A "food desert," by definition, is a geographic area with no or distant grocery stores served by a plethora of fast food restaurants. An estimated 500,000 Chicago residents live in a food desert and the health implications can be staggering. September is "National Food Desert Awareness Month." Sunday morning at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Roseland (211 E. 115th St.), which is a food desert itself, a rally will be held to raise awareness......

Photo by Katie Scully A new study from the Chaddick Institute at DePaul examines Chicago's diversity by neighborhood by creating a "composite diversity index." The study measured ethnic diversity, income diversity and age diversity. According to their findings, "In the composite index, the five most ethnically diverse neighborhoods are, in order from most diverse to least, Rogers Park, Uptown, New City, Albany Park and Hyde Park. Five of the top eight are clustered together......

Photo by SFMoe In case there were any lingering skeptics, this recession thingy is for real. The accelerating recession oddly coincides with the release of Forbes magazine's list of "America's Most Lucrative Neighborhoods," which includes Wicker Park near the top of the list. With a 1,870-percent increase in median home sale price since 1990, Wicker Park's property value appreciation has been faster than just about anywhere in the country. Maybe we can finally stop......

The crowd at Bernice's Tavern was separated into smaller groups. They were huddled together, studying a board containing ten photographs of church steeples and facades. The goal was to correctly identify each church from a corresponding list at the side of the board. We were with fellow Chicagoist-o Kevin Robinson and his significant other, who were of little help in this round, since these churches were all located in Bridgeport. As much as we walk......

Where Can I See the Best Christmas Lights in the City?...

Now this brings back some memories. We've always had this fascination with old movie houses. It probably started with Sunday family days at the Will Rogers Theatre at 5641 W. Belmont in the mid-70's. It was the perfect capper to a day in Belmont Central. Mom would take us shopping for clothes at Goldblatt's — those stores were actually respectable then — or Jack Robbins, maybe have some lunch under the Golden Arches. Then......

Of all the egregious things the city can do to property owners, from jacking property taxes to the current favorite, the misuse of TIFs, none seems more unfair and ripe for abuse as eminent domain. For the uninitiated, eminent domain allows the city government to seize ownership of private property, paying the owner whatever the city deems as "market value". It's supposed to be used for the "greater public good", such as the expansion......

As Frank Burns says, it's nice to be nice to the nice. And it seems like people are getting on the kindness bandwagon today. First the Neighbors Project wants us to give out thank you for shoveling cards. The folks at NP will send you free postcards to pass out to your shovel-inclined neighbors to thank them for their magnificent de-snowing skills — and it's also a way to shame your blockmates into clearing......

After cooking our Thanksgiving dinner from scratch while holding our toddler, we’d like to never see the inside of a kitchen again. Thankfully, Chicago is rife with take-out deliciousness. Our new favorite is Ta Tong, a local Thai and sushi dive in Lakeview. Most Chicago neighborhoods have one: a hole-in-the-wall place that serves up some awesome Asian food. Ta Tong makes one of the best Pad Kee Mao ($6.95) dishes we’ve eaten in Chicago. We......

We haven't had a school night in close to twenty years. But if we did, we'd still be tuning in to Channel 11 at 7:30 this evening to catch "Foods of Chicago: A Delicious History" (the program will also air at 9:50 this evening). If you want to find out where chicken vesuvio, saganaki, the cafeteria, and the brownie were created, then this is the program for you. Host Geoffrey Baer (and you can still......

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the death of Harold Washington. The Chicago of 1983 was very different from the Chicago of 2007: factories were shutting down, and white middle-class homeowners were leaving the city in droves, taking their property taxes and urban stability with them. An alarming upswing in crime and drugs, coupled with escalating racial tensions left many Chicagoans nervous about the future. Richard J. Daley had been dead for seven years, and......

Today's Sun-Times has an interesting article on restaurateur and Chicago native LaVan Hawkins, who's opening Nancy's Pizza and Al's Italian Beef franchises even as he's set to go to prison on corruption charges. The biography of Hawkins is a true rags-to-riches, rise-and-fall-and-rise-again story starting with his early years running in a gang and battling drug addiction, then from working his way up from the lowest rung at a McDonald's to commanding a fast-food franchise empire......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

John Waters: Junk hoarder? Slum lord? Con man? (No, not that John Waters.) This Waters is an 80-year-old lousy neighbor who created a giganto junk house on the 4200 block of Melvina. The folks who lived around the trash heap (sadly not an oracle) were less than thrilled. James Parker, who lives next door, kept a close eye on Waters and even documented the junk man's movements with a point-and-shoot camera. Kopka called the......

This week Missed Connections entered a big of a segregation war, with a few groups banding together to try and prove that more MCs happen in their respective neighborhoods than any other. (Let Chicagoist give you all a little tip: if your locale is full of arty, emotional, sexually fueled 20-somethings, more connections are made rather than missed. Trust us.) Either way, Wicker Park residents not only want to prove that they're the hot spot......

