New businesses in the Loop

Today marks the opening of the French Market in the concourse of Ogilvy Transportation Center. This is great news on several counts, not the least being that anything new opening up in this economy is terrific. Also this will be the one and only open food market in Chicago, something woefully lacking in a city this size.

Another discovery was a storefront on Madison between Wabash and State Streets that specializes in vinyl LP albums. This is particularly exciting given the fact that most people have given that medium up for dead long ago, (not audiophiles of course), not to mention the fact that independent storefront businesses in the Loop are few and very far between.

I haven't paid a visit into either establishment yet but I plan to very shortly. Maybe I'll even be inspired to fix my turntable.

Good news indeed.

Ornithology

A Cooper's Hawk in the North Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2:00PM Wednesday December 2. I've been seeing a lot of these birds up in my neighborhood of Rogers Park but seeing one smack dab in the middle of the Loop yesterday was pretty exciting.