Sweet Home Chicago
By fausto fernos
6 February 2008
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SOUNDSEEING TOUR OF ANDERSONVILLES
Chicago may be the "Second City" but it's first in nicknames: "Hog Butcher to the World," "The City that Works," "Chitown" and my personal favorite "The City of Broad Shoulders"-va va va voom! Chicago is a fabulous place to live and I'm glad to be here, so for this challenge I decided to "go home" and return to my "roots" as a podcaster, or as we use to say "audio blogger" and take you on a sound seeing tour of our quaint neighborhood, Andersonville in "Sweet Home Chicago."
In the early days, way back in 2004, bloggers added audio mp3 files to their entries to enhance the flavor and depth of their usual entries. Boy has this development grown to incorporate so many fabulous types of podcasts. The podcast genre presents information that you just can't experience through the written word, YouTube clips or photographs alone. Recorded interviews, round table discussions, music samplers, oral histories, soundscapes and other auditory experiences enrich the internet in brand new ways.
Listen as Marc Felion and me, Fausto Fernos take you on a little tour of our neighborhood Andersonville, as we flirt with sexy pastry chefs, peek into people's windows to see their Christmas trees and talk about the gay bars and lesbian hangouts that make our fabulous neighborhood. (click on the link at the top of the article)
Yes, my voice really sounds like that!
We start our little tour in my living room, playing my favorite piano in the whole wide world, a fabulous sounding Yamaha U1 white upright piano.
You can follow my soundseeing tour with my sweet and handsome husband Marc Felion either by checking out my photo gallery on Flickr or through Google Maps Streets View, which allows you to see the location as if you were walking down the street with us. We'll let you know when to head south when when we reach 5449 N. Clark St!
It's really cold today in Chicago. We had to wear several layers of clothing to keep from freezing as Marc and I left the apartment to give you guys the grand tour of Andersonville.
Andersonville is a traditionally Swedish neighborhood but it has become lesbian central, hence it's nickname "Ander-snatch." After all, if Chicago has the Lakeview neighborhood that caters mostly to gay guys and calls it "Boystown" why not call Andersonville Ander-snatch?
According to gaydemographics.org, the zip code 60660 has the highest concentration of lesbian couples in the city and the fifth highest in the country. But that's wikipedia, so don't hold your breath.
The great thing about our neighborhood is the close proximity Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Lesbians, Lebanese, gay men and Swedish people live in. If you walk from Bryn Mawr to Foster on Clark Street you can easily hear people speaking in several languages.
Whoa! We almost slipped there.
Although our neighborhood isn't as severely decorated for the holidays as some suburban homes in Chicago, it's still fun to see people get creative with their decorations. Why did they think lime green would look good in the front of their house?
Honestly, some people just hang up a Christmas tree by the window just to say to themselves and the world "I am not that lonely this Christmas." It's kind of touching, but also odd to see these Charlie Brown trees peeking out from the windows like abandoned cats waiting for a more loving family to adopt them.
Be sure to check out the Flickr photo gallery "The Horrors of Christmas" that showcases the psychedelic and obscene side of the holidays. Honestly, who thinks of these type of decorations?
The odd thing about Clark Street in Andersonville is the unusual number of Sushi restaurants per lesbian resident. In just a six block street there are over seven sushi restaurants. I know ladies like fish but come on!
I really love the wacky fundamentalist Philadelphia Church that looks like it was converted out of an old bank building. It even has a sign that harkens back to its history that states "Jesus Saves" which always reminds me to get a passbook savings account. They also decided to keep the big clocks but have removed the hands to remind the public that Armageddon can strike at any time. After all in Heaven (or Hell) time has no meaning. I've sat through some folk music shows and church services that felt like an eternity too.
Stargaze is known as the Lesbian Prison bar because it seems like women get dumbed there after being released from prison. Upon release from prison, they give you a token for a free drink there. True? Maybe not, but I wouldn't dare ask.
I love getting freshly made Italian cookies from Pasticceria Natalina. Natalina and her sexy husband Nick decided to open up the shop on a whim and make some delicious cookies. If you stop there, don't be shy and flirt a little with her husband, he may act shy but he like it.
Our tour ends at Women and Children First Bookstore,one of the finest feminist bookstores in the country that regularly brings in fabulous female authors to sign and read their books there. Even Hilary Clinton has done a book signing there.
Thanks for joining us on my little tour of Andersonville!
Please visit us at www.feastoffoosl.net for more fun!
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