What The Hell Happened to Chicago : THERE IT IS
By Michael Ledwith
April 17th, 2026
I met with two guys from Paris last week.
They suggested in the Loop across the street from the James R. Thompson Center.
I hadn’t been in the Loop for a couple of years but followed @CWBChicago on X for the latest on shootings, street takeovers, and general mayhem.
I emailed back that no one meets in the Loop anymore by choice. Let’s meet at the Firehouse Grill in Evanston.
Due to previous commitments they couldn’t switch.
Not wanting to screw around with parking I took an Uber.
Twenty minutes early, with time to kill, oops, an unfortunate choice of words in 2026 Chicago, I wandered around.
Empty streets. The massive, uglier behind construction screens, former State of Illinois building, looking squat and bunkerish. The godawful Howard Johnson blue and orange paneling gone.
I thought of the hundreds of state workers streaming in and out. Crowds of lawyers and lobbyists. Black Cadillacs idling on the LaSalle Street side. Various Governors surrounding by State Patrolmen scurrying in if facing indictment, or glad-handing glad handers and tousseling the hair of kids for the cameras, if not.
No cars idling on any side of the building. No cars double parked. No cabs circling the block in the age of Uber.
It was a cold, dreary, cruel Midwest April day.
Spitting rain. Windy enough to make using an umbrella a workout. Little traffic. No bikes in the bike lanes.
No young executives on the make in suits. No women VPs in high heels and business suits strutting to the next important meeting.
I was in a suit and tie, and felt like a Martian.
People stared.
Panhandlers straightened up at the sight of a suit, discarded their polished pitches about needing to take the EL to the shelter, and handed out a prospectus for helping them fund a new AI start-up…minimum investment five bucks.
The meeting lasted an hour. We talked about Paris. One of them surfed.
Walked out with a commitment to meet at the Firehouse Grill in Evanston next time.
They love pizza.
Turned left out the door heading north so I could walk along the river.
The rain was barely spitting and I thought: perhaps a stately saraband up the Magnificent Mile?
A late lunch at Gibson’s?
Would the movers and shakers and politicians and rich guys and young women seeking sugar daddies still be there?
I crossed the bridge to start the Mile.
First impression: Unter den Linden. Circa 1955. Grey and abandoned.
As with the once buzzing and crowded LaSalle and Madison, there were no crowds in the early afternoon of a weekday on Michigan Avenue.
No office workers. No one professionally dressed.
Knots of families huddled close. Mothers’ eyes darting this way and that, alert for danger.
Fathers puffing their chests and trying to like they could handle themselves.
Little girls clutching Molly dolls. Young families on vacation in the intermittent drizzle.
Nice but not magnificent.
The foreshortening of the avenue looking north from the bridge toward Oak making it seem semi alive and semi crowded.
But, it was a mirage.
No elbows needed to make one’s way up the Magnificent Mile.
Just a dispiriting solo trudge.
Not a celebration of what? The City of Big Shoulders? Mayor Daley? Making no small plans?
It was, at best, just another street. In just another big city. A big American city destroyed by politicians for reasons no one can fathom.
The Wrigley Building empty looking. It may have been the drizzle, but no gleam off the white façade.
The Tribune Building abandoned, a single light on in an office, as it is ‘repurposed’.
The beautiful Gothic windows facing the avenue looking as if there had been a fire.
Smoke stained.
As if the Adlon Hotel after the war.
Not the headquarters of the World’s Greatest Newspaper on a Magnificent Mile in one of the world’s greatest cities.
The triumphant artifacts brought back by Colonel McCormick and the Trib’s foreign correspondents to decorate its façade and proclaim THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE proudly, still there.
Brought back from the Parthenon. The Great Pyramid. The Hagia Sophia. Ankor Wat. Fort Sumter.
Omaha Beach.
To a confident Chicago. An American city on the go.
I wondered if wilding mobs had ever tried to pry them out? Or vandals ranging unmolested up and down the avenue attempted to destroy them? You know, just for the heck of it?
The office towers along the avenue seemed empty. Miranda Devine of The New York Post, noted that the commercial office vacancy rate was killing the city. And she posted a tweet from Nightingale Associates about this critical problem strangling the city of Chicago.
The restaurants catering to the crowds of office workers getting lunch or having drinks after work only exist in the mind of someone like me.
That was the cafe where I saw Eric Clapton, by himself, having a sandwich.
