Howard Gets A Buddha

             Morse has a Buddha, it is only fair that Howard get one too. The Ten Thousand Ripples project continues in 2013, this is the first in store Buddha (at least in Rogers Park). This was placed inside Sol Cafe this past Friday and the picture taken this morning.

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Jeffrey Littleton Nominated For Innovator Of 46th Ward

             
             The first annual 46th Ward awards are being held March 14th later this week. Mr Jeffrey Littleton a former frequent poster @ UU and local artist can't get no respect at Uptown Update it seems. He is up for an award for Innovator of the 46th Ward, so vote here if you think he deserves it. Chevanston would like to know what piece of art or project that the artist Jeffrey Littleton would think best represents his efforts in the last year.  (So as to give us a better idea of why the populace should vote for you as innovator of the year.) Jeffrey's competition includes the North Winthrop Community Gardens and Uptown United. Other awards to be given out include charitable cause of the year, leader in safety, foodie favorite, good neighbor business and good neighbor individual. In order to vote you do have to put your email address, name and zip code.

March Upon Joe Moore's Home

Protest sign planted in the snow hill on the alderman's lawn                         

           
           Now this is what a Twitter Feed is supposed to be. The modern equivalent of a silent radio. A ticker tape of new information. Is this writer obsessed with Twitter? Quite possibly, mainly because it can keep us apprised of breaking news. Here we have an example of multiple reports coming in of actual news. This story was covered by two of Rogers Park's bloggers Bill Morton & Autumn Davids.

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Last edited 3/11/13 3:15 pm

Ellipsis Coffee Coming Soon

               
               
             The photograph on the left is taken from the north side of Devon in Rogers Park looking south to Edgewater. Stella Espresso Co. @ 1259 w Devon Ave is no more. In its place materializing before our very eyes is Ellipsis Coffee. This area of Chicago is crowded with coffee shops, in part because its near Loyola's undergraduate campus.

            Descartes coffee proved recently to Rogers Park that it existed 6451 N Sheridan (it was a ghost coffee shop at the Lunt ave L entrance for far longer than it was ever open). Starbucks is coming to Devon and Broadway as a container box drive through. The Coffee Shop just opened up at 1135 w Sheridan ave. The Daily Cup at 1217 w Devon received high marks on its Yelp page but recently closed.

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Homage To Bills Digital Photos

           Chevanston's ace photographer went in search of the lakefront urns so well captured by resident photographer Bill (Morton Sr). This is the balcony outside of 1205 w Sherwin.

Bonus photos after jumpbreak

Profanity Now Allowed On DNAinfo.com Twitter Feed

Right of way sign

           






               




           
             
                 
               Screenshot of DNAinfo.com Twitter Feed 7:30 pm CST 3/9/13 above right. RogersParker posted a tweet today that contained an obscenity. Her tweets make it onto the Rogers Park community Twitter feed of DNAinfo.com. So knowing this why would you put a four letter word into that tweet? This is the same Twitter feed where official pronouncements from the alderman and  congressman's office are tweeted. Is someone watching what goes on to this feed? Or does just anything go? ( Pedestrians now have right of way at Farwell and Clark crosswalk)

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and for screenshot of RogersParker's Twitter page.

Please Deliver Goods In Side Entrance

            Never have seen anything quite like this three flat on Sherwin nestled between two vastly larger apartment buildings in Rogers Park. The older shorter street lights are also unique to this part of the city. This is that building that abuts the private alley in back pictured here. You definitely get the feeling that this is the old money section of Rogers Park. Its similar to Lake Shore Drive and its buildings large and small near Belmont and Irving Park, Bill Wirtz even manages and likely owns the large apartment building off to the left of this curious small building.

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The March Hare - North Of Howard

Helen said March 7th @ 9:49 pm

 "Jeff, the couple that built the snow family knocked it down on Tuesday, but a giant white bunny has now appeared on our block. I don't have a camera. If you want to check it out, hurry before it melts--east side of 7700 block of Ashland, just north of the alley."

This photo was taken the next morning

Lives Of The Pigeons @ Side Project Theatre Company

                Lives Of The Pigeons written by Sherod Santos and directed by Adam Webster will debut at the The Side Project Theatre @ 1439 w Jarvis ave this coming June. "Gus and Max spend a day in the park like every other day. On a day that, with the arrival of the mysterious man with a cane, is like no other." Previews begin May 30th and 31st and runs June 1st til June 30th. Tickets are twenty dollars for general admission, fifteen dollars for students and ten dollars with Rogers Park Rush ID. Perhaps we can learn to live in harmony with pigeons after all?

