Please Help Find Larissa Rios, Missing From Clarendon Park

 

Everyone Loves The Pancake House! Even The Mayor, Who'll Be There Tuesday Evening

stylized image taken from Google Streetview

The pancake house next to the Riviera Theater is a much-loved Uptown tradition and location. Bring cash, and get some of the best and most affordable meals available, served by the family who owns the place. It's been the setting for scenes in Shameless, Widows, and Chance the Rapper's videos.

Tuesday evening, Mayor Lightfoot will appear in a press briefing at the pancake house to celebrate Afghan immigrants' first American Thanksgiving. It takes place at 5:30.

According to the Mayor's press schedule, "Mayor Lightfoot will join City leaders and other elected officials for a brief media availability and to celebrate Afghan refugees’ first Thanksgiving dinner in America."

In case you haven't experienced the joys of Uptown's timeless treasure, its official name is Golden House, but everyone knows it as the pancake house. There's limited parking in the rear; it doesn't take credit cards; and breakfast is both delightful and reasonably priced. It hasn't changed in 30 or so years, and that's part of its charm. It's located at 4744 North Broadway.

The pancake house had a rough time of it during last winter during the pre-vaccine stage of the pandemic, and we nearly lost a gem. If you're comfortable eating indoors, we suggest patronizing them next time you're thinking about brunch or lunch.

Save The Date! The Winter Walk On Wilson Is Coming Up

It's hard to believe it's the seventh year already! Uptown United writes:

"7th Annual Winter Walk on Wilson

Friday, December 3rd, 2021

5:00pm – 8:00pm

The Uptown Chamber of Commerce is hosting our 7th Annual WINTER WALK ON WILSON on Friday, December 3, 2021 from 5:00 – 8:00 PM.

This FREE event features sweet treats, warm drinks, and menu samples offered by local Uptown businesses and organizations, live holiday music along the Wilson, Broadway, and Clark commercial corridors, pop-up holiday markets, and photo ops with Uptown’s own Panda Claus!

FREE parking available until 8:30pm in Truman College’s parking garage (directions) located off of Racine Street, and is accessible from Wilson Avenue. There is also street meter parking available on Wilson Avenue.​

Strolling performances by The People’s Music School, Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles, Old Town School of Folk Music, and more!

Participating businesses:

• Carol’s Pub
• Chicago Market – A Community Co-op
• CTA
• Dispensary 33
• Everybody’s Coffee
• EZRA Multi-Service Center
• Hearthstone & Terrace
• Redline VR
• Spoil Me Hair Salon & Spa
• Upshore Chapter Apartments
• Uptown Church
• Wagnolia Veterinary Clinic
• Wilson Abbey
• and more to be announced soon!

To comply with current COVID guidelines, all attendees will be required to wear a mask when entering any of our participating Uptown businesses.

More details & event route to be announced soon!"

The Facebook page is here.

Uplift High School STEAM Students To Appear In Parade In A Float They Designed

If you're headed to the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival Saturday evening, be sure to look for the float designed by and featuring STEAM students from Uplift High School!

Sponsored by BMO Harris Bank and T-Mobile, the students met the challenge presented to them to create a real-life work-based design. After they designed the float, it was built by Mardi Gras-float builders from New Orleans, Kern Studios. Saturday will mark its debut.

In addition, ABC7 Chicago interviewed Uplift students and staff and will feature them during the parade's telecast.

If you can't make the parade in person, it will be shown locally on ABC 7 Chicago at 6pm on Sunday, November 21, with two additional broadcasts on Saturday, December 11 at 6pm and on Saturday, December 25 at noon.

Congratulations, STEAM Team, on making Uptown proud!

Long-Time Buena Park Mom & Pop Food Mart Closing Its Doors

A 50-year community staple is closing. Clarendon Food Mart, at 4183 N Clarendon, is family-owned and has served Buena Park residents well for decades.

But the owner says it's time to sell, and this is the last weekend, although it's a fluid situation. Friday was the last day for the long-time employees, but the owner will keep the doors open a few hours a day. "If you see the lights on, come on in!"

The business has been sold to a new owner, who will most likely modernize and put its own touches on the place. There will be a brief shutdown during the transition.

But it's a sad day for many who have gotten to know the folks there. Stop by and say goodbye if you have a chance, and if "the lights are on."

Lakeview Ace Hardware Is Back!

