquez was for many years the head chef at former Forest Park Italian stalwart Gaetano’s.

Expect handmade pastas, wagyu beef meatballs, some delicious looking desserts, and other treats. Menu at the Piacere Mio link above and pictures on their Facebook page. We are especially looking forward to trying the coconut limoncello!

Reviews of the Piacere Mio Forest Park location and Jose's former restaurant (Gaetano's) look incredibly promising.

With construction and permitting factored in, we don't expect the restaurant to be open until late summer at earliest, but we are looking forward to a long run in the space for Jose and Francisco. We will for sure be visiting the patio as soon as weather allows! 

Dead Flo's?

Dear Flo's, Andy Kalish's latest attempt at a restaurant in the old Ka'lish space appears to be no more. 

Closure appeared to be a sad inevitability once operations became spotty over the last couple of months, but we were hopeful this new restaurant would survive. The food was good!

Our team first got wind of changes a couple of weeks ago when a tipster sent a photo of a handwritten sign taped to the Dear Flo's window to our inbox.

It's unclear whether the restaurant reopened last weekend after two weekends closed for "Summer Break." However, a reader sent a tip yesterday evening that the restaurant appeared empty. 

We asked a different reader/tipster to send photos depicting the current state of the restaurant space. Those photos appear to confirm the observation that the space was emptied out. 

Both readers report art has been removed from the walls and today's tipster says the refrigerator was completely cleaned out. 

Over on the Instagram page, it appears the hours section has been replaced with "Closed."

Andy and Gina can cook, there is no doubt about that. Their food was great, no matter what they tried to do, but the hours at each of the different restaurants were always wonky. Judging on comments to this blog and Facebook, they lost a lot of goodwill with the community over the last 9 years, with frustration over hours, different concepts, and a general lack of sticking with anything for very long. Dear Flo's was the 8th different concept in the last 9 years in three highly trafficked and visible retail spaces on Wilson. 

Some will celebrate the apparent loss of Dear Flo's, but we always want to see small businesses succeed. We wish Gina and Andy the best and hopefully they will be able to cook for us again in the future.

In other news, there is a new restaurant coming to the 1303 W. Wilson space formerly occupied by Baker & Nosh, Longacre, L/A Mex and Floreen's. The new restaurant is NOT affiliated with the Kalish family. More soon!

Renovated Clarendon Park Fieldhouse to Reopen (Finally!) on July 7th

groundbreaking on renovations, 9/13/2022

The fieldhouse as it looks today

It's been a long time coming, but the newly improved Clarendon Park Fieldhouse is about to become available to the community again!

Those of us who've been around a while remember the leaky roof (and resulting puddles on the floor in the rec room), the lack of ADA compliance that made the building inaccessible to some members of the community, the inadequate electrical system that made air conditioning ... er, problematic, the constantly backed-up plumbing issues, etc., etc.

But those days are behind us.

Groundbreaking on the renovations took place in September 2022, and the building has been closed to the public and undergoing repairs ever since.

The Fieldhouse was built in 1916 as a bath house for the Clarendon Municipal Beach; at that time, Lake Michigan was directly east of the building. In the 1930s, after Lake Shore Drive was built on landfill, sports fields were built on the site of the former beach.

Time took its toll:

• In 1972, a renovation was done that eliminated the building's original towers.
• In 2010, then-46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller created the Montrose-Clarendon TIF, partially to fund renovation on the fieldhouse.
• In 2015, Preservation Chicago included it on a list of most endangered buildings, due to its deterioration. 
• Then-46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman oversaw a lengthy community input process on how to best replace/preserve the fieldhouse. Partial renovations in two phases were chosen, as opposed to a full remodel, which would have included restoring architectural details like decorative towers; a new building on the existing site; and a new building on a new site.
• Because the TIF won't be fully funded until 2034 (and the building was in such bad shape that the renovations would cost quite a bit more with further deterioration), a complicated funding plan was put in place where $6.9million came from the Montrose-Clarendon TIF, $4.6million came from Montrose Clarendon Partners LLC (developers of the 811 Uptown apartment complex), and the remainder was provided by the Chicago Park District.

We are so grateful to everyone who put in the time and efforts to see this project through its long renovation process, and who helped to ensure that a part of "old Uptown" survives and will be beneficial to the community well into its second century of existence.

And we also want to emphasize the importance of retired Alderman Cappleman's efforts to see this project through. From steering the Park District away from initial demolition plans to spearheading efforts to identify and source funds for renovation, Alderman Cappleman's hard work was critical to seeing this process through. 

We found it very interesting that current Alderwoman Clay's announcement of the impending opening in her newsletter made no mention whatsoever of her predecessor's role, not even a thank you. Not surprising, of course, but disappointing nevertheless.

Setting politics aside, we can't wait to see all the improvements, and especially look forward to seeing the Garfield-Clarendon Model Railroad Club set-up in its new enhanced space.

Ribbon cutting is on Monday, July 7th, at 11am.