Ideas

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This posting is from: Laura
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Does anyone have any suggestions on what they would like to do or see
in Chicago during Pinkfest? I do not know what all is being planned.
Here are some random ideas:

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
http://www.oprf.com/flw/H&S.html
Ernest Hemingway's Home and Museum - very near Frank Lloyd Wright's home
http://www.ehfop.org/
Or Unity Temple
http://www.oprf.com/unity/index.html

Maybe an event at the LGBT Center on Halsted? It is a new and
wonderful facility. They have a nice cafe for lunch.
http://www.centeronhalsted.org/coh/calendar/events.cfm

How about a show at Steppenwolf Theater or at Second City?
www.steppenwolf.org www.secondcity.com

I really enjoyed the Gentry on State street in the past.

How about a traditional Chicago pizza place? Or a steakhouse?

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[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
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>Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
>Ernest Hemingway's Home and Museum
>Or Unity Temple

I would be interested in any or all of the above.

I think that maybe a walking tour of the area would work well
with an Open House at Janna's, dinner at Winberies, and then
partying at {mumble} down on Roosevelt.

>Maybe an event at the LGBT Center on Halsted? It is a new and
>wonderful facility. They have a nice cafe for lunch.

I take it this is the Boystown area. If they are open later,
it could be a stop prior to barhopping and such.

>How about a show at Steppenwolf Theater or at Second City?
>www.steppenwolf.org www.secondcity.com

I've mentioned various live theater stuff off and on as
possibilites, SC, goings-on at Apollo, Royal George, BMG,
etc., but always got a lukewarm response at best.

I kinda want to see Jersey Boys at the LaSalle Bank Theater
(or whatever they are now calling the Majestic/Shubert?) but
that may be a bit on the $$$ side for some.

>I really enjoyed the Gentry on State street in the past.

Gentry is a nice bar. The advantage is that they (usually) have
live entertainment for those who want to be entertained, plus
they have a bar-bar for those who want to have a few drinks
and take in some of the Quality Social Time<tm>.

I also want to circle back and try Redhead again, since the
time we wandered in there it was crowded with ZERO seats!

>How about a traditional Chicago pizza place?

We did Gino's (Ontario and Wells) a couple years ago. I like it,
and I don't remember hearing anything bad about it.

A couple places I've suggested at times, and got a ho-hum response
on both were Giordanos (I know of two, one about Chicago and Rush,
the other on Randolph a block or so west of the tracks) which I
prefer to Gino's. I get the feeling that Gino's would be just a
bit "safer" for beginners.

Another is Portillos/Barnellis, Ontario at Clark (I think). It's
got enough variety so ANYBODY will find something they like. The
only issues I see is that it can be crowded and zooey and it may
be seen as too mainstream for those who are newly out. (Yes, they
do have "Ginger Food" as well.) :)

>Or a steakhouse?

We've done Chicago Chop House for a few years now. It's spendy,
but very good, and we had a very good turnout there last year.
I very much prefer a place like CCH to the Mortons/Chris/N9NE
ilk. CCH is cool with our people.

Another place I've heard good things about it Gibson's, on Rush,
yeah, right in the het meat-market district. :)

Other dining places I've liked. Ed Debevic's for lunch. We've
even done dinner there too. I liked the food at Ann Sathers,
but I guess they're no longer open for dinner. :( I also
enjoyed the place we went last year (name?) up on Ashland when
we found that AS's was closed for dinner. (LOL, we had one of
our people WALK from AS's to Ashland and Irving Park! OUCH!)

Other places which we seem to gravitate to are Hard Rock
and Maggiano's. I like both of them. HRC is very "safe"
for beginners but Maggiano's may be a bit scary for them.

Those are my comments, anyway. :)

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[External Poster]

This posting is from: Elena
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Laura,

Thanks for the ideas. I think Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Ernest
Hemingway's home or the Unity Temple all could fit nicely into the
schedule. Friday would work best. The question is who would be
interested? Personally I think Frank Lloyd Wright's home would be most
interesting but the other's are OK too.

> Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
> http://www.oprf.com/flw/H&S.html
> Ernest Hemingway's Home and Museum - very near Frank Lloyd Wright's home
> http://www.ehfop.org/
> Or Unity Temple
> http://www.oprf.com/unity/index.html

The Center on Halsted could be interesting to local girls. They provide
important services for LGBT Chicagoans. I am not sure what it would
offer out of state girls. I have not eaten at the cafe but certainly
there are a lot of good places to eat lunch in Chicago.

> Maybe an event at the LGBT Center on Halsted? It is a new and
> wonderful facility. They have a nice cafe for lunch.
> http://www.centeronhalsted.org/coh/calendar/events.cfm

I promoted seeing "Diva Diaries" a few years ago but no one was
interested. It was really good. I would still be interested in seeing a
show if other people are interested,

> How about a show at Steppenwolf Theater or at Second City?
> www.steppenwolf.org www.secondcity.com

> I really enjoyed the Gentry on State street in the past.

> How about a traditional Chicago pizza place? Or a steakhouse?

I mainly agree with Annie's comments about Gentry's, pizza and
steakhouses.

