Friday, August 14, 2009

Ghosts of Chicago, or, Goddamn Right, We Were the Best

I have to laugh at this site: http://gapersblock.com/fuel/archives/endangered_places/

Now, while I am forever lamenting the death of my favorite bookshops, cafés, etc., I tend to get bored with this conversation. All those ghosts of Chicago that I mourn were annoying replacements of the older ghosts some guy 20 years my senior mourned. What does fascinate (and depress) me is the evolution of a city. How can Chicago, for example, always be Chicago when so much of it has changed? It’s interesting to me, though, as I said, the whole bitching about long lost places like Lounge Acts and Wax Trax can get old. Still, watching the Blues Brothers the other day, Cassandra and I got a little weepy at the sight of long-gone Maxwell Street.

Side note: I love that this poster called the Aspidistra the best used book store in Chicago. I always thought so, even before I worked there.