"i went back to chicago..."

"...and my city was gone." if you're familiar with the pretenders song i'm lifting this slightly altered lyric from, you'll know where i'm going with this. chrissie hynde sings about returning to her hometown, akron, OH, and finding that the things she had loved about the place were changed, replaced with features that made it more or less just like everywhere else.

last night, my parents went to dinner at the berghoff restaurant for the last time. this chicago landmark and legendary dining establishment will close its doors at the end of the month. fans of the devil in the white city might be interested to know that it was at the 1893 columbian exposition that herman berghoff first sold his dortmunder-style beer to chicagoans (and the rest of the world), and the restaurant soon followed. early patrons paid for the beer and got their sandwiches for free. as a girl i remember my dad telling me about the berghoff's famous standing-only bar (photo at left, taken in the 50's) where downtown businessmen would crowd at lunchtime. those murals above the bar, which also crown the dining rooms, are still there, as are the checkerboard floors.

dinner at the berghoff is a christmastime tradition in my family. there is something especially comforting about their rich german-american food on a windy, cold winter evening. light rye with caraway and a dense, dark bread with butter tides you over till your food arrives--sauerbraten, schnitzel, geshnetzeltes (my favorite--the only place in the world i eat veal), creamed spinach, red cabbage, spaetzle. nothing envelope-pushing or cutting edge, just delicious and satisfying.

as a kid, our trip downtown at christmas centered around looking at the department store holiday windows and going to see santa at the cozy cloud cottage on marshall field's eighth floor. i remember when field's basement was the discount floor (before their re-vamp) and had a friendly grubbiness that complemented the polished fanciness above ground. my mom and her mom and i would have a snack at the basement buffeteria (was that its name, or did we just call it that?). mom and i still go to browse and lunch and gawk at the great tree in the walnut room every christmas.

at some time this year it is likely that marshall field's will officially become macy's, thanks to a buy-out by federated department stores inc. there's a grassroots movement to save the field's name, and everyone seems to agree that while macy's is new york, field's is chicago. i've always happily given macy's my thanksgiving morning, but i'm sad that they're taking away a sentimentally important part of my christmas.

though i haven't lived in chicago for more than a few months at a stretch since i went away to college, it will always be what i think a city should be. it will always be my hometown. it will always be a unique place with more history and local gems than i'll ever know. still, i feel like having to say goodbye to some old favorites means that a part of my city is gone.