For the expo attendees, there were plenty of opportunities for engagement—from makeovers to contests for prizes ranging from cars to exotic vacations. Along the walls of the center hung paintings, photographs, sculptures, and various arts pieces created by different Latino artists.

Teen Day Fashion Show and Family Pavilion started at 2pm with the fashion expo. But the runway show was to be the main event of the evening, featuring Cuban designer Jorge Pérez de la Havana’s new quinceañera line for Macy’s. As the time of the show approached, the din began to rise with excitement as more people entered through the doors. Parents of one model, Carmen Guerrero, stood waiting anxiously and announced proudly, “It’s her fist big show.”

Upstairs above the expo and mounting crowd, the runway area was full of energy.  Past several rows of white chairs—each with a Macy’s bag on it—and behind the curtains on the stage, the models prepared themselves for the big entrance. A pile of shoes were stacked up on the left, waiting to be worn in the show. Workers steam-ironed long dresses, while professional beautification staff applied make-up to the young models: hairspray, straighteners, and curling irons tossed about as they sculpted the models’ hair. Arabel Alva Rosales, one of the co-executive producers, hustled about amidst the many people backstage.

The ring shaped platform in the center of the room loomed, calmly awaiting the teen models that would soon be walking out. Colored lights shown about the room, and projections flashed over the empty chairs onto the wall.  The show was ready to start.

It’s Third Fridays in Bridgeport, and on this night every month, the underground arts scene comes out to play.

Modeled after Second Fridays in Pilsen, Third Fridays is part of a larger trend to revive struggling arts communities. The economic downturn has hit art districts hard, and staying relevant has proven to be an even more demanding task than staying afloat. To bring in new viewers—and potential buyers—art district commissions and gallery owners have taken to organizing monthly gallery crawls. Free drinks and refreshments are offered as bait, but the real draw is the opportunity to mingle with art enthusiasts of all different stripes and wallet sizes.

Martin Bernstein, a jeweler and mixed-media artist who rents gallery and studio space in the Zhou B Center, says he values the face-time Third Fridays allows him with people interested in art. “[At most normal gallery events,] I can show people my work on white walls, but as an artist, you like to immerse yourself in the work. [On Third Fridays] I’m able to show people the process I’m going through, and they can see for themselves how the thoughts evolve and how the works themselves take shape.” Bernstein likens Third Fridays to a craft bazaar, where the very personal, “visceral experience” of art becomes a social encounter. “When people come to events like this…it is like an arts fair. It’s like channel surfing—you can go from one room to the next, one piece to the next. And my works unfold into one another, and [the energy of the night] feeds us. And…of course, if that could lead to sales down the road, that would be wonderful.”

It remains to be seen whether these events actually pay off for the artists, galleries, and communities that invest in them. The concrete results of buzz-generating events like Third Fridays are difficult to measure; hard numbers don’t exist, and success is judged by vibe alone. According to Robin Rios, an artist and director of the 4Art gallery in the Center, “Nine times out of ten, people coming for Third Fridays don’t buy art [that day]…With the economy, it’s tough.” However, she adds, “We’re artists. For us, it’s always this kind of economy. We’re used to it.”

Though the value of the gallery crawl may not be directly quantifiable, Third Fridays has a ripple effect that artists are confident will generate revenue down the line. According to Zulema Covarrubias, the office manager of the Center, the monthly event creates interest in the art, which eventually brings in customers. “There’s just a buzz around the city about us,” she says. “We have a lot of people who come in and buy art, for sure. That’s why we have a full house [of artists], and so many people want to rent studios here. They know we get a lot of traffic.” Noyes, the artist who created the finger condom piece, is a case in point. Working out of a studio on the third floor since January of this year, Noyes says she moved to the Center specifically because of Third Fridays. “The exposure this brings is great.” But she admits, “It’s hard to say if I’ve [gotten customers from the event], since I haven’t sold a piece since January.”

Ultimately, though, immediate financial gratification isn’t as important as the artists’ desire to get their name and work out into the open. Asked why she bothers with Third Fridays when it hasn’t brought in any new buyers, Noyes shrugs cheerfully, “Whenever I put my art out there, something comes back. It’s an energy thing.” Bernstein agrees. “It’s important to get feedback and a response [from your audience],” he says, “it’s a conversation…You make art to show it.”

