Why I Oughta...

At the Elmhurst City Centre's Boo-tiful Saturday before Halloween, there were some folks giving out candy to kids and these 'coming soon' flyers to adults.  Looks like a new gym is coming to the City Centre and this one is going to be at 135 N. Addison Ave - which if you look at this LoopNet listing for space - is the new parking garage going up on Addison.   They have a site up for the Elmhurst studio here .   The odd thing is that I've heard about a different 'high end' gym/fitness place opening up on Addison, but on the west side of the street.  Check out this proposal to the City of Elmhurst for a Fitness Formula Club which is at 138 & 142 North Addison.  That's where the city parking lot is right now (I think!).   From the look of the proposal, it is a free-standing building and is HUGE.  Here's a screenshot of the front facade: I can't help but wonder...with places like FittRx and the newish Pilates place on York Street -

As you can see from the photo above, we ended up with 346 individuals to our door on Halloween.  That includes 9 adults, 73 'kids we know' and 264 'kids we don't know'. That's up from last year's tally of 308  and sets the new record for Halloween. This year: 346 total. In 2014, we had 308 total . In 2013, we had 326 total . In 2012, we had 327 total. In 2011, we had 269 total . In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total . A few things to note: 1.  It rained a bit his year.  Wasn't as bad as last year when it rained the entire time we were out trick-or-treating.  But that still likely made it a bit harder to turn-out for trick-or-treating for some.   2.  However...this was a Saturday.  That's the first time trick-or-treating wasn't on a 'school night', so I'm thinking that accounted for the increased turnout. 3.  We were down the block from where we normally have been.  The '09-'14 totals we

Did the Bird ever have fun.  She was all over all the trucks, but mostly LOOOOVED the 'digger trucks' that the fine folks from the Elmhurst Park District put out at their annual "Touch-A-Truck" event at Berens Park in Elmhurst last weekend. Here's my post from 2013 showing how the Babe - at that time - was all over the trucks .  This year?  Her younger sister was doing the leading.  In 2013, we were able to get in a helicopter.  This year, we arrived about halfway through the event, so I'm not sure if there helicopter left before we got there or if they couldn't book it this year? This is a really great event and the kids all seem to love it.  So much in fact, that the Bird asked if her birthday party (#4 this year!) can be a "Touch-A-Truck Birthday"?!?  Hmmm...that might be hard to pull off, no?

I spotted the coverings on the windows of the Elmhurst Uptown Shop a few days ago on my walk home from the train and feared they were gone. Turns out...they're NOT closing. Just moving around the corner up on York Street to the old Leonard's mens clothing store which is just north of the toy store and jewelry shop on the east side of the street.   Here's a post from October of last year showing the closing of Leonard's .  Seems like a better location traffic-wise, but a worse location parking-wise, right?  I always seemed to be able to nab a spot in the police lot or out on first.  York is a total crapshoot.  Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you end up circling down Addison a few times. The Uptown Shop's site says they're having a big moving sale today and should open soon around the corner: WE ARE MOVING our Elmhurst store   The MOVING SALE will be HUGE   We are closed starting Monday the 14th to prepare.   Sale is open to the public Thursda

Last week, I wrote about how there's a new rendering of a new construction building on the old Plass Appliance store in the Elmhurst City Centre that portends a new four-story terraced structure with retail and street-level and condos on the upper floors. But that isn't the only thing that has been plastered on the windows of the old Plass store.  This new "Picture Yourself In Elmhurst" three-panel photo went up and is pretty cute.  It is a bunch of laborers who are installing street lights for the first time in town.  It evokes the same feeling of the lunch on top of skyscraper iconic photo for me. Here's a closer look at the white box on the right side that shows the reason for the billboard: Some of the #hashtags are interesting at the bottom.  #walkable #downtown #citycentre. Based on the email addresses, it plainly looks like the city's Economic Development group had the idea, but if look closely, it appears to be a nice little bit of inter

While we were wandering around town on Sunday, we came across the 'Explore Elmhurst Express' Trolley down on South York Street.  It is a nice addition that has run all summer.  It is winding down and will run it's last route on September 13th with stops around the City Centre and down near Spring/Vallette. I'm thinking that they're likely tracking usage so they can optimize the run times/routes if they decide to extend the service to the fall or next summer. From the City of Elmhurst's site : The City of Elmhurst is pleased to announce the Explore Elmhurst Express, a free trolley service connecting Elmhurst City Centre with the Spring Road and York and Vallette business districts. Take a stroll or hop on your bike and head for one of the nearest trolley stops. Convenient parking is also located near each stop.   It's a great way to shop and dine locally and enjoy the City's numerous cultural opportunities, while saving some gas and bringing sa