Last weekend we were at Bridgeport Coffee House restocking on their "Stockyard" blend when we noticed a blend we hadn't seen before, "Ravenswood Roast." We asked owner Mike Pilkington when he started making blends honoring north side neighborhoods. "I'm not" was his answer. He then explained that the "Ravenswood Roast" was part of a new fundraising arm of his wholesale business. The idea began in spring, when a customer came into the shop inquiring about......

Joining Current Conditions in its "new regular feature" designation is Quick Bites, a weekly wrap-up of some of the interesting topics debated and discussed in Chicago's food media. The Time Out Chicago blog scooped Dish on Marcus Samuelsson news; the Ethiopian-born chef will be opening a new restaurant, C-House, in the Affinia Chicago Hotel in early 2008. Samuelsson is known for his work at New York's Riingo and Aquavit. If you've been feeling a little......

Twenty new restaurants, including Chicagoist favorite Smoque, (chow pictured) were named Great Neighborhood Restaurants (GNR) today by our favorite (and the only) Chicago-based culinary discussion board, LTHForum. LTH members give the yearly awards to restaurants they believe "contribute to their neighborhoods' and the city's character by offering outstanding food, an authentic experience of their ethnic culture, and/or a welcoming (or in some cases, belovedly cranky) atmosphere for guests." The GNRs are chosen in a sort......

The city's Department of Consumer Services is officially pooping the party cab. Calling the cab's festive interior decorations a distraction and its exterior adornments illegal, the department decreed that John Rees' cab be de-jollified. Rees has until Thursday to remove the trappings, which patrons and passersby have generally regarded as pretty fun since he fully decorated every square inch of it in July. He is appealing the measure, arguing that the city is trying to......

A request for a street named in honor of Chicago author Saul Bellow was denied due to controversial remarks and writing by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Bellow's University of Chicago colleague and friend, Richard Stern, made the request to Ald. Toni Preckwinkle. Stern told the Chicago Tribune that Preckwinkle sent him a letter saying she had heard Bellow made racist comments and so would not endorse a memorial to him. Raised in Humboldt Park from......

Will San Fransisco adopt our police surveillance strategies? Not likely, according to this comparison. The biggest difference right now is that SF police are just recording the action; Chicago police are actually moving the cameras, too. In an emergency operations center one recent Saturday night, a civilian former police officer sat in front of four monitors and 16 larger screens covering a wall, conducting "missions," whirling and zooming cameras in eight neighborhoods that had seen......

Daley’s reign over the city may seem impenetrable, but there’s one thing even he should keep in mind: Don’t mess with moms. There was a lot of commotion when Daley accused Grant Park neighbors of being racist because they didn't want the Children's Museum in the park. Despite their apparent lack of political muscle, the New East Side mommies seem ready to kick Daley's ass more than anyone. Using words like "tuchus" and explaining that......

The "vere" part is pronounced like "were." Now that you know how to pronounce "saveur," it is time to pick up a copy of the food and wine magazine by the same name. The October issue of Saveur is dedicated solely to Chicago; not too surprisingly, a piece of pizza is featured on the cover. And here we were pumped about getting a single article in Gourmet. Like Gourmet, Saveur doesn't put all of its......

Of all the city-sponsored music festivals, few utilize as much of the city limits like the World Music Festival (check out the festival's Myspace page, also). In its nine years, World Music Fest has become a showcase event, even though it lacks the resources the city pours into Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, and Viva! Chicago. Its drawn visitors to the city from around the world, done a remarkable job in shining a much-needed spotlight on......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Just in case we’ve all forgot how to play in the neighborhood, a new non-profit organization is helping to teach people how to be better neighbors. The Neighbors Project mission is to inspire, support, and connect people in their 20s and 30s who want to take on both large and small projects that will help to improve their neighborhoods. This afternoon, they’ll be hosting the “Block Party Party” from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at......

Shawn Campbell, CHIRP...

The anger North Lawndale residents are feeling over the killing of 18-year-old Aaron Harrison by police is not going away. At least not as long as activists help them keep the heat on the Chicago Police Department. Nearly 50 protesters disrupted last night's Police board meeting at police headquarters at 35th and Michigan, leading the board and interim police superintendent Dana Starks to adjourn the meeting after 15 minutes, saying that the protesters "harassed" them.......

Our friends over at LTHforum have just opened up the nominations period for new Great Neighborhood Restaurants (GNRs). We've sung the praises of this program before; with Chicago being "a city of neighborhoods," it can oftentimes be difficult to get to know the ins and outs of new neighborhoods. Chicagoist certainly will cop to this. We tend to avoid going out anywhere (and yes, this is really sad) that isn't within walking distance of our......

From a public relations standpoint this has not been a banner couple weeks for the Chicago Police Department. First, the Reverend Al Sharpton opens a Chicago office for his National Action Network in order to address the issue of police brutality in Chicago. Days after Sharpton opened his office, 42-year-old Gefery Johnson died from injuries sustained after police Tasered and forcibly arrested him. Days after that, 18-year-old Aaron Harrison was shot to death by police......