Hello from Chicago - Chinatown and Second City
After thoroughly exploring the Pullman Historic District, we
decided to check out Chinatown, one of the many ethnic
neighbourhoods that Chicago has to offer. The weather had turned
from cool and grey with the occasional peek of sunshine to dark,
rainy and cold, so rather than walking around we decided to have
an early dinner at a Chinatown restaurant called the Lobster
King.
Both my friend Linda and I had ordered vegetarian dishes, but
after taking our order the waiter returned and informed us that
he was going to charge us $2 extra for each dish since
vegetables are much more expensive during the winter months. I
decided to have a look at their takeout menu and saw that the
same low price was listed on the takeout menu as on the main
menu. As a result I put forward an argument that if both the
dine-in and the take-out menu are stating the same low price for
both dishes, I would not agree with being charged an extra $2
for each dish based on a verbal announcement. Either change the
menu to include the higher price or charge the prices that are
shown on both menus. I am not usually a difficult, picky guest
in any hospitality establishment, but to try to charge $2 more
for a dish that is listed at a lower price on both menus did not
seem a proper business practice to me.
The waiter / manager finally agreed to charge us the prices
listed on the menu, and the food was indeed delicious. After
exploring the Chicago Cultural Center and the Historic Pullman
District we had gotten quite hungry and we really enjoyed our
early dinner.
After reviving ourselves we hopped on the subway because we
wanted to check out Little Italy. So we got on the Blue Line and
were told to exit at the UIC (University of Illinois) Campus and
walk southwards. By that time it was raining and it was a rather
inhospitable clammy day. We actually never ended up finding
Little Italy, but walked around for about 40 minutes in the rain
and after this exercise of futility we decided to pursue our
evening plans: to attend a live performance at Second City,
Chicago's famous comedy venue.
So we took the subway back downtown to Jackson and we waited for
the Purple Line until we realized that this line only runs
during rush hour on weekdays. So we inquired which line we had
to take and we found out that the Brown Line (to Kimball) would
take us to Second City. At that point we realized that we had
also been waiting on the wrong side of the platform. I guess in
the Loop el-trains only run in one direction and we had already
been wondering why we had seen 3 brown line trains go by on the
other side of the platform, but none of them had arrived on our
side.
I'd say we spent a good 45 minutes waiting on the wrong side of
the platform until we finally had enough and went downstairs to
ask a CTA employee who directed us onto the correct platform. In
the rainy clammy weather this wasn't the most exciting part of
our trip, but we managed to entertain ourselves with lots of
insider jokes in our original Austrian dialects.
Finally we caught a brown line train and made our way up to
North Wells Street, into the Old Town Neighbourhood, home of the
Second City Comedy Club. Since 1959 Second City has established
itself as a Chicago landmark and a national treasure. This
theatre has launched the careers of such comic geniuses as John
Belushi, Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and others more.
It offers nightly comedy shows, as well as a variety of other
programs and services.
The theatre has two main stages, both of which were sold out
yesterday, so we headed up onto the 4th floor of the building
which houses Donny's Skybox Studio Theatre which is affiliated
with Second City. This theatre features an eclectic mix of
student productions as well as other alternative shows and at
$10.00 per person, the tickets were a steal.
The Outreach & Diversity Program produces two to three original
shows each year that are performed at Second City's studio
theatre, Donny's Skybox, on the fourth floor of Piper's Alley.
At least one of these productions is an original revue written
and performed by the Outreach & Diversity ensemble, a group of
African American, Latino or Asian actors cast through annual
auditions.
We bought tickets for the 9 pm show: "Six Degrees of
Reparation", a hip comedy revue featuring improv, original
material and Second City classic scenes with an urban
multicultural twist which was put on by 6 young comedians which
included 5 black and 1 oriental performers.
The show offered a lot of physical comedy and a variety of
different sketches. One of the funniest ones was a sketch
entitled "Osama bin Laden could be anywhere", where one of the
female comedians donned a big black beard and kept popping up in
different everyday situations. The "superior Asian girl" sketch
played with A, B, C (Asian, Black, Caucasian) stereotypes and
demonstrated how we all have pre-conceived notions of one
another. In the "Black Black Awards" sketch the troupe made fun
of famous celebrities such as Whitney Houston, Maya Angelou and
even Martha Stewart.
One of the most poignant sketches was set in an imaginary Office
Depot store, where the black and Asian store employees were
giving very shoddy and unfriendly service to a variety of
customers. At the end, the young black shopkeeper explained that
with a wage of $6.50 an hour, after all her costs (food, rent,
bus passes, doing her nails, etc.), she was $189 in the hole,
and at that price a smile would not be included in the service.
We both enjoyed the live performance of these gifted comedians
immensely as we both love live theatre and comedy performances.
As far as culture is concerned, Chicago has something to offer
to everyone.
Well, today is our last day here in Chicago, and the weather is
forecast to be quite cold with a 60% chance of rain. Fortunately
Chicago has many indoor venues to choose from so I am sure we
won't get bored.