Tell me about Chicago (esp. Sears Tower)

[justa goblin]

Thank you so far. Another quick question. What is weather like in early December? And how about public transportation vs. driving? I want to make sure that the place feels like Chicago.

Contrary to what you see on t.v. early December does not mean 3 feet of snow. Lately having a white christmas has been a rarity. As kenobi said, for winter in chicago think cold and windy but early december can still be pretty nice weather wise. The real cold usually waits for January.

If you are planning an early december timeframe might I suggest Sunday dec. 4th. It is a homegame for the Bears and they are playing the Packers. Nothing feels more Chicago than that. Traffic will be tied up, bars will be packed. A rip roaring Good vs. Evil fight in the middle of all those fans could pose some real problems for your heros.

 

[kenobi65]

Hmmm, fight during a Packer-Bear game. As a Chicago-area resident, but a transplant from Green Bay, I like it.

A few other flavor things for you...

Consider using a Chicago-style bungalow house for a scene, especially for that working-class family you mentioned. It's a quintessential Chicago house (heck, I live in one). Details at:
http://tigger.uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/buildings/Files/Bungalow.html

Especially if you use a bungalow, you've got to use the word "frontroom" (which a local, like my wife, will pronounce "frunchroom") for "living room", since the living room is usually at the front of the house. "Gangway" is the narrow sidewalk between houses in the city (where there's not enough room between the houses for anything more but that sidewalk).

RW, I think you're probably too young to remember the "Super Fans" sketch they used to do on Saturday Night Live in the late 80s, but that'd give you a good idea of a typical Chicago working-class accent. "Da Bearss, Da Bullss..."

 

[RangerWickett]

My mom's from Wisconsin. I'm quite familiar with the frunchroom.

And yeah, I can do a passable Elwood Blues impersonation for a Chicagoan accent. I'm tempted to take the group out for hot dags before hand, but man, Chicago-style hotdogs are weird.

I'm wondering how I'd manage to get the group to the Packers-Bears game. It might just have to be on TV wherever they go.

 

[kenobi65]

My mom's from Wisconsin. I'm quite familiar with the frunchroom.

Where in Wisconsin?

And yeah, I can do a passable Elwood Blues impersonation for a Chicagoan accent.

That's pretty close. Ironic, given that Ackroyd's Canadian, and Belushi was from Chicago, and it was Elwood who had the stronger Chicago accent.

I'm tempted to take the group out for hot dags before hand, but man, Chicago-style hotdogs are weird.

No kidding. I only like ketchup on my hot dogs; Chicagoans look at me like I'm a heathen.

Couple other Chicago flavor things I've thought of while I was out cutting the grass:
- Especially in the downtown area, on most street corners, you'll see a homeless person selling "Streetwise", which is a newspaper specifically created for the homeless to sell on the street (rather than just panhandle). It's $1 a copy.
- Lower Wacker Drive. It's a great shortcut through downtown, and has been used in a lot of movies (Blues Brothers, Adventures in Babysitting, among others). Unfortunately, it doesn't have the funky green lights it had in the '70s and '80s anymore, but it'd still make for a good venue for a chase scene. It's still fairly dark down there, there's lots of bums living down there, and lots of loading docks for downtown office buildings.

 

[kenobi65]

(double post)

 

[Mark CMG]

Suggested reading about Chicago -

Division Street: America by Studs Terkel

Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg

Chicago: City on the Make by Nelson Algren

The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren

Conversations with Nelson Algren by H. E. F. Donohue

Bum Town by Tony Fitzpatrick

Boss : Richard J. Daley of Chicago by Mike Royko

Sez Who, Sez Me by Mike Royko

Bitter Fruit : Black Politics and the Chicago Machine, 1931-1991 by William J. Grimshaw

Rogues, Rebels, and Rubberstamps: The Story of Chicago City Council from the Civil War to the Third Millennium by Dick W. Simpson

Grafters and Goo Goos: Corruption and Reform in Chicago, 1833-2003 by James L. Merriner

 

[tetsujin28]

It's my kind of town?

 

[Pbartender]

I'm tempted to take the group out for hot dags before hand, but man, Chicago-style hotdogs are weird.

Hot dogs... They're an institution around here.

It must be a Vienna beef hot dog.
The bun must have poppy seeds.
A fully loaded Chicago style dog includes...

• Yellow Mustard
• Bright Green Pickle Relish
• Chopped Onion
• Two Tomato Wedges
• A Kosher Pickle Spear
• Two Sport Peppers (careful!)
• A Dash of Celery Salt

DON'T ASK FOR KETCHUP!


Chicago style pizza is another attention grabber...

It's very thick deep-dish style pizza, often with the tomato sauce on top, and sometimes "stuffed" -- with a second layer of crust on top. It is not uncommon to see it eaten with a knife an fork. Italian sausage is far more common as a topping around here than pepperoni (AKA "little grease disks").

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

Cant forget about lower wacker drive, this is where all the bums hang out. Parking in the city of chicago sux, and if you park in a snow zone, your vehicle will get towed, imagin to the characters chargin to see their car gone or being towed away by the City tow trucks.

Beggers in the middle of the street: As the characters drive down western ave. they see some begger at a major intersection with a sign "Homeless and hungary", worse still is when your car has to stop at that intersection and they come up to you............

Scott

 

[Mark CMG]

Hi-

Cant forget about lower wacker drive, this is where all the bums hang out. Parking in the city of chicago sux, and if you park in a snow zone, your vehicle will get towed, imagin to the characters chargin to see their car gone or being towed away by the City tow trucks.

Beggers in the middle of the street: As the characters drive down western ave. they see some begger at a major intersection with a sign "Homeless and hungary", worse still is when your car has to stop at that intersection and they come up to you............

Scott of Chicago

Do you actually live in the city?