Life in the city: December 2007 Archives

Tell me about a place in your neighborhood where folks can have an authentic Chicago experience — a special that captures your idea of the essence of our city.

I'll pull together the best of the bunch for a future neighborhoods spread on Real Chicago.

My Neighborhoods pages were held from today's paper because Tim Novak broke big news broke on the Mayor Daley from — his son Patrick had a secret deal with City Hall. .

So rather than leave you cheated of your Friday neighborhood fix, I posted a tale about how to haggle for a Christmas tree, complete with a warning about tree salesmen and a map of every licensed seasonal tree lot in the city. If your tree lot isn't on the list, you might want to use that information to get a better deal on a tree.

There's also an excellent illustration by Sun-Times in-house artist Guillermo Munro, you just have to see.

So take a read, and post your Christmas shopping (for trees or otherwise) here. It will keep us in the holiday spirit.

See you in the paper next week.

That's what they were chanting outside Ald. Gene Schulter's 47th Ward office Wednesday night, an impromptu protest of Lincoln Square redevelopment plans.

If you're looking for details about how Lincoln Square commercial strip might change ...

It's not just Chicago's poor neighborhoods that are getting hammered by a growing increase in mortgage foreclosures. Wealthy and solidly middle-class neighborhoods — Lincoln Square, Portage Park and Lincoln Park among them —are taking a hit as well.

Check out foreclosures in your neighborhood.

And tell me, how has the mortgage meltdown affected your hood?