Culture night in the South Loop
another great night going here and there
07/30/2010 11:52 PM
My personally designed rubber stamp (photo by Bonnie McGrath)
Once again, it was hard to decide what to do tonight within steps of my front door. I tried to juggle all the events in the neighborhood (coming after an afternoon spent seeing the Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the Art Institute, which totally wore me out). The South Loop choices all sounded good. I even got a taste of the Blackhawks' fans convention at the Hilton when I stopped in the ladies' room there on the way home from the museum. The fans (mostly women, actually) were wearing so much red and walking around the hotel with so much booze, I felt like I was in a brothel.
First, I went to see "A Letter to Three Wives," a movie made in 1949 starring Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain and Ann Sothern, one of the regularly scheduled movie nights at Sherwood, sponsored by Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance. It was a wonderful story about love and marriage and relationships with a twist at the end. Movie factotum and PDNA/South Loop activist Steve Reginald shared a lot of tidbits beforehand--like how Jeanne Crain was pregnant in many of her movies (she bore seven kids) and that Linda Darnell died at the age of 42 in a fire in Glenview while visiting a friend.
I didn't join in at the elaborate dinner with the moviegoers at Weather Mark Tavern afterwards, but I did walk south on Michigan, and I poked my head into the South Loop Wine Cellar to find out who won the Sangria Contest a little earlier in the evening. Seven customers brought over pitchers of their own homemade sangria and there was a tasting for $5 and a recipe contest. I was told someone named Mara won; her version was white and the fruit included was peaches, mangos and kiwis. The recipe will be in the store's newsletter, they said.
Last but not least, I went to Columbia College's Printers' Ball in the Ludington Building at 11th and Wabash. It was nice that an event in the neighborhood was going strong until 11 PM. The building was packed with tons of people browsing through loads of free newspapers, magazines and books. It is a dangerous place for people who like that sort of thing and who can't control themselves, because you could take all you wanted. I had to exercise tremendous restraint not to take too many outdated literary journals, used books, community newspapers and specialty magazines.
The highlight of the ball was in the book and paper arts department on the second floor; visitors could make their own stamp, ink it up, stamp it all over a sheet of plain white paper to be included in a book donated to the school by Stampland. I loved peeling little pieces of sticky rubber, placing them on a wooden block and stamping away. We were allowed to keep our stamps, too.
On the way home, young women were passing out samples of Dentyne "Pure" gum at Roosevelt and Wabash. Very refreshing.
We are no longer accepting new comments on ChicagoJournal.com
By Steve Reginald from South Loop
Posted: 08/05/2010 11:24 PM
Bonnie, glad you enjoyed "A Letter to Three Wives." It's a fun movie that holds up well for being over 60 years old. And thanks for calling me a Movie factotum!
By Bonnie McGrath from South Loop
Posted: 08/04/2010 10:24 AM
Here's Mara's winning sangria recipe: 2 bottles of white wine 1 c. orange-mango juice 1 c. simple syrup (I would have added 2 cups, but I thought the orange mango juice was too sweet) 1 1/2 c. white rum 5 kiwis - peeled and cut into small pieces 2 peaches - cut into small pieces Refridgerate overnight.