Rogers Park Methodist Episcopal Church

                      This particular postcard was mailed in 1912 to Belgium of all places. This church used to stand at Ashland and Greenleaf on the northwest corner. At least that is what can be surmised by looking at the Google maps view of the intersection. Currently on that corner is a 1950's style apartment building. On the other corners are the Field elementary school and two old frame Victorian houses. This postcard could be all yours for three simoleons on E-bay.

Aftermath Of Fire @ The Breakers

            Burnt furniture lies in the front yard covered in March snow after a recent fire at the Breakers, 1200 w Sherwin. The windows are boarded up, no stencil work on this job though  (remember A Emergency Fire Board Up at the Farwell & Greenview fire recently?). This picture was taken yesterday 3-6-13. Hope everyone is okay and the building is fixed up soon.

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Charmers Cafe Now With Reduced Hours

7:20 am, Caffeine junkie waits for coffee shop to open to get his fix

               Charmers Cafe has decided to open their coffee shop at 7:30 am (instead of 6:30 am) starting this past March first, the beginning of meteorological spring. 7:30 am is way too late for this writer to be getting his local coffee. Sol Cafe on Howard at least opens at 7 am which sometimes is too late as well forcing this blogger to actually drive to Evanston to either the Starbucks on Main street which opens up at an the ungodly hour of 5 am or Brothers K which opens at a decent 6:30 am. (It is also good to know that some people get up early to inspire you to do the same)

              Some people who live in Rogers Park aren't slackers and need a local coffee shop that opens up early enough. Speaking with Sol Cafe when told about the late hour that Charmers Cafe now opens responded that they are looking to expand their hours. With new tenants moving into the Farcroft, the Birchmont and other improved rental in the area Charmers Cafe would be smart to reconsider limiting their hours in the morning as this is when coffee is most desperately needed. (Note the person pictured above is not a junkie in the strict sense of the word, just a person who needs his morning coffee)

For the new spring hours at Charmers Cafe please continue reading

West Ridge Walkers

                 The upside down walking man sign was hanging by a thread. This picture was taken this past Sunday. Before this situation could be rectified it has disappeared leaving its twin lonely. Perhaps one pedestrian sign is enough for this intersection?

Farcroft By The Lake Update

           
              The American flag now sits still tall and proud atop the restored splendor of the Farcroft. The exercise machines and barbells silently rest in darkness. The back patio is near complete with bike racks and grills in place. The mail slots are installed waiting for packages and letters. New chandeliers recently hung give new light to the restored empty lobby which anticipates the new tenants arrival. If you are interested it isn't too late to call their office or visit their Facebook page to inquire about a showing. Just in case you missed the grand tour in photographs here at Chevanston in February you can click here to check it out.

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Occupy Rogers Park Plans Demonstration @ Alderman Cappleman's Office

            Rogers Park's organization of the left has decided that Alderman Cappleman is fighting a "war on the poor". At approximately 7 am this morning they tweeted that they will be joining the alderman for a community meal Wednesday tomorrow at 5pm at his office in the 46th ward. Click here for their twitter page. Perhaps they would be happier with Alderman Shiller back in the fold to maintain the status quo in Uptown? (The above flyer is from Occupy Rogers Park's Facebook page.)

(Latest) Update #5 3/6/13 9:30 pm Dnainfo.com provides excellent coverage of the actual event which featured the usual suspects including the infamous Thomas Westgard dressed up as Marie Antoinette, Jon Trott with his bullhorn, no picture of Jeffrey Littleton however, did you make it Jeff?

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Super Stressful Movie Coming Soon

               Mixed messages. On one hand you have a beautiful model imploring you to use their phone and phone plan and right next to it is a cautionary tale about phone calls. Which is it? The phone is either sexy or terrifying? Or maybe it is just blue tooth technology similar to Halle Berry's headset that is horrifying.

