Ted Brunson of ChicagosBestTV.com recently spent a day in La Grange visiting some "spots" he subsequently highlighted in an online video posted May 16.
Watch the video below.
Those spots include:
Lyons Township High School's Hall of Fame, where Brunson singled out the plaque honoring actor David Hasselhoff, who was graduated from LT in 1970.
The restaurant Q BBQ, which Brunson hailed as "Best BBQ in the Burbs."
My Grandpa's Store, a mecca of candy and treats that is swarmed daily by students from Ogden Ave Elementary School, located just across the street. Brunson honored the store for its "Best Old Town Feel."
Devries Grocery, "a true neighborhood store," where Brunson chomped on a free pretzel stick, a time-honored tradition among the market's regular customers.
The La Grange Theatre. "We're talking about seeing a movie for an adult price of under six bucks," exclaimed Brunson.
ChicagosBestTV.com is owned by WGN-TV, a Tribune company.
Attend a free showing of the movie, Food Inc., this Sunday, April 18, at 7 p.m. at the La Grange Theatre.
This Oscar-nominated documentary explores the American food industry, vividly illustrating how the idyllic, pastoral family farm that many citizens imagine as the source of their daily meals is a fantasy. Instead, the film reveals that the vast majority of meats, vegetables, grains and dairy products we consume are produced and/or refined in enormous food factories replete with assembly lines, genetic modification and, frequently, unsanitary conditions.
"The Marlboro Cowboys should be riding through cornfields," film critic Roger Ebert wrote in his review of this film. "Corn, in fact, is an ingredient in 80 percent of supermarket
products, including batteries and Splenda. Processing concentrates it.
You couldn't eat enough corn kernels in a day to equal the number of
calories in a bag of corn chips. Corn syrup can be addictive. And then
there's fat and salt. A fast-food meal is a heart attack in a paper
bag. Poor families can't afford to buy real food to compete with the
cost of $1 burgers and $1.98 'meals.'"
Click here to watch the first minutes of Food Inc. online at youtube.com.
Sunday's free showing is sponsored by Go Green La Grange and the La Grange Public Library.
Explore all things Titanic at the La Grange Public Library during the month of February.
A display of artifacts related to the doomed ocean liner will be available for viewing on all three floors of the Library throughout the month, including an intricate model of what at the time of its sinking in April 1912 in the north Atlantic was the world's largest passenger steamship.
Denise Vanaria, Titanic historian
Also on exhibit are photos and stories of survivors, jewelry and shoes from the early 1900s, and a reproduction of the five-foot cherub lighting fixture that graced the Titanic's grand staircase.
There will, of course, also be several featured books available for check-out.
On Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m., Denise Vanaria, a
Titanic historian, will stage a dramatic portrayal as Mrs. Thomas
Andrews, the wife of one of the Titanic's designers. Through her
moving tale and authentic costume and jewelry, she will take her audience
back to when the Titanic was built and set sail on its
fateful maiden voyage. Space is limited for the program so registration
is strongly encouraged.
In addition, two movies will be showcased:
On Friday, February 19 at 1 p.m., the library's Classic Film Club will offer a free screening of A Night To Remember (1958) at the
library. This British docudrama captures the grandeur and terror of
Titanic's first and only voyage.
On Sunday, February 21 at 7 p.m., the
library partners with the La Grange Theater to show James Cameron's
epic film Titanic (1997), starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo
DiCaprio. This free
screening will also be attended by Titanic historian Denise Vanaria and
several others in full Edwardian dress. Moviegoers are encouraged to
dress in costume.
Registration is not required for either film, but space may be limited.
To register for the Feb. 23 program, or for more information on
Titanic Month at the La Grange Public Library, visit the Library's
website or phone (708) 352-0576.
UPDATE - 10/25:Sunday night's screening was attended by more than 100 people, some 20 of whom met afterwards for discussion in Palmer's biergarten. Missed the show? A DVD of the film is available for checkout at the La Grange library.
Ever wonder what it would be like to reduce your carbon footprint to nothing; to adopt a lifestyle that has zero negative impact on the environment that supports us? Then make plans to join similarly minded folks this Sunday night (Jan. 24) for a screening of No Impact Man, a film about one New York City resident and his family who spent an entire year without, well, just about every convenience one associates with modern-day life.
The show starts at 7 p.m. at the La Grange Theatre and is hosted by Go Green La Grange, the Voluntary Simplicity Group of the La Grange Public Library and the La Grange Area League of Women Voters. Admission is free.
Go Green is a group of volunteers who live in and around La Grange, and who tout the benefits of sustainable living. Check out their website, gogreenlagrange.org.
Lest you think a movie about living without television, automobiles, elevators, fast food, cosmetics and squeezably soft toilet paper has got to be a downer, take note that the Los Angeles Times calls No Impact Man" both compelling and extremely funny."
Who knows? You may even be inspired to make a few changes of your own.
Having read in Chicago Magazine's August edition that La Grange has the "best downtown," WGN-TV reporter Marcus Leshock last week visited the central business district to check out firsthand "what makes it so special."
Leshock spoke on camera with Village President Elizabeth Asperger, toured the La Grange Theatre with one of its owners, JohnRot, dropped into Horton's hardware department and also spoke with Chris Spagnola and Mary Libsch, proprietors of Knead Marketplace.
Haven't taken the La Grange Library's community survey yet? You can do it online right now. Click here.
But don't put it off. Surveys must be completed by Wednesday, June 17.
