South Loop: Home to Chicago's Infamous Bottlenecks

For those of you who frequently use the South Loop Dan Ryan exits and entrances, this probably isn't shocking. According to a new study of traffic patterns, the South Loop is home to 6 of the nations 100 worst bottlenecks. The worst is supposedly where the northbound side of the Dan Ryan expressway passes over Canalport Avenue (1). Others include:

• Intersection of the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway and Ruble Street
• Road segment near the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway and 18th Street
• Road segment near the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway and Roosevelt Road
• Road segment near the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway and Taylor Street
• The "circle" intersection of the westbound Kennedy Expressway and the Dan Ryan Expressway

Happy Driving!

South Loop Gay Community Mobilizes

Through the power of facebook, we ran into the 'Guerrilla Gay Bar: South Loop Chicago' group. What is this? Well according to their group description:

Guerrilla Gay Bar: SLC is a group dedicated to bring a fun bar atmosphere to the South Loop area of Chicago. Our current plan is to pick a South Loop bar the second weekend of each month to meet up at and "turn it gay."

The group has already held events at Wabash Tap and Grace O'Malley's and the next event is scheduled for March 13th at 9pm at Villain's Bar and Grill (649 S Clark St).

According to Wikipedia this is a national movement that was founded in San Francisco around 2000 and:

It is a non-confrontational group which specializes in direct action, largely through the use of the flash mob, a social movement tactic. For one night a month, Guerrilla Gay Bar plans to take over a straight venue and recontextualize the venue's demographic through the mobilization of their members. Though the main purpose of the group is to have fun in new places, offering a creative outlet for persons seeking a different atmosphere from the typical gay scene, the group also acts as a social movement organizer, utilizing its organizational structure to form coordinated movements.

Although "recontextualize the venue's demographic through the mobilization of their members" sounds a tad aggressive, this is an interesting phenomenon. For more information check out their Facebook group.

3 Lolla Headliners Released!

The Beastie Boys, Depeche Mode and Perry Farrell's reunited Jane's Addiction are rumored to be 3 of the 6 headliners for this years Lollapalooza. All three groups are over the proverbial music 'hill', so for a lot of people this announcement is a little disappointing (us included).

Out of the three, we're most excited to see the Beastie's, who still bring a ridiculous amount of energy to their shows even though they're now in their forties (yes we realize that's not THAT old).

Two summers ago we were lucky enough to take in a concert of theirs at Madison Garden and it took us back to memory lane:


Anyway, let's hope the rest of the schedule is filled with newer, more relevant bands. However, we did read in the comments section on the Tribune that Bell Biv DeVoe is rumored to be playing. Fat chance, but it does give us the opportunity to post Poison...can't trust a big butt and a smile:

Ominous Sign? USOC President Resigns

The AP is reporting that Jim Scherr, the United State Olympic Committee (USOC) president for the last four years, announced his resignation from the post. It's a weird time for this announcement as Scherr has been instrumental in helping Chicago prepare and try to land the 2016 Olympics.

Could this be a warning of bigger problems for Chicago's Olympic Bid? It's bad that we're assuming the worst, but given all the recent news (Blago, Economy, etc) it's definitely the first place our mind wanders to.

Stay tuned...this could get ugly...

Bed Bugs at Travelodge in the South Loop

This is a warning for anyone looking for a hotel room in the South Loop...be wary of the Travelodge at 65 E. Harrison (btwn Michigan and Wabash). According to an article in the Chicago Tribune today, a visitor was attacked by bedbugs.

In all fairness to the hotel, it was only one room and they seemed to handle the issue relatively professionally (even though they initially seemed a little hesitant).

Sloopin Rumors: Room 21 and a 'New Club'

Two rumors that we recently heard circulating around the Sloop...

Room 21 is Closed
We heard this a couple of weeks ago and to be honest we were pretty surprised. Sloopin recently hit up this spot in November and really enjoyed the place. Well come to think of it, the decor and ambiance were awesome, but the food was so so:

In my eyes, the building and history kind of overshadow the food. Although everything we had was really good, nothing was amazing. However, with most Kleiner dinning experiences the food is only part of the package.

When we went it was a Friday night and the place was packed, but evidently that wasn't enough to keep it open. We tried to find some information online, but couldn't find much consistency.

According to Time Out Chicago, they're closed and re-opening in the Fall. However, when we called we got an answering machine saying that they are going to be closed for the month of January and re-opening Mid-February. On their website it simply says they're closed for the month of February and re-opening in March. Anyone know anything else about this?

A 'New Club' Opening in the South Loop
A friend of Sloopin recently mentioned that a new club is supposed to be opening across the street from Room 21 (around Wabash between Cermack and 21st). According to our source 'a lot of money is going into it' and it's going to be the 'South Loop's answer to Underground'.

It's an interesting and diverse area that has a mix of housing projects, upscale restaurants, McCormick Place and some new condo developments. Reggie's Rock Club is also located in the area (on State), maybe this is an area ripe for a South Loop night life scene?

Stay tuned...

(Hat Tip to: AG and LR)

La Cantina - Good Food and Gigantic Steer Horns

We recently hit up La Cantina Grill, at 1911 S. Michigan Ave, for dinner with some friends. We've heard good things about the place so thought it was time to try it out. Upon researching on their website, we found out that it's actually hosted a fair share of 'celebrities'; Michael Jordan, Mayor Daley, Rudy Guliani, Don King and even Ron Jeremy has eaten at La Cantina. If Ron Jeremy knows one thing it's definitely....tasty, sloppy tacos.