I had lunch over there with Frank Casey and Nick Nolte and a hundred pretty girls crowded around us. Chicago’s finest had to get us out. Then it was an Indian place. Now it is gone.
Audrey Hepburn, staying at The Drake where the Queen always stayed when in Chicago, having a milkshake at the Drake Drugstore.
Almost all ground floor display windows are covered with opaque material so mobs won’t be tempted to smash and grab.
Window shopping, gone with the wind.
Looting has been part of the Magnificent Mile experience for years.
Young, tough looking cops, standing in pairs every couple of blocks. Alert. Ready.
I stopped to talk to them. Nice guys. Very guarded in how they answered my questions about what it was like.
Things are better. People are mostly nice. No, you don’t come here after dark. No, don’t go off the avenue. No, don’t wander around Streeterville.
I caught a Vietnam era vibe as if I was talking to soldiers back from a tour or two.
The commonality for explanation of what it was like:
There it is.
Water Tower Place reminding me of the statue of Ozymandias.
Me, the traveler:
‘I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . .
…Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’
Or, streets, avenues, blocks, a city.
RL’s was pumping. A line for a table. The only semi magnificence on the avenue.
Oak Street.
Forever, the cherry atop of the Magnificent Mile.
It looks pretty much the same.
Still has products in the Oak facing windows.
But, standing outside, or just inside the door, tough looking security.
Two or three guards clustered at each entrance. More Spetsnaz than Andy Frain.
Gibson’s. Empty seats at the bar. A couple of tables with customers. Old ladies. No fortune hunters
The restaurant with empty power booths.
I flopped into one, wet and exhausted.
Wearing dress shoes to walk two miles after months of Danner Hiking Boots every
day, had a particular penance.
For old time’s sake, and in honor of the great Harvey Pearlman, I ordered a loud
mouth soup to drink.
The waitress, the floor manager, the maître ‘d, the general manager had no idea of what I was referring to.
No worries.
I got a beer and a cheeseburger.
I should have gone to the Billy Goat, skipped the depressing mile, and Ubered home.
The cheeseburger came with the cheese on the bottom of the meat.
Like the Magnificent Mile after the neglect and depredations of at least two Mayors, several Governors, and those of us who just stopped coming to Chicago as the better part of valor.
No more dancing beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free on Michigan Avenue. In downtown Chicago. It’s gone.
Cheeseburgers in smart restaurants put the cheese at the bottom of the patty.
There it is.
-30-
Frequent contributor Michael Ledwith is a former bag boy at Winn-Dixie, who worked on the Apollo Program one summer in college. A former U.S. Army officer, he ran with the bulls in Pamplona and saw Baryshnikov dance ‘Giselle’ at the Auditorium Theater. Surfer. Rock and roll radio in Chicago. Shareholder, Christopher’s American Grill, London. Father. Movie lover—favorite dialogue: “I say he never loved the emperor.”
Comments 50
“Cheeseburgers in smart restaurants put the cheese at the bottom of the patty.
There it is.” – Three Mayors, excluding the current Dope-in-Charge, had looted and laid waste to a once great urban center, not to mention the exhaustive damage to the neighborhood. Try and park in Beverly without paying Richie Daley meters.
Chicago got exactly what it voted for, having nodded over the Sun Times and smiled with WBEZ and WGN and WTTW. The smart set voted for RMD, Rahm, Beetlejuice and Mayor Pinhead and Toni the Boss.
‘Look upon my works, Ye Mighty, and Despair!’
Powerful poetry, Michael!
When the Titanic sank the orchestra played as the ship slipped into the depths.
Chicago is almost under the water and the arrogant democrats and apathetic voters do nothing to stop it……can’t they hear the orchestra?
Sad, depressing, and a great shame that this has happened to one of the greatest cities in the world. I remember in the 70s & 80s visiting my cousins and the smiles on the faces of cabbies and waitresses whenever one of us remarked how much cleaner and safer Chicago seemed compared with NYC at the time. We [and many others] thought then that NYC was about to go the route of Detroit. Guiliani saved it and Bloomberg kept it up until DeBlasio and now Mamdani are wreaking it again. Will Chicago get its Guiliani? I don’t see him/her on the horizon. The longtime capital of the Midwest might see its luster move to….Houston?
Was down there yesterday having lunch at Gene & Georghetti’s with old pals Jim “Stormy” Strong and Pete Nolan, brought back great memories, but nothing stays the same. As Dr. Ronnie Morasso told me months ago after the Pre-Paddy’s Day party at Plumbers Hall, “It’s over Houli!” Say it ain’t so.
