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CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS - LOOP, GOLD COAST, LINCOLN PARK, EDISON PARK, & EVANSTON

POPE JOHN PAUL II, THE OSCARS & SQUIRRELS!

LOOP

The man previously known as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, a little-known Polish cardinal was in Chicago in 1976, when he had visited a Northwest Side. By the fall of 1979, he had become John Paul II, the first Polish pope in history.  Historically he was the 264th successor to the Apostle Peter.  He was the religious leader of the world's 700 million Roman Catholics. His visit this time would make him only the second pope to visit the United States and the first ever to come to Chicago.

With 2.4 million Catholics, the Chicago archdiocese was the largest in the country at the time. And, with some 500,000 residents of Polish ancestry, after Warsaw it was home to the second largest Polish population in the world. The Holy Father's stay in Chicago would last 40 hours.  It was one of those a unique event that brought the city together, despite racial of ethnicity differences.

Large, joyful crowds greeted him wherever he went, from his arrival at O'Hare International Airport on the evening of Oct. 4 to his departure on the morning of the 6th.  His schedule included an address to 350 American bishops at Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, where he said the Church under his leadership would continue to oppose abortion, extramarital sex, homosexuality and divorce.

Then he went to Grant Park for the largest mass ever celebrated in Chicago. "The skyscrapers of Chicago's Loop resembled cathedral spires as they soared over the crowd," reported the Tribune, which described the gathering of an estimated 200,000 people as "festive yet solemn, happy but devout." Many wore ethnic clothes, and worshipers of all ages, races and even religions came to see the pontiff. In his homily, John Paul II said, "Looking at you, I see people who have thrown their destinies together and now write a common history. . . . This is the way America was conceived; this is what she was called to be. . . But there is another reality that I see when I look at you. . . . your unity as members of the People of God."

Tony Bennett attracted large crowds. Ella Fitzgerald swung like crazy. Pearl Bailey rocked a room with a voice so big you almost could hear it on Michigan Avenue.

Since 1984, Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place has been silent -- at least so far as concerts are concerned. When the legendary Chicago impresario Tony De Santis closed his theater, which had been operating since the summer of 1976, it appeared as if one of the most glamorous rooms in local music would become history, once and for all.

The sacred space that jazz giants such as Louie Bellson, Lena Horne and Buddy Rich had graced would feature these amazing artists no more.  Instead, the theater was designated  to show movies. Even Drury Lane's high-profile reopening in remodeled quarters, in 2005, heralded the return of live theater to the celebrated address but made no room for jazz and cabaret.

Until now.   Find out more by clicking here.

LINCOLN PARK

For nearly 14 years, the Lincoln Park tabletop boutique Tabula Tua has carried all the essentials for a well-established table.  The shop has increased its space (expanding into the next-door spot, formerly the shop Faded Rose) and added fine china and formal dining flatware to its selection of everyday goods.

The new space has been transformed into a wedding studio, carrying modern and colorful options from well-known brands such as Raynaud, Meissen and Royal Copenhagen for a selection that is far less serious than that of a department store. Also among the 15 new lines is Pickard China, which makes the president's china; the Antioch-based company offers platinum and gold-rimmed plates with a center monogram.  Learn more by clicking here.

EDISON PARK

There is no red carpet outside Chicago's R.S. Owens & Company. And you won't see Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt strolling across the parking lot.

But thanks to this unassuming factory on the city's Northwest Side -- 2,000 miles away and worlds apart from Hollywood -- some of the most established and dedicated employees of the company that manufactures the Academy Awards' Oscar statuettes will realize their dream of experiencing the glitz and star power of the film industry's biggest night.

Don Esposito, an employee of R.S. Owens and Company, the Chicago factory that manufactures the Oscar statuettes, attended the Academy Awards ceremony in 2002.   Oscars Are coated at R.S. Owens and Company in Chicago's Jefferson Park community.  

A perk for employees of the R.S. Owens and Company is getting a turn to accompany the "Oscar" statuettes it makes to Hollywood's Academy Awards.  In 2006 employee Nancy Schowalter (right), and her mother Dorothy, got their chance.   

Every year, R.S. Owens sends one employee and a person of that worker's choosing to the famed Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the pair walk the red carpet near stars such as Jolie, Kate Winslet and Tom Hanks, and then take in the event.

Due to the Writers Guild of America's three-month-old strike it's still unclear whether the Feb. 24 Academy Awards show, with the hoopla and fanfare TV audiences and R.S. Owens employees have come to expect, will go forth as planned.   Read the entire article by clicking here.

EVANSTON

It's cold!  Snow and ice blanket the landscape and the squirrels are on the run.  They're running atop the electrical, telephone and cable wires, jumping and leaping in the air and crossing over onto one tree and another, grasping at branches that can barely reach.  The eastern gray squirrel has adapted to become the tightrope walker of sorts on the telephone line.

It is the season of love for the eastern gray squirrel in northern Illinois.  If you've got trees in your yard, you can watch the whole crazy performance from your own front row seat.

Just last weekend, six squirrels exercised their craziness from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. One squirrel pitter pattered across the wires with another in close pursuit. When the chasee reached a pole, he had to decide what to do: Go down the pole, or, decision No. 2, turn around and start chasing his chaser back the other way. He opted to continue the chase.   Another squirrel antic is when they race around a tree trunk, scraping the bark as they go up and down and around.   Click here to learn why the squirrels behave this way. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS TO SHARE? Let me know.

JENNIFER GARRITY & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO