I always picked Humboldt park over Wicker park any day. I used to look at the lagoon at night and…read morethink and reflect. I loved attending the Puerto Rican fests with friends. I enjoyed walking the park with snow on the ground.

This Fieldhouse, along with the one in nearby Garfield Park is a "must visit" if you are at all…read moreinterested in Chicago history and architecture. As a community member, it's a "must visit" if you want to get involved with some cool local events and to check out what's going on in the neighborhood. If you are just interested in the fitness center, that's cool too. It's a long rectangular room that looks out over a lagoon and charges a monthly or an annual fee. When I first spotted this building against the dramatic clouds and bright blue sky yesterday, my spirit soared. I don't even care if that's silly talk because that's how enamored I was with the view. "What is this place?" I had to pull in the lot and go inside. What I found were crafty-colorful witches greeting me.... I roamed along to where some voices were coming from and before I knew it, I was standing in an "old-school" gym/basketball court/auditorium. The space looked out of "Dead Poet's Society" or so like that. I backed up toward the wall to take a photo and whoa!! radiant heat from the grate (looks original!) on the wall. I was wrapped in all kinds of warmth. Further wrapped figuratively, by the one lady employee who saw me marveling at this place. She began telling me all about the programs, the fitness center and you could tell she loved her job, the city of Chicago and the place she worked. Thank you, Chicago Park District for keeping this kind of gem alive and housing such awesome community spirit here. http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/humboldtpark/ excerpt re: architecture: "In 1928, the West Park Commission contructed a fieldhouse in Humboldt Park. The structure was designed by architects Michaelsen and Rognstad, who were also responsible for other notable buildings including the Garfield Park Gold Dome Building, the Douglas and LaFolette Park Fieldhouses, and the On Leong Chinese Merchant's Association Building in Chinatown. In 1934, Humboldt Park became part of the Chicago Park District, when the city's 22 independent park commissions merged into a single citywide agency." (I'm learning why I love Paris so much...many nooks of Chicago were based on Parisian design: the Midway Plaisance in Hyde Park is another notable area: http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Midway-Plaisance-Park/ )

The Greenhouse is open to the public and they do have a staff in duty if there's any questions…read moreabout the garden. They have a selection of plans and flowers. Next to it they have this beautiful park for the kids to play in the playground. Also they have tennis courts and you can improvise and play pickleball as well. Definitely a great value of time to keep this garden beautiful.

The locals know to go here for the annual organic greenhouse plant sale, which was Saturday 5/20…read moreand Sunday 5/21. Get there early, as the nicer and larger plants sell very quickly. Also, it's cash only, and make sure you bring your own boxes to carry your plants. The volunteers are really nice and helpful here. Prices started at $3 for the smaller plants and went up from there. The organic green house not only offers children's and adult classes, they also have a wonderful community garden which is open Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 12 pm. it is also the only teaching greenhouse from the Chicago Park District, located within the grounds of Kilbourn Park. They seek to connect people to nature, teach sustainable gardening practices, and promote fresh and healthy food to people of all ages through garden-based programming. Kids can enjoy the Garden Buddies program for toddlers, plus the Harvest Garden and Eco-Explorers programs for youth. Adult gardeners can attend a continuing education series and other workshops sponsored by The Friends of Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse. Although the park is one of the smaller ones in the city, they have a soccer field, tennis courts, playground, basketball court, Kilbourn Park also offers different after school programs for kids and a summer camp that is quite good.

Renaissance Court is located in the Chicago Cultural Center. Randolph St. Entrance is the most…read moreconvenient. Once you get past the double doors, Renaissance Court is to your right. This is one of the City of Chicago's six regional senior centers. This one is different than the other centers. If you are 55+ - you are welcome here. You have to be 60 to use the other senior centers. This one does not have some of the services the others offer, however, it seems to offer a lot more variety of classes and activities than the others. There is some info in the Chicago Dept. of Family and Support Services "Life Enrichment Programs".quarterly brochure which you can pick up at senior centers, libraries and probably some other city offices. You can also download a pdf. But the brochure only lists a sampling of the classes. At Renaissance Court you can pick up a calendar listing everything going on for the month. They also have some flyers with more info about some of the classes. Many classes are free, but some do have a fee. Some classes: chair yoga, hatha yoga, meditation & movement. Tai Chi, belly dancing, line dancing, variety of other exercise classes IMPROV, performance workshop, drawing, water color, book club and much more. You really have to pick up the calendar. On Saturday there is a Hoop Fitness class. Tried the class out for the first time. I don't remember being that good at hula hooping as a kid, so I was a bit skeptical about this. I met some ladies before the class that assured me that it is all about fun and not to worry. I probably spent more time picking up the hoop than twirling it. Instructor Andrea and rest of the class made me feel welcome and comfortable. Andrea is really nice and encouraging. Luckily, we did some other exercises with the hoop that did not include twirling it. The ladies were right - - it is great fun! On Fridays, you can get a 60 minute table massage for $30. This will be some of the best $$ you ever spend--if you can get an appointment. They can fill up quickly--Tisa is a very good massage therapist. Also, unless things have changed in the past year, you have to make the appt with the office and pay in advance. They didn't take credit cards, so I had to stop by to make and pay for the appt. My limited experience with Renaissance Court has been a good one. It would be nice to live closer and to be able to enjoy more of the activities more often. I do plan to try a few more classes and definitely to give that hula hoop another try :)

No notes on this place???? Came here for table tennis. They…read moredo have TT and it is upstairs. Although today being a holiday all activities are canceled. Nice older facility with tennis court and a basketball court. They do have activities for everyone.