Halsted Street in Pilsen (Mehves Konuk)

A few miles south, Bridgeport’s former industrial district has become the quiet home of an underground art scene. Over the past three years, the area has seen the opening and expansion of studios, artist-run project spaces, and exhibition megacenters. Shan Zuo and Da Huang Zhou, China-born artists now internationally recognized for their collaborative paintings and sculpture work, moved to Bridgeport in 1986 and transformed an abandoned 85,000-square-foot warehouse on 35th Street into an exhibition, event, and studio space in 2004. Named the Zhou B Art Center, the brothers’ space is currently filled to capacity, and according to center director Oskar Friedl, it may soon expand into another warehouse space the brothers recently purchased.

Ed Marszewski, director and founder of alternative art collective Lumpen, purchased an abandoned warehouse on Morgan Street in Bridgeport in 2006 when rent rose at the Flat Iron Building in Wicker Park. At the same time, many artist spaces along Milwaukee Avenue were relocating or closing. The former warehouse, dubbed the Co-Prosperity Sphere, functions as a community center and exhibition space. Another warehouse, East Bank Storage at Racine and 35th Street, has been partly transformed into an artist community housing over twenty studios.

These new spaces have brought a diverse range of artists and art practice to historically blue-collar Bridgeport. The range in size and cost of spaces in the Zhou B Art Center allow new MFA recipients’ start-up studios to operate beside well-established galleries. And the Co-Prosperity Sphere’s program of countercultural video installations and non-traditional work provides an alternative to the more mainstream, commercial spaces in the Zhou B Art Center.

Although Bridgeport has been scattered with studio and gallery space since the mid-’90s, events put on by its up-and-coming formal art communities are drawing a wide range of visitors to the area for the first time. In addition to regular exhibitions, the Co-Prosperity Sphere hosts two yearly multi-day festivals that draw dozens of local and international artists to the area. The artists of East Bank host regular events and semi-annual open gallery nights, and the Zhou B Art Center’s monthly open studio night alone includes more artists than those on Pilsen’s Second Friday gallery crawl.

In light of the increasing number of vacancies on Pilsen’s gallery strip, the success of these new developments leads one to ask: is Bridgeport becoming the new Pilsen? And is Bridgeport’s development complicit in Pilsen’s decline?

Brazilian painter Dagmar Bruehmueller moved into a small studio in the Zhou B Art Center in November after two years of operating a large, street-front gallery in Pilsen. Pilsen, Bruehmueller says, “has changed. So many galleries closed, and people don’t pay attention anymore.”

“It’s a 360-degree turn around,” says Robin Monique Rios, a digital photography artist who moved her gallery, 4Art, from Pilsen into the Zhou B Art Center in September. Rios describes her experience operating in Pilsen as a constant struggle, and was on the verge of closing her studio after six years in Pilsen when she was invited to rent space in the Zhou brothers’ new center.

Marco Logsdon, founder and director of Logsdon 1909 Gallery in Pilsen, believes most of Pilsen’s innovative, successful galleries continue to thrive, and says that Second Friday events are as well-attended as ever. He attributes the recent increase in vacancies to the changes introduced when John Podmajersky III, son of the couple who initiated the neighborhood’s transformation, took over business management in 2003.

The Podmajersky family, art collectors and residents of Pilsen since 1914, began purchasing warehouses and stores on Halsted between 16th and Canalport in the ’60s, converting them into art spaces, and renting them to local artists, and effectively transformed East Pilsen’s full-fledged art district by the late ’90s. Podmajersky currently owns hundreds of apartments and 250,000 square feet of studio and gallery space in Pilsen.

“The parents are the one who really set up the area. Particularly the mother, who collected ceramics, was very into the arts,” Logsdon says. Art lovers, the Podmajerskys kept rental rates far below market price and did everything they could to keep artists in the district. “Sometimes [Podmajersky II’s wife] would let them trade works for rent, and was just very supportive. The son is not in the same. He doesn’t have the same mentality. He’s a businessman,” Logsdon says.

