for anyone that messes up and needs to go to jail, this is a place to go…read more this is not a place that you wanna go to and be at. It's got a lot of murderers and people that are in there for bad things. Keep yourself straight and stay out of there.

Best escape room ever!! very interactive! If you try to steal the keys from the guards they can…read moreattack you! 10/10 would recommend.

I recently had jury duty in the "George N. Leighton" criminal courthouse. By the way, Judge…read moreLeighton has a great story of his own and I encourage you all to Google and find out. I saw a few yelpers' reviews on the courthouse itself and their experiences. There was no cafeteria anymore. Instead, there were vending machines, featuring Farmer's Fridge and other generic ones, inside the jurors' waiting room. Overall, the offerings were quite decent and eating surely would make the time go by a bit faster! I did use the bathroom a few times and the janitor came through several times to tidy things up. Fortunately, we were dismissed early due to the defendant' plea deal. To be honest, I would love to be called to the court room and get that "voir dire" process started. Anyway, I was fine either way since it would be a long way traveling back home and traffic wasn't heavy in the late morning/early afternoon. The information video seemed to be updated from the last time I served my first jury duty (sometime 2017), except Judge Timothy C. Evans' introduction filed in the 90's still existed. That part could use some new technology because it didn't sync with the rest of the contents. People couldn't be any nicer! Everyone I talked to was polite. I almost wanted to use the lactation room, as I found out we were going to be dismissed soon. I opted out but the facility would be available for nursing moms and I bet the clerk would be happy to help. For transportation options, CTA bus #94 drops passengers in front of the courtroom and parking lot. Jurors can park for free and there is an instruction on the summon. The Pink Line California station is approximately of a 10-min walk and it seems safe during the day, yet exercise your own discretion.

I was affirmed to be serving jury duty in person at this criminal Court in Chicago. Today, it was…read morean epic subzero day where most schools were closed. Jury duty members and members attending their court date arrived and entered the same entrance across the street from the parking garage. Getting in around 8:30, an hour earlier than the reported time, seemed to be a good idea, however, there was a bit of a lack of efficiency in the way the lines were queued up. If you are attending courts for any reason and you are not in jury duty, you must check your mobile phone or not bring it into the building at all. If you have a summons to be on jury duty, you are allowed to bring in a laptop, tablet, mobile device while the mobile device is officially allowed. There is a Starbucks stand after the metal detectors at entrance. But as the office of the clerk says, that thing is fake. They never opened it. So look at your hopes up. The cafeteria doesn't exist anymore on the first floor, you are relegated to vending machines, one of which is a farmers fridge. On the second and third floor. Floor. You will head to the third floor and spend the majority of your day through 4:30 p.m. I was selected shortly after lunch. At the roll call, your panel number paper is adorned with a red jury member badge. The 30 to 34 people seemed to include four to five panels. We were shepherded down, across and up to another location where the court rooms are. The walk from the third floor jury duty, waiting room to the courtrooms were through a few ornate corridors and stairwells. I suspect this building is pretty cool inside architecturally speaking. The room we were in was circular and the audio was well adjusted. I do not envy the people who have the hold court everyday. The judge asks the same questions to each of the first 28 people who were selected to be in the court room. There are rest rooms in the juror room (if you get picked after the completion of voir dire) or outside of the courtrooms at the exterior edge of the floor. Restrooms are one person at a time. This is the furthest I've participated in jury duty. At the end of the day, which ended about 5pm, I was not selected to be a jurer. The intent of this trial was to last through this Friday, at worst. Pay for the day is $35 USD and parking is free.

I want to commend Officer Kukielka and Officer Negrete, along with many of their colleagues for…read morehelping me today when my wallet was stolen at the Panera Bread on Clybourn and Elston. I received an alert that my card was stolen and being used at Target. I immediately called 911 to let them know that the thieves were in Target still attempting to use my cards and asked that they send a police car ASAP. Kukielka and Negrete were in front of Target in under 5 minutes and went with me over to PetSmart where the Target Security Guard had followed the two thieves. They were able to find my ID and a credit card in their possessions and arrested them. I feel like often we only hear the negative when it comes to the CPD, I am here to tell you that these men and women were incredibly professional, helpful and made my not so great Sunday a whole lot better! Thank you SO much for all that you do, we appreciate it! Jennifer G.

After a hit and run accident, I had to go in to file a police report. You'd be amazed at how many…read morehit and run incidents the CPD has to deal with. It's sad. Hopefully they catch the guy. Police were friendly, courteous and respectful. I back the Blue!

