terrible chicago sketches by misu

my hometown. my history. my hometown's history. a journal that marries creative non-fiction, actual history, and really bad sketches made in procreate.

[terriblechicagosketches]

I don't think I'm done with it, but here is a work in progress thus far. The old Magikist lips sign that could be found by the Kennedy Expressway near Montrose, and the Roosevelt Expressway near South Cicero. I read that there was also one near 95th, but I never saw it. I think I want to give the lips a big more of a neon sign structure, but I like what I did with the signs!

[terriblechicagosketches]

There is a saying in Chicago - there are so many Polish residents living all over the city that only other place in the world that tops it is Warsaw.

So of course it makes sense that I got to enjoy these delicious deep-fried Polish pastries (similar to a berliner) while I still live in Chicago. My favorites were sold by Weber's Bakery, a family-owned business in Garfield Ridge, on the southwest side of Chicago.

I ordered their strawberry and whipped cream paczkis one year and OMG, I still drooling over it. It was the perfect indulgence to partake of on Fat Tuesday, when they are traditionally eaten, at least in Chicago (in Poland, they may also be eaten on Fat Thursday, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday).

Big chains such as Jewel (or "the Jewels"), Dominicks (RIP), and so on may offer them, but the local bakeries have them beat, hands down. But once Fat Tuesday ends, they disappear as quickly as they came, only to return the following year. I'm no longer in Chicago, so they're much harder to find. I'll just have to be content with drawing these beautiful, powdery treats.

[terriblechicagosketches]

My favorite scene from the 80s film Adventures in Babysitting, one of my favorite movies set in Chicago (despite the fact that it was actually filmed in Toronto).

[terriblechicagosketches]

Ah yes, the Chicago Hot Dog. The delicious hot dog that prides itself on looking like it's been dragged through a garden, doing away with ketchup, being sold in mom and pop corner restaurants and ball parks alike. Served on a poppy seed bun, the Chicago "Red Hot" was a staple of my childhood.

Whenever I had a little money in my pocket, I marched over to Budacki's near Lawrence and Damen and enjoyed a hot dog and fries for under $2. Of course, it's not that cheap now, but back then, it was a quite a deal for me. (Of course, this is before I knew anything about Costco's Hot Dog).

According to Wikipedia, Chicago has more hot dog stands than McDonalds, Wendy's and Burger King combined. That makes tons of sense to me - I remember buying food at Budacki's and other neighborhood stands more than Wendy's and I lived across from a Wendy's for a while (but that's another story). This is because I often forged relationships with the owners. They'd know me by name and greet me warmly whenever I came in. Plus, hot dog stands often had arcade games in the back, so I'd play a couple of games of Final Fight or Wardner while I waited for my food to be done. I played Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat for the first time at a local restaurant with the other kids in the neighborhood. If you go to one enough, the owners start remembering what you like and what you don't like. It made me feel warm and fuzzy in a way that fast food chains could never do.

How I miss it.

[terriblechicagosketches]

Disney Quest Chicago - A Retrospective

Growing up poor in Chicago, the idea of going to Disney World in Florida or Disneyland in California seemed like a pipe dream to me. A funny thought considering how much more expensive it is now, but back then, it was still rather daunting. It also didn’t help that I inherited my mother’s fear of planes. Back then, I equated getting onto a plane with getting onto a shuttle scheduled to enter outer space. Considering I’ve traveled by plane plenty of times since then, I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it all was. 

So, when the DisneyQuest Indoor Theme Park opened in Chicago back in 1999, I was unhinged. Finally, I could get the Disney experience without having to get on a plane! Instead, all I had to do was hop on a train and head to the ritzy River North neighborhood (via a Red Line train to Grand Avenue).

The corporate heads at Disney Regional Entertainment had people like me in mind when starting the DisneyQuest project - people who wanted to visit Disney but may not have had the ability to travel to one of their various theme parks around the world. At first, two locations were opened - one located at Disney World and one located near the Magnificent Mile (aka Michigan Avenue, aka that street with all the stores and the hotel where Oprah housed her guests that were all suites). There were plans to open more locations in major cities across the US, but alas, that never panned out.

The City of Chicago made a very big deal about Disney Quests opening. ABC-7 Chicago aired a half hour special devoted to its opening. Anchors Janet Davies and Jim Rose talked excitedly about the grand opening as the camera cut to the sight of bodies upon bodies spilled onto the streets, waiting outside. Everybody wanted to go to DisneyQuest, myself included. I remember waiting more than a month to go because the lines would be so long, and when I finally did go with my friend, the lines weren’t as long (like, maybe 30 minutes of waiting. Maybe). The price of admission wasn’t cheap - adult admission was $34 dollars, which was lowered to $26 before closing. Cards were used as tickets for admission - you’d use these cards for the various attractions inside the park. I kinda wish I’d kept the ones I had, but considering I’d move countries five years later, it’s anyone’s guess whether it would have survived the move.

Inside, you took a golden elevator to the third floor. The lights would turn off, and an animation starring the Genie from Aladdin (voiced by Homer Simpson, er, Dan Castellaneta). The doors would open and this explosion of color, lights, and sounds awaited you. There were five floors with different rides and activities on each one. There was a restaurant too, but my friend and I never went to them as it was too expensive - one of the pitfalls of being located downtown I guess.

As many fun things to do as there were, my friend and I were only interested in one attraction - CyberSpace Mountain. A roller coaster simulator, you could design the ride of your dreams, choosing between different tracks (loops, turns, etc), fantastical locations, and speed (the fastest speed being “Hang on to your Shorts!”). If you were lazy, you could choose from premade coasters with increasing levels of intensity. Once everything is selected, you’d then go into these cylindrical red pods which would test the sanity of any claustrophobic. The large video screen shows off the monster, I mean coaster we’ve created, while the small screen outside shows the rest of the world how goofy we look or how terrified we are.

Needless to say, we didn’t leave that place until we rode on it at least twice. Because the lines for this ride were pretty damn long, a third time was not in the cards. Instead, we’d head off to the massive collection of cute photobooths (purikura) where we could take photos with various Disney characters. If we didn’t want to leave yet, we’d hit up the arcade section, playing games like Daytona USA(DAAAAAYYYYTOOOOONAAAAAAAA! LET’S GO AWAY!) to our heart’s content, until we decided to call it a day.

While the Disney World location shut down in 2017, the Chicago location shut down in 2001, due to low visitors numbers. In its place is Hotel 55, a boutique hotel owned by Mariott and home furnishing store Room and Board. But I will never forget the magic of taking that Red Line train to Grand Avenue, standing in a line for half an hour to buy tickets, and doing loop-de-loops in a red cylinder while Bill Nye cheered me on.

Rest well, Disney Quest. I’ll never forget you. And I will hang on to my shorts!

[terriblechicagosketches]

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes; it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

-Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers (1980)