Local glossy STOP SMILING, "the magazine for high-minded lowlifes," pulls out the stops with an all-Chicago celebration (issue #24) on the stands soon: the cover models are Mayor Daley, Vince Vaughn and Hugh Hefner, collect one, collect them all. The good stuff inside starts with Q&As with local lumens like Lois Weisberg, Aleksandar Hemon, William Friedkin, Studs Terkel...... and continues with a grab-bag of reminiscence from Michael Mann, Ira Glass, Roger Ebert, Dick Buckley, Paul Krassner, about Mike Royko and Shel Silverstein, and more. (A four page folio highlights Chicago mid-century painters like Miyoko Ito, Jerry Pinsler, Walter Sanford, Walter Hahan, Thomas Kapsalis, Macena Barton, and more.)
Morsels include the most specific reminiscences, such as Sarajevo expat Hemon on his first Chicago 'hood. "My first neighborhood in Chicago was Ukrainian Village—as it was before Starbucks, alternative boutiques and sushi bars. Since all of my friends were Ukrainian Americans native to the Village, I was soon privy to the stories and gossip... I was comfortable enough to listen in on the old men idling in the waiting area of the Self-Reliance Federal Credit Union on Chicago Avenue; I eavesdropped on the old Ukes at the Burger King across the street... as they passionately debated politics in Ukraine, which they had left 50 or so years before... I was told various Nelson Algren stories at the Rainbo Club, where he used to drink and court Simone de Beauvoir, who was still fondly remembered by the locals as Simon the Beaver. On Fridays, I bought pierogi at the Ukrainian school on Rice."
Ebert on his adopted hometown: "Over the years I have come to love this beautiful city, which I like to call the largest habitable city in America.
Friedkin: "Chicago is easily the greatest American city today, in all ways: culturally, architecturally, the nature of the people. There's a sophistication, but also a small-town mentality, and it's a working-class city. I grew up there and loved the city, I realize how much I love it, even now. When I go back, I see only improvements... [I like to] hit the Art Institute and Berghoff's for a corned beef sandwich and a draft beer, or a 14-year-old bourbon."