Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
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Top story
Where three alleys converge in Lincoln Park, a mural speaks to the area’s Victorian architecture
The owners of the building at 2001 N. Clybourn Ave. were thinking about commissioning a mural to go out front when they approached Levar Hoard to enlist his help.
But Hoard thought: Why not put it in the back, where three alleys converge?
The spot offers a good line of sight onto Armitage Avenue, which dead ends there at Racine Avenue and is “the most beautiful street in all of Chicago,” according to Hoard.
“Murals are like paintings in a house,” he says. “You need to find where in the house the painting fits.”
Hoard says he brought in 29-year-old Mexican artist Eskat to create the mural because of the way his style melds realism with an abstract sensibility.
Eskat called the mural, which he painted in 2019, “En Busca del Camino” — which means “In Search of the Way.”
It stands four stories tall, seeming to snake up the building.
There’s a “symbolic woman” in the piece who’s supposed to be “from the Victorian era but brought to today with art — it’s a contemporary take,” Hoard says, that offers a nod to the many Victorian-style homes found in Lincoln Park.
The eyes in the painting are “a window into the person’s soul that tells who they are on the inside,” says Eskat, who lives in Monterrey and started out in art by doing graffiti because his older brother was into it.
The bees in the mural represent “the worker bee,” the artist says: “hard work and persistence.”
Richie Requena has more on an artistic gem tucked in a Chicago alley.
More news you need
- A second man has died following a mass shooting that left six people shot over the weekend at an apartment complex in west suburban Elgin. Police have released few details about the shooting, other than saying it was an “isolated” incident.
- With a $5 million contribution to himself and a burst of goodwill generated by his gas giveaways, millionaire businessman Willie Wilson today joined the 2023 Chicago mayoral election race. Wilson, 73, will be among the candidates looking to send incumbent Lori Lightfoot into political retirement after just one term, Fran Spielman writes.
- A teddy bear. A scarf. A typewriter. A dress. Those are just a few of the objects brought to the United States by people fleeing their homes amidst persecution and genocide. Images of items like those will be on display for a new Navy Pier exhibit, “Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory,” presented by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.
- The onetime Chicago home of The Standard Club, a longtime center of Jewish life in the city, was sold earlier this year to a California-based investor with a checkered history. David Roeder has more on the future of the building at 320 S. Plymouth Court.
A bright one
Weddings are big business again
Wedding season is not yet in full bloom, but wedding planner Christine Janda is booked up for the year.
The founder, lead planner and designer at Christine Janda Design & Events, Janda handles some of her firm’s large events. While other planners on her team are still taking a small number of requests, Janda said her calendar filled up unusually fast this year.
She is doing weddings all over the Chicago area — at large hotels, the Adler Planetarium and a private residence in South Barrington.
She’s even planning her own.
Following her advice to couples, she got started right away. Janda got engaged in October and started making inquiries shortly after. If they didn’t block out their date soon, Janda recalled telling her fiance, Brent Edelcup, they would not be able to get married in 2022.
She’s already planned for a DJ and a band. She’s booked a venue — the Chicago Cultural Center. And she’s decided she won’t hold back on the flowers.
This year is expected to be the busiest wedding season in decades as newly engaged couples and those couples who waited out the pandemic try to book their ceremonies and receptions. Still other couples who got married in small weddings under COVID-19 restrictions are now having bigger celebrations.
Cadence Quaranta has more on the wedding industry’s big rebound here.
From the press box
- With the Bulls locked into a first-round postseason matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks starting this weekend, Joe Cowley looks at how the team will need to approach the series mentally after a regular-season sweep.
- As nice baseball stories go, the one about Tanner Banks making the White Sox Opening Day roster is as sweet as they come.
- Four weeks after a scary concussion sidelined Connor Murphy, he says he’s skating again and “feeling good,” Ben Pope reports.
- Joe Henricksen takes a sneak peek at next season’s top Chicago-area high school basketball teams.
Your daily question ☕
How has the emerging popularity of third-party delivery apps affected your daily dinner habits?
Send us an email at newsletters@suntimes.com and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
In the Friday newsletter, we asked you: What advice do you have for first-time pet owners in the city? Here’s what some of you said...
“Clean up after your dog, please.” — Gavin Muldowney
“Carry an umbrella. If a dog comes running towards you and your dog open the umbrella. It startles them and acts as a barrier.” — Jenny Morales
“You are 100 percent responsible for your pet. No breed blaming or anything like that. Your pet is a reflection of yourself, just like if you have a child you raise them right.” — Erica Arana
“Please have your pet micro chipped.” — Kathy Bilski
“Take care of your pet the way they should be taken care of. They give you nothing but unconditional love.” — Chad Dorwart
“Be prepared for the costs (expected and unexpected) of owning a pet.” — Ayani Good
“If you get a dog, don’t let it defecate in other people’s yards! If you don’t have a yard, get a cat.” — Beverly Brown
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