Great article, soldier!
You can write the same article about Baltimore.
Take care and stay well!
“What The Hell Happened to Chicago?”
Why ask? We all know the answer:
“Diversity is our strength…”
I would label this “thinly veiled racism’ but doesn’t seem to be anything thin about it.
The blocked and banned reader, Tony Cesare, has again infected this column. He make his comments under his fake alias, “Riga- Tony.”
He is a coward. He is afraid to use is real name.
Tony Cesare was blocked in 2024 due to his insults and lies. Aliases are not allowed. It appears he altered his alias to sneak through.
It gets worse…
Tony Cesare is a confirmed identity thief.
We exposed him a few years ago upon uncovering a claim in his Facebook profile that he is the “proprietor” of a bar in Mineral Point, Wisconsin called Tony’s Tap. This is a real place.
Knowing that it is unlikely that losers like Tony Cesare had the skills to own and manage a bar we called Tony’s Tap. We spoke to a staff member. We spoke to the actual Tony. They have never heard of Tony Cesare. Never. He lied.
Tony Cesare fabricated the entire tale.
Shown in this link is a screenshot of Tony Cesare’s Facebook profile that exposes his alleged identity theft:
https://www.gardendesignquickstartguide.com/2022/09/come-for-our-durp-burger.html
It gets worse, a lot worse…
After we revealed Tony Cesare’s identity theft attempt in your comment section, he denied it. He stated that we had falsely created these images. The images are real.
Commercial identity theft like Tony Cesare’s could be devastating to the real Tony of Tony’s Tap. It could potentially destroy his business.
It gets worse:
Tony Cesare trolled my dying daughter’s GoFundMe page. We lose her shortly thereafter.
Please block Tony Cesare, a.k.a “Riga- Tony” again. Nobody here wants his slime to ooze from this excellent columns.
The bottom line is that if Tony Cesare remains, I go.
Every Kass reader is in danger of having their identities stolen by Tony Cesare.
The three ” persons of color” murdered last night might be called “thinly veiled racism” too except that the shooters were also
” persons of color ” and we have a mayor who doesn’t give a shit and is also a “person of color”. Windbags like “Riga Tony” hide obvious truths behind “racism” since they have no logical argument to make. Living proof YA CAN’T FIX STUPID.
“YA CAN’T FIX STUPID…” You would know Enrique.
Ur FOS, U POS
That sentence of mine is meant to rigatoni regarding his racism statement
Anther boring chapter (#32,890 I believe) in the endless, plodding tome of “Blue City Demise.”- written for an audience riveted by hyped up stories of downtown lawlessness and mayhem, even though they themselves have been fearful of venturing into the city since 1972 (I remember the Como Inn! Beautiful joint, met your Mom! Haven’t been back since dey close it..)
Every major city in the US had its identity irreversibly altered post covid, every one. I’d argue that Chicago has fared better than most. Tuesday-Thursday, Metra trains are packed, the hum, hustle and energy all present, same as it was. I walk through Fulton Market to Graziano’s bakery twice a week for a sub, line out the door into the street. Can’t walk past the outdoor bars near Union w/o someone I know waiving me over for a beer, take the next train and join us for one. Son and I had our annual ritual of red line to Comisky for the opener, then dinner at Italian Village. Had to wait an hour, it was packed.
Yes, Monday’s and Friday’s are quiet, the masses working from home in sweats and ball caps. Institutions don’t make a city, people do, and the people are amazing. Are they coming out less than pre covid? Undeniable. But only those most susceptible to the constant drone of MAGA meat media BLUE CITY MAYHEM are afraid to venture in.
I was born here, and I have no reason to be afraid, or to listen to the voices trying to convince me I should be. Last weekend, kids on Spring Break, Saturday spent at The Field, dinner at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders, never ‘got’ the appeal but wife love’s it. Same energy, same hum. And yea, you really should have gone to the goat for that burger, or better yet, Petit Chaval, best in the country!