              Like most Americans you lead the life of riley and have hardly a care in the world right? This intense nerve racking movie The Call maybe right up your alley then. It will transport you from your idyllic, peaceful life and dump you right into the hellscape from your worst nightmare. If you enjoy watching the popular anxiety producing Criminal Minds, wondering how someone is going to be saved at the last second from a run of the mill serial killer every week then you will probably love The Call. In fact this writer received a call from the studio confirming that a few moviegoers from each preview audience had genuine panic attacks. (just kidding)

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Bills Digital Photos' Forecast

               According to this forecast it is possible we are getting up to 10 inches tonight throwing in lake effect snow on top of what the storm is bringing in. Good news for snow homonculi and their aficionados. There is useful information on Twitter! And thanks to Gerald Farinas for the morning L commute information.

              If you haven't checked out Bills Digital Photos site there are a lot of great pictures there. The music that loads up is a bit much though (sappy), yes it is for wedding photos.

Snow Homunculi

Folk art crafted by unknown local inhabitants 

            

           These snow mounds fashioned into the shapes of humans were discovered late Saturday night. This carries on an age old tradition going back to paleolithic times or earlier (probably). Bob Eckstein wrote a book entitled History Of Snowmen, his research uncovered the earliest recorded evidence of snowmen to 1380. This article by the Smithsonian covers the strange period of history of the early twentieth century when the snowman was commonly used to advertise alcohol. 

To find out where these strange effigies are located please continue reading

Ice Web

Attributed to Craig Gernhardt 2013

             "Ice forms on the tree branches giving a very cool cob web effect." This was posted via Craig Gernhardt's Twitter account March 2nd.(yesterday). Looks like Spidey himself spun a web, didn't know that ice could have this kind of effect. Where was this photograph taken? Using the scant context clues this looks like the corner of Wayne and Morse looking east with the mini mall where Magic Video was is the beige structure below and the infamous half courtyard building just to the right of it.

Graffiti Practice Wall

February

             The local taggers or graffiti artists wasted no time in capitalizing on the new canvas, the newly revealed brick wall after the Ho and defunct laundromat were demolished.  This the neighboring yellow building still bears the mark of shame, the dreaded red x.

Last Updated 3/3/13 8:30 pm (new pics added)

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News Report Based On Limited Information

             "Loyola Security Officer Pulls A Barney Fife" the previous caption was taken down due to its puerile and juvenile nature. The new heading is better and would do well at the beginning of an Onion article. The title of the Loyola Phoenix article is "Campus Safety Sergeant Fired After Shooting Gun Inside Department's Roll Call Meeting" (This was first posted by Loyola Phoenix on Feb 27th this past Wednesday)

Update 3/2/13 6:45 pm - Patrol Officer B brings up a good point, the news report filed by Loyola Phoenix is very vague concerning the details of the case so any speculation regarding the situation is just that. There isn't enough information present to determine if the correct action was taken. That is pretty much a given with most news stories regarding shootings.


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Taxi Graveyard

Western south of Irving Park

                   Taxis definitely seem to be behaving worse and worse over the years or perhaps this writer is just now noticing how absurd their driving behavior can be. Out of all those driving on the road taxis perform the most bizarre and ballsy stunts. (Special city wide topic of the month)

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Follow Me On Friday - Morse Gyros

Speedy Northside Food Delivery
Official Transporters For Morse Gyros

                    A few years ago it would've been foolhardy for the alderman to conduct a Follow Me On Friday at Morse Gyros. The Gangster Disciples used to control that corner as late as 2011. A lot has changed since the Morse Streetscape in 2010 and since Faisal Dossa took over Morse Gyros. The Brazers still tag the area to the south and east as late as last year. This writer holed up one day in JB Albertos after picking up take-out one summer day waiting for the cops to shoo away rival factions from both gangs away from their prospective corners. From experience it was learned not to get in between "a bullet and a target".

                The Follow Me On Friday event will take place today at 5pm-7pm at Morse Gyros 1335 W Morse. The restaurant specializes in gyros and chicken continuing a tradition that goes back at least thirty years (since 1975) when it was started by Nino who has since moved on to greener pastures. Hopefully representatives from Speedy Northside Food Delivery will be there to show off their biking prowess. Having a bicycle delivery service is a great idea as delivery by bicycle makes more sense in the city. Getting around by bike means less carbon emissions, your food is delivered faster as they are more nimble and no need for finding parking.

