Aug. 23 Pipeline

Click here for the Aug. 23 Pipeline.

Friday, Aug. 26, 6PM

Final Wicker Mic of the season!

Click to enlarge

Words, Images, and a Testamonial from Tobaccoville, Wicker Park's Newest Smoke Shop

Many thanks to Tobaccoville for being a new Pipeline sponsor!

In absence of a web page to direct folks to, since there isn't one just yet, we are adding a link to Tobaccoville on our new pipeline website, which will direct to this post.

DJ Yuris and Tony, two happy customers that we interviewed at Tobaccoville this past Thursday night, reported in this video clip they came all the way from Humboldt Park to shop at Tobaccoville, which is located at 1439 N. Milw., in the former Batteries Not Included space.

Tobaccoville offers cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, and more. The rates are already so low that we can't offer any discount through the pipeline, but if you like the pipeline, and you like to smoke tobacco, please check out Tobaccoville and mention you heard about the shop through the pipeline. Thanks!

Reader Feedback

We don't have a dog, or any homework that the dog ate, but rest assured that our minds were not on the Pipeline this past week and we are going to email out a bare bones "just the facts" newsletter soon.

Life was calling, asking us all sorts of existential questions. While packing up and/or giving away seven years of accumulation (yes, we are hoarders, ask us about Blue Cross Blue Shield plan details from 1998! Or a receipt for a $2.32 yogurt parfait from a McDonald's in Grand Rapids, Michigan, circa 2007! Or piles of ghostwriting and brittle yellowed newspaper clips! Journals dating back to 1985!), and feeling rather emotional/sad/cautiously optimistic, we received a message from a reader that immediately put us back on track and helped us to remember why we do what we do.

Cynthia was added to our e-list in November of 2009. Like many people on our list, we do not know who they personally are, or we met them once or twice and would definitely recognize their faces but not their emails. From time to time a reader will write in with a friendly message and give us encouragement to "keep on keeping on."

Cynthia's email came at the perfect time. It's almost as if she could have seen us at the paper shredder parting ways with bank statements from days when we made about 20X more, and though we were still writing, stories like this one, among others, we weren't nearly as happy or as fulfilled as we are today, writing local stories about the neighborhood.

Yikes, we blather and blabber, don't we? Moving on, here's the note that made our week and possibly year, below. Thank you so much, Cynthia!

Hi Alisa,

I have been meaning to send you this email for a while now. I just wanted to say thanks. My fiancee and I moved to Bucktown two years ago from other Chicago neighborhoods. I have to admit I wasn't a big fan of the 'hood for the first few months. I lived closer to Western than I had realized when looking to buy our home (so much traffic noise), and the area right outside our house was a lot 'grittier' and crime ridden and griffiti ridden than I had expected it to be or realized that it was.

Fast forward two years later. I love Bucktown for what it is. I still have my qualms with some things (which I try to be a part of making better). But honestly, one of the biggest factors that has made me love Bucktown is the Pipeline, and the sense of community it creates in my inbox every week. It gives me ways to get involved and keeps me up to date on what's going on with my neighbors. You all do an awesome job. I don't think I can say thanks in a big enough way for all the heart that you clearly put into it.

Keep up the amazing work! You are a real asset to our community.

Cindy H.

Meet Marina, She Cleans Houses, Offices, Apts, etc.

We wrote a story about Marina a year or so ago, and it's somewhere in our e-newsletter archives, though it would take longer to locate it than it would to post a few new pics and words about Marina, who lives in Humboldt Park with her family and has been cleaning Bucktown and Wicker Park homes and apartments for five years, since she decided she preferred housecleaning to babysitting.

We met Marina a few years ago when her daughter, Alejandra, slid a business card under our door, as Marina was cleaning another unit in the building.

We admired the family's marketing chops, and enlisted their help in cleaning our apartment. We also referred Marina to another neighbor within the building who used Marina's services until he moved to a different neighborhood.

Marina has cleaned The Pipeline's apartment on numerous occasions. She charges $80 for approx. three hours. If you are someone very busy like we are, or if you just do not enjoy cleaning, it is well worth every penny. Marina always does a great job!

"By being on our own, we figured we could do better than working for someone else," said Alejandra, who books appointments for her mom and also assists in cleaning, along with her father. Call Alejandra at 773-877-9135 to book a cleaning, and get $5 off your first visit if you mention Pipeline!

The Week Past, the Week Ahead

whoops, long overdue. mean to post this last week. here's a link to the Aug. 16th pipeline.

10 Things You Could Do this Weekend

Click here (we just do not have the energy to post on blog plus website)