The ”Dear Ann Landers” letter on our cover may be mythical, but
”Perplexed`s” quandary isn`t. When out-of-town guests arrive, we want to show them a special time.
Sure, we know about those red double-decker bus tours and the horse-and-carriage rides and Wrigley Field. But sometimes it`s hard to see the forest for the trees-or, in this case, the city for the skyscrapers.
So we`ve decided to call from time to time on some special people for their special places-the places where these folks go to find the real Chicago, the places that make this city home for them.
For our first ”Special People, Special Places,” we decided to seek help from some professional advice-givers.
First we talked with none other than Ann Landers herself about her special Chicago, and then (in the accompanying boxes) we chatted with some other special but less prominent Chicagoans who frequently get called on for help.
”I`m very much a Midwesterner, and I certainly consider myself a Chicagoan,” says Eppie Lederer, better known to her many readers as Tribune advice columnist Ann Landers.
Lederer, a native of Iowa, moved to Chicago in 1954, and although her travels take her away from home just about every week, she always looks forward to coming home. ”I travel a lot because of my work, and I love it,” she explains. ”But when I`m away, I miss my apartment and I miss the city. When I walk in my front door, I kiss the walls I`m so glad to be home.”
Lederer admits she was tempted to move to California about five years ago, but she says she soon abandoned the idea. Here`s what happened: ”I had considered moving, but I had become ambivalent,” Lederer says. ”I love Chicago and I knew it would be hard on me to live somewhere else. What really put the wrench in my plans, though, was when I was served legal documents forbidding me to move.”
Two friends, former University of Chicago President Edward Levi and attorney William Kirby, drew up ”official” papers stating that Lederer was free to work somewhere other than Chicago but that she was not free to live there. ”When they served me with those papers, that decided it once and for all,” Lederer says with a laugh. ”I was staying.”
Home for Lederer, who as Ann Landers has an estimated 85 million readers worldwide, is a spacious lakefront apartment that offers sweeping views of Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive.
”I really feel that I have the best view in town,” she says. ”I especially like it at night when I can watch all the lights on the Drive, and I love to watch the boats on the lake.”
Foreigners still associate Chicago with its gangsters of yesteryear, Lederer notes with a sigh. ”When I travel in Europe and people hear I`m from Chicago, they put up their hands like a gun, and say, `Boom, boom.` They`ve been doing it for years.”
Lederer says that American visitors, though, particularly those from New York, are often surprised at how beautiful and clean Chicago is.
Lederer`s favorite Chicago season is spring. ”Things are blooming, and it`s not too hot nor too cold,” she says. ”You can forget Chicago winters, but after living in Wisconsin for a few years before moving here, I was surprised at how little snow falls in Chicago.”
After thinking about where she`d take guests to show them her special Chicago, Lederer is quick to point out, ”I`m no sightseer and I`m not a night-spot person.
”What I`d probably first like visitors to see and appreciate are some of the architectural gems of the city. The Wrigley Building and the Tribune Tower are magnificent, and when visitors see the two of them together, it really knocks them out.”
Lederer also would make sure visitors saw Marina City, the old Water Tower, Sears Tower and the Mies van der Rohe buildings such as Lake Point Tower and the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments.
After they see some of the city`s finest buildings, Lederer says, she would encourage visitors to take in a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and she says enough can`t be said about the Art Institute of Chicago. She calls it the ”greatest art museum in the U.S.”
Now after being somewhat highbrow for a while on Ann Landers` tour of Chicago, it`s time to get down to some action at Soldier Field. ”I never cared much about football until I started following the Bears,” says Lederer, ”but I just love the Bears.” And the advice columnist`s inside word on the 1988 Super Bowl? ”We`re going to win it all again. You`ll see.”
Next, Lederer says, she would encourage visitors to take in Lincoln Park Zoo, and if it`s the right time of year, she would suggest a boat ride on the lake.
”As I said, I don`t usually go in for much of the touristy things, but I did take a Wendella boat ride once, and I loved it,” she continues. ”From the lake is definitely the best way to view Chicago.”
Lederer says you couldn`t say you`d been to Chicago without sampling some of the city`s food. ”We really have everything here, and if you pick your way carefully, you`ll find some of the best restaurants anywhere.”
The columnist stresses that she does not make endorsements and does not accept free meals, but she does mention some of her favorite restaurants around town.
For French cuisine, her choices are Ambria and Le Perroquet, and for seafood, she frequents the Cape Cod Room. Sognit Dorati is one of her favorite spots for Italian food, and she calls Cricket`s the ”best place to see and be seen.”
When she`s not in the mood for a gourmet meal, Eppie Lederer likes nothing better than a Vienna hot dog Chicago-style ”with the more on it the better.” And she has been known to have her driver stop at a Baskin-Robbins store on the way home from the airport to pick up some Rocky Road ice cream to satisfy her sweet tooth.
As someone who travels often, Lederer says that she has found that Chicagoans compare favorably with residents of other major cities. ”People are just friendly and hospitable here and in the Midwest in general. . . . I usually can`t wait to come home.”
BUS DRIVER GOES SOUTH Bill Luka, who calls himself a ”confirmed South Sider,” has been driving a Gray Line tour bus for four years. On the job, he points out all the famous Chicago landmarks and tourist sights to visitors. Off the job, he says he would take out-of-town friends to many of the same places they would see on his bus-with a few extras thrown in for fun.
”Most people who visit Chicago don`t go to the South Side,” Luka says.
