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 »

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 »

On one wall, a woman cradles her dead child in her arms. On another, bloody birds are tacked to a barn door. Turn around and you will find—if your eyes are sharp enough to see across the dimly lit gallery—soulless corpses hovering above a dark Parisian skyline, victims of a cholera epidemic. You’ve been warned: “The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900,” the new exhibit at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum, is not for the faint of heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Once upon a time in 1961, four thousand people traveled through a blizzard to sit in the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall and listen to performers from all over the United States play at the first UofC Folk Festival. Organized by the UofC Folklore Society, the Festival received high praise and has continued as an annual event ever since. Now, as the Society prepares to hold the 50th incarnation of the festival this coming weekend, its members and audience have been called to remember its storied history and notable place in the tradition of folk music in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

The Chicago Transit Authority’s long-rumored Doomsday has finally come. Starting on February 8, bus routes and trains across the city saw steep reductions in service, corresponding with the layoffs of over one thousand CTA employees. Though some cuts may be overturned quickly thanks to renewed talks between agency officials and transit unions, the city’s $95-million shortfall won’t be easily patched over. With some changes likely to remain permanent, however, there’s not yet a clear picture of how Chicago’s transportation system will really be affected.

A new project from University of Chicago graduates Max Shron and Luke Joyner aims to create just such a picture. Their “heat maps” of the service changes are now online at their website Picturing Transit (picturingtransit.com). Read the rest of this entry »

“Can’t you just let things go?” the character Joan Didion exclaims in “The Year of Magical Thinking” at Court Theatre. Didion, played by Mary Beth Fisher, recalls the countless times her husband, John Gregory Dunne, said just that to her after a fight. “Can’t you just let things go? Do you always have to have the last word?” The play, which Didion adapted from her 2005 memoir, is just that: the last word. With a beautifully crafted script, Didion narrates the trauma of being a survivor while loved ones die, and what it means to finally let go. Read the rest of this entry »

Sitting against the east and west walls of DOVA Temporary, the single-room exhibition space of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago, three video projectors send images onto three rectangular, acrylic sculptures arranged in zig-zag fashion through the center of the space. The show is titled “Liquid and Mobile States” and was created by Michelle Menzies, a New Zealand artist and current graduate student in the UofC English department. It includes audio by Max Alexander and cinematography by Ivan Ross. Read the rest of this entry »

The Hyde Park restaurant formerly known as Orly’s opened its doors again a week ago, renamed the Big Easy. Despite a series of unsuccessful reinventions since its debut in 1981, owner David Shopiro feels confident that the Big Easy will be a crowd pleaser. He looks forward to Hyde Park residents gathering over Cajun/Creole flavors and microbrews. Shopiro’s decision to make his new restaurant evocative of New Orleans flavor and culture was inspired by the late, local favorite Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop, a former staple of the Hyde Park restaurant scene that closed last year. Borrowing from Dixie Kitchen’s offerings in classic Cajun/Creole and Southern dishes, he decided that his new menu would aim to “elevate the food to a higher level.” Read the rest of this entry »