Good news, DIY-ers!

When the owner of Lakeview Ace Hardware (3921 North Sheridan) closed the doors a couple years ago, he promised the store would reopen ... and now it has.

The difference is that Ace used to be one of several storefronts in a single-story building, and now it's at ground level of a seven-story, 120-unit TOD apartment building. The building is located a block south of Uptown's southern border, Irving Park Road, at Dakin, and is half a block from the Sheridan Red Line station.

The owner of hardware store, Joe Lomanto, is also the property owner.

There are four other storefronts available. Artemio's Bakery, a much-loved tenant of the previous building, has moved across the street to 3904 Sheridan and remains available for your baked-good needs.

Viking Pub Crawl To Invade Andersonville

Photo courtesy of
Andersonville Chamber of Commerce

Take part in a pub crawl with a Swedish twist: the Fourth Annual Viking Pub Crawl, in which 200+ costumed Vikings can sample drink specials at 14 participating bars on Saturday, November 20 from 3pm-6pm. 

The cost is $20, and that includes a free appetizer at check-in and a commemorative Viking Pub Crawl beer glass designed by Transit Tee. The pub crawl lanyard gives participants access to discounts at each of the drinking establishments on the route.

You can register and sign in at the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce page.

The pub crawls includes businesses in both the Uptown and Edgewater portions of Andersonville, including:

• @mosphere, 5355 N Clark St. (check-in location)
• The Call, 1547 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
• Farraguts on Clark, 5240 N. Clark St.
• FIYA, 5419 N. Clark St.
• Gadabout, 5212 N. Clark.
• Land & Lake Andersonville, 5420 N. Clark St.
• Meeting House Tavern, 5025 N. Clark St.
• Nobody's Darling, 1744 W. Balmoral Ave.
• Parson's Chicken & Fish Andersonville, 5721 N. Clark St.
• Replay Andersonville, 5358 N. Clark St.
• Simon's Tavern, 5210 N. Clark St.
• The SoFo Tap, 4923 N. Clark St.
• Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar, 5553 N. Clark St.
• Urban Brew Labs (location on Clark St. TBD)

(Participating locations subject to change.)

Groups are encouraged, so invite friends and dress up – there will be a costume contest for best group and best individual Viking costume! Guests are also encouraged to post photos to Instagram using the hashtag #AvilleVikings.

Uptown Branch Library Presents Zoom Program on Hospice

From Ald. Osterman's newsletter:

"Hospice 101 

November 9, 2021 - 5:30pm

The Uptown Library Branch is hosting a Zoom presentation on everything a person needs to know about hospice. Hospice is offered under Medicare, but many people know little about the eligibility and services offered under hospice services. There are many misconceptions about hospice, and we hope to discuss and correct these falsities. Please join us to learn more. Click here to register."

Annual Fall Coat Drive For Neighbors In Need

For the Target wishlist, click here.

Paper Shredding Event On Saturday, November 13th

From Ald. Cappleman's newsletter:

"On Saturday, November 13th, from 10am-1pm the 46th Ward office will be hosting a free shredding event in partnership with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District's office at the Clarendon Park Community Center located at 4501 N. Clarendon Ave. 

Free compost and oak saplings will be offered. 

Please only bring personal materials to be shredded. For a full list of restrictions please see the flyer."

Please note that Midway Document Destruction limits what type of paper it accepts for shredding. It will not accept:

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Junk mail
• Takeout menus
• Photographs
• Glossy/shiny paper
• Binder clips or paper clips
• Five ring binders
• Spiral bound notebooks

Fall Back And Enjoy The Extra Hour Saturday Night

Earlier dawns, and earlier darkness in the evenings.

Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday at 2am, and we go back to "real time," at least for a few months.

Set your clocks back an hour Saturday night and gain an extra hour.

(Photo of Goldblatt's - now the home of First Ascent and Huntington Bank - used with the kind permission of Mark 2400 on Flickr.)

Jibarit-Oh!

Fans of Puerto Rican cuisine are in for a big treat, as "virtual" restaurant Marina's Cafe is poised to open its first brick and mortar location in the strip mall at Magnolia and Wilson.

Marina's Cafe owner Eric Roldan has been operating a popular virtual kitchen since March 2021 out of a commercial kitchen space in Avondale, and it has been his dream to open a public-facing restaurant.  The former "Uptown Dry Cleaners" spot at 4554 N. Magnolia (infamous for their "Uptown Dry Cleanrs" signage) is the location he chose.