In addition to organizing the district’s publicity efforts, Podmajersky III began standardizing rent rates in 2003, raising prices for many long-time occupants. Part of what Podmajersky III called a “cleaning house” in a December 2003 interview with the Chicago Reader included rent hikes and required open exhibition hours, which pressured artists who underutilized storefront spaces to move out. (Chicago Weekly was not able to reach Podmajersky by press time.)

Although a number of artists have relocated from Pilsen to Bridgeport, it would be inaccurate to say that gallery and studio closings in Pilsen are fueling Bridgeport’s growth. Rather, according to a Reader article published last summer, most closures are the result of galleries moving to long-established art districts on Chicago’s North Side or simply shutting down. And Bridgeport’s studio complexes are filling with artists from across the city and nation.
What can be said, however, is that differences in location, physical amenities, leadership, community structure and organization, and economic trends have shaped the divergent paths of the two neighborhoods.

Pilsen’s Halsted Street is primarily composed of low-rise store-fronts and apartment buildings. Close to the South Loop and only a half-mile north of the Orange Line Halsted stop, Pilsen is a prime candidate for the type of residential gentrification that has inflated rental prices and pushed artists out of Wicker Park during the past decade.

Recent development efforts, including the $700-million University Village project just north of the Chicago Arts District, have pushed up real estate values in the area. Rent in Pilsen is still lower than in North Side art districts, but Podmajersky tenants do face yearly increases. Unlike Pilsen, parts of Bridgeport are far from the Loop and the nearest El line, lack amenities, and are full of highly industrial structures that don’t fit well into the yuppie low-rise brick apartment aesthetic. But the abandoned industrial complexes that detract from Bridgeport’s real estate development appeal are ideal spaces for large-scale studio and exhibition complexes.

Prior to becoming director of the Zhou B Art Center, Oskar Friedl ran galleries in the River North district and the Flat Iron Building in Wicker Park, in studio art complexes that stood at the center of each neighborhood’s art communities. Alternative art districts in the ’80s and ’90s, “both areas went bust or they gentrified too rapidly to really allow for a development of the arts,” Friedl says. Friedl believes that the “possibilities [in Bridgeport] are tenfold what they were in River North…You can create ten times more with ten percent of the effort,” offering artists and art developers spaces where they can “operate almost on the museum level.” Bridgeport, Friedl says, “feels like it’s the most authentic of any of the communities that I’ve worked in and lived in.”

The type of project spaces and mega-centers opening up in Bridgeport create a professional, high-level version of the art school studio complex, especially appealing to artists who crave interaction with other artists and want to cut costs on gallery operation in light of the current economy. Furthermore, Bridgeport’s development is artist-driven, while Pilsen’s arts district is primarily the creation of a real estate developer. Podmajersky under John Podmajersky III maintains strict control of gallery promotion efforts and operation practice. Pilsen’s leadership structure, Rios believes, restricts and leads to the constant “roadblocking [of] people wanting to bring new ideas to the district.”

In contrast, the new art centers surfacing in Bridgeport are owned and managed by artists or individuals active in the art community. Already involved in art, individuals like Marszewski and the Zhou brothers have a greater stake in Bridgeport’s prosperity and are better able to attract artists and draw crowds to the neighborhood. East Bank Storage, like Pilsen’s gallery district, is not artist-owned. But the center’s corporate managers’ hands-off policy differs from Podmajersky’s approach and leaves space for tenant activity. Artists of the East Bank, a community of studio occupants, manages promotion for and organization of semi-annual gallery events and more regular exhibition activity.

In comparison to Pilsen, Rios says the Zhou B Art Center sees many more “international visitors, a more high-end clientele…I think the majority is because the brothers are so famous.” On the other end of the spectrum, Marszewski’s Lumpen Magazine and the long-running Version and Select Media festivals he runs have established an alternative following for events put on by the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

All this said, Logsdon does not see Bridgeport’s development as a threat to Pilsen. The two art districts are “different—they’re just different,” he says. Bridgeport’s isolated, one-stop art centers may supplant Podmajersky’s studio loft complexes, but are incomparable and will never compete with Pilsen’s dense storefront gallery district, Logsdon says. “The thing that’s nice about Pilsen is that they’re very inviting spaces, and they’re unique, they’re not the cookie-cutter renovation. A lot of times people enjoy seeing the spaces as much as seeing the art,” Logsdon says. “The areas that I’ve been to [in Bridgeport]—nothing is as unique as the Pilsen spaces.”