Last night we packed the kids up and went out to try Mod (or is it MOD?!?) Pizza on St. Charles Road near Route 83 in Elmhurst .  It is located in the same plaza as Total Hockey and Potbelly's on the south side of St. Charles. Mod Pizza is best described as "The Chipotle of Pizza"; meaning you walk along the line with the pizza maker as they assemble your pie based on your choice of ingredients.  Nat and I both got the 'Mod size', which is the normal size, but they also have a kids size that is a bit smaller. What's interesting is that DIRECTLY across the street from Mod is a newly opened PieFive Pizza - which, I think, is the exact same concept.  What happened with burgers three years ago (lots of burger places opened) and fro-yo two years ago (four fro-yo places opened in town!), appears to be happening with the quick-serve pizza concept.  We decided to try Mod first.  And it was pretty good - considering that they're just getting started with th

I spotted these booths laying on the sidewalk outside of 100 South Chop House and Grill this morning.  Coupled with the re-doing of the writing on the black awnings on the place has me wondering if they're doing one of those 'restaurant/bar rescues' where experts come in and overhaul the place and put in a new look/feel for restaurants. Have to admit...I've NEVER been in 100 South.  I also didn't think it wasn't in any trouble in terms of people patronizing the place.  So, I didn't think they'd *need* one of those 'rescues', right?  My sister and my nephew love the place.  I think they sit at the bar and love the service and food.  But...me?  Never been in there.  Just doesn't look like the type of place that we'd spend time in.   I'm probably wrong!  But, now with - what looks like - a new set of booths and furniture in the restaurant, maybe we need to visit? Does anyone know?  Was this taped for one of those 'rescue'

Spotted this flyer in a City Centre business window recently for a BBQ competition on Sunday, September 6th.  The host is the Elmhurst Walk-In Ministry - which I have no idea where/what they are, but the fact that they're having a meat competition makes me interested.   And...frankly...this competition is a success by just having people like me head to their site and try to figure out what they're up to.  (Turns out, it sounds like a really great organization doing hard, necessary work !  Good for you guys!) The competition is set to take place in a spot that they're billing as "the Elmhurst City lot at the corner of York and Vallette", but I think that means it is in the lot behind (east) of those businesses at that intersection in the lot that hosts the Farmer's markets on Wednesdays. The Elmhurst Walk-In Ministry is  hosting a pdf on their website with the full rules and it appears that this is a true competition with judges and a 'clamshell tur

Mixed emotions this morning based on seeing the survey stakes out front.  She was a good house.  A great house, in fact.  But more on that later when I give her the proper sendoff she deserves in a post of her own.  274:  we thank you for all you've allowed us to do with you.  We are hopeful the new folks love you as much as we do.

If you drive down York Road towards the City Centre these days you can't help but spot the big demolition job taking place on the west side just south of the CVS/Panera. Coming down are Pauli's gas station and a few other random buildings.  And in their place?  Something called the Elmhurst 255 built by Morningside USA .   From the listing on their site: 192 luxury rental units in downtown Elmhurst, two blocks from the Metra station 12,000 sf of new retail space available Spring 2016, with 150 public parking spaces and outdoor cafe seating. Divisible 1,400-6,000 sf. Click for more information . Public event plaza with bandshell A public bandshell?  That's pretty cool.  The City Center lacks one important feature that all downtowns *should* have:  a gathering place.  Think place to light the town Christmas tree (I know, I know...we do one down by the police station, but...that's not quite right.), have free concerts, show movies, etc.  This may solve that?

Spotted this "moving sale" sign hanging in the window of Salt Creek Pottery on North York Street in Elmhurst.  Salt Creek Pottery is (currently) located on York Street just north of where the Palmer underpass re-joins York by the Starbucks in the City Centre.  It is one of the very few businesses on the east side of the street between City Hall and the newish Yoga place on the northeast corner of Palmer and York.  The white-brick building is full of vacant store fronts and likely suffers from a lack of street-parking access that would encourage a lot more drive-up/walk-ins. Anyone know where they're moving?  Another location in the City Centre?

I wrote about how we attended Solemn Oath's "Oath Day Three" earlier this month here on the blog , but I had another 'encounter' with the brand this weekend when Nat and I went to the new Whole Foods out on Route 83.  Nat has been there a few times, but it was my first time.  (More on that later) While she was poking around the bakery section, I was drawn to the "Ales and Lagers" section of the beer cooler - as one is naturally - and spotted this sign for Solemn Oath Brewing Company above the cooler.  Have to give Whole Foods credit:  they're really into promoting hyperlocal offerings and they go above and beyond to call some vendors out.  One of those is the guys at Solemn Oath - where they note the brewery is a mere 20 miles away.  Pretty neat to see them get some promotion. If you haven't checked it out already, go back and read the post about Oath Day Three .

