There are tons of college students who reclaim restaurants like Panera Bread, Epic Burger and Chutney Joe's. And they crowd dollar burger night at Bar Louie. Students from Columbia are joined by students from DePaul, Roosevelt, Robert Morris, East-West, Spertus, John Marshall Law School and many other colleges and trade schools that pepper the South Loop.

The smell of youth is in the air; t-shirts, back packs, textbooks, syllabi, pimples, jeans and attitude rule the day. There is youthful vibrancy that perks up the pace of life. Like tonight: there was Columbia's "ArtCrawl." The many art galleries along Wabash run by the college were open and thumping with music and food and people of all stripes. And lots of art was hung on the walls, and installations were installed in many spaces--from the C33 Gallery at Congress to the Glass Curtain Gallery in the Ludington Building a few blocks south. Students and others hustled from one to the other, trying to get a look at all nine galleries in three hours. And talk and eat, too. There was a coupon on the card that was given out that listed the open galleries; you could take it to each one and get it punched. After five punches, you could enter a raffle to win a free iPad.