What you fail to realize regarding Covid was the deleterious economic effect was not God’s will. It was the will of stupid out of touch political idiots who refused to acknowledge reality because it was somehow politically inconvenient to do so. Closing the lake front during Covid as Mayor Lightfoot did was absolutely absurd. The net effect was to encourage people staying indoors the exact opposite of what any rational science based policy. Same with the closure of the tennis courts. And then when it became obvious to anyone with brain that kids were not at risk, the idiot potentates in Illinois such as the Guv. Pritzker and equally useless Mayor Lightfoot humored the far leftists in the CTU and kept the schools closed. I could go on, and address the restaurant policies, but why bother? The point is Tony, the deleterious effects of post covid on our cities of which you cite were not an “act of God.” They were the results of terrible public health policies, all humanly created – policies that became written in stone even when the data clearly showed they were tragically wrong. I would strongly suggest you check out the “excess mortality” data from Sweden to realize how misguided and destructive our public health policies were in Chicago and the rest of the US. And by the way, I have a place in the city, as well as a son who lives in the city, so I likely spend as much time in Chicago – or even more – than you.
There is a viral video, Italian mayors, overwhelmed and confused with the ravages of covid, watching helplessly as their communities became sick, and the dying, helpless to stop the wave’s of death. Desperate, they pleaded, please stay inside, people are dying, please think about your neighbors. I think about that video every time someone plays Monday morning virologist.
Truth is WE didn’t know, just that people were getting sick, and people were dying. YES, in retrospect, mistakes in policy were made, but I firmly believe the North Star was always “how do we save lives.” Maybe I’m just not that jaded, for that I’m thankful. Freud once said “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar..” Not everything in culture needs to be viewed through the lens of fractured American ideology, take your glasses off Bruce. I lost a dear friend to covid, collapsed on the bathroom floor with his MAGA hat within arms length, true story. Three weeks in the hospital, breathing tubes and strokes, merciful and tragic end. I’m not interested in the musings of the Monday morning quarter backs.
Regardless, covid happened, and nothing will ever be the same. The world the author pines for may be gone, but it doesn’t mean what comes next, or what remains, has no merit. I still love it here, even if he would rather eat pizza in the burbs.
Peace.
Jeez…he’s back. Just like a bad dose of the crabs. Won’t go away and you just keep scratching at your privates…
Got some experience with that, huh Enrique?
Wow. Talking to me, a guy who spent half his medical career as an ICU doc, about Monday morning QBs is rich. And then telling me about the tragic death of his friend as if I had no idea about how people die in respiratory failure. So here is a clue Tony: I was there – up close and personal – at the height of the pandemic intubating folks with Covid in respiratory distress as well as inserting central lines (do you have any f’n idea what that involves?). What would you call that? To be kind: Chutzpah. I wonder. What were you doing during these times?
I was staying inside versus going out, working via Zoom and MIRO, checking in on my friends and family, making pasta from scratch, and walking our dog far more often then she really needed. In short, I respected the medical professionals trusted with giving guidance s to how to navigate this once in a generation event, versus my friend, who allowed right wing media to convince him it was all “leftist” hype, and died month after attending an event that didn’t require masks or vaccination status. Moreover I have zero idea what you do for a living, ICU doc? Plumber? No clue.
My POV stands. I don’t believe policy was dictated by a LIBERAL AGENDA TO CONTROL THE MASSES!! It was our first pandemic, people were dying, the President suggested UV light and bleach, uncertainty breeds fear. You are a Dr? So you’re familiar with “primum non nocere”, correct?? I’m not challenging your expertise, which seems a bit juvenile, I’m saying that its easy to look back after the fact and strut bout “having known t the time” what was the correct path. No one did.
Regardless, here we are. WFH is the new reality, three days a week for most of us. The authors premise that “people are afraid to go out for lunch” is, to put it bluntly, crap. We go out three days a week, and judging by the lines, we aren’t alone. YES, it’s not the same, but it’s not the post nuclear war blasted hell scape right wing media wants to push on an aging audience of old white guys.
Peace.
Of course your POV stands. Why let the facts get in the way of your ignorance right? If you actually read the transcripts – verbatim – of what Mr. Trump said regarding UV light and bleach for Covid, (rather than relying on the second hand reports of your fellow bolsheviks in the legacy press), he never said you should drink bleach. Regarding UV light he was purely speculating. Of course gasbagging scolds like you never heard of photo light therapy for neonatal bilirubinemia or UV light therapy for psoriasis or photophoresis therapy for certain cancers and immunologic diseases.
Riiiight Bruce, just honest speculation on Trump’s part, he is soooo thoughtful that way…
Say, you’re a Dr, correct?? How many white robes with red sashs do you own?? Allot I’ll bet. How many years of med school did it take before you developed glowing hands that heal??
Ignorance?? That’s personal, so I’ll respond in kind.
It will never cease to amaze me how far otherwise.smart men will contort and humiliate themselves in order to defend anything that comes out of that lying, sexual predator’s mouth, it’s a disease I’m thankful to have never contracted. Not even you’re glowing, healing hands can cure it.
