City Walk #32: Southport Avenue

It's been a long time since we've done a City Walk!  The last few weeks of the summer have been really busy and this Sunday we finally had some free time and decided to find another City Walk adventure.  This time we chose #32: which goes up and down Southport Avenue in the Lakeview neighborhood.  We've been here a few times-- for Halloween/birthday parties at Mystic Celt and for dinner with our friends Nick and Tara when they lived in the neighborhood, but have never really taken the time to explore it.  It's a really cute neighborhood.  Truthfully, it's a bustling family-friendly  area and spending time up here made me seriously reconsider our plan to buy a house in the suburbs in the next couple of years.  Now we just need to win the lottery!


We began this City Walk on W. Belmont (before hitting the Southport corridor) at Paperboy, a store for all things paper.  Unfortunately, like many of the food/retail stops on our City Walks, Paperboy is no more.  Instead, it's now the Bleeding Heart Bakery known for its cupcakes and frequent appearances on Groupon.com. 







Our second stop on the City Walk was Uncle Fun [2] on W. Belmont a.k.a. Alex's new favorite place in the whole world.  It's like a toy/magic/joke store straight out of a PeeWee Herman movie.  We found whoopie cushions, mustaches, black gum, and all sorts of other childhood jokes (in addition to an assortment of other non-PG items too).  I pretty much had to drag Alex out of the store.  I have a feeling we will return to Uncle Fun again.


Next up was a trip to Starbucks-- not on the City Walk, but a necessity to handle the rest of the walk.  I needed an iced tea and Alex needed some poundcake. Typical.

The next two stops on the City Walk are two popular restaurants along the Southport corridor.  The first is Sopo Lounge & Grill [3], a place that I have always wanted to check out.  The second restaurant is Rise Sushi & Sake Lounge [4], a place we will likely never try.  A little known fact about the Mister and me: we're two of the only people on this planet that do not enjoy sushi.  We're also both left-handed.  Amazing that we found each other, right?

 

The next three stops on the City Walk were all boutiques and (surprise!) 2 of the 3 are no more.  Next up was Flirts [5], which is now a Free People store.  Across the street was Krista K [6] and I was reminded that I actually won a shopping party at this store through Minds Matter's Spring for the Students fundraiser that I never actually redeemed (probably because of all of the wedding and moving madness of 2011).  Bummer.  After that was the Red Head Boutique [7], now a Benefit cosmetics store.

Next up was-- wait for it-- 2 more stores that are now out of business.  Flypaper [8], an upscale paper shop is now a handmade jewelry store called Serda's.  Across the street was the store formerly known as classy lingerie shop Trousseau [9].  It's now a Paper Source.  Remember how much fun Alex and I had in a Paper Source a few City Walks ago?  We refrained from going in after our shopping expedition at Uncle Fun.

 Southport Grocery & Cafe [10] was the next stop and I was desperate to stop in here.  Bad news for you Sunday afternoon folks: they close at 4 pm on Sundays, so plan accordingly!  I have heard from more than a few people that Southport Grocery serves some of the best brunch in Chicago so this place is for sure going on my list for future lazy weekend brunches.






Immediately following was another place that looked like a fabulous spot for a lazy brunch or cup of coffee while catching up with the girls (or my husband).  Julius Meinl [11] is a Viennese-style coffeehouse and it is really cute with a pretty sizeable outdoor patio.

Sigh.  Two more stores that have ceased to exist.  Home decor shop Splendor [12] is now a floral shop called Southport Blooms.  On the same block was a store called Fourth World Artisans [13] which is now the Baby Doll Boutique.  I refrained from going in and buying out the store for little Maeve.

Our final stop on the City Walk is a location that will hopefully never go away.  It's the historic Music Box Theatre [14].  It is a very cool old movie theatre where they show lots of foreign and independent films.  Fun fact: if you've seen the movie The Vow (Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams in love in Chicago? You know I saw it!), this is the theatre from the opening scene.

Another Chicago neighborhood that I have fallen in love with and another one that makes the decision of whether to stay or go (in the future) that much tougher.