Twelve years ago, when the late Gary Comer visited his former elementary school, he was brought to a room where ten new computers sat unused because the school lacked the funds to power them. Today, Paul Revere Elementary is outfitted with a wireless network, new software programs, and a $10 million investment.

Comer, the son of a railroad employee, graduated from Paul Revere Elementary in 1942. In 1963, he started Lands’ End Clothing Company, and in 2002, he sold it to Sears for $1.9 billion. Of that fortune, $100 million has since been poured into developing and revitalizing his childhood neighborhood.
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“You think six feet of dirt means something?” quips the ghost of Leon Goldwater’s trumpet-toting father in eta’s new production of “Fathers and Sons.” The essence of the story is encapsulated in this sentence. Although the show is not a remake of the original Russian classic, it does explore much of the same emotional terrain. Read the rest of this entry »

If you want to pay lots of money in exchange for being asked increasingly obscure and intellectual questions that will leave you hunched over the bar counter, drunk, broke, and brainless, Hyde Park is the place you’re looking for. The University of Chicago Pub, in the basement of Ida Noyes (1212 E. 59th), hosts an intensely competitive trivia night every Tuesday at 8pm that requires participants to draw upon their knowledge of Malaysian geography, Romantic novelists, and theoretical physics, as well as the trivia standards of one-hit wonders and Bears scores. The rewards are high—a cash prize for first place, in addition to random free appetizers and Pub merchandise—but they come at a price: each participant must pay $3 to enter, and the bar is open only to University affiliates and their guests after buying a $10 membership or paying a $3 cover. Read the rest of this entry »

Spring is in the air. Soon birds will be building their nests, couples will canoodle in newly-green parks, and students sick of their dorms or their roommates will begin the hunt for a new (or first!) apartment in Hyde Park. The world-weary staff of the Weekly, who collectively have occupied at least 30 apartments, are here to help you with the last.

This special feature has two sections. In the first part, we offer advice about practicalities such as hiring movers, knowing your legal rights as a tenant, and expanding your apartment search beyond Hyde Park. In the second, we provide information about several major Hyde Park landlords, including locations, prices, and amenities. In addition, last year’s housing issue with additional advice and landlords is available on our website at chicagoweekly.net/housing-guide—but be aware that rents and contact details may have changed. We hope this helps, and we wish you all good luck. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Sunday afternoon, most of Shimer College crowded into a small room to discuss the future of their school. The Assembly—a democratic body in which all students, faculty, staff, and trustees have equal votes—has traditionally been the moral authority of the college, while legal authority rests with the Board of Trustees. In last Sunday’s special session, those two authorities clashed as the Assembly voted on resolutions condemning the Board’s recent actions and the college’s president. Read the rest of this entry »

Stately and elegant, red brick with white trim, partly obscured by a row of trees, the house has nothing to set it apart from the other homes on this affluent residential block of Kenwood. Except that it is protected. In the driveway there is always a black SUV. At the end of the street, where University Avenue meets Hyde Park Boulevard, a black sedan is parked behind a long wall of waist-high concrete barriers and metal pipe fences. The blockade reaches along the street, across the sidewalks and back on the other side, enclosing half a city block in each direction. At every entrance, a blue metal sign covered with yellow and white letters declares in English and Spanish: ATTENTION: BY ENTERING THIS AREA YOU ARE CONSENTING TO A SEARCH OF YOUR PERSON AND BELONGINGS.

Barack Obama doesn’t live here anymore, but his presence does. Read the rest of this entry »

On a windy day, the aroma can seep through your car window starting around 111th Street: a unique blend of truck exhaust and barbecue. I-57 Rib House in the far south neighborhood of Morgan Park is part of a chain of rib joints that mostly follow the path of Interstate I-57 as it runs through Chicago and south into the suburbs. Read the rest of this entry »

As denizens of the neighborhood nurse their thirsty vehicles at the BP station on East Hyde Park Boulevard, just east of the Metra tracks, they can already hear it. Perhaps they are distracted by the hiss of the frothing pump or are inside buying a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos; but if you pause and look around, they all appear to be swaying to a subdued bass line and a chilling croon with no ostensible earthly source. Around the corner, the street is showered from above with dense light. Clouds and skulls dance before the sidewalk on a monolithic screen, accompanied by a tune that has already become to local residents disarmingly familiar.

This nightly apparition that haunts the corner of East Hyde Park and Cornell every night from 4 to 10pm is only a peripheral component of “Notes to Nonself,” an installation that has been hosted at the Hyde Park Art Center for the past 21 days and will remain until May 2. Read the rest of this entry »