who's in chicago? need to find record stores

(Yet more) tips-Chicago!

You also might want to check Vintage Vinyl up in Evanston. Again, overpriced. But he's also got lots of new vinyl. Some of which has just sat in the racks forever. Like last year I got a copy of the Billy TK's Powerhouse out-of-print 2lp on Little Wing for cheap. He's also got lots of bootlegs.

are all of these stores in generally the same area?

I thank you all (especially nabisco) for your tips. I'll be moving to Chicago in late August with my girlfriend, scared and near broke and wanting of entertainment.

What I value most is a bar with comfy seating, a great jukebox, and nary a live band in sight. A place to talk, in other words. Where would I be most likely to run into a fellow ILMer for rich, tasty beer and a debate about the merits of Elvis Costello's most recent work?

Oh, and also, about how much time do I have from late August to the beginning of winter to buy some serious cold weather gear? 'Cause I'm from Texas, ya know, and I certainly don't own a parka and a pair of waterproof boots. In fact, you can't even buy that kind of stuff around here. When does winter start to kick your ass up there?

Roger, public transportation here is pretty decent: the city's built up against the lake, and the train that runs alongside it (the Red Line) will get you most of the obvious places; downtown, you can connect to branches going west in different directions. The only time the train fails you is when you want to get from one branch to another (usually Blue to Red) without going all the way back downtown to switch (you'll see what I mean). If this happens, don't worry: Chicago is full of cabs, along every major street, and it's pretty rare that a given trip on the north side will cost you more than $5-$10.

Kenan, I hesitate to tell a Texan when it gets cold, because I'd say "it doesn't really start getting cold until December" and then come along around October and kick my ass because you're already freezing. (You'd see what I meant in February, though.) Anyway, the type of bar you describe is actually easiest to find these days in Uptown, along the lake but quite a bit north of the loop: places like Simon's and the Hop Leaf seem to fit your criteria. There are places like that in Ukranian Village and Wicker Park, but a lot of them have become less casual/comfy and a bit more, you know, "wear something interesting." And there are plenty of places like that in the Lakeview/Wrigleyville, though the bulk of that area is a bit more sports bar.

Anyway, welcome to town Roger and Kenan! And Kenan, are you sure you want to do this? It's about 10 degrees where I am right now. And oh yeah Spring is "technically" two weeks away...

Oh, quite sure. I need city. I always have. I need to live somewhere where not having a car is not automatically a sign of being an irredeemable loser, somewhere where finding an out-of-print record is not tantamount to finding the Holy fucking Grail, somewhere where you don't mind having a temp job because the view from the 37th floor is quite remarkable, somewhere where it's actually possible to walk a half mile without trudging through mud and grass. Austin is nice, but it's not enough. I need things to be stacked a bit more vertically. It's a calling, like to the priesthood almost, but much more secular.

Cold is cold. I'll live. At least I know I won't be alone in my shivering.

It's actually about 2 short blocks from the Wicker Park post office, so I'm gonna claim it for W.P.

Kenan, that's a great attitude about the cold. It'll surprise you the first winter, maybe, but after a while it's just ... cold is cold. It's bad but it ceases to seem worth getting bothered by.

Also. You really don't need a car here, especially if you live by the lake -- a car in e.g. Lakeview would be as much of a liability as a help. BUT: if you happen to live or wander outside of the strip along the lake, a car can be very helpful. Just so you know: it's still a driving city to some extent -- you can get along wonderfully for years with trains and cabs, but if you wind up with a vehicle the city will suddenly both grow (so many more places to go) and shrink (so much easier to get to some of them).

Can I just bitch here about the periods when I commuted, by train and bus, to Hyde Park every day from Evanston and/or Rogers Park? The only decent way of getting there now is that #6 Jeffrey Express bus, from downtown to 60th and Stony Island -- but that drops you off on the opposite end of campus from where I used to work, so I'd always have to take the Red Line and then the God-awful 55th Street bus across.

(Also there is nothing crappier than finding yourself in Hyde Park after 9 pm or so, because at that point it's all about just taking your chances on which buses might take less than five hours to come by.) (Sadly the most reliable one that late is the one that takes you through the projects to get back to the train.)

