By Nick Wilder   In December, 2019 I flew to southern Argentina and crossed Drake’s Passage to Antarctica.  It was an eye opening trip to a beautiful and exotic world I’d never seen.  I planned another trip to the far south this March.  This time the main attraction was to be South Georgia Island known as the site of Shakelton’s grave and millions of penguins.  A month before our scheduled trip I received notification that the highly contagious bird flu had been discovered on South Georgia and our trip was rerouted back to Antarctica.  My second trip to Antarctica ..read more

             There Is No Other      231 South Ashland Boulevard         By Megan McKinney   We consider this to be The West Side Mansion: 231 South Ashland Boulevard, the house in which Bertha Honoré Palmer was raised and Mayor Carter Harrison was murdered.We recently examined with you mansions of the great historic dynasties we “knew” on Chicago’s South and North Sides. Great dynasties. Great mansions. Now is the time for the mansion this writer nominates as the sole contender from West Side Chicago. First of al ..read more

    By Judy Carmack Bross       At Griffin Court at the Art Institute   From The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance to Griffin Court at the Art Institute, where tall forsythia on dinner tables signaled Spring and images of New York City Ballet danced on the walls, guests celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Harris Theater acknowledged once again that the Theater is the premiere home for music and dance in Chicago. Centered around the highly anticipated return visit to Harris Theater by New York City Ballet (NYCB), under the leadership of ..read more

    By Jill Lowe     April 25th at dawn each year sees commemoration of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) and the failure of the Allied Powers of WW1 in 1915 to control a sea route from Europe to Russia. In Chicago, a dawn service is held at the Vietnam Memorial on the river and fire boats on the Chicago River often join in paying tribute.     The Gallipoli Peninsular and the Dardanelles, Turkey   The Gallipoli campaign was intended to force Germany’s ally, Ottoman Turkey, out of the war. The strategy was to to allow allied ships to pass throug ..read more

By Laurie Toth     One of the first articles I wrote for Classic Chicago in 2018 was titled “The Titanic and Six Chicago Connections”. Six years later I was contacted by Mark Lach, Creative Producer of Imagine Exhibitions and Titanic: The Exhibition. He had read my article and wanted to use the stories of the six Chicagoans on the Titanic in his “Titanic: The Exhibition” at the Westfield Old Orchard. Each of the stories is on large boards with photos near the end of the experience. To say the least I was very excited and honored to have my work be included in the Exhibition.   ..read more

    By Francesco Bianchini       In the last year of the millennium – I don’t remember the exact month, but it was one with an ‘r’ in it – my friend Luisa and I landed in Dublin. We rented a car and headed to the west coast. Because there were no superhighways in Ireland in those days, it took us more than an afternoon to cross the country, creeping along an old national road. We looked forward to the two nights we’d booked in an old country house, one nestled at the bottom of a secluded valley, with peat fireplaces warming every room, decked with curtains in heavy ch ..read more

    By Judy Carmack Bross       (L to R) Power of Purple: A Reason to Hope Luncheon Co-Chairs Perri Irmer, Barry Masek, Francia Harrington, Donovan Pepper and Marta Cerda   Evoking the mightiness of storytelling—whether by CNN Anchor Amara Walker, Ben Lissner, a young man reflecting on his father living with Alzheimer’s, or luncheon Co-Chair Francia Harrington speaking stirringly about her late brother-in-law and others–the Alzheimer’s Association’s Power of Purple: A Reason to Hope Luncheon celebrated caregivers. The sold-out luncheon of 511 guests—almost all i ..read more

“Artistic Excellence is not measured in square feet!”                                                        -Mona and Michael Heath Tiny stages, tiny audiences, and tiny budgets. This is the reality for the Chicago area’s Non-Equity theaters (those not working within the union Equity contract). But as theater supporters and Non-Equity Jeff Special Award honorees Michael and Mona Heath expressed so succinctly at the 50th Non-Equity Jeff Awards, quality i ..read more

    By Judy Carmack Bross       A 1965 Yves Saint Laurent Mondrian dress. “Everything about his life was fashionable–his design, his interiors, his life style.  Whom else could you be talking about but Yves Saint Laurent.”—Conery Hoffman, Director of Special Program at the Alliance Française de Chicago. Following on their sparkling success with past Symposiums on the Arts of France, the Alliance Française de Chicago will present four lectures on Saint Laurent in English beginning April 10 at their Chicago headquarters.  Chateaus, gardens, tastemakers and ..read more

By Dr. Rob Murphy   Paris is the most visited city in the world.  You most likely have visited Paris at some point.  Perhaps you stayed for a few days to a week or more.  There is so much to do in this rich and vibrant city, that it’s impossible to really grasp the Parisian experience in such a short time. It also leads to many of the cliches we hear about Paris and its citizens.  If you really want to know Paris, consider working there like former Chicagoan, Audrey Chapuis, Executive Director of the American Library in Paris.  First, I have a few facts to share a ..read more