As a physician i say: WE ARE AT FAULT, NOT THE POLITICIANS, FOR THIS COVID BS. It is our domain to dictate public health not non physicians and we failed and failed miserably. We didn’t stick together as a group and say this is wrong and stupid. When polio was around in 1950s, did we close schools? Hell no.
I was educated (University Illinois College of Medicine in the 70s when the school was good) by smart, tough as nails, opinionated, egotistical SOBs physicians who were devoted to the patient. They quickly dismissed BS medical science. And they’d do it by challenging methodology of any phony fact. I still have night mares of being on call at West Side VA and having to answer chief of Medicine on how the patients I saw that 24hours and how I handled them.
I would to hear them regarding Trans BS that we as physicians tip toe around giving credence to these degenerates and their mental illness.
Thomas I remember those days when we as interns and residents were held to the highest scientific standards. No BS allowed. And I too remember being scared shit in fear of making errors during my presentations to my professors – and then later attendings. I made sure I knew everything about my patients that one could possibly know, even if it meant “no sleep for you.” No “safe” spaces in those days. No “you hurt my feelings” or “you’re mean” BS either. But the larger issue is, we as physicians – unless like Greg are elected representatives – are not the people’s representatives. The politicians – for better or for worse – are. We can offer our expertise, and advice, but ultimately they – the politicians – are responsible for instituting those resulting public policies. And isn’t that how it should be? Since they are answerable to the people, via elections. We are not.
The blocked and banned reader, Tony Cesare, has again infected this column. He make his comments under his fake alias, “Riga- Tony.”
He is a coward. He is afraid to use is real name.
Tony Cesare was blocked in 2024 due to his insults and lies. Aliases are not allowed. It appears he altered his alias to sneak through.
It gets worse…
Tony Cesare is a confirmed identity thief.
We exposed him a few years ago upon uncovering a claim in his Facebook profile that he is the “proprietor” of a bar in Mineral Point, Wisconsin called Tony’s Tap. This is a real place.
Knowing that it is unlikely that losers like Tony Cesare had the skills to own and manage a bar we called Tony’s Tap. We spoke to a staff member. We spoke to the actual Tony. They have never heard of Tony Cesare. Never. He lied.
Tony Cesare fabricated the entire tale.
Shown in this link is a screenshot of Tony Cesare’s Facebook profile that exposes his alleged identity theft:
https://www.gardendesignquickstartguide.com/2022/09/come-for-our-durp-burger.html
It gets worse, a lot worse…
After we revealed Tony Cesare’s identity theft attempt in your comment section, he denied it. He stated that we had falsely created these images. The images are real.
Commercial identity theft like Tony Cesare’s could be devastating to the real Tony of Tony’s Tap. It could potentially destroy his business.
It gets worse:
Tony Cesare trolled my dying daughter’s GoFundMe page. We lose her shortly thereafter.
Please block Tony Cesare, a.k.a “Riga- Tony” again. Nobody here wants his slime to ooze from this excellent columns.
The bottom line is that if Tony Cesare remains, I go.
Every Kass reader is in danger of having their identities stolen by Tony Cesare.
You’re not the only one who will go.
Alternate opinions and respectful discourse must be very unsettling for you, huh Bruce?
It’s not an airport, don’t have to announce your departure.
(:
Cheese at the bottom of the cheeseburger – perfect imagery. Great piece.
When I first moved to Chicago is was much like your recollections, very much. Standing in line at the Berghoff, impatient because it was the lunch hour, not the lunch two hours – so we went to the Men’s stand up bar where they still served sandwiches and hard boiled eggs – only back in the day (way back), if you bought a beer, the sandwich was free – because they knew you would buy more beer.
Or even further back, the three martini lunch with a mutton chop – celebrating having made payroll that day for the Chicago Times (1893). My cousin (distant) Carter Harrison Jr
Or a nearer cousin of mine, Robert Isham Randolph Jr (young Bob) – the same family Randolph street is named for, running the Chicago’s Worlds fair after he took care of Capone being the only Public facing figure of the “Secret Six” – his father, Isham Randolph having reversed the Chicago river years earlier, after his father having, correctly, served all four years in the Confederate army.
And in the late 80s and early 90s, crime was at its all time high – didn’t faze any of us, young men and women as we poured into Chicago. I work in Avondale and its a paradise.
But then again I haven’t been rolled since 1985.