Decent jukebox, low-key, good beer in the daytime = Lincoln Tap Room. Too damn hip on a Saturday night, but great for a late-afternoon IPA.

Technically, N*ts*h, these places are in Andersonville. (I only bother to mention that because when Kenan and others look for apartments, the listings will distinguish between the neighborhoods as well.)

woo hoo let's hear it for the #9 bus!

do not take a car to any of these record shops (with the possible exception of going to evanston as it's a bit of a hike and the scenery is nice if you go up lake shore drive to sheridan). the cta can get you within a 1/4 mile of anyplace in the city if you want to put the time into researching an itinerary.

if you go to the reckless on milwaukee be sure to check out flash taco for the best damn burritos ever. i swear to god they're the size of a can of pringles. and good too, sooo soooooo good.

My favorite is still Taco Burrito Palace #2. There is something about the amount of cilantro they use, and they cook them until the the tortilla is just the slightest bit crispy.

The Andersonville/Rogers Park area is found south of Uptown and north of Wrigleyville and Lakeview.

!!

I also learned that I live in the second-gayest zip code in Illinois!

Some pictures of Andersonville.

And Scott: there's not really anything "technical" about it, Chicago's neighborhoods are for the most part shifting along historical, cultural, economic and other axes and there is plenty of overlap.

yeah and every now and again a large institution (like say, i don't know, UIC) will dump a huge amount of money in a less-gentrified area (like say, the tri-taylor neighborhood on the west side) and build a bunch of cookie cutter townhomes and give instant prestige to this development, which is in effect a housing project for the upper middle class by giving it a stupid name (like "university village" perhaps) and claiming it as a "neighborhood".

Stencil, you're so anti-Flash Taco! I dunno, when I first saw it I assumed it would be regular crappy burrito-slinging, but there's something about their stuff that I really like. The Enchiladas Flash in particular. But I guess I can see how you might be generally bored by it. (Also: I finally went to Thai Village, since you said on the other thread that it was good, and you were absolutely right -- I always went to Thai Lagoon, since it's right by my place, but Village is great as well.) (Also not as crowded and good for those moments when I don't feel like hearing the Aluminum Group while eating.)

I started going to it about 10 yeas ago - I went back about a year ago, and thought it was still funny & insightful .. but the crowd had become much more "hip" (or did I just get fucking old?) which somehow makes it seem dumber to me when most of the audience appears to have a chip on its collective shoulder.

I ask because I would recommend it to people that are new in the city or touristing ...

That said, the worst townhomes are going up in W. Lakeview and W. Lincoln Park (east and west of Ashland). Staggeringly ugly. Lincoln Park was a "bad" neighborhood for a while (in the 60s and 70s) so I guess the developments felt the urge to replace the existing housing stock, which was largely single-family homes and two-flats. The prevailing trend in L.P. architecture is probably somewhat inimical to it developing as a real neighborhood. It's an old story.

Fortunately my neighborhood has so far been spared the bulldozer as the housing stock is quite fine. A few stretches of Andersonville/Uptown--like Berwyn or Balmoral between Clark and Broadway--have some incredibly gorgeous single-family homes.

These issues become urgent and key if you plan on raising a family.

TMLMTBGB = total dud, an unfunny magnet for all "theater" types from north suburban high schools (I know of what I speak). But my hatred of improv comedy is deep indeed.

-- felicity, March 9th, 2003. (later)

haha, i do believe that was the thread that i emailed to hstencil that got him posting on ILE.

*dons kevlar vest*

Doesn't seem like it draws a real suburban crowd either, since it starts at 11:30. Always seemed like Andersonville kids to me...

i drove north avenue from lsd to harlem saturday and without a doubt the ugliest (and for whatever reason wildly expensive) condos/townhomes are in the vicinity of north and segwick. so bland, so homogenized.

i guess the flip side of that would be living on jackson between damen and pulaski. there are some shockingly beautiful greystones and queen annes in dire need of rehab but if you look at the surrounding neighborhood you know that rehab is never going to come. tis a shame.

The jukebox at Simon's isn't too bad, though I tend to like Hopleaf better overall.

Also, I haven't been to Too Much Light lately -- but I do think it's a good place to take out-of-town visitors.