best place to buy a love potion
Augustine’s Authentic Spiritual Goods
Need some guidance picking winning lottery numbers, or scoring big on Bingo Night? Praying that an anomalous hurricane will break your Uncle Ted out of Illinois State Prison? Too timid to get out and conquer the perfect mate? For the learned guru, casual dilettante, or desperate spiritual seeker, Augustine’s is the place to find arcane knowledge and magical solutions. Besides a huge cast of regular characters and knowledgeable, friendly guides behind the counter, Augustine’s cozy, incense-clouded shop stocks a huge supply of those delightful prayer candles, precious stones, healing oils, runic charms, and ephemeral oddities like egg shells, volcano oil, vetivert, sage, and hyssop. Make your own gris-gris pouch or have Augustine’s staff craft one to suit your magick desires. The bookshelf offers such curiosities as Postmodern Magic, Altars: Bringing Sacred Shrines into Your Everyday Life, and Practical Enochian Magic, a suitable alternative to the Occult Bookstore on Milwaukee if you’re in a heathen stitch and can’t make it up to the North Side. Also check the calendar for regular classes in Mexican folk magic, tarot reading, and numerology. 3327 S. Halsted St. Monday-Thursday, 11am-7pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-6pm; Sundays, 11am-4pm. (773)843-1933. authenticspiritualgoods.com (Brandon Hopkins)

best mexican snacks
Mimi’s Churros
If you’re craving an elote with everything on it—that’s corn on the cob with mayonnaise, chili sauce, butter, and lemon juice—stop by this Bridgeport secret, a fully stocked Mexican snack bar in the shadow of the Dan Ryan. Open only in the warmer months, Mimi’s offers a chalkboard’s worth of Italian ice flavors, tamarind, horchata, and mamey being some of the more exotic choices. Two dollars gets you a softball-sized globe of the sweet snow, already as much as I can handle, but if the heat has driven you to utter abandon, the lemonade split gets you a smoothie-sized cup of three flavors. Warm, fluffy churros, available with strawberry, chocolate, or Bavarian crème, are the specialty, but Mimi’s is pushing the full snack spectrum, from funnel cakes to smoothies, nachos, and pretzels. 2520 S. Halsted St. Monday-Saturday, 11am-11pm; Sunday, 1pm-11pm. (312)326-2267. churroschicago.com (Brandon Hopkins)

best art with your coffee
Zhou B Art Center and Zhou Brothers Café
The Zhou Brothers’ art compound is as much a temple to the daunting celebrity of the two Chinese painters, sculptors, and performers, who collaborate on nearly all their exploits, as it is to their work itself. The café’s tables are carved with their trademark primitive, calligraphic anthropoids, and the curtains are screenprinted with their abstract scrabble. Posters of their exhibits have a monumental presence in the atmospheric interior, and there’s even a photo of the ever-dapper pair with Bill Clinton. The grand emphasis on the Zhous’ global renown is a little confusing, but the Zhou B Art Center offers a huge space for the art of local and international artists, also hosting varied special events. The first floor mainly holds the large-scale Abstract Expressionist work of founders Shan Zhuo and Da Huang Zhou, but the 33 Collective’s gallery shows the varied work of a rotating cast of artists. The third Friday of every month is reserved for new show openings and studio open houses in Bridgeport. Open relatively late, the Zhou B Café has a subdued and cozy ambience if you can tune out the modern rock hits of 2002 rumbling from the stereo—bring some headphones, a book, and ensconce yourself in one of the low booths with a raspberry mocha and a grilled provolone and Dijon mustard sandwich after checking out the latest exhibits. 1029 W. 35th St. Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm; Saturday, 12pm-5pm. Café open Monday-Friday, 8am-10pm; Saturday, 12pm-7pm. (773)523-0200. zbcenter.org (Brandon Hopkins)

