People standing in line for the new iPhone outside the Apple store on Michigan Avenue were met with this gentleman. The front of his sign says: "Obama is simply a creation of our Russian-infested media (& rigged polls)!!! He has no previous accomplishments that would qualify him for the most important job on Earth!!!!" The back reads: "Obama has never had a major (or even minor) management position!!! .....Does it make any sense to......

Today was supposed to by the last kernel for the popular Garrett’s Popcorn Shop on Michigan Avenue, but it’s been granted a stay for the moment. According to Garrett’s P.R. people, the lease has been extended for an unspecified amount of time. The shop has to move because the site will be redeveloped for a Ritz-Carlton condo project. The company is currently in active discussions with other landlords to open a new location along Michigan......

Moonstruck Chocolate Company, a national purveyor of cute and tasty chocolate treats, is closing its Chicago location today. Crain's Chicago Business reports that the company simply couldn’t cope with competition from the variety of both coffee shops and chocolatiers in the neighborhood, most notably Vosges and Ethels. [Ed note: Recall Chicagoist's Chocolate Crawl of '05.] Their chocolates had received an incredible amount of press (including being picked by Oprah as one of her "favorite......

A large sculpture that was removed from its 150 N. Michigan location three years ago was quietly put back up last month, but the artist is pissed. The piece, a 43-foot stainless steel structure titled Communication X9, was taken down by the owners of the property -- and sculpture -- so that it could be restored. The “restoration,” however, led to a complete makeover. Yaacov Agam, the artist who contributed the piece in 1983, believes......

The Greater North Michigan Avenue Association wants us all to “Feel Magnificent,” and this month apparently that means knocking back the bubbly. Throughout February, businesses on the Magnificent Mile and its surrounding area have been serving champagne to diners and shoppers all along the Avenue, which means we have T minus 7 days to score some free (or reduced) sparkling goodness. The Mag Mile web site can fill you in on everywhere that’s filling flutes,......

Photo by RBabiera Michigan Avenue, a new luxury magazine, has set a new launch date: September 17. Dan Uslan, most recently of Where Chicago magazine, was named the publisher today. There's a Where Chicago magazine? Live and learn. [Crain's] A Cook County assistant state's attorney has been charged drug possession. Chad Sabora, who has been an assistant state's attorney since 2005, is accused of having about $50 worth of heroin on him after police......

Preservation Chicago announced its 7 most endangered buildings today, and on the list are surprise entries Grant Park and the Landmarks Ordinance. Also cited are Norwood Park, the American Book Company Building, the Devon Ave commercial district, the Booker Building and the Daily News building. Photo by WVAllen According to Preservation Chicago's report, Grant Park is endangered because of the plans to relocate the Children's Museum. [That plan[ would impose more than 100,000 square feet......

Author Jeffrey Eugenides is no stranger to lovers of both great fiction and fine cinema. His novel Virgin Suicides was adapted into the 1999 film by Sofia Coppela, and his follow-up novel Middlesex was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. His work has also been featured in the likes of the New Yorker and the Yale Review, and he has received numerous other awards and recognition for his talents as an American writer …......

If you've tried to make travel arrangements to Europe lately, you know first hand that the U.S. dollar is sucking wind compared to the Euro -- as of today's exchange rate the Euro is worth a whopping 47% more than the dollar. And don't think Europeans haven't noticed -- they're bringing that "free money" and empty suitcases to the Mag Mile and loading them up with Burberry and Hershey's chocolate. The Tribune reports that......

Maybe it's just that we're ready for the weekend (and ready for this site to say "yes"), but it seems like this whole day is just a jerk. Time: Move faster! Weather: Be a little nicer! World: Be more fair! Especially Illinois. Fermi Lab is laying off 200 full-time employees--about 10 percent of its staff--due to cuts in the federal funding to the Department of Energy. Staff members who still have jobs will have......

During last week’s sleet storm we ducked into the South Loop Wine Cellar on the walk home from the Museum Campus. Half-frozen, soaked and more concerned with warming up than with finding a new shopping destination, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found inside. Warm, welcoming and filled with wine bins, exposed bricks and a beautiful Christmas tree, the store was the perfect place for us to stop. With all of the hype surrounding......

Kanye West's mother Donda West's autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday. The Chicago Board of Education is going to approve plans for a culinary arts high school for juniors about to drop out of school. Mark your calendars: On weekends between November 17 and December 23, Fannie May will be offering free ferry rides "between Chicago's commuter train stations and the Michigan Avenue shopping district." Moo Moo, a 2-year-old shih tzu was stolen from his Wicker......

There is ham, and then there is French Madrange Ham. There is cheese, and then there is Swiss Gruyère. There is bread, and then there is organic Bretzel Bread. Which brings us to Hannah's Bretzel. Hannah's has a lot of things going for it before you take the first bite. The local sandwich shop features a green retail space, a wall of exotic chocolates, and a friendly staff, but the Sergio Special is where it's......

Should Chicagoist be worried that the Bulls have opened their season 0-4 after dropping Tuesday night's game to the L.A. Clippers 97-91? Having watched three of their first four in their entirety, we can certainly say that the Bulls look nothing like a team who we'd predict to win 55 games and finish atop the Eastern Conference. Not only have they yet to enter the win column, but they're not even losing to elite teams.......