Beautiful and worth the visit if you have time. Entry is free, and it was a nice place to take a…read morebreak, as well as use the facilities and refill on water if needed. Witnessed a couple taking their wedding pics here and they it was all so beautiful!

Wow! We thought this place was gonna be a quick pit stop to see a cool building, but it was so much…read moremore. The building itself is gorgeous, and it's very well maintained and historic. Every new room is a cool angle to look at. It takes some beautiful photos, too. For the museum itself, they have 3 or 4 different exhibitions at any given time, and each was a lot of fun. I particularly liked the restored Chicago jazz bar that they had on display...felt like you were walking back into another time. Highly recommend coming here. For a free museum in the heart of the loop, you can't beat it!

This review is not for the work that that Center does, which is amazing, but for their handling of…read moreappointments when it comes to vaccinations. It is lovely that they allow you to set up appoints for certain times, but what is not so lovely is that you get to the Center 20 min ahead of time and still have to wait about 2 hours. The Queen and I arrived at 4:10 pm for our 4:30 pm appointments, but by 4:30 pm, they were just checking in everyone there. After checking in, we sat for a bit before we were allowed to line up to head up to the area to get vaccinated. While I am very appreciative of the work they do and the fact that they were giving out free shots, it still would be nice to know that when you say 4:30 pm, it means I will get in at least within 15-20 mins of that time and not 2 hours later.

I have attempted to become a volunteer at the center multiple times. I have attended the half day…read moreorientation twice, but there is never any follow up from staff afterwards despite my sending at least 5 emails. I am not sure if this is anyone else's experience, but my experience is that the new volunteer program needs to be assessed and better managed.

Madge Lockwood's massage works miracles. She performed multiple modalities on my aching body. First…read morelymph drainage: a soft relaxing massage which quickly put me to sleep. On my injured shoulder she had a special procedure to break up scar tissue. One treatment and what had been sore for years felt good as new! She's attentive and always on time. Her practice is giving your body real medicine. She is a true healer. I cannot describe in words the mental and emotional transformation that took place after a few sessions of working with her. TREMENDOUS! : ) ( :

So grateful to find Jen Napoli here. She does amazing work with standard Swedish massage, as well…read moreas her specialty, shiatsu. She really cares about giving appropriate pressure and specific treatments to her clients, whichever modality she is using. She is always on time for her appointments, and she makes sure each client gets his/her full time. There are no shortcuts here, like you get with the massage chains. On top of all her therapeutic skills, she is a genuinely nice person. Seeing her is always a pleasure. Highly recommended!

Sunnyside Mall is a fantastic outdoor community space in the Sheridan Park neighborhood of Uptown…read more I understand it used to be a questionable area, but the neighborhood association has revitalized it in recent years. It's a pedestrian strip between Beacon and Magnolia, paved, with several seats built in various placed around the mall. I'm sure the neighbors use this for all sorts of events. I've been here because my trainer, Dana (see my WHPStudios review), has been doing Saturday morning body strength classes here. Since they're super affordable ($15) I finally made it over here. Today there were just a couple of us but I know in other weekends there's been as many as 10 people at the classes. It's a really lovely, peaceful setting--quiet, with lots of shade from all the trees, and the weather has been great so for someone who doesn't love to work out, it made for a nice morning.

We came here to tour during the Chicago Open House Architectural tour. I have to say I was NOT…read morefamiliar with this place, or recall being in there for an event. For south side art openings, Gallery Guichard is typically THE place to go, but they are in Bronzeville, and this is South Shore, another cool south side neighborhood. I lived as a kid in a building on Crandon, maybe 2.5 miles from the place. It's a great place to showplace art, receptions, film screenings, or book launches. If there was an upstairs, it was closed off. The contemporary art exhibit (by ANTHONY GALLERY) mixed nicely with the older photography. The art was edgy but 'child-friendly'. The pictures near the bar are of stylish men and women from 'back in the day' who could have been my mom, aunts, and their friends. You can still see some of the old structures along with new additions. For history buffs, check out the Mellon Archival Innovation Program, listed on the website. It seems to be a program dedicated to preserving our (Chicago, African-American) history with slides and old Ebony/Jet issues. Sounds fascinating!

I attended an event at the Stony Island Arts Bank this month, and it was a beautiful building…read more This center contains an art gallery, a library, and various archives. It is very spacious and can hold a big crowd of people. It also had a full bar called the Johnson Room. The parking is street parking only, and it is in a rough neighborhood so be careful.

This is a nice venue, conveniently located just off the highway. We had a small baby shower here,…read moreand it had plenty of room. There's a large kitchen. It's a very good venue for private parties etc. The prices are reasonable, and there was a staff member there that helped us clean up. I would use this venue again.

I have hosted several events at this location. Convenient and comfortable environment. Surrounded…read moreby nature!