best co-prosperity sphere
Co-Prosperity Sphere
A sincere discussion of Chicago’s unofficial hipster Elks Lodge would be incomplete without reference to the eye-rolling it will elicit with its arbitrary allusions to post-Marxist politics and its simultaneous espousal of stylish fun. But whether or not you find the boho-ism too hard to bear, the Co-Prosperity Sphere, the self-declared “Community of the Future” and the biggest face in Bridgeport’s art scene, has the monopoly on Chicago’s counterculture. The space acts as a gallery for artists associated with Lumpen magazine, holding occasional parties and diverse concerts—this past year, a two-day black metal festival took place there, and touring noise rock and indie pop acts played in the dingy basement. Versionfest and the Select Media Festival, each an annual concatenation of loud art, progressive politics, and underground music, also take place behind the show windows of the Co-Prosperity Sphere’s appropriated storefront. 3219-21 S. Morgan Ave. Hours by appointment. (773)696-9731. lumpen.com (Brandon Hopkins)

best cathedral
St. Mary’s of Perpetual Help
St. Mary’s of Perpetual Help was once the home of the city’s archdiocese. Built in 1889, the church’s exterior reflects the traditional brick façade of its South Side surroundings. The three massive patina-coated domes rise high above the three-story homes that surround it. Even beyond the outer extravagance, the interior far surpasses any initial expectations. Along the walls are delicately hand-carved and painted Stations of the Cross. The soaring ceilings lead the eye upward towards the heavily ornate cupolas. Of course, the church has its fair share of indulgences. The gilding can be exhausting, and the Pietà seems gaudy next to the paintings hanging in the shrine, which can be traced back to the inception of the church and were recently restored by the Art Institute. But the community’s spirit and age is firmly present. The bulletins at the entry advertise mass in Latin, the way it was pre-Vatican II. The blue-hairs that were at the Wednesday mass smiled at each other warmly. Above all, it is a place for people to come together. 1039 W. 32nd St. (773)927-6646 (Tizziana Baldenebro)

most misleading name
Healthy Food Lithuanian Restaurant
Opened in 1938, Chicago’s oldest Lithuanian restaurant hasn’t changed much since the ’50s: Walking into the Eastern European diner is like stepping into a scene in sepia tone, where the walls are wood-paneled and adorned with Old World artifacts, the tablecloths are flower-patterned oilcloth, and you can dine sitting on a stool at a counter (no word on whether the phone booth in the back is still usable). The restaurant’s definition of “healthy” hasn’t been updated lately, either—the food, heavy on the animal fat, is not for the cholesterol-conscious—but like many ’50s-era relics, it may be coming back in style, judging by the recent resurgence of lard. Healthy Food’s specialties include koldunai (boiled meat dumplings), kugelis (potato “pudding”), tangy sauerkraut soup, and a dill-laced borscht with a boiled potato on the side. As the friendly and garrulous owner Gina is happy to share, all the food is made from scratch—and if you order the blynai (a crepe-like pancake), the accompanying blueberries may be ones she hand-picked. Get there early on Saturdays for bacon buns, and accept Gina’s suggestion to try the pie—you won’t regret it. 3236 S. Halsted St. Tuesday-Wednesday, 8am-4pm; Thursday-Saturday, 8am-8pm; Sunday, 8am-5pm. (312)326-2724. healthyfoodlithuanian-chicago.com (Robin Peterson)

“Le Tired” by Lisa Stefaniak; courtesy of 33 Collective

The exhibition was judged this year by Gregg Hertzlieb, director/curator of the Brauer Museum of Art in Valparaiso, Indiana. In describing the winners of the Juror’s Choice Award as well as the Award of Excellence, Hertzlieb explained that out of the throng of compositions, the best pieces were those “attempting to capture a reflection, whether the reflection is on the mirror’s surface or in the artists’ minds as they think about their personality traits, features, or other indicators of identity.”

The only true commonality among the pieces is their subject matter. The exhibit features a smorgasbord of intensely personal, highly stylized modes of artistic self-expression, and a variety of media conveyed alternately hyper-critical impressions and light-hearted caricatures. The Juror’s Award was given to Todd Snyder’s oil on canvas titled “Self-Portrait at Easel.” While the piece is not a realistic depiction of the ruddy-faced artist, its rawness is striking, as is Snyder’s focused, furrow-browed expression, which resists your efforts to pull your gaze away. There is a paradoxical softness in the painting’s short brushstrokes and hushed hues, which give it an airy quality that detracts from the sternness of his expression.

