
I saw this building on Hubbard near where it intersects with Union. Does anyone know what it is?
Tags:Chicago·near west side
Tags:Chicago·cta·red line·river north
I walked into the Mart one day and saw this:

The first thing I thought was “New Orleans!”.

Which makes sense because this is a sculpture of Louis Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans on July 4, 1900.

The artist is Niki de Saint Phalle.

The Louis Armstrong sculpture is part of Niki de Saint Phalle’s homage to prominent African Americans, Black Heroes.

Miles Davis, Josephine Baker, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Tony Gwynn are also featured in the series, but I did not see them at The Mart.
Tags:Chicago·louis armstrong·merchandise mart·new orleans·niki de saint phalle·river north
Today marks the 9th anniversary of this here blog. My first post was on July 19, 2001. I was living in San Diego at the time.. and if I start to browse through, I reminisce about how in the lifetime of this blog I’ve changed jobs 5 times, moved to New York, moved to Chicago, cofounded a successful Chicago city blog, met Dallas, got him to move to Chicago, got engaged, bought a condo, and on and on… but I’ve got things to do and not hours to spend reflecting.. so I’ll just leave it at that. Happy Anniversary to me!
Tags:anniversary·rachelleb·Web/Tech

Whenever I walked past this store, Aida’s, I understood that they sold ceremonial outfits for baptisms and communion, but I never “got” the presentation part. I took a photo to remind myself, then looked online. I found this article on Mexican traditions that explains it:
Other religious traditions focus on rites of passage such as baptism, the presentation of children to church (presentación de los niños), first communion, and quinceañeras. When children turn three they are sometimes presented to the church because that was the age when the Virgin Mary was presented to the temple for the first time. Some informants mentioned that the ceremony marked the passage of a baby to that of a child. In addition, Father Pedro said that parents will bring children anywhere from a few months to 5 years of age to take part in the ceremony. In return for the blessing parents will present the priest with wine, bread, fruit, or other items that the church can use. The particular ceremony differs from place to place in Mexico, but based on conversations with a number of migrants, Father Pedro believes that the tradition is mainly practiced in Louisiana by workers from the state of Guanajuato. Following the blessing, a party with food and music, is provided for the celebrants.
The web site has to do with Louisiana traditions, that’s why Louisiana is mentioned, but I’m guessing that this is a tradition with Mexicans everywhere?
Tags:aidas·Chicago·logan square