Results tagged “palmerhouse”

We've written before about the sad demise of the Chicago Trader Vic's, how it was unceremoniously booted from the Palmer House after the hotel's new owners took over. And we've also sighed about the fact that the reopening of a new Trader Vic's, which was originally supposed to happen in 2006, has still not materialized. Well, we now have some proof that it's finally happening.

While the Cubs and their fans held their annual love-in last weekend, this past weekend the rest of us gathered at the Palmer House Hilton to celebrate and commiserate with fellow White Sox fans. Given the airing of grievances by fans and feats of strength by team management, it could very well have been renamed SoxFestivus.

A week after their North Side counterparts held their annual convention, the White Sox will hold their SoxFest this upcoming weekend at the Palmer House Hilton. While Cubs fans were concerned about the future of the Cubs ownership and fate of Wrigley Field, at least when it came to the players on the field there was near unanimous optimism.

It's hard to believe it's taken the universe this long to combine parades, insane traffic and the ability to punch the living shit out of stuff. But that combo has arrived. Downtown. Today. Yes, at 4pm this afternoon, around 700 boxers, here to punchasize your face for the the AIBA World Boxing Championship, will walk from the Palmer House Hilton to the Chicago Theater in a 4-block parade.

"Exotica was a round-trip ticket departing everyday for something more fabulous. It had the feel of distant places, but it took you to spots never before trekked by man ... All this cultural production promised a world more primitive and less mediated than life in the burgeoning white collar states. Exotica was more than a sound, it was design movement, and a pop art reaction to a Cold War paradigm that said all that was...

Memorial Day Weekend is under way, so pull out the grill, set up the yard games, and put on your leather. For 29 years now this Chicago weekend has been synonymous with International Mr. Leather—a leather beauty pageant, leather and fetish conference, adult superstore, and cocktail party rolled up into one giant event that attracted some 15,000 leather daddies, leather boys, leather mamas, and leather girls last year. (Folks, that’s an entire town of fetish...

"Silver Belles" via e.q.

For those of you who, like Chicagoist, are fans of anything that plugs into the wall (Lamps! Woo!), here are a few Chicago-related technology stories we saw this morning. McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner told attendees of a technology consumer forum at the Palmer House Hilton that the company is trying to make its restaurants more interactive. We thought walking up the counter prior to ordering, receiving and consuming food was pretty interactive already. In fact,...

Nothing gets us raging (pun intended) with city pride more than telling people about the Great Chicago Fire. Today marks the 135th anniversary of the fire's two-day rampage. And what a rampage it was!

Although the weather has not been particularly cooperative, 'tis the season for the Good Humor man, Mister Softee (celebrating his golden anniversary this year), root beer floats, waffle cones, frozen bananas, and sticky kids hopped up on sugar. Chicagoist is old, and we tire easily, so we leave chasing ice cream trucks to those who don't know any better. We head for the ice cream shop instead. In this installment of "South Side Cheap Eats", we've found four ice cream shops that are well worth the trip out south. If you come down by bike, all those calories won't go to your hips, either.

Motorola is the corporate brand rated most valuable in Chicago. Boeing came in 2nd, McDonalds 3rd, Walgreens 4th and Caterpiller came in 5th. The IL Assn. of Realtors reports that home prices in the area kept climbing during the 1st quarter even though sales of houses and condos were down. Sun-Times has an interesting look at how the neighborhoods of Portage Park, Uptown, Lakeview, Near South Side, and West Lawn are changing. Salvador "Tony"...

CBS 2 has the gross-out story of the week: exterminators say that bedbug infestations are worse in Chicago now than they have been in years, and surprisingly, they're cashing in their travel points and hanging out at upscale hotels. Exterminators say bedbugs are the new black this year because people travel so much, carrying the no-seeums in their luggage and clothes. They also don't spray for insects the way they did a few decades ago, when the Dale Gribbles of the world used so much DDT that they'd dab a little behind the ears just to keep that familiar smell with them. Now most exterminators use gel-based repellants that are mainly aimed at cockroaches, and don't have much effect on bedbugs.

If you notice a bunch of gays and lesbians walking down Michigan Ave. this weekend with reporter notebook and pen in hand, they're here for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association's 15th annual convention. Say hi. Okay, so they probably won't be walking down Michigan Ave. with reporter notebooks. They're likely at the Palmer House Hilton listening to such gay journalist luminaries like Chad Allen (yes, that Chad Allen) speak on topics like freelancing,...

The Palmer House Hilton, the grande dame of a hotel that is one of Chicago's most established and well-loved institutions, ain't gonna be the Palmer House Hilton for much longer. New York-based Thor Equities (clearly the most awesome name of a company ever) has reportedly paid $230 million for the historic, circa-1927 property, and is promising another $100 million in renovations and upgrades to bring it back to its glimmery, shimmery heyday.

Hilton is putting the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago's oldest and second largest hotel, up for sale. Hilton purchased the hotel in 1945 for about $20 milllion and expects to sell it for about $250 million. As a condition of the sale, Hilton wants to retain management of the hotel. They're just looking to free up some dollars to finace a stock buyback or new investments. The price, which comes out to about $182,000/room, has surprised many hotel industry observers. Especially since the local hotel market has barely kept pace with 2003 results - occupancy rates are slightly higher, but room rates are slipping.