Michael Purdy won the Award of Excellence with a photograph that captured a different kind of personal essence. As opposed to an intimate, idealized, one-on-one dialogue with the artist, Purdy made public a real moment of his life. The effect differs from Snyder’s painting in that we are allowed to sneak a peek into the everyday happenings of the artist’s life. It is less intimidating to see other people in the composition, although they too are going about their lives, oblivious to the others ephemerally interacting with them. Unposed and unembellished, the photograph is instead a casual, almost clumsy snap of the camera, the artist’s glance askance and ignoring.

On the whole the show was strong, whether the works were unpresumptuous photographs or nebulous, indefinable bursts of color. Kathy Fujii-Oka’s Rorschach test-like portrait seems to speak to its author’s tangled thoughts, in contrast to Claire Micklin’s “Vigilance,” where the artist’s blank expression allows the viewer to feel Micklin’s physical presence. The degree to which that presence can be sensed varies tremendously, and one wonders about the extent to which an artist can objectify and detach themselves from a piece, especially one as self-reflective as a self-portrait. In leaving the substantial exhibition, one is struck by the rather vertiginous feeling of having walked through a room filled with funhouse mirrors of other people’s psyches.
33 Collective Gallery, Zhou B. Arts Center, 1029 W. 35th St., first floor. Through June 11. Monday-Thursday, 10am-2pm; Friday, 10am-7pm. (708)837-4534. 33collective.com

Small venues and the artists that frequent them are the obvious victims of such a law, but they are not the only ones. The law, in its wisdom, is careful to note that only venues with permanent, fixed seating will ever be exempt from being reviewed for performances, which means that the Metro and even the gargantuan Riviera Theatre will be extorted for more cash. Granted, these venues might be able to weather the intervention with reduced profit margins. Smaller venues and storied ones like the Green Mill and the Checkerboard Lounge will not.

The response from the Chicago music community has been swift and furious. Chicago Music Commission board member and Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer’s statement was the most representative and diplomatic: “The ordinance will reduce the amount of music in Chicago, make events more expensive for consumers, dampen the large and growing economic engine that is Chicago music, and create a much less supportive business climate for Chicago’s small music business community. As Chicago competes for business with cities from around the world in addition to our own regional suburbs, we cannot afford to put this ordinance’s well-intentioned but overly broad financial weight on Chicago’s music community.” Iglauer’s words are kind enough to appeal to the practical implications of the law’s passage: in the post-industrial culture economy—the successful development of which has saved Chicago from Rust Belt oblivion—killing off your music scene for minimal added tax revenue makes little sense. Yet, like most politics in the Chicago of this Mayor Daley, the law has little to do with practical sense. The barely—and pointlessly—concealed attempt to surreptitiously pass the bill with no explanation of its purpose remains a small stroke in a broader political canvas. In this Chicago, the city of Millennium Park, countless monuments to the mayor, and an ill-advised Olympics bid, symbol and effect always outstrip the demands of reality. And that, ultimately, is the purpose of the “Event Promoter” ordinance. Its implied message is: “We have the power to silence your noise.”

This is not the only time in the past year that the city has aptly demonstrated essayist Garret Keizer’s contention that “human noise [and its control] is political from its inception.” The confrontation between the city and the Zhou B Art Center was another example in which the arts community took its artistic freedom too far. Though the city’s building commission provided the technical reasons for why performance events have not been allowed there since last July, there is little doubt that the local politicos of Bridgeport, Mayor Daley’s home neighborhood and the cradle of the Democratic machine, pulled strings to get rid of all those unsightly hipsters in their tight jeans. If even the Zhou brothers, the beloved exemplars of the kind of cultural city Mayor Daley wants to create, lose these kinds of fights, it’s not hard to imagine that the feelings of Chicago’s music underground mean even less to civic legislators.

Expressing local political power, while fulfilling the bill’s only conceivable purpose, creates an enormous symbolic political tension. Most laws and ordinances concerning noise are aimed at the individual. The social goal is the establishment of sustainable symbiosis. To paraphrase Keizer, every big noise must be quieted so that all small sounds can coexist peacefully. The kid with a boombox can’t disturb the napping grandmother unless he is willing to endure her cranked television in kind. The problem with the “Event Promoter” ordinance, then, is the individuals it seeks to quiet: the culture workers who make Chicago an appealing place to live and who are politically conscious enough to fight back. If noise is political, popular musicians have always been its rebels. There’s a reason Dick Hebdige opened his seminal study of the 1970s punk subculture by calling the punks “noise” on the surface of society. Further, the symbolic here runs again into the practical demands of reality, the unavoidable fact that the culture industry underpins much of Chicago city life. These people are not worth pissing off.