Chicago is changing, my sons love it – but they have no knowledge of how it once was. The city has been becoming more and more residential now the entire 40 years I have lived in Chicago and Evanston.
It will be a great place to live once things finally die down – as we indeed live “in the most beautiful place on Earth” to quote Father Marquette.
Firehouse is overpriced, my wife and I prefer Tommy’s on Waukegan in Morton Grove (part of Omega group).
With mayors like Biss, and Govy Ozempic, stealing our most treasured beach (Lighthouse) for their own pleasure, for example
Evanston dies in lock step with Chicago
Mr. Ledwith. To see the city die in my life time is a tragedy. In high school the Archer bus was the key to the city, we went all over without fear. My last trek two years ago we went to a matinee show at the Cadillac theater. Four o’clock in the afternoon leaving on Saturday accosted by three different vagrants demanding money as we walked to the parking garage on State street.
I called 9/11 when I witnessed a man who we had ignored get hostile with two women in their mid fifties or sixties. Four in my party.
Police Dispatcher was great until I told him I was retired from the CPD, and would wait for the police, in case the situation escalated. Male Dispatcher then asked how long was I a cop, and was told on a taped phone line what the heck is a matter with you? Was I stupid or insane of both?. The good dispatcher told me forget Chicago it’s a lost cause, go to Oak Brook or Schaumburg. One guy who cared telling an old guy to use common sense. Sadly I learned and witnessed in daylight, my own episode of the Twi light zone, in the City I loved.
Watched the terrified women finally give the professional mugger cash, and he moved back to track down other walking citizens.
These guys weren’t old men, most in their early thirties.
What a display for a tourist, or a conventioneer, to encounter or witness.
Great column.
Michael Ledwith, a dear young man who has the delicacy of thought in referencing the present Chiraq with the old time Chicago…. Congratulations! You forgot to mention how many times you may have had to use a barf bag.
The total loss of blood through my veins almost happened in your experience with Tribune Towers and the possible usable target for teen mobs later at night. Thank you for this tour de force for any possible prospective venture to “downtown” or the near north….wow. Yeppers, it just ain’t going to happen!
Memories of the past are still present in the ever glorious days 75 years ago. Yes, I am a senior citizen who has a few pebbles still in his shoes from dancing my way through Chicago those years past. Thank you again for these words you have typed about your travels in what used to be a great city. God bless and keep you well. In Faith Family and Freedom/Flag always.
Tom Adams
It’s much easier as a pedestrian to navigate the city sidewalks these days as mentioned. It’s almost as if the Loop and the Mag Mile are like NYC back in the day where there are a few good streets but for the most part you stick to them and don’t veer off to the not-so-good or unknown streets. And stick to Uber because of the El’s edgy, to put it kindly, atmosphere. So much of the downtown used to have that great American Dream energy but the electorate got what they voted…
I grew up in and around the city. I worked in the loop for almost 35 years. O got divorced, moved to Streeterville and walked to all the restaurants, parks, concerts, museums and the lake. And then Lightfoot came. I stopped going out after 10:00 at night. I crossed Michigan Avenue mid block to avoid the panhandlers on each corner. I saw the great stores disappear, to suddenly become some sort of temporary pop-up store selling crap nobody wanted to buy, certainly not on Michigan Avenue. Then the riots. I went to send out a package from the UPS store, and asked the owner why it was boarded up, “what could any want to steal from a UPS store?” The owner replied that the rioters stole nothing, but the came and “just smashed the place up, including the big copy machines.
Then Covid.
I had enough and left a city that seemed like family to me. A place I loved. I moved south, down to coastal South Carolina, where life is again vibrant and clean.
But I need to return to Chicago in the Fall, for a family event. I’m dreading that trip.
“First impression: Unter den Linden. Circa 1955. Grey and abandoned.”
Complete with pock marks from bullets.
The one of the last times I went to the city was after the George Floyd riots. It looked like a third world city. I went once again in 2018 for a couple and haven’t been back since. We moved in 2020. Sad to see such a vibrant city run into the ground.
I meant to say concert.
Great piece. Very much “enjoyed” reading it, nodding along with your unfortunate displeasure with what has been ALLOWED to happen to our once great city. Saddens me.
Great column, like a stranger in a strange land touring the remains of the day in a post-apocalyptic dystopian vision.
“The Eggplant That Ate Chicago” should provide
the lyrical backdrop “He came from outer space lookin’ for something to eat. “He landed in Chicago he thought Chicago was such a treat (It was sweet, it was just like sugar)”
We are out of sugar in this town, but more importantly we are out of imagination and vision.