”But Hyde Park is beautiful and well worth a visit. And if you want to shop, Ford City is a large, magnificent South Side mall. It has everything Woodfield Mall-which everyone always talks about-has, but without all the glitter.”
Other South Side highlights he`d include on his personal tour of the city would be a visit to Chinatown for some great Chinese food and, if his crowd was still hungry, a stop at Connie`s Pizza (2373 S. Archer Ave.).
”Everyone who comes to Chicago always wants to try some Chicago pizza,” Luka notes. ”Connie`s is in an out-of-the-way spot; you`d pass it by if you didn`t know it was there. It`s big and it`s different.”
Next on the Luka tour would be dessert at Gerties Own Ice Cream (5858 S. Kedzie Ave.), which Luka describes as an ”old-fashioned ice cream place with some of the best homemade ice cream around.”
Luka is a Chicago architecture buff, so any tour of his city would include stops at some of his favorite buildings. A few that aren`t part of his bus tour are the Wrigley Mansions on the North Shore and the historic homes on Prairie Avenue. He also would take out-of-town guests to Graceland Cemetery
(4001 N. Clark St.). ”A tour of Graceland shows the beginning of modern architecture, like the Getty Tomb,” Luka says. ”And you can really see the history of Chicago through some of the Chicago families.”
As far as views of the city go, Luka says the best in town can be had by driving north on Lake Shore Drive into the city.
Luka, who grew up on the West Side, says he enjoys sparking the age-old rivalry between the city`s North and South Sides. And what makes him a true South Sider after growing up on the West Side?
”Well, after living here for 9 or 10 years, you get accepted,” he says of the South Side. ”Plus, you just start booing the Cubs a few times, and you`re in.”
CONCIERGE COVERS ALL POSSIBILITIES
Julie Sutton, concierge at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, lives in one of her favorite Chicago buildings, Mies van der Rohe`s Lake Point Tower.
”People who are interested in architecture are always fascinated by Lake Point Tower and are interested to know it`s the largest rental building in the country,” says Sutton. ”The top of the building is one of the nicest places to view the city, and I enjoy taking friends up there.”
Sutton says the typical Chicago Hilton guest is more interested in seeing ”the things we take for granted like the Museum of Science and Industry, the aquarium, the planetarium and the stores-all the things they don`t have in their hometowns.”
Sutton`s 17-year-old stepdaughter, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, is an art buff who loves the Art Institute of Chicago, and Sutton plans to take her to the Terra Museum of American Art on her next visit.
”I have some friends from Dallas who love Oak Street,” Sutton says.
”They have wonderful stores in Dallas, of course, but they like to shop in our small boutiques.”
Sutton says she and her husband enjoy showing off their lakefront neighborhood, and they usually take out-of-town guests out to Navy Pier for its sweeping views of the lake and the city skylines. ”We`ll buy some shrimp for lunch and then walk out onto the pier. And we love to take people to the festivals at Olive Park,” she says.
Sutton often makes restaurant recommendations in her job as concierge.
”I try to find out what types of food they like,” she says. ”Many people coming to Chicago for the first time want to have steak, for example, and I`ll usually recommend Morton`s. If they want French food, I`ll suggest Ambria, Ciel Bleu or Le Perroquet.
”I myself like good seafood without a lot of sauces. I enjoy Shaw`s Crab House for seafood, Morton`s for lobster and Ron of Japan for stir-fried dishes. . . . I guess they`re all kind of touristy, but they have great food.”
FIELD`S DUO SELLS THE CITY
The only thing we don`t do is get their shoes shined or get their theater tickets,” says Mary Jane Hoerter (right in photo), who helps Marshall Field`s customers at the Field`s service counter at the State Street store. Hoerter has worked for Field`s for about 35 years, and she has been in her current capacity as Field`s Service representative for two.
Although many people simply want a shopping bag or directions to the linens department, Hoerter and her coworker Dorothy Blum often are bombarded with questions of all kinds from tourists visiting Field`s flagship store.
”If people want to see the city, I urge them to walk Michigan Avenue from the river to the Drake Hotel,” says Hoerter, who lives in the downtown area. ”That walk is so magnificent, and I especially point out the Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower.”
As someone who enjoys walking, Hoerter says she first asks her visitors if they are walkers. ”I really feel walking is the best way to see the city,” she says. She has taken friends for walks on Wacker Drive. ”I am just fascinated by the architecture there,” she says. ”The 333 Wacker Building is so beautiful; from across the river you just see this huge green building reflecting the sun.”
Blum, a Sandburg Village resident, is a runner, and she enjoys having friends join her on her running route along the lake to Addison Street and then back south along Clark Street.
”One of my favorite spots in the city is the Totem Pole at Addison,”
Blum says. ”I often stand there or by the Theater on the Lake (at Fullerton Parkway) on a break from my running and look at the water and the skyline. I`ve taken friends up there, too.”
As for Chicago-style entertainment, Hoerter says she enjoys taking friends to concerts at Ravinia, and Blum says she has a soft spot for the Second City theater. Both women keep up on the latest plays in town and recommend favorites.
True to her employer, Hoerter can`t talk about Chicago for long without mentioning Marshall Field`s. ”I adore this building,” she says, spreading her arms up toward the ceiling. ”I get so excited telling people about this place. Did you know it was built in 1878 and that we have a Tiffany dome that is one of only a few of its kind in the world?”
Think about that the next time you buy some Frangos.