Anyone walking out an about today surely came across the fans of the USC Trojans. The Trojans play Notre Dame today in South Bend, and it seems like many of their fans decided to make a three-day weekend and fit in some shopping in Chicago. While walking down Michigan Avenue, Chicagoist could barely keep count the number of people sporting crimson and gold. The two teams will meet for the 79th time today with Notre......

This is part of Chicagoist's continuing coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival. Filmmaker Brett Morgan introduced last night's screening by clarifying that his movie Chicago 10 is not a sequel to Chicago the musical. He was joking, but we could all use a little refresher on the events of August 1968, when riots turned the Loop and Lincoln Park into battle zones between the police and protesters. The chronology of the whole nightmarish week......

Obama has done it. Durbin has done it. Now Daley’s gonna do it. The “it” in question? Lobbying for alleged murderer Hans Peterson’s extradition to the United States. The story’s old hat by this point: Peterson supposedly confessed to killing dermatologist Dr. David Cornbleet last October in his office on Michigan Avenue. Unfortunately his confession fell on French ears, as Peterson had fled to the isle of St. Martin, where he invoked his Gallic heritage......

After months upon months of pounding the pavement and posting in cyberspace, the Cornbleet family allegedly has their man. Dermatologist Dr. David Cornbleet was murdered last October in his Michigan Avenue office. Since then, his son Jon has worked seemingly ‘round the clock to track down his father’s killer. Taking a tip from an unspecified source, officials arrested Hans Peterson, 29, Aug. 6 on the French island of St. Martin. For the time being, Peterson......

While many of you shuffle back and forth from stage to stage in Grant Park this weekend, we thought we'd take the opportunity to show you how it looked about 80 years ago. It's just a touch different today, isn't it? While the landscaping had yet to take its place in 1929, Buckingham Fountain and the general layout of the park are clear. The Art Institute is in place and looks exceptionally lonely, and while......

This is Officer Coates. When we first saw him at approximately 4 p.m. this afternoon, he was standing on a Segway (instant annoying!) and appeared to be telling some dudes with big signs announcing a 50% off sale on tuxedos (?) on Michigan Avenue that they couldn't stand there or something. This was right out front of 535 N. Michigan Ave. just south of the Intercontinental Hotel. We thought, "Who cares? Leave them alone!"......

We are fully aware that this weekend feature might as well be called "Chicagoist Likes Cool Old Buildings." We're fine with that. A couple weeks ago we focused on the changes - or a lack thereof - on Michigan Avenue at Wacker. Today we're taking a quick trip across the river - to the Tribune Building. As a Chicago icon and part of architectural history, we're big fans of Colonel Robert McCormick's decision for what......

Where Do I Take Mom?...

“Had the Des Plaines and Chicago Rivers not been so close and had a mountain -- instead of a small hill -- separated them, perhaps there might not have been a Chicago.” Before launching into the story of the Chicago River, the exhibit at the McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum contemplates this thought, illustrating the essential relationship between the development of Chicago into its current metropolis and the river that flows through it.......

Last weekend, professional soccer players Dean Ruddy and Ross Smith came across the pond to raise money for a charity called Dreams for Kids. In soccer, one of the cardinal rules is that the players, save for the goalie, are never allowed to touch the ball with their hands. But these guys were feeling up Chicago like crazy. They weren't here to raise money playing soccer, they were here to hug. It was called......

Last summer, we somehow found ourselves perusing the goods at a flea market held on the grounds of the Square Barn in Wheeling. Walking in with the intention of not purchasing anything, we were surprised to walk out with a fabulous art deco cuff, a lucite bangle, a bag of colorful necklaces, a set of vintage medical jars and a cake stand, all for about $35. After that fateful trip, we ended up spending at......

Carl Wright, a Chicago actor who appeared in Soul Food, Barbershop and Big Momma's House, has passed away from cancer. Northwestern won't be offering an undergraduate major in Jazz studies any longer. --> Bo Diddley's condition is improving after having a stroke last week. In local celeb gossip, people are wondering whether Vaughnifer is planning a romantic reunion in Chicago. Someone at MeFi asked "What is required for a Chicago porch repair permit?" A......

If you take a walk down Erie just a few blocks west of the hustle-and-bustle (and slow-walking) of Michigan Avenue, you'll find yourself surrounded by grand, newly-rehabbed architecture of yesteryear — namely, the Cable House, Nickerson House, and the John B. Murphy Auditorium. What began as admiration by a young man named Richard Driehaus turned into a full-fledged labor of love. Driehaus noticed the old mansions years ago, when he would park on Erie to......

There's about to be some empty spaces on North Michigan Avenue, the likes of which haven't been seen on the Magnificent Mile for 15 years. Lord & Taylor will soon shutter the doors at its Water Tower Place location, and it will be 2008 before American Girl Place moves from its current spot on Chicago to take over a portion of the space. With CompUSA closing up shop on Chicago as well, retail vacancy for......

Paris in the Springtime in Chicago?...

Your theme this week, in honor of Earth Day/Week/Month: "Being Green." This is the song that Kermit the Frog made famous, but Ray Charles did a knockout version of it, and our favorite take on the song has to be Van Morrison's version from 1973's Hard Nose the Highway. It's so good, we insist on this song being played while our casket's being lowered to the ground. Let's dive in, shall we? Moo Moo, I......