Though I have retired I still attend many meetings. I was downtown yesterday for a meeting. It was like a ghost town. I have been downtown approximately eight times in the last eight months. My meeeting yesterday was with many working professionals. They told me that most workers will be in office Tuesday through Thursday, but are actually afraid to walk downtown and find any excuse they can not to be there.
The once crown jewel of the midwest is now a rusted piece of scrap metal. People flocked to Chicago at one point in time. Vacations were booked here. Hotels were overbooked, restaurants had no room with all tables filled, it was impossible to find an available taxi, street performers flocked the streets, families walked shoulder to shoulder glaring through store windows on State Street and Michigan Avenue. NO MORE.
Those days are lonnnnngggggg gone. Covid of course took part in that development. But, I would be remiss if I did not give credit where credit waas due. Our spectacular Leadership. Mayor Emanuel. Mayor Lightfoot, Mayor Johnson. From bad to worse. Listed in the order in which things have gotten progressively worse from a crime standpoint. Having pasted the title of Sanctuary City on our jewel, we also took the mess that came with that title. None of these changes came greeted with open arms. It has become apparent the leadership makes changes unilaterally resulting disgruntled citizens, yet they are still elected.
A mayor is needed to clean up the mess. Look at where the money is spent and tighten that belt. We could probably wipe out 60-70% of the overspending. Use the excess money to give the city workers an across board small increase. Tighten up the pensions. Keep services up to speed. Allow the police to do their job. One term as mayor and someone could make a 180 turn in ther current office of the mayor. This city deserves better. It deserves serious commitment to one of the most important jobs in this city.
To those souls who believe Chicago has the, “Same energy, same hum,” God bless you. Continue to rearrange the few remaining deck chairs.
First, we’re praying for you Mr. Kass. Please feel better.
We retired in 2015 and made our escape to our ancestral home of suburban St. Louis. But now we have 5 grandkids, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and one due in July. We’d love to take everyone to visit the museums, and we’re planning to stay in one of the hotels in Schaumburg (we used to live in Bartlett) and take Metra in, which I would hope is safe. I guess we would Uber from downtown attractions to the Museum of Science and Industry by the U of C? Or is it better to just drive the whole way? Thank you for the column Mr. Ledwith, as someone who remembers elbowing her way along Michigan Avenue, having tasted Kahlua and coffee for the first time in a dark and cozy bar on Oak Street on Columbus Day, 1976.
Its obvious Mr. Ledwith chose the wrong day to visit. I would suggest the first of May when our Bolsheviks Chicago Teachers Union will corral its unfortunate pupils and bus them downtown for furthur indoctrination. Encouraged by Bolshevik Mayor Brandon
“Conehead” Johnson, it is sure to attract such luminaries as our current Billionaire Bolshevik governor Jabba “JB” Pritzker. A festive event to celebrate Bolshevik success all over the world. Luminarie countries such as Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela are sure to their send their representatives, ensuring an enticing international flavor. Closed stores are only one of the signs of bolshevik success. Closed restaurants represent the dismal failures of capitalism, soon to be replaced by state run cafeterias serving Workers Meals sich as tasty beet soups and various “aged” meats. Just disregard the green colors on the meats. That’s just part of the aging process. If you’re feeling terribly athletic on that morning there will be the ” Loot and Scoot ” 10k on the scenic Mag Mile with much participation from any store unfortunate enough to still be open. Yes, Michael, Hunger Games Chicago has much to offer the casual traveler. Just remember to wear a billetproof vest and bring your own bags for the looting. You wouldn’t want to pay that ” bag fee”. That could get expensive.
Enrique: Sounds like a lot of fun. I’m wondering will Governor Blob be there to kick off the “Loot and Scoot” 10K? I mean it sounds like the perfect setting to bolster his Presidential profile.
It occurs to me just how blind some people are looking at the realities around us. When a beautiful article like this can be described as borderline racist. it’s just naïve and crazy.
It occurs to me that for the blind it will not become reality until a tragedy happens to occur to either themselves or someone they love or care about.
It’s a bit heart wrenching to know and see what has happened to the Tribune Building. My father was a PROUD employee (press photographer) of the “Trib” until his retirement in the early 70’s. I am so glad “Pops” isn’t around to see what has become of it. Yes,…all newspapers have taken a big hit in readership. But to see the storied building as a semi empty carcass is shocking.