As of last Wednesday, more than 400 library patrons—both residents and visitors from neighboring communities—had completed the survey, which comes in a short or long form. Take your pick. The short survey is about seven minutes long; the in-depth version fifteen.
The survey results will help the library complete its strategic planning process by providing input on staff, materials, the facility and programs, Bridget Bittman, a library spokeswoman, said.
In an editorial published in its May 20 edition, the Suburban Life newspaper said that La Grange officials should make public documents they refused to release last summer related to the village's decision to extend $1 million in financial assistance to the owners of the La Grange Theatre.
The documents—which include reports prepared by McKenna & Associates, a financial services firm that specializes in municipal and economic development financing and planning, and Holland & Knight, the village's law firm—were among several requested in May 2008 by La Grange Today publisher Thom Rae under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
In taking its stance, Suburban Life becomes the third area newspaper to publicly support Rae's request. The Chicago Tribune May 3 ran a front-page story critical of village officials and also compared an unredacted copy of an executive memorandum written by village manager Bob Pilipiszyn regarding the theater-financing proposal that it obtained with a version provided last year to Rae that had 15 of 19 paragraphs blacked out. The Doings newspaper last August also published an editorial criticizing the village's refusal to release the documents.
As Suburban Life points out, Rae was able to specifically request the documents only because they had been clearly identified by village president Liz Asperger during a public workshop in which she also encouraged trustees to discuss them openly. (The Tribune coverage also referenced the workshop disclosure in a video interview supplement to the online version of its story.)
In a letter from Asperger published in last Sunday's Tribune, she wrote, "[T]here are occasions when the best interests of the community are served
by allowing its elected officials to confidentially consider a
proposal, review proprietary financial information or discuss
preliminary recommendations regarding a sensitive matter."
In a news story that accompanied Monday's editorial, Suburban Life Rae said, "I figured by the time you’re discussing documents in a public setting, they’re no longer preliminary drafts and not necessarily confidential."
Village President Elizabeth Asperger Monday night labeled as
"irresponsible" and "a disservice" a front-page story in
the May 3 edition of the Chicago Tribune
that highlighted an incident last summer in which village officials refused to
make public documents related to its decision to give $1 million in tax increment financing (TIF) funds
to help renovate the La Grange Theatre.
Asperger's remarks were contained in a letter to the newspaper's editor that
she read during Monday's regular session of the village board of trustees.
While Asperger said she applauded the Tribune's
effort to "focus a spotlight upon legislative directives regarding the
public's right to information and records," she said La Grange officials
were unfairly portrayed as poster children for reforms the newspaper said are
needed to toughen the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Tribune reporter David Kidwell,
Asperger said, "didn't do his homework before suggesting that [village
officials] inappropriately thwarted the public's right to information regarding
the [village board's] decision to invest in a public-private partnership to
renovate the La Grange Theatre.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Asperger said.
Asperger noted that "hundreds of hours" have been spent in public
forums discussing facets of the various projects the village has funded with TIF dollars. In addition to the La Grange Theatre, she cited the
redevelopment of the "triangle property" along La Grange Rd between
Ogden Ave and the BNSF rail line, and the public parking garage behind Village Hall, among other projects.
"However, there are occasions when the best interests of the community are
served by allowing its elected officials to confidentially consider a proposal,
review proprietary financial information or discuss preliminary recommendations
regarding sensitive matter," Asperger said.
Asperger cited support for her position from Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan, who was quoted by Kidwell in his May 3 report as believing it
appropriate for officials to keep secret "preliminary drafts, notes,
recommendations, memoranda and other records in which opinions are expressed,
or policies or actions are formulated."
What Asperger did not note, however, is that the documents village officials
refused to release last summer in response to a FOIA request from Thom Rae,
publisher of LaGrangeToday.com,
included several that Asperger herself had specifically mentioned in a May 19, 2008
public workshop and which she had encouraged trustees to openly discuss.
Rae told the Tribune that he only
knew to request the documents because they had been so clearly and publicly
identified by Asperger.
Among the FOIA reforms being proposed is one that would forbid officials from
withholding any documents that have been included on a public agenda, according
to Terry Pastika, executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst.
A front-page story in Sunday's Chicago Tribune features La Grange Today publisher Thom Rae and his battle with La Grange officials over their refusal to release key documents related to their decision to give $1 million in financial aid to the La Grange Theatre.
Rae's experience is one of three profiles in the story by Trib reporter Dave Kidwell that illustrates the problems Illinois citizens encounter when requesting public documents. The paper says that weak laws regarding freedom of information and open meetings have resulted in what Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan calls a "culture of secrecy" among elected officials at all levels across the state.
On the Trib's website, one can read the full text of an executive memo from village manager Bob Pilipiszyn to trustees discussing theater financing alternatives and compare it with the heavily redacted version made public last summer. Kidwell said Pilipiszyn gave him the full text copy only after a lengthy period of consideration, but would not release a study of the theater's financial health and projected revenues conducted by a consultant.
In an editorial that accompanies its report, the Trib encourages readers to contact their state representatives and demand that public access laws be strengthened.
Sidewalk supervisors this week can view the renovation underway of the entrance and lobby at the La Grange Theatre, which this morning looked cavernous, literally stripped to its brick walls. But this afternoon, workers were wheeling in a pallet of ceramic wall tiles from DeSitter Flooring, offering a first hint of the new look to come.
Owners John Rot and David Rizner plan to reopen the theater on May 1, just in time to welcome a potential army of new patrons who learned about the theater and its facelift (partially underwritten by $1 million in financial aid from village taxpayers) from reading a huge spread in last Friday's Chicago Tribune.