The fury that was raised last week was effective. In the face of popular opposition, the passage of the bill has been delayed “for further research.” We hope the inquiries find a reason for it to even be considered.

That was on July 20. Within the last four months, three other events like the Printers’ Ball have been shut down by police in Bridgeport, marking a peculiar stand-off between local law enforcement and the flowering art scene that has made the neighborhood one of Chicago’s hottest bohemian enclaves. Two weeks ago, the Chicago Artists’ Coalition’s Art Open, held at Iron Studios in the heart of Bridgeport’s old manufacturing complex, was challenged by police and nearly closed. Recently, the Zhou B. Art Center saw performances by Opera Cabal cut short and the Chicago Composers Forum moved out.

What gives?

“Proper licensing” has been cited as the main reason that the Zhou B. Center cannot continue to operate at full capacity. The licensing in question refers to special event licenses, those of the nit-picking ilk that Chicago’s bureaucracy requires for large events that have over 100 people attending. After the Printers’ Ball fell through, Rosa Escareno, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Business Affairs, told the Near West Gazette licensing is necessary as a certification of safety: “There were a lot of issues because the location was not properly licensed or permitted. This is an industrial establishment. It did not have the proper amenities to accommodate this type of event and this number of people.” The Zhou B. Center has failed to acquire the proper licenses since the July debacle and their continued defiance of the rules requiring registration has likely increased police surveillance of the institution.

Part of the reason is that city zoning laws have recast the stretch of 35th Street where the Zhou B. Art Center resides as a manufacturing zone, as opposed to the more lenient business district it used to occupy. But all of Chicago’s manufacturers are moving out, and the new zoning laws constitute an expansion of the industrial district already there.

The new strictures in place may end all future public events at the Zhou B. Art Center, due in most part to the costs associated with meeting licensing requirements. Zhou B. manager Oskar Friedl told Chicago Reader that to be eligible for a year-long license good for thirty events, the Zhou B. Center would have to shell out at least $200,000 for electrical upgrades to meet the code the licensing application requires. Friedl also told Chicago Reader, “The Zhou brothers’ current thinking is that ‘in the future we’ll have no more public events, period.’”

That apocalyptic assessment would spell doom for the grassroots art movement the Zhou B. has been able to generate in Bridgeport. The Zhou brothers’ superstar status was making Bridgeport a destination for fans of the avant-garde, and their generosity was making the neighborhood a fertile ground for grassroots art movements who need space and PR. As Friedl complains in the Reader, the latest moves by the city seem to be an example of “bad policy.”

Best Time Travel
Bridgeport Family Restaurant
The Bridgeport Family Restaurant is easy to get to on public transit, and on the main drag in Bridgeport (which is incredibly White Sox heavy—check out the retro sports bars around here if you want to). But when you step into this diner-style establishment, it might as well be a few decades before you were born. The hours aren’t great, so you have to go for breakfast or lunch. But you’ll get plenty of bread and extensive menu options, along with the chance to feel like a character (though hopefully not the star—that would be a little too weird) in a David Lynch film. Order anything you’d like, and make sure to appreciate the engraved glass lighting fixtures and comfy booths. 3500 S. Halsted St. (773)247-2826. (Rose Schapiro)

Best for Chilling Out
Bridgeport Coffee House
This is a true community-oriented coffeehouse in one of the most interesting areas of the South Side, even if it is a little off the beaten path. The Bridgeport Coffee House has bake sales for community groups, and sponsors benefits for the local PTA. It has yummy pastries, hot sandwiches, and a full drink menu. In typical coffeehouse fashion, its walls are decorated by local artists, but the work tends to be tasteful and fun. The owners roast and blend their own coffee beans, which you can buy wholesale. But more importantly, they claim to know all of the regulars’ names. The storefront is beautiful, and the neighborhood is homey, very comforting and chill. The coffee shop itself feels very relaxed (though if you want to stress yourself out by contacting the outside world, they also offer internet access). 3101 S. Morgan St. Monday-Friday, 6am-9pm; Saturday, 7am-9pm; Sunday, 8am-7pm. (773)247-9950. www.bridgeportcoffeecompany.com (Rose Schapiro)