The place is relatively unassuming from the outside and if you weren't looking for it, you could easily miss it. The inside is pretty cozy, which was a good thing because it was a cold night and occasionally a draft would shoot through the restaurant when the door opened. Regardless, the place was packed with a vibrant and diverse crowd taking down margaritas, eating burritos and enjoying the night. Of particular interest was the drunk mom who was out with the girls and obviously was hitting the Sangria hard.

The staff was friendly, but very busy as it seemed like they were a little overwhelmed by the task of waiting on so many people. As a result, it wasn't surprising that our order was 'lost in the kitchen'. Luckily we were having a good time enjoying the margaritas and guacamole.

Once we finally got our food, the unanimous opinion was favorable. We didn't venture out for anything too exotic and went with the typical Mexican staples: Fajitas, Tamales and Quesadillas. Although it wasn't the best we've ever had, everyone agreed it was worth coming back for.

The most interesting thing about the restaurant was the gigantic steer horns above the bar. As we were leaving we asked the bartender if they were real and he said of course. We begged to differ as they looked enormously fake.

We recommend you check out La Cantina, if not for the food at least to give us your take on the horns above the bar.

Business Opportunities at Sloopin: Advertising and Marketing

One of our goals at Sloopin is to be a resource for the South Loop and that definitely includes the businesses around the neighborhood as well. If you're a restaurant, bar, boutique, gym, real estate developer...well anyone...we can help.

Our site continues to grow and we offer a highly targeted, engaged, relevant audience that is sure to help your business. We currently get over 22,000 page views per month and like we said... we're growing.

We've already worked with Lakeshore Analytics, Groupon.com, Buddy Guy's Legends, Chef Luciano and Ford Fiesta to help promote their businesses.

We can review your restaurant, profile your business or post a banner somewhere on our site.

Contact us at sloopin@gmail.com for more details.

Contact Sloopin

We are eager to hear your feedback!

Tell us how you like our site, give us a tip on something we should cover, send us a recommendation or simply just say hi!

hit us at sloopin@gmail.com or just post a comment below.

Burnham Memorial Needs to be a Bridge

Blair Kamin, who writes the Skyline blog for the Chicago Tribune, has a new article talking about a contest for a proposed memorial for Daniel Burnham. Burnham, who is widely known for his part in the creation of The Plan of Chicago, definitely deserves a memorial, but the museum campus isn't the place for it.

Kasman proposes a great alternative:

It was Burhnam who famously said: "The lakefront by right belongs to the people." But in settling on the Museum Campus site, a memorial competition committee of architects and civic leaders did a wonderful job of ignoring said people - and more worthy alternatives for Driehaus' cash.

What about putting the Burnham memorial at 31st Street, where it could enliven the lakefront across from the residential complex that Chicago intends to build whetheror not it is selected to host the 2016 Olympics?

Why not devote the resources for this competition to creating a bridge or tunnel that would allow pedestrians to cross Lake Shore Drive between Buckingham Fountain and the lakefront? That has long languished on the civic priority list.

We think those are great alternatives, just keep it off the lawn at the Museum Campus!

Retail Opportunity at Roosevelt CTA Stop

John Hilkevitch, of the Chicago Tribune has an interesting article today entitled "CTA puts out the 'for sale' sign". It's a good read if you're into the happenings of the CTA.

However of more interest to us in the Sloop is the opportunity to lease the retail space within the Roosevelt entrance of the CTA. We've walked by this retail spot numerous times and was always baffled as to why this wasn't being leased out. Judging by this article in the Trib it seems like they were just dragging their feet (big surprise).

Anyway, it seems like a perfect spot to sell coffee, newspapers or magazines. Just thought we would point this out to any of you Sloopers who have an entrepreneurial itch.

Blackhawks Night at Kroll's

Kroll’s is one of our favorite local bars for many reasons, but recently we went because they were hosting the Chicago Blackhawks City Roadwatch. These events were dreamed up by the marketing genius’s within the Blackhawks organization as a way to connect with the fans while the team was playing on the road. Essentially the Hawks set up various places throughout the city for fans to go watch the team when they're playing on the road.

We didn’t know what to expect, but for the most part it was a good time. The night was jammed pack with all the bells and whistles you would typically find at a Blackhawks game at the United Center. Probably the weirdest and most awkward thing about the whole production was right before the game.

If you’ve ever been to a Hawks game at the UC you’ve probably gotten chills when the first note is struck on the organ for the National Anthem. The fans cheer and it’s truly a unique and memorable experience:


However, when it’s done at a relatively low key bar on a Tuesday night where half the patrons are there for food its kinda awkward. We appreciate the tradition, but let’s only do it at the UC and not at Kroll’s.

Anyway, besides that we had a good time. They had a raffle for Blackhawk tickets, served free shots every time the Hawks scored (they scored three times) and even had goodie bags with chatchkies.

All in all good times at Kroll’s (except the Blackhawks blew a third period lead and lost).

Shots Around the Sloop

One of our favorite things to do is explore the Sloop. Our neighborhood is packed full of beautiful, interesting and historic places and obviously our goal is to try to capture that on Sloopin. With that said, we've added a new feature we like to call Shots Around the Sloop. You will be able to see the pictures cycling through on the right side of the site starting now.

We do a ton of picture taking on our end, but we know most of you do too. So please help us expand our Sloopin library and send us your shots. Simply send them to sloopin@gmail.com and we will post them to the section.

Happy shooting and we hope you like the new feature!

A New Look!

It's been about 5 months since Sloopin launched and things are going well! In honor of this, we've been working on a new look, with some new features and hopefully an easier user experience. Hopefully you like the changes!

If not either leave us a comment or send us an email at sloopin@gmail.com and we will do our best to address it.

We will have some more posts about the changes throughout the next week. Thanks for your support!