Union Station (Chicago) is famous for the movies that were filmed there as well as being one of the…read morebusiest stations in the country. It's the main artery for Amtrak serving the midwest. Tons of platforms (close to 30 I think) and several places to choose from to grab a bite to eat. Each time I have traveled in and out of this station has been a decent experience. Though, I do still sometimes get lost. It's an older building but it's pretty well maintained and clean. Folks working there are actually more than willing to help out. That's petty refreshing. I absoluely love the architecture of the station and its Deco nod. Not to mention the grand architectural elements within the interior. Traveling in and out of Union Station is nostalgic; like being in a 1940s romance film.

Union Station has some very beautiful areas that make you feel like you're taking a step back in…read moretime! They do a lot of work to keep it that way in both the interior and exterior. Some of of the waiting areas feel luxurious; if you have a while to wait it's certainly not gloomy! It's definitely a large, busy station with people coming and going so if you haven't navigated it before it's wise to get familiar with the building. There are some nice food options so it's nice to relax with a Jamba Juice. Kind, efficient staff. The Amtrak trains at Union Station have always been very reliable and there's just something so charming about traveling by train! When I went to college in downtown Chicago, I'd take the Hiawatha train back to Milwaukee every weekend and it was always a great experience. The key is definitely picking the train times that it's not going to be a zoo of foot traffic inside. Consider taking the train for a unique experience and enjoying a walk around a beautiful building with a lot of history!

Loved visiting this beautiful library on the University of Chicago campus…read more The open reading room is enclosed in a glass and metal elliptical dome. The closed book stacks are accessed and retrieved by robotic cranes. So interesting. Are you a fan of the Divergent films? The Mansueto was featured in that film. It housed the Erudite Headquarters in the Divergent series. Amazing. Such a beautiful library. A nice place to study and a nice place to visit.

There are other reviews of the Mansueto reading room at the listing for the Joseph Regenstein…read moreLibrary here on Yelp. But since the University of Chicago considers it a separate library, I'm adding the Mansueto as a new listing. Note however that the Mansueto has only one public entrance, which is by an enclosed corridor from the main lobby of the Regenstein Library. Originally conceived as just an expansion of the Regenstein (the main library of the university), the Mansueto proved to be more than that. Its outer manifestation is the shallow glass dome that rises from the ground to the west of the Regenstein, softening that brutal concrete structure. What no pedestrian or patron sees is the actual "stacks" of this library (with a potential storage space of 3.5 million volumes), that extend down 5 stories below ground level. Only about a third of the Mansueto's potential storage space is currently filled. Filing and retrieval of volumes is done robotically, using 5 massive cranes controlled by a computer system. The 50-ft. tall cranes operate at fierce speeds, bringing a metal bin containing the requested volume up to the reading room desk within 5 minutes. In that subterranean storage are stacks of 24,000 metal bins, whose books and journals are sorted according to size rather than any other classification (like all books at other libraries, each volume has an unique bar code label attached). There in the 60ºF bin racks, kept at 30% humidity, in addition to bound books and journals, are also odd-sized items (archival boxes of papers and dissertations, digitized material on optical discs, and over-sized "elephant" folios). Gaining access to the Mansueto is very restricted; You must register there as a student of the university, a visiting scholar, or a guest of the library. I visited as part of a limited tour group. Link to their site for more information and photos.

One of the limited locations available to get in and upgrade to a higher level of TSA security to…read morelower waiting times at airports. This was the closest to Milwaukee, and the Chief of Staff needed to come here. Plan on about two months from when you make the appointment. Only the person with the appointment can go in and up to the office for security reasons. I had to wait outside but the weather was nice and there are two pleasant benches in front of pretty flower boxes. Security is professional and very polite. The process doesn't take long. Limited parking on the street in front, I suggest you get here very early. Don't bring any weapons.

On my first visit here, it didn't occur to me until I was nearly at the facility that I might need…read moreto bring my passport with me for my Global Entry interview. Spoiler alert: You need to bring your passport with you. I went in anyway just in case and when I got up to the 6th floor that's when I saw a sign saying passports were necessary. This info is not included in the interview confirmation online. There's lots of other helpful information--directions to the site; no parking available; masks required--but nothing about what you need to bring with you. Since they have the information in the application, you'd think they'd have access to some of the State Department systems for this purpose, and many if not most would have a photo ID, I don't think the requirement to bring a passport is a given. When I visited the first time (forgot my passport, remember?) the BP police-type officers (not the same as the folks at the security checkpoint) were not wearing masks. Awesome. /sarcasm There's no parking specific to this building. You may find street parking on Jefferson, a couple blocks away, but it will probably depend upon what time of day and it's paid parking seven days per week. There's a parking lot at 519 S. Clinton that you can use; as of 7-25-22, 0-4 hours cost $16. I used the Spot Hero app and got a space for about half that. My second visit here for my Global Entry interview went much more smoothly, chiefly because I remembered my passport this time, yaaaaayyy! I was resigned to be there for like an hour, figuring they'd be behind because people were late, and that there would be a ton of folks there. When I arrived there were just three others waiting, and one of those people was just a woman there with her husband for... idk. Moral support? I was about 20 minutes early (I'm never that early) and an officer came out to get us almost 10 minutes before my scheduled appointment time. As I expected, the interview took all of five minutes, and I could have shaved at least a minute off that time if only my fingers had been situated properly on the fingerprint scanner. In fact, I was done with my appointment before my scheduled appointment time. I'm really glad they're so on time with the appointments and I've finally got it done. Make sure to get there early with your passport and state-issued ID (yes, both).