Best Place for Produce
Egg Store
Though Hyde Park Produce may not leave much to be desired, check out the Egg Store in Bridgeport for more cheap fruits and vegetables. It’s located in the same mini-mall-type complex as a Unique Thrift, a McDonald’s (Express!) and various other bits of local culture. Egg Store will give you tons of produce for a very low price, though its fluorescent interior can be a bit disconcerting. All the better to see the flaws on your tomatoes, my dear. Make sure to bring a big bag that you can stuff your bounty into, or you may find that you’ll have a problem on your trip back to Hyde Park. 3008 S. Halsted St. Monday-Sunday, 8am-8pm. (773)284-8704. (Rose Schapiro)

Best Art Gallery That You Might Miss
32nd & Urban Gallery
32nd & Urban is committed to being a South Side gallery, and to bringing more obscure art to a beautiful (actually incredibly well-done and unique) gallery space. The owners attempt to represent the greater Chicago area, and focus on the urban landscape of the South Side. Though 32nd & Urban is a little bit of a hike from Pilsen’s attempt at the Second Fridays scene, it’s definitely worth a visit. They open a new show every month, and aside from compelling solo work, they curate interesting group shows with fun themes. Bike over there if you’re in Pilsen or don’t mind a good ride; you won’t be disappointed. Since October is Chicago Artists’ Month, keep on the lookout for the special events that will be going down as well. 3201 S. Halsted St. Thursday-Friday, 9am-5pm. (312)846-6569. (Rose Schapiro)

Best Place to be Overwhelmed
Zhou B Art Center
It’s 87,000 square feet of completely overwhelming (no, seriously) space devoted to art. It houses more than a dozen galleries and studios, which make it great to just walk through. Check out everything from fine arts to photography to graphic graffiti, and marvel at the possibilities of the absolutely gigantic space. The Zhou brothers, who run the space, are very South Side-centric (they’re really into Bridgeport, even though their international fame takes them to places like Germany, Switzerland, and China), and the art center is meant to be as well. The art center has a decent café, and also hosts a handful of events that tend to be a good amount of fun, despite the lines that accrue to get up and down the super thin staircases. It’s also a great music venue, and hopefully in the future the space will be used to its fullest capacity and Chicago’s art scene will rock like never before. 1029 W. 35th St. Sunday-Thursday, 4-10pm. Friday-Saturday, 4-11pm. (773)523-0200. www.zhoubcafe.com (Rose Schapiro)

Best Vintage Diner
Ramova Grill
“The only diner left on the South Side where you can take your coffee mug outside while you smoke,” says the owner’s son of the Ramova—a small breakfast and burger spot in central Bridgeport. Famed for their chili, this diner’s been around since 1929 and comes replete with red vinyl stools at the counter and high-backed booths. Besides the chili, the BLTs have been written up in the Sun-Times and orange juice comes fresh-squeezed at your beck and call. Populated primarily by regulars, you can enjoy the local old men gossip while you fill up on coffee and eggs. Lumpen ringleaders can also be spotted on the scene. Breakfast served all day. 3510 S. Halsted St. Monday-Sunday, 5am-8pm. (773)847-9058. (Emily Bernhard)

Best Place to Join the Clergy
Monastery of the Holy Cross
Benedictine monks host bed-and-breakfasters in this quiet nook of bustling Brideport. “Monks have been welcoming travelers for centuries and you will be given the same warm welcome,” says their website. Piping hot muffins and sourdough pancakes smothered in hot maple syrup grace their breakfast menu. Go with a friend and each pay seventy dollars a night; go with three friends and it’s forty-five dollars apiece. Though not a standard item budgeted into a student’s expenses, it might make for a relaxing weekend away. If you are broke, the friendly gang of monks chant the divine office seven times a day with sanctuary-acoustics, and services are offered throughout the week. 3111 S. Aberdeen St. (773)927-7424. (Emily Bernhard)