Buildings are expensive projects and most developers seek to minimize risk by not doing anything too spectactular and new architecturally. Most developments ape other ones, hence cookie-cutter homes. That's inevitable and not the problem. The problem is when one the reigning models leaves a lot to be desired.

HEY NO FAIR THIS TIME! I lived only in old buildings when I was in Chicago! And I was the loudest complainer of everyone I know about "cookie-cutter Lego-housing condos" and how they're destroying Chicago!

*sobs*

As for cookie-cutter homes, a lot of the red-brick prewar apartment buildings all over the city look exactly the same, but I don't hear many people complaining (perhaps in the 1920s they were). And there are also examples of fairly novel approaches to condos which are nonetheless mistakes (there's one along Division not far from Damen).

I always tread lightly on this subject because there's an ornery conservatism that creeps into many complaints about recent development. My mom always makes disparaging comments about anything, even some rather lovely large buildings that have gone up in Evanston in recent years (she often recants though), simply because it's new.

As for architects, they are necessarily part of the problem and potentially part of the solution. What I wonder is what is being taught in architecture programs--who are the major authors, the schools of thought--that trickle down into the sorts of atrocities being put up along Damen. What are the theoretical/pedagogical underpinnings of unfettered ugly development?

That's 'cuz those homes are WELL BUILT. My major prob with the Lego condos is that the front is the only part that is brick, the other three sides are shoddy cinderblock construction. One time I actually looked at a basement apartment in one AND YOU COULD SEE THE DAYLIGHT COMING IN THROUGH CRACKS BETWEEN THE BLOCKS. The building couldn't have been more than three years old at the time.

Ha, you mean the strip-mall thingies with the condos on top? Those are indeed terrible. I guess their selling points are that (a) there's parking in front of the stores, which I'll admit is pretty radical for Chicago, and (b) the condos are set back to create a nice balcony over the stores. Nonetheless, they're ugly and don't look very good to live in and are just generally pretty awful.

I'm not an architect but I have spent some time in ID school. I do know that architects are complaining about this problem just as much as anyone.

Also, like people said - the older buildings are better built, and they tend to have more decorative details with better materials.

Some of them, though, used to be slums for immigrants - like the row houses and stuff. But even those have a certain European charm.

As for old buildings - it's mainly the brick and stone ones that look nice. I don't care much for the frame buildings.

record emporium on paulina closed, i guess. not many left.

i went into dr. wax in evanston the other day, for the first time in about 5 years. i had made a pledge, long ago, to avoid it, but it had been so long and i was in the area so i thought i'd stop by for old time's sake. (not that i ever liked this place: it was always the worst record store in the area. they paid less than anyone else for your cds, they had a bad, unimaginative selection, the folks were legitimately rude--not snobby, just rude. same with the folks at the now-closed berwyn st. location.)

i walked in, the guy working the counter was hunched over his laptop and never even looked up. nobody else was in the store. the shelves were half-empty and a mess. a sign said they were no longer buying cds "until further notice." new releases were sparse. clearly they're not even bothering to get new inventory. they had maybe 200 beat-up LPs altogether, some of which were on the floor.

ugh. i give this place maybe three months before it's gone. i don't even know why they're staying open now; they can't be making any money anymore.

is the hyde park location still open?

aside from all the record stores that have closed in the past year (every time i stop by, there's another), a few have really gone downhill. there's some 2nd-hand place down the street from reckless that's worse than something you'd find in an oklahoma ped mall. hard boiled, never exactly a great place, seems rather pointless these days now that the owner has stopped renting dvds. i guess, with so much of the competition gone, laurie's planet of sound (which I never bothered to go into in the 1990s) is looking not-so-bad.

dr wax on berwyn was wayyyyyyy better than the one in evanston
they had TONS of rap CDs you couldnt find anywhere else, used ... lots of rap a lot, no limit, southern stuff that was inconsistently stocked in most places

they also carried a lot of good house and hip hop vinyl

i go to laurie's the most these days but it's mainly because it's most convenient. permanent is probably the best non-reckless place for indie rock-type stuff now, plus they have a cute cat

also very near my house = deadwax records on lincoln. they have some used cds but are mainly focused on vinyl, which they have a good amount of. might be worth checking out

Yeah, Dr. Wax is really, really disappointing now. The guy that is usually working when I go in is a loud-mouthed, rude asshole. No other way to put it. I actually had to leave the store one time because he was running his mouth about how "Hitler was really a basically good dude" to some other random douche.

