We recently bought a car from a friend and on the day we decided to clean it out we opened the center console and what we saw was a sea of orange and white. Parking tickets. Lots and lots of parking tickets. Now, sure, we've gotten our share of parking tickets, but this was a little out of hand. Well, according to a Sun-Times report, there are a lot of very very large balances of... more ›

Astute readers of Chicagoist, and fellow Chicagoist-os/Chicagoist-as, know that we kneel at the altar of the Church of Whiskey (Kentucky Straight Bourbon denomination), which nicely complements the Church of Baseball. When an event that celebrates the virtues of all whiskies comes around, we whet our lips in anticipation, stock up on Gatorade, and take large amounts of B complex vitamins before we head out. Hot on the heels of the junior varsity spring formal St.... more ›

As possibly the last act of gentrification in the Gold Coast, on Thursday the city moved to vacate residents from an apartment building at 930 N. Rush St. above the old Gino's Pizzeria (no, not this one). Building inspectors found 57 code violations in the "eyesore," all of which constitute safety risks to the tenants. The owners of the building say they want to rehab it, but now they face fines of up to $28,500... more ›

File this under "No Shit, Really?" - Air pollution is 6 times higher in restaurants and bars that allow smoking. Wow, you don't say! We would have never guessed! We'd like to thank the National Conference on Tobacco or Health for this information. The organization conducted its survey earlier this month at 37 Chicago bars around downtown, Rush St., Little Italy & the West Loop. They found that at non-smoking places the average harmful particles... more ›