Look for sandwiches (tripleta, jibarito, chicken, veggie, steak, pork), wings, and traditional Puerto Rican dishes like Bistec Encebollado (Steak & Onions), Pernil (Roasted pork), and Pollo Guisado (Chicken Stew) alongside traditional sides. They are vegetarian friendly as well and have multiple meat-free options.

Menus from the current location below.  Puerto Rico---Ho!  Puerto Rico---Ho!

Urban Land Institute Members Tour Uptown

The Urban Land Institute, a real estate think tank whose studies helped frame the historic preservation and modernization of Uptown Square, the Wilson Station/Broadway and Wilson area, and Argyle Street, held its Fall 2021 meeting in Uptown and made a bite-size video about the participants' experiences.

In its publication, Urbanland, it said:

"Voted one of TimeOut magazine’s 'Coolest 40 Neighborhoods in the World,' Uptown is a diverse community on the North Side of Chicago. ULI Fall Meeting attendees got the opportunity to tour the neighborhood, which offers spectacular lakeside views, a growing entertainment district, and a thriving food and cultural scene.

Led by members of the local economic development group, the tour saw street art installations and historic theaters, plus a unique adaptive re-use of a mid-century office building into market rate apartments and retail, and ending at Asia on Argyle with an overview of the Asian-American owned businesses that call Uptown home."

The direct link to the video is here.

Landmarks Commission Recognizes 4649 Broadway With A Preservation Excellence Award

details of the decorative terra cotta

the building as it looked in March 2009 (via Google Streetview)

Last week, the City of Chicago's Landmarks Commission recognized 12 buildings for doing an exceptional job of "preserving Chicago's architectural and cultural heritage." Among the big names (Cook County Hospital, Old Chicago Post Office) was one we know well: 4649 North Broadway, currently home of Hackhaus co-working and event space.

The award citation reads:

"4649 N. Broadway, Uptown Square District
Award Recipient: TAG Capital LLC

The modest two-story commercial structure dates to 1905 and represents a typical retail property constructed in North Side commercial districts during the first two decades of the 20th century. 

The work removed several incompatible alterations to the storefront and replaced them with new bricks to match the historic in size, color and texture. Terra cotta window surrounds were also retained, cleaned and repaired. 

The unveiling and rehabilitation of the historic façade has breathed new life into a previously overlooked building within the Uptown Square landmark district."

The Uptown Square Landmark District was created in 2016 at the request of Ald. Cappleman, and protects approximately 42 vintage buildings in the area surrounding Lawrence and Broadway from demolition and incompatible renovations.

We are so grateful for property owners who are willing to retrofit their Uptown buildings to recreate the vintage beauty that was lost over the decades since Uptown's architectural heyday. To mention just a few: the Uptown Broadway Building; the Bridgeview Bank Building; the building north of the Riviera; the "flatiron" building at Broadway and Racine; and now 4649 Broadway.

We've been keeping an eye on 4649 North Broadway and its evolving exterior for a while now:

• May 20, 2014 - Army Surplus Store On Broadway Closing
• October 13, 2016 - Peeling Back Time
• October 17, 2016 - Former Army Surplus Building Goes On The Market
• May 9, 2017 - Source: 4647-51 Broadway To Receive Historic Renovation
• July 18, 2018 - Former Army Surplus Building Reno Well Underway

Congratulations to TAG Capital LLC for earning well-deserved recognition of its historic renovation!

Iyanze Opens A Sister Restaurant in Bronzeville

Iyanze has opened a new South Side branch, Iyanze Bronze.

Iyanze opened in Uptown in 2009 and has been chosen to represent our community at Taste of Chicago several times. Now its Nigerian cuisine is also available 12 miles south of Uptown, with the second site officially open on October 22nd after a long soft rollout. Its address is 308 East 51st Street.

The new restaurant is part of a community initiative called Bronzeville Cookin' -- which describes itself as "four distinctive, locally-owned and operated restaurants to a turn-of-the century building in the heart of the historic Bronzeville community. Each of the venues will highlight a different aspect of black cuisine, one of the world’s richest."

Both the Bronzeville and Uptown locations are currently hiring restaurant personnel.

We wish the owners much success in Iyanze's new location.