One of the smallest Chicago neighborhoods, I consider West Elsdon a rather pleasant neighborhood…read more The boundaries of West Elsdon are 59th Street on the south; railroad tracks near Central Park Avenue on the east; RR tracks near Knox/Kilpatrick on the west; and RR tracks/Orange Line elevated tracks that run near 51st St. on the north. PARKS Pasteur Park at 5825 S. Kostner Ave. Strohacker Park at 4347 W. 54th St. CHURCHES St. Turibius at 5646 S. Karlov Ave. Divine Word Polish National Church at 3842 W. 57th St. Christian Fellowship Church at 4220 W. 59th St. SCHOOLS *Peck Elementary at 3825 W. 58th St. *Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Elementary School at 4120 W. 57th St. (Originally, St. Turibius Elementary School) *John Hancock High School at 4034 W. 56th St. (Originally, Lourdes High School) SHOPPING Plenty of businesses along Pulaski Rd., however, not anything too thrilling. For groceries: Jewel on the north end of Pulaski and West Lawn Foods/Pete's Market on the south end. There's Courtesy Plaza at 5160 S. Pulaski - Super Mall (indoor flea market) is at 5220 S. Pulaski and the biggest business in Courtesy Plaza. Across from Courtesy Plaza is another shopping strip with a GNC and Dollar Tree and some other small businesses. Red Lobster, McDonald's, Burger King and Dunkin are a few of the restaurants on Pulaski. Please, Note: Yelp lists stores at Courtesy Plaza and some other businesses (Red Lobster, for example) just south of the CTA Orange Line as "Archer Heights". Archer Heights is the neighborhood on the north side of the Orange Line, the boundary between the two neighborhoods. Yelp seems to have its own idea of neighborhood boundaries (and some other things also!) that don't always make sense to this southwest side/Chicago gal. HOUSING Single family homes are mostly raised ranch style built in the 60s. There are also some Chicago bungalows and other single family homes. There are a number of two flats with garden apartments that are mostly west of Pulaski Rd. A little HISTORY *Originally a marshy area of an ancient lake *Early settlers were German farmers and Irish railroad workers. *In the 1920s, Polish and Czech, some Italian, Yugoslavian and Lithuanian immigrants moved to the area. *St. Turibius Parish was established in 1927. *Lourdes High School was built in 1936. *Some streets were paved in the 1920s, but due to the Great Depression improvements halted. The area was still rural until 1938 and you could even find cows and goats grazing on 55th St. *For more history and info about West Elsdon, check out these websites : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Elsdon,_Chicago http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1336.html Conveniently located just east of Midway Airport and near Orange Line CTA station at Midway Airport (59th St.) and another at 51st and Pulaski, noise from planes and CTA trains could definitely be something to consider. Otherwise, West Elsdon is a pretty nice neighborhood. Review #1 - West Elsdon Neighborhood

West Elsdon was a great area to raise a family but there's been a rise in gang activity and…read moreshooting. Catholic schools and churches have been closing or consolidating. Traffic congestion has increased. There are plenty of enjoyable eating experiences but nothing you'd call fine dining. Walking to get groceries would be a pain so it's like a suburb in that a car is essential. Recreational walking is nice in the Summer and it's beautiful in Autumn. Parking on the street in Winter is a major pain but this is a garage neighborhood. With property taxes increasing again I wouldn't advise buying here.

Had my citizenship interview today, I was in and out in 90 mins and the staff were amazing. I want…read moreto give a big shout out to all the security staff, especially Floor 2 and 3, the lady and gent security were so friendly and were making it there job to put people at ease. The interviewer was also amazing. I have never had such great service from a government office before!

Beautiful stuff everything's went smoothly and perfect for my appointment. The officers were very…read morehelpful and friendly