Send Graffiti Pics To graffiti@caps24.org For Removal



 Photo Credit - Net Neighbor From Everyblock


                  One use that neighbors had for Everyblock Rogers Park was to post pictures of graffiti. This is a picture of the brick wall on Seeley just south of Howard. Dee was right, this or many other pictures of graffiti very well could've been the "last" picture of Everyblock. It is random finding what has or hasn't survived the big shutdown. Now neighbors are asked to send pictures to the alderman's office. If memory serves this blogger right this was posted in November 2012. What follows is a tweet from our alderman, "JoeMoore49 If you see graffiti, take a photo and send to graffiti@caps24.org, then call Ald office to have it removed #CAPS24". It is especially important to have large pieces like this on bare brick removed immediately. This particular example of graffiti was removed within days after being posted.

Private Alley Off Sherwin

                     The original post that was to be published this morning vanished into thin air (the hazards of modern writing). This blogger should've been tipped off that this post was acting wonky because when saving it, the post stayed stuck farther down on the list instead of jumping to the top.

             Walking down this alley off of Sherwin and happening upon this private alley feels like something out of H.P. Lovecraft. It is a very strange old weird forgotten section of the city. This alley is behind the doomed Shambhala. You can see the lake at the end of the alley, and the three flat brick building looks tiny next to the giant neighbor.

Mr Hillman Goes To Springfield

           Community organizer Kyle Hillman is headed to Springfield our state capitol via train as the unofficial representative for the village of Rogers Park.  He is going there for the National Association of Social Workers meeting. Hopefully he snaps some great photos.  He tweeted that there will be over eight hundred attendees.  This news was posted on the defacto bulletin board of Rogers Park.

Update #1 - 3 pm 2/28/13 Kyle Hillman @kylehillman - "Fracking to be debated in Illinois General Assembly by @ilsendems"

(Screenshot of official decree 2pm CST 2/27/13 on DNAinfo.com beyond jumpbreak)

Speedy Northside Food Delivery

                    As reported in DNAinfo.com Speedy Northside Delivery is the fastest most reliable way to get local food delivered right to your door. These brave bike riders will deliver no matter the temperature, weather or even if you have a broken buzzer. The main places they delivery for are Grillin and Morse Gyros. As mentioned in the ad above the delivery boundaries are from Granville to Juneway Terrace and Lake Michigan to Western Ave. Here is the link to the Facebook page.

                    Update - 4:30 PM CST, Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce just tweeted a link to Speedy Northside Food Delivery onto the DNAinfo.com Twitter Page. Here is the link that they tweeted.

Last Rogers Park Everyblock Photo

Dee In E Rogers Park. Rogers Park Over 10 Years

                      Usually if a site shuts down you still have a few ghost images that are still up on the net.  This however is the only one that made it through. This is the only image that survived when all the data was destroyed. Click here for the results of google image search Everyblock Rogers Park. And click here to see the photo and how its linked up still with Everyblock. An appropriate last photo as well, bleak and stark. The dying last ember of Rogers Park Everyblock. Was this Dee's icon or did she post this picture?

Please continue reading to see the screenshots that prove this.

Blue Bin Delivery On Chase

Pace is Italian for peace on the rainbow flag

         
                The rumours are true. We are finally getting blue recycling trash bins in Rogers Park. These shots were taken this morning. This writer received his blue bin yesterday. A streets and sans truck double parked near the intersection of Paulina and Chase so that the bins could be delivered. The supervisor with the paperwork didn't want his photo taken (you can see him off in the distance) but this nice lady assented. The supervisor asked me what was up when the photographer was taking photos perhaps not knowing the historic import of this day. After explaining why the photographs were being taken he inquired as to where this writer lived and was happy that the blue bin had already been delivered.  The workers were putting the wheels together on the bins, writing the addresses on the top and placing the plastic bags with info on to the bins. On the other side of the street the blue bins were stacked four high.

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The Onion Gets In Hot Water Over Tweet

         

               RogersParker brings up a good point with the Onion tweet. (Above right screenshot of DNAinfo.com Twitterfeed 7am this morning) What are the point of tweets? What is appropriate or inappropriate? The most useful tweets bring you news you can use. The Onion's mission statement is satire. It is extremely incisive at that. That satire will be all the more shocking in the limited character count of tweets. What the Onion was most guilty of with this tweet was it just wasn't that funny. People sometimes take the Onion seriously when they shouldn't. Did they actually mean what they said?          

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Last updated 2/25/13 6:30pm