But then again,….I haven’t been to the “Loop” in some years now. Nor will I be going back any time soon.
There was nothing that could be construed as racist in this article. The city has been hollowed out, the energy has been sapped from it. This is undeniable. Covid was terrible all the way around; for those who got sick, were isolated, lost jobs, businesses. I won’t get into it again, but there is plenty of blame to spread around to the red team too. But it is incontrovertible, the stranglehold the unkind and the dem party have had on our state and the complicity of combine Republicans has done irreparable harm.
Scott Bessent worked for Soros. The new leader of Hungary, who is called Center right.
Mr. Ledwith,
I loved working downtown, right out of high school, at the First National Bank of Chicago. Sitting out on the Plaza, after lunch, listening to the music. Nick’s Fishmarket, and the shops next to it. Window shopping on State Street, Carson Pire Scott, Marshall Field, Wieboldts. Playing on a Bank softball team in Grant Park, with lots of liquid refreshments. Going on a date in the evening & eating at the Italian Village or the Pinnacle. It was like being in another world from where I lived, near Midway Airport. I didn’t mind the hour bus ride to work, I always had a book to read with me.
My husband & I were downtown 4 years ago and it was as you describe it now. It was creepy. Deserted, pitiful. Stopped to eat at Elephant & Castle & I thought we would have to wait to be seated, because it was the lunch hour, but there was only 3 or 4 people in the restaurant. So many wonderful memories of going to plays & out to eat or just walking around. Very sad. A city that is Gone with the wind.
What The Hell Happened To Chicago? It all started when Richie M. Daley leased the city parking meters and sold Chicago for few Billions for 75 yrs! The next big step was when a white cop shot a drunk knife wielding black kid on the street 16 times to death and the white police chief & Mayor Rahm Immanuel tried to dodge the issue hiding the video of the shooting scene from the public, that brought in a openly gay and married lesbian Lori Lightfoot who snatched the Sin City title from Kinosha to Chicago and a black police chief to kill the law and order from the city. And Rahm was rewarded with the ambassadorship to Japan by the corrupt Biden administration. Lightfoot did not seek national guard or army’s help to brace against the BLM storming the loop and the Michigan Mile following Fllyod’s death at the hands of Minneapolis cops. And all of these brought in the current Pinhead to the city hall who encouraged the teenage black thugs to stomp over the parked cars on Michigan Ave. He prevented the cops from going after the black “children” and said all they needed was social clubs and not jail house sentences. That’s where the absence of a white police chief who would have had the legs broken and heads cracked of those thugs came to light. Encouraged by the mayor’s support now, only recently the mayor’s darlings staged another stomping of the parked cars in Highland Park! Again the cops’ hands were tied.
Blacks need a white rule, period. This wouldn’t happen in the near future. Obama’s show place will be open for public in a month with a big hoopla involving the fat-ass Governor. Blacks might already be planning to have a statue of Jesse Jackson installed on the vacant pedestal of Columbus at the Grand Park next year which would guarantee the pinhead’s reelection or some other clay head.
Therefore, people who are giving a serious thought of leaving Chicago and the burbs may plan ahead, and soon! -Good Luck!!
Brilliantly written
Please remember there are people out there trying to change this situation. Mike Reschke of the Prime Group has been a tireless advocate of the revival of downtown. Without him you would not have that ugly construction barricade you refer to (which is better than the decaying old Thompson Center). Which, by the way, will be gone soon and replaced with a lively building with several thousand Google employees.
While I don’t disagree with the comments, this type of fear mongering just drives people away and worsens the problem. If people remain positive and focus on reviving downtown instead of vilifying things will change.And rather quickly I think.
Well…
Shoot.
I’m not crying. You’re crying…
I miss the Chicago that was, the Chicago of my youth, the Chicago I still visit in my dreams.
.
.
.
.
.
(suggestion: Always proofread to make sure you haven’t any words out.)
Umm,things change,MJ is still wealthy but spends most days in Florida.Oprah? never mind.Phil Donahue? in Heaven counting his millions,maybe waiting for Marlo? So,yes,Chicago can’t be what it was and some politicians are to blame but not all of them.Selfish corporate types at Sears helped.Even Ken Griffin gave up and moved to my Floriduh. Can anything improve in the City compared to the suburbs? only with better investment and if there are any better politicians.One thought the Obama shrine tower opens in June. Many of you do not like him and Michelle. I still do but don’t like the tower. Anyone want to go to the opening week and try to meet with the executives and find common ground?