Elena

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[External Poster]

This posting is from: Elena
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annie wrote:

> I think that maybe a walking tour of the area would work well
> with an Open House at Janna's, dinner at Winberies, and then
> partying at {mumble} down on Roosevelt.

mumble = The Hideaway

Elena

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This posting is from: Francine
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I think one of the ieal things would be get a deal from some hotel /
motel to get everyone to stay at the ame place. Perhaps we could even
get a banquet room for a meal or two together. Possibly our own
brakfast area. Just something we can work out of as a centeral hub and
know that we will be able to meet there.

Then we can possibly get a bus or limo service to reduce cab fares for
those that comming in by plane and will not have transportation. And
idealy after a long day there may be a hotel bar where we can meet and
unwind from our vbussy days and not have to worry about having to many
before driving back to the hotel.

Fran

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This posting is from: Brenda Gurl
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There is an excellent restaurant on the 95th floor of the John Hancock
building with spectacular views of the lake and city. Coincidentally the
restaurant is called the 95th.

For lunch they offer a modest buffet for about $20. When you combine
the very elegant room, the nice upscale buffet and the incredible
scenery I think it makes for a great dining location. They also have a
Sunday Brunch.

Other ideas include:

Back stage tours of the broadway venues in town, maybe including a show.

Call Broadway in Chicago. Architectural boat tours (some include dining)

The Bahai Temple and gardens in Wilmette. Accessible by the L and a
spectacular structure and beautiful gardens with a wonderful chinese
restaurant near the L stop

For shopping my little piece of heaven is the 100 block of North State
Street'

In one block there are
Nordstroms Rack
Old Navy
Pay Half
TJ Maxx
Filenes Basement
Payless shoes
Claires Boutique
H&M
New York Store
The Body Shop
Sally's Beauty Supply

Venture another bloc and include
Loehmanns
Macy's
Lane Bryant
Ulta

A great place to eat in the area is
Under 55

Food court in the Chase Bank building
Delmonico's an extrodinary hot and cold food bar

Also in the area is the Chicago Art Institute

Millenium Park with indoor and outdoor concerts and a nice cafe.

other things to do

Peggy Notebart Nature Museum
Shedd Aquarium
Field Museum of Natural History
Adler Planetarium
Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Conservatory (plants) and rookery

good luck with your planning

Brenda

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This posting is from: Francine
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I have probably been 20 times to that meuseum where they have the guy
all cut up but Ihave never been to the other meuseums. I beilieve there
is even at least one Art Museum in Chicago?


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This posting is from: Elena
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Fran,

There are advantages in having many pinkfest attendees staying in one
hotel as you pointed out. It would be easier on me to plan events and
on attendees to go to events.

However, one selling point of Pinkfest is that you can pick whatever
hotel you want. Not everyone can afford the same amount of money for a
room. Different girls prefer to stay in different parts of the
Chicagoland area. Also, some girls are local and don't get a hotel room.

To get a separate banquet area in a hotel will often require a
guaranteed minimum. Without any registration fees that would not work.
Maybe we could get a party room in a bar or resturant, but I don't see
the advantage over just getting a table.

Remember, Pinkfest is a vacation, not a convention. There are plenty of
conventions but we try to keep Pinkfest informal and flexible.

Elena

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This posting is from: annie
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>There is an excellent restaurant on the 95th floor of the
>John Hancock building with spectacular views of the lake
>and city. ... For lunch they offer a modest buffet for
>about $20.

I like that idea! I would like to see again this year our recurring
"Lunch With or Without Ginger" type of thing, by that or any other name.

Another brunch/lunch suggestion I might make would be our old favorite
Ann Sathers, which is no longer open for dinner. I hear that breakfast
at AS's is excellent. For those who don't know Ann Sathers, it's very
"safe" for beginners, but mainstream enough so nobody should feel
claustrophobic.

My guess is that both 95 and AS's will be far less crowded on the
weekdays, with both being packed on Sunday.

>Back stage tours of the broadway venues in town, maybe
>including a show.

As I think I've said, there are two currently running shows in Chicago
that I would not mind seeing, those being Jersey Boys at the LaSalle
Bank (or whatever they are calling it today) and Wicked over at the
Oriental. Things like this are not, unfortunately, cheap.


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This posting is from: Francine
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I ave run conventions and know what your talking about.

So let me make some general sugestions. First off how many out of town
firls usualy attend? 20, 40, 100?

If we have enough girls se could probably recommend three hotels one low
cost one moderate cost and another premium hotel that is TG friendly.
This would give all the girls attending the security of knowing that
there are other sisters at there hotel.

The other thing is some sisters might find finances tight with the
economey as it is today. They may prefer to have a roomate to help
share expenses. On the other end some may preferr a premium hotel but
can only budget a moderate priced hotel and by sharing a room could get
a premium hotel. I know I have done this for conventions in NYC when
room rates were $300+ per night but 4 of us together made it very cost
effective.

So perhaps a listing of those looking for room mates might be helpful
for some individuals?

As far as deals with the hotels I'll agree you seldom get a real deal
but they try to make you think your getting a special group rate. So
lets simply pick 3 target hotels one in each price range that is TG
friendly and recommend them but everyone is on there own for
recomendations. And somewhere put up a listing of those looking for
roomates. Perhaps in the Data base section of our group.

Fran

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