Best of Chicago 2013: City Life

on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

Best Fighters for a Lost Cause

Christina Morris, National Trust for Historic Preservation; Bonnie McDonald, Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois; Jonathan Fine, Preservation Chicago

by Deanna Isaacs on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

The idea was as improbable as the cloverleaf-shaped building. How could preservationists stand in the way of Northwestern University's plan to raze Bertrand Goldberg's architecturally unique Prentice Women's Hospital and replace it with a new medical research center—the linchpin of a promised billion-dollar investment in the neighborhood?

Best Blogger, Reporter, Activist, and Authority on the City's Exasperating and Expensive Traffic Policies

The Parking Ticket Geek at the Expired Meter

by Mick Dumke on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

theexpiredmeter.com Mike Brockway used to get a lot of parking tickets.

Best Young Political Lobbyist

Adrienne Alexander

by Ben Joravsky on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

The first question Alexander generally gets when meeting a legislator is: "How young are you? You look so young to be a lobbyist."

Best Former Paratrooper and Cubs Prospect Running a State Office

Secretary of State Jesse White

by Mick Dumke on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

Who doesn't like Jesse White? There are probably a few people, but they can't beat him at the polls.

Best Spanish-English Interpreter

Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle

by Ben Joravsky on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

If you attended any of the dozens of recent school-closing hearings, you know all about Ginsberg-Jaeckle. He's the fellow at the front doing the heavy-duty English-Spanish translation.

Best Data-Based Wonky Activists for Drug Policy Reform

Kathie Kane-Willis and the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University

by Mick Dumke on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

Long before she became a professor and researcher, Kathie Kane-Willis had an unpleasant personal look at our nation's drug policies. She started using heroin at 19, and as it developed into an addiction she went through periods of homelessness and ended up in jail for credit card fraud and shoplifting.

Best Family Development Agency

Carole Robertson Center for Learning

by Steve Bogira on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

Named for one of the four girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, the nonprofit agency serves west-side kids and families, about half of them African-American and half of them Hispanic, and almost all of them poor. "Our goal is to educate children and engage parents in that process," says Jennifer Leigh, vice president of external relations.

Best Community Organization

Southwest Organizing Project

by Steve Bogira on June 19, 2013 at 2:25PM

2609 W. 63rd 773-471-8208swopchicago.org/home.aspx Since 1996, SWOP has been aiding residents of Chicago Lawn, an area of the southwest side that's suffered from predatory lending and epidemic foreclosures.

Best Project to Chronicle of the Old Southeast Side

The Exit Zero Project

by Sam Worley on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

exitzeroproject.org Earlier this year Christine Walley, a professor of anthropology at MIT, published Exit Zero: Family and Class in Postindustrial Chicago (University of Chicago Press), a hybrid memoir/monograph about her childhood on the southeast side, where her father was laid off from the first steel mill to shut down as the industry collapsed.

Best-Kept Secret Street

Alta Vista Terrace

by Aimee Levitt on June 19, 2013 at 1:00PM

It takes only five minutes to get from Wrigley Field, all-American domain of hot dogs, beer, and rowdy baseball fans, to a quiet, peaceful, astonishingly smog-free patch of 19th-century London. How's that?

Best Street for Sculpture

Elaine Place

by Aimee Levitt on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

For 35 years a pair of life-size giraffes guarded the entrance to Elaine Place off of Roscoe. They were made from steel car bumpers welded together by Chicago artist John Kearney, and they were easily the most charming things on a charming street.

Best Obscure Monument That Determines When You Get to Work

Plaque commemorating the creation of the U.S. standard time system

by Mick Dumke on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

Believe it or not—I have a hard time imagining it myself—most towns used to maintain their own time based on the position of the sun, with "high noon" being the only hour that was anywhere close to precise, even though it wasn't anywhere close to precise. This proved to be problematic for scheduling anything, and scientists in Britain and the United States proposed the idea of a standard time system in the early 19th century.

Best Transit Station Women's Room

Ogilvie Transportation Center

by Deanna Isaacs on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

There's a lot of hate out there for the Ogilvie Transportation Center restrooms. Even folks who love the curvy, blue-glass station's shopping center and food court ambience despise its main-lobby loos with their distinct scent of eau de urine.

Best Place to Dump the Bodies

Lower Lower Wacker

by Kate Schmidt on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

The main lobby of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance lies two floors below Randolph Street, its entryway sunk in perpetual gloom. Just to the east is an exit from the Millennium Park parking lot, but no arrows instruct drivers where to go.

Best Dog Park for Nonjudgmental Dog Watching

Wicker Park

by Drew Hunt on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

My girlfriend and I live in an apartment that doesn't allow pets, a sad fact that actively works against our strong desire to adopt a dog. Luckily there's the dog run at Wicker Park, which is frequented by friendly canines and their equally friendly (and, more importantly, sympathetic) owners, who don't seem to mind the strange people in the corner goofing around with dogs that aren't theirs.

Best Excuse to Turn My Neighborhood Into a Burned-Out Police State

Chicago Fire

by Luca Cimarusti on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

It's 2 AM. Smoke's billowing out of an abandoned brick building while helicopters circle overhead, their spotlight beams visible through the haze.

Best Wordplay

RedEye

by Sam Worley on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

redeyechicago.com (though it's better in print) There will always be a segment of society—humorless tools, to a one—who think of punning as the lowest form of humor.

Best Heartbreaking Reporting of Staggering Genius

This American Life two-part series on Harper High School

by Mara Shalhoup on June 20, 2013 at 4:00AM

thisamericanlife.org There's a moment in part one of the This American Life series on Harper High School where a social worker, Crystal Smith, is talking to a junior, Devonte, about his little brother.

Best View of the City

Signature Room

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

875 N. Michigan 312-787-9596 signatureroom.com Runner-Up

Best Historic Building

Chicago Cultural Center

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

78 E. Washington 312-744-6630 chicagoculturalcenter.org Runner-Up

Best Attraction

Millennium Park

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

Michigan and Randolph 312-742-1169 millenniumpark.org Runner-Up

Best Tour

Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

architecture.org/tours/boat-tours Runner-Up

Best Chicago Ambassador

Barack Obama

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

Runner-Up Michelle Obama

Best Street Character

Puppet Bike

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

puppetbike.com Runner-Up

Best Alderman

Danny Solis (25th Ward)

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

ward25.com Runner-Up

Best Activist

Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

ctunet.com Runner-Up

Best Politico

Mayor Rahm Emanuel

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

Runner-Up Cook County board president Toni Preckwinkle

Best Politician You'd Like to Resurrect

Harold Washington

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

Runner-Up Richard J. Daley

Best Celebrity

Vince Vaughn

on June 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

Runner-Up Sararose Krenger