Adieu Arnold's

The bad economy has claimed another hapless victim. I’ve been plunged into a cranky funk this week with the news that our local diner, Arnold’s, is closing its doors this weekend after decades of serving the neighborhood.



What will happen to the long time servers, busboys, and line cooks? Where will I have my hangover breakfasts? Arnold’s is only a block away. Almost every day I will have to walk by the empty storefront they leave behind. That’s just cruel.

It may be a little hard to understand why this is such a gut-level blow to me. Arnold’s has been a constant and personal landmark since the last time I lived in this same neighborhood 28 years ago. They are an old-fashioned gem; a greasy spoon where you can get inexpensive, tasty comfort food. Their waitresses recognize us and know our ordering quirks (my sliced tomatoes in place of hash browns and Ron’s extra-hot chorizo and green salsa omelet). I have grudgingly accepted that they don’t have Splenda for my coffee (too expensive for them), so I bring my own. Arnold’s is like grimy old sneakers that really should be tossed out – but they are just too darn comfortable to give up. Now they’re being forcibly taken away from me, and I’m pissed off.

I’ll miss their spinach & feta omelet, corned beef hash with poached eggs, and their simply excellent egg salad sandwich. I’ll miss the smiling and efficient Hispanic waitresses. I’ll miss seeing our bill rung up on a giant old mechanical cash register. I’ll miss overhearing the morning-after conversations of the delightfully diverse clientele. I’ll miss hustling quickly over to Arnold’s on a cold winter day for a stomach-warming breakfast and pot of coffee. Dammit, I'll even miss the cracked green vinyl bench seats repaired with duct tape.  Man, oh man.

The demise of our neighborhood’s favorite diner seems like our first step toward preparing to leave Chicago. Take away the things we enjoy and add new disappointments, and little by little we will begin preparing ourselves to say goodbye to the city we love.

I’m sad. :’(

Our Neighborhood, On Foot

I know I’ve mentioned before how much we walk around our neighborhood – allowing the car to stay in its parking space for weeks at a time. Today, I’ll give you a little walking tour around our frequent haunts.

We have 2 grocery stores we frequent most often. There’s a Jewel/Osco .6 miles away, where N. Broadway and N. Sheridan meet, and a great Whole Foods just .5 miles south on Halsted. We use a backpack, canvas bags, and/or a rolling cart to get the groceries home.

This afternoon, we both have an appointment to get hair cuts at Barberella. Jane’s quirky small salon is .3 miles away on N. Broadway. Just around the corner, ad additional .1 miles from home, is Elite Dental, where we’ve been fortunate to find a good dentist who takes our insurance.

The Uptown branch of the Chicago Public Library is .4 miles away. Today I need to pick up a book I had transferred from the main library downtown. That may be a good excuse to stop at the Bar On Buena – a neighborhood tavern on the same block that grills up a superb burger served with sweet potato fries.

Wrigley Field is an easy .7 miles away. It’s so nice not to have to worry about transportation or parking. When the Cubs game is over, we slip out of the crowd and stroll home. On the way home, we often stop at our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Fornello Trattoria, after which we toddle the remaining .4 miles. Or, if we feel like Mexican food, El Mariachi has a lovely outdoor courtyard, and is just .2 miles south on Broadway.

From our front door onto Montrose Beach on Lake Michigan is almost exactly a mile. It’s a little less to the first tee at Waveland Golf Course in Lincoln Park. On a nice day, the 1.4 miles to the Diversey Driving Range is a breeze.

In even the very worst weather, we can bundle up and make it the .2 miles to Dollop Coffee Co. for a morning brew. This eclectic coffee shop is housed in an old pharmacy with exposed brick walls, tiny black and white tiles on the floor, and broken down overstuffed chairs and sofas. We prefer it to Starbucks.

For a reasonably-priced and filling breakfast, we head to Arnolds diner (.1 miles). SOS Cleaners is on the same block; and even though we are infrequent customers, the ever-gracious Korean owner knows us by name.

We got our H1N1 shots at the Howard Brown Health Center (.4 miles). For prescriptions, we walk .6 miles down Broadway to Walgreens. We take a bus downtown when we need to visit our doctor.

There are multiple bus stops within a block of our home that take us just about anywhere we need to go. The closest el station (the Sheridan stop on the Red Line) is an easy .5 mile trip. (It’s the 42 stairs up to the platform that get your heart pumping!)

We love our little neighborhood around Bittersweet Place. Looking forward to spring, when we can enjoy it even more.