I was at one of the Middle Schools for a ballet recital for the Babe this month and when I was wondering around outside (walking the Bambino in his stroller), I came across this exterior walk-in refrigerator with this ICS or CIS seal on the door.  A quick search for both of those + refrigeration + Chicago turns up nothing, so either they've changed their name or I have something wrong.  (Which...totally is the likely case!) I was struck by the seal/logo.  So much so, that I had to document it here on the blog.  Felt like an artifact from a time not too long ago, but something that wouldn't be put on a new product today.  And that's too bad.  I'm no designer, but this evokes a timeless feel.   Something that has been around a long time and something that will stand the test-of-time. Anyone familiar with the logo?  What's the company behind it?

On my walk to the train this morning, I spotted this poster plastered up on one of windows of a downtown business in Elmhurst advertising a screening of a Banksy film called "Exit through the Gift Shop" at the York Theatre in the Elmhurst City Centre.   On the Classic Cimemas' site, they have a page set up talking about the event .  They're planning a series of these art shows with this first one screening on Wednesday, July 8th at 1 pm and 7 pm. In response to many requests over the years for more art at the York Theatre, we are beginning special screenings on the second Wednesday of every month. Join us at the York Theatre for the Art @ York presentation of Exit Through the Gift Shop shown on Wednesday, July 8th at 1:00 & 7:00 PM. General Admission. Come early for preshow entertainment at 12:30 PM on our baby Barton Theatre organ with Dave Rhodes, Tivoli Theatre house organist.   We need your help to make this successful by emailing, blogging and telling

A few weeks back, we went to check out the models at the Nitti Development in Elmhurst on the property of the old Elmhurst Hospital site .  It is just a few blocks away from us and we were more than curious. There's been some criticism of folks about the development, but I think most of that is a case of the sour grapes.  When you go into the models, there's A TON to like.  The folks at Nitti have done a nice job of building quality homes and finished them really well with decorator-level touches all over.  The only downside it seems is that your house - while it will be REALLY nice - will look and feel just like all of your neighbors.  That's not common in Elmhurst, but it certainly is common in further out suburbs where entire new subdivisions spring up. We went into two of the models we both really liked the layout and floorplan of them.  One thing that stuck out was the upstairs layout.  Here's a photo of it.  Check out the circled part in red: This part -

Just a few days ago, I posted about how the Runner's Soul has closed in the Elmhurst City Centre and consolidated their operations in their LaGrange location . Well...all is not lost on York Street, it seems.  I was walking by the old Irish Treasures store (is that what it was called?!?) between Enzee and the Bank on the west side of York and I saw this green-papered windows announcing that Spex Optical was coming soon. What is Spex?  It appears to be a full-service eye exam/glasses store featuring a lot of 'known' fashion brands.  They also seem to like to come up with as many Spex-related puns as humanly possible.  I guess I should like a brand that doesn't take itself too terribly seriously. I went over to the Spex site and on their "Spex Appeal" blog, they have an Elmhurst announcement up : STAY TUNED! We’re bringing Spex appeal to Elmhurst late spring 2015! Our newest Spex location will reside at 138 N. York Road. It seems that the operation

This year's total:  308 trick-or-treaters. That's down from last year's number of 326 .  (the numbers in parenthesis are last year's numbers) As you can see, the 'neighborhood kid' number was up 7 from last year, but the 'non-neighborhood kids' number dropped by more than 10%.  Have to believe that's because of the weather. In 2013, we had 326 total . In 2012, we had 327 total. In 2011, we had 269 total . In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total .

Despite the rain, we had A LOT of trick-or-treaters show up yesterday.  Just like in year's past, I tried to keep count.   Last year, we had 327 total .  This year?  326. Last year we had 8 adults, this year just 6.  But...there were a few people that had multiple bags where they said that their son/brother/sister was 'Sleeping in the car'. In 2012, we had 327 total. In 2011, we had 269 total . In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total .

Over the weekend, we took both girls out to Berens Park for the Elmhurst Park District's annual "Touch-a-Truck" program.  The weather was awesome, the crowds weren't too huge (once the helicopter arrived!) and we had a ton of fun. Touch-a-Truck is a really neat program that the Park District pulls together.  They bring out their own equipment (see the tractor above), but also work with community partners to bring out all the cool stuff.  Fire Trucks, Police Cars, Moving Trucks, Jewel Refrigerated Trucks, and even...a helicopter.  Yep!  A medical helicopter. As soon as it landed in one of the baseball fields, the lines for all the other trucks got cut in half, so we quickly boarded a bunch of them then made our way to the helicopter area and waited in line. At the end?  We even got the Babe on the chopper!  Pretty cool stuff.  Good job, Elmhurst Park District!