I went in there a week ago, for the first time in about 4 months, and there was literally no change in the racks. The exact same discs were there that I saw 4 months ago... no new stock had been added.

Thank God Secondhand Tunes in still in Evanston, that place is great and the dude that owns it is really awesome.

Permanent is awesome, I really miss living five blocks from them.

i did stop by dead wax, the guy there is always nice. they have a lot of indifferent crap (mostly in the cd section) but i always find a few things.

i think reckless has really benefitted from much (most?) of the competition going out of business.

hey do you guys remember when (back in the '90s perhaps) the belmont/clark area had about 10 or 12 record stores? now what's left? reckless, the sorry place i just mentioned, and this "groovin' high" place which in a few years has NEVER been open when i stopped by.

the folks at permanent sometimes get interesting jazz or vocal stuff that they price cheaply, maybe because they're not i nto that stuff and don't know it's value, maybe just because they want to keep stock moving. but there are some good finds. the cat is mega-cute.

i wouldn't even call dr. wax "disappointing." it's just sad. i mean, as i said, it was never a good store, but now it's barely even a store. the owner should just put it out of its misery.

so, question, y'all.

do kids these days (say under 23) even go to record stores? i see a few in this one place in madison sometimes, but they always seem more amused by the vinyl section than legitimately interested in buying stuff. and my favorite record store in madison, i NEVER see anyone under 30 in there -- except for one time i saw one of my hipster students in there. and again, he was only looking at vinyl.

probably a message board of late 20s/early 30s people is not the place to ask

i dunno, maybe you have a line on the young folks or something.

Depends what you want. Dusty Groove is probably the most attactve, if you are into what they do. Reckless in Wicker seems pretty alive. K-Starke can be positively hoppin' on a Sat night when they have a DJ & free beer, but mostly on 4-to-the-floor stuff, jazz-funk-soul, but sometimes overpriced for beat up wax. I haven't been to Mr Peabodys recently but it's still legendary of the disco-house-rare groove side. It's also buried pretty far down on the South sided.

Isn't Gramaphone Records still open? LOVE that place if a bit pricey.

I was excited when Evil Clown moved to North Center (around Lincoln/Berteau or thereabouts). Bought a couple things there right after they opened. Then it seemed like it had shuttered within only a few months.

there was another thing like that; a place around the corner from the Milwaukee Reckless (maybe on North?)--which opened ca. 2003-4 and closed within 6 months to a year.

So reviewing this rundown of Chicago indie record stores from, I think, 2006:
http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/5812.html

So many stores have since closed: Dr. Wax on Berwyn, Dr. Wax in Evanston, Discus CD exchange, Metal Haven, Record Emporium, Rock Records, Evil Clown, Crazy Man Records (man, I almost forgot about that one).

Is Dave's on Clark still open? any of the others on that list closed now? I don't think Revolver is still open....

Any new places open since then?

Metal Haven is still open, it just moved to damen & montrose.

I do miss Evil Clown, it was pretty decent and its later location on lincoln would have been within walking distance.

My new fave 'Permanent Records' on the 1900 block of Chicago Ave in West Town/Ukrainian Village would not be on that list. It's top-notch and worth a visit. Thank god Metal Haven is still open!

I would still pay a visit to these stores but I 1) no longer live in the city and 2) am broke.

I still like old vinyl if under 10 bucks. Is 2nd hand Tunes still on Belmont? I liked their used CD section.

Any new places open since then?

The downtown location of Reckless opened in 2007.

I have to second BlackIronPrison's recommendation of Permanent Records. Such a great little shop with a surprisingly deep selection given how small it looks when you first walk in. Plus the couple who runs it are the nicest record store employees I've ever met in my entire life. Just both of them really sweet genuinely into almost everything they sell.

Okay what's worth going to besides Gramophone for mostly electronic stuff?

kstarke. mr peabody. groove distribution

Thanks.