A Romantic In Chicago: Green City Market; The House of Glunz
Advocates
Detour Productions advocates Chicago StreetWise vendors are homeless or at threat of being homeless. They’ve been trained in sales and courtesy. They purchase their newspapers at a discounted price and sell them for $2 apiece. StreetWise venders are required to wear badges with their photos, and to carry current papers. Persons trying to sell StreetWise who don’t, they are likely not StreetWise venders, but impersonators. Yet, if they do have the badge with personal photo and current papers, you are invited to support them by purchasing a StreetWise paper from them,, or at least smiling at them and offering kind words. For more info on StreetWise, visit here.
The Green Romantic
(part of being a romantic is loving the environment)
Green City Market
semi-weekly outdoor market
Reap the advantages of purchasing fresh asparagus and rhubarb at the beginning of the warm season, and plump, fresh strawberries in June. What ’tis in season ’tis at your fingertips.
The produce offered at Green City Market arrives from only up to 250 miles outside Chicago. The emphasis is on fresh!
Plus, local is better on the environment. Less gas and pollution is spent on getting the products to the consumers.
To boot, Green City Market features farmers who use sustainable agricultural practices.
What goes around comes around! In my experience, certified organic produce brings about better flavor. And it makes sense. Farmers treat the soil well, by not depleting it of nutrients. In turn, the nutrients and the natural integrity are passed on to the produce.
Green City Market shoppers may find sustainable produce, as well as enjoy fresh blooms from flower venders.
Hungry shoppers may stop at the Green City Market crepe stand, for made to order crepes.
Green City Market is the only sustainable 501(c)(3), or nonprofit, market in Chicago. The organization works with the city and other organizations to support sustainable farmers.
Some of the farmers are certified organic, says Laura of Green City Market website. “The focus is on sustainable. It’s costly to become government certified.”
The Green City is located outdoors at the south end of Lincoln Park, between Clark and Stockton Drive, Wednesdays and Saturdays 7 a.m.-1 p.m., through October 31st.
The Wine Corner
(inspiring atmospheres that provide delicious tastes of wine)
The House of Glunz
family history and knowledge
Louis Glunz, an immigrant from Germany, founded The House of Glunz, 1206 N Wells, in 1888.
The store started out as a wine and beer shop, and has been there ever since. Mr. Glunz became the bottler for Schlitz beer for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and the first Chicago Schlitz distributor.
During Prohibition, the law stipulated that alcoholic beverages could not be manufactured for commercial use, nor sold.
Yet consuming alcohol wasn’t covered in Prohibition bans, and manufacture for personal use was legal.
Mr. Louis Glunz drove his carriage from home to home, teaching folks how to make wine, a perfectly legal service that helped his business survive Prohibition.
Now granddaughter, Barbara Glunz, and her son Christopher Donovan run the shop, and they hire folks engrained in the biz to help with tastings and suggestions.
They host free Saturday tastings, 2 p.m.-6 p.m., including a delicious line-up of fair-priced wines, white to red/ light to full, sometimes followed by beers, aperitif, and/ or liquor tastes.
The owners hand-select the potables to be tasted, which is unique to most wine stores who rely on distributors’ selections.
Every taste, be poured by family or select staff, may be narrated to explain the taste behind the featured grape and region. The House of Glunz also hosts specialized tastings.
Visit and witness the wine shop’s Old World feel. Ask to see the Museum Room, to see vintage glassware, vintage wine barrels, and old Schlitz signs. Visit here for more information.