“The Literature of Adultery”
Chicago Rare Books
703 Washington St., Evanston
(847) 328-2132
Saturday, Jan. 22 and 29
$25 for one session, $40 for both
Since March 2005, Evanston’s Main Street shopping center has been home to Chicago Rare Books, a store specializing in the preservation and sale of valuable, unique publications. For the next two Sundays, Dr. Elisabeth Lenckos will lecture on adultery in the 19th century, focusing on Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence” and Graham Greene’s “The End of the Affair.”
Lenckos, a literary scholar, has taught at the University of Chicago and the Newberry Library in Chicago. One of the most fascinating things about her lectures, said co-owner Ann Dumler, is that her extensive travel in Europe allows her to put a different spin on American literature.
“We always fill up, because people come once and love her,” Dumler said. “She knows more than anybody. I just feel that I gain so much knowledge every time I hear her speak.”
The program begins with a lecture, then visitors get a chance for discussion. Refreshments, such as cake and coffee, are included with the price of admission.
“The store is such a great setting for learning,” Dumler said. “You get the best of both worlds. If you decided to go to high tea at the Drake, you wouldn’t get a lecture too.”
Ware in the World Gallery
609 Dempster St.
(847) 424-9609
Free admission; prices of home furnishings vary
Although the assortment of merchandise at Ware in the World may seem obscure – everything from pillows to Nordic-style merino wool sweaters – each piece is influenced by styles from halfway around the world.
“We’re not a big space, so we focus on contemporary pieces with a Baltic look,” owner Vanda Dauksts said. “Most of the pieces I import directly from Latvia, Lithuania and Astoria. They are small countries, but with a strong history of design.”
Dauksts buys merchandise from the craftspeople in those countries and from artisans in New York, San Francisco and the Chicago area, she said. Some of the gallery’s winter items are on sale until the end of February.
“We’re easily accessible, and we offer affordable, unique pieces,” Dauksts said. “We’re not Crate and Barrel or Pier 1. Everything is funky and different.”
Tours of the Chicago Theater
175 N. State Street
(312) 462-6300
Tuesdays at noon and every
third Saturday at 11 a.m. and noon
$5 admission
The Chicago Theater marquee is a State Street landmark, easily visible in one of downtown Chicago’s most bustling areas. But inside the theater, there is an even bigger dose of history now available to customers who want to tour the entire facility.
“The tour gives you a great sense of pride in the city,” House Manager Meghan Clark said. “The amount of people who have played there is amazing, and it really gives you a sense of how things change over time.”
In 1921, the theater opened as the first large American movie palace, accommodating 3,600 people at a time in seven stories of seating. It has since hosted entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin and Robin Williams and continues to offer concerts and comedy shows.
Visitors who take the tour get the opportunity to go backstage and see the signatures of performers. On the Saturday tours, a close look at the giant Wurlitzer pipe organ is included.
Clark said when she leads a tour, she chronicles the life of the theater, starting with what it was like to see a movie back in 1921.
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