Day 31 - Peter Pan

Today was my day off, and I decided to take Ayisha's advice and enjoy it. I have been trying to visit vintage stores, looking for my 4th Avenue (Tucson) equivalent out here. I keep hitting dead ends, today was no exception. I went to the "back of the yards" neighborhood, it's named after it's former glory as a meat packing district. If you read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", you could have a better idea of what that might have looked like. Of course, it doesn't look like that now, but there is an industrial area that gives of a rather pungent odor. The main street with stores looked more like Nogales than Chicago to me. The signs were in Spanish and items in all of the stores looked like something from K-Momo or the Tanque Verde Swap Meet. I looked but I couldn't even pay 5.00 for somthing that would shrivel up on the first wash. I went back to the Marshall's in my neighborhood and found a few items. I also made it to Christian Fields, which is the hair salon that was recommended to me. I had a party foul moment when I pulled really hard on the door and it didn't open. All these people are looking at me, and I mouth, are you open? They guy is like yes, just push. I felt so stupid! I spoke to Dana about different styles and prices, and I have an appointment for Saturday at 1:00.

I spent the afternoon relaxing and getting ready for the main event, I had bought a ticket to the Peter Pan show at the 360 Entertainment Theatre. When I was in London in 2009, this play debuted in Kensington Gardens but I chose to see "Avenue Q" and the "Lion King" instead. My classmates raved about the acrobatics and costumes and I was sorry that I missed it. The show is only in Chicago for one more week, so I made plans to catch it. I didn't think that I would make it in time because traffic was so bad, but I arrived 30 minutes before the show started. I was concerned about parking all afternoon, thinking that I would have to pay an arm and a leg for garage parking, but there was a lot right next to the theatre. However, they only accepted cash, and I was cashless. When I asked the attendant about another option, he was like "why don't you just park here?" I explained how I didn't want to be late and he assured me that a quick stop at CVS returning to the lot wouldn't take much time, then he directed traffic so that I could back out of the turn in. He was right, I made it to my seat with 10 minutes to spare.

I must admit that I thought "Hook" with Robin Williams was the same as the original story of Peter Pan, it's actually more of a sequel. Instead of Tiger Lily, I think we have Rufi-Oooo. At any rate, the play stuck to the original story and made use of very simplistic props but extraordinarily advanced technology. The stage was round, and theater was small enough so that there were no bad seats. The theatre seemed constructed just for this show, on a lot across for the Chicago Tribune building and alongside the Chicago River. The lobby had souvenir stands, children's activities and giant posters illustrating the history of the story from the novel to the stage and film. The whole production took place within a large tent, on the ceiling animated CGI images were projected. When Wendy and the others were flying to Neverland, images of London and the ocean sailed by all around them and above the audience. My favorite part was when Tinkerbell almost died, and the whole audience had to say, "I believe in fairies" to bring her back to life, too cute. I also liked the mermaids, they came down from the ceiling in giant turquoise "drapes" they twisted and turned in them until they were sliding around the floor.  The pirates were funny and the Lost Boys were endearing. It was a very engaging performance.

After the play I had a great conversation with my friend Joseph, he may visit before the year is over. Instead of paying for the overpriced theatre food, I decided to pick something up on my way home. I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out an East Coast favorite, White Castle. At 10:00 at night, I waited in line at the drive through behind four other cars. I ordered the number 1, 4 burger sliders with cheese, fries and a drink. When I got home and bit into the the first burger, I almost gagged. The burgers are gooey like baby food, I felt like I could squish it up into a ball. The ingredients are indiscriminate, it looks like someone squeezed a "cheese, onion, pickle" liquid on a 1/8 of an inch burger patty and slapped it in between two pieces of white bread. No bueno. I scraped off the "topping and got through 2 of them, but I had to throw the others away, yuck! At least now I know for myself, west coast wins the burger battle, give me In-n-Out anyday.

I saw the sign which indicated the street in front of my place is being cleaned tomorrow, so I had to park on the next block. City living can be such a burden, :)