The Southport Beat Blog

i just voted in the illinois primary. i cast my ballot at the senior center at clark and irving park. the place was quiet; just me, 1 other voter and a handful of election judges who remind me of my wife's grandma hannah, who recently passed on. she used to work at the polls. we always got a kick out of that. 

everything went smoothly at my polling place; no hanging chads or "invisible ink" pens (this actually happened someplace today in chicago).

the weather was yucky. i wonder if that kept many people from voting.

right now i'm in the fox news chicago newsroom, where things are humming. we have 9 of our own reporters doing live coverage. so i'm watching two contests; the elections and the contest between chicago's tv news outlets for best coverage.

if you have any thoughts on how we did, i'd be interested to read them.

--david

it's been a bit chilly to spend time walking on southport lately. i figure the cold snap can't be good for business unless you're a coffee shop. maybe avanti and meinl are doing well.. and that new joint, la poupee (translation, according to citysearch: "the doll").

i saw an email from ciao bella (north of dairy queen) that says people can come in and make offers for clothes. "let's make a deal" it's called. reminds me of the roosevelt field flea market on long island. though c.b. would probably compare it to the stock trading floor. alison bought a really great dress (is it a dress if it's a 1-piece outfit?) there last year, so i like the place.

fox did a story last week about the planned development along addison between clark and sheffield, across from wrigley. would be the whole block and about a 10 story building with homes, i believe, and a hotel. i'm not sure i would buy a condo that's 80 feet from a major league baseball stadium. i wonder who would. but i could see a hotel doing well. i'm weary of a dominick's there. imagine battling 40,000 people for some snackwells.

have a good day.

--david

david.schwartz@foxtv.com

Some more details on my earlier post:

The makeup store i believe to be moving into the southport corridor is called Benefit Cosmetics. My source here is a construction/permit notice on the site of the former "Red Head" clothes boutique.

I also heard someone wants to open a tapas restaurant where Neybors bar used to be (across from jewel).

--david

it's quiet these days on the blocks between Belmont and Irving Park. that tends to happen when the blaine school is out of session and it's too cold for dairy queen. I suppose things were hopping on new year's eve. I haven't heard of any problems, so that's good. I believe a competitor of fox news chicago (Ch. 7) did live broadcasting on new year's eve from the mercury theater. that's cool. the mercury and music box are 2 of my favorite things about our neighborhood. totally old school. music box even brought back "blade runner" the week of christmas. sadly for me, my family was disinterested... wanted to see a new release. i heard the director's cut of blade runner is really great and i would just love to see the movie again. it's been about 25 years since i last saw it.

the snow looks beautiful on the old trees that line our streets. i walked around briefly yesterday and took some photos. the people who left town for winter break are lucky they're missing these frigid temperatures. our meteorologist amy freeze says it'll get below zero tonight.

on the retail beat: my wife says a new makeup store is opening along southport. i can't remember exactly where (i'll pass it along in a future post) but she is very excited about this. it was on her top 2 "most needed" list.  now we just need a place that serves egg white omelettes cooked in pam. we love southport grocer, uncommon ground, and are glad violet opened nearby but we also demand a straight-forward no frills diner with a giant menu and lots of booths. we went yesterday to the golden angel in lincoln square. now that's old school.

i've heard decent things about the new dry cleaner that opened. i'm also told the store is "upscale," which apparently means it has plasma TVs. i hope that's not to appease people standing on long lines.

happy new year! write me if you have a story idea: david.schwartz@foxtv.com.

--david