Earn As You Learn
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The space was an art and antique shop when the Cahans first laid eyes on it last year, and it still is. There are baskets of old Chicago History magazines, matchbooks from long-gone businesses like the Silver Frolic (“a taste of Paris” at 400 N. Wabash), and license plates from the 1920s and ’30s. Plus striking new Chicago images by a dozen or more local photographers–culled with the eye Cahan developed in 16 years as picture editor at the Sun-Times and two years as director of the CITY 2000 project, which recorded Chicago life in a half million images for posterity. There are Chicago paintings (Bruno Surdo’s commanding Flora of the Subway is reason enough for a visit), a thousand Chicago novels, Arthur Rubloff’s custom-made size ten-and-a-half shoes, doorknobs pulled from a City Hall Dumpster, and Linda B. Lyon’s exquisitely crafted new hats, indistinguishable from the vintage pieces that were her models. There’s jazz in the air and hot cider to drink, and as little or as much informed conversation with the owners as you might want.
Keeping It In-House
