Tuesdays are free admission day at the Art Institute in Chicago. My son Max, 9, and my mother (forever 39) got a big kick out of The Impressionists, and Max and I got some good laughs from the modern stuff as well. Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street: Rainy Day," was great. 
The way he caught the movement of the pedestrians, the feel of the street, the glistening of the pavement - outstanding. There's no substitute for seeing the large canvass in person.
A whole lot of Renoir remains on display at the Art Institute, and I think my favorite is "Lady With A Fan" (right). Her serene, piercing gaze caught my eye from across the room.
Our visit to the museum was preceeded by an excursion to Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on the city's Southwest Side, along 26th Street, west of Kedzie Avenue (3200 W.). An amazing technicolor parallel universe, with everything in Spanish.
We had a great lunch at a place called Los Candiles.
I ordered the chicken in pepper sauce, but instead, they brought me a fantastic plate of steak tacos with melted cheese, grilled onions and guacamole, that wasn't even on the menu.
Heroically, I went with the flow. A freshly made lemonade, a just-spicy salsa with nopalito (cactus), rounded things out. Mmm hmm.
Off the main drag, we noticed in the windows of many homes identical bi-lingual signs supporting a proposal for a park/sports complex in Little Village. I'm sure it would be a good idea; there's not much green space there. But a painful irony was evident - all the yards of all the homes on the stretch of Central Park Ave. (3600 W.) where we were walking, were filled with a disgusting proliferation of litter. Same on 28th, heading back east. No one cares to pick up the garbage inundating their homes and residential streets. I wonder what that park is gonna look like? Litter: It's an assimilation thing, I guess. And a real problem.
The next day (yesterday) we saw the Cubs play the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. I've got to hand it to the team's current owners, the Tribune Corporation. Despite some inevitable remodeling and sponsorship deals at the old ball park - one of which put my nose out of joint recently - the feel is still outstandingly non-commercial and hype-free.
Watching the Seattle Mariners play in Safeco Field, you're bombarded with announcements and advertisements, dumb contests and promotions. It's as if they're afraid of letting you actually have 10 noise-free seconds before the game or between the halves of innings to just sit back and take a deep breath. At Wrigley Field, the experience is baseball as it was meant to be. The game sells itself. Especially yesterday, as the Cubs bested the Reds 4-1 behind the great pitching of Greg Maddux, and the hellacious baserunning of leadoff man Juan Pierre. Also, how can you not love a team including a guy named Angel Pagan? (In a Cubs-Mariners World Series, Pagan could face off against Seattle reliever J.J. Putz).
At Wrigley Field yesterday, I couldn't help notice some fans who'd clearly have been more comfortable in Seattle's over-caffienated ballpark, though. There was the guy who spent the first four innings glued to his cell phone. When he finally got off, I bet my son he'd be back on it within 15 minutes. Max first said, no, it'll just take him 30 seconds, but when I said c'mon, not that quick, he said OK, three minutes, then. He was right the first time. The guy was back on in less than a minute. Then there were the two ADD kids in our row who spent most of the game fiddling with their Game Boys. Maybe they're related to the fellow we spied at the Art Institute, plowing through each room, photographing every painting on his cell phone, but not looking at one of them.
After the Cubs game, we took a long walk back toward our parked car downtown, through Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Sixty-something degrees, light breeze, winding pathways, lots of green, ponds and lagoons, then some seals, Bactrian camels and pink flamingos. The latter are the foulest smelling creatures on earth, I am sorry to report.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 13, 2006 09:30 AM