This is hardly topical or really even applicable, but I took these pictures a while ago and since the ol' blog is kind of hurting for content at the moment, I thought I'd use them. I feel like I could dedicate an entire blog to the empty storefronts and failed business ventures of my neighborhood. Rents are high and businesses are hard and so pretty much every week, something you walked by every day has disappeared.
Dennis' Place for Games was just like that. It was a real arcade in a time when real arcades aren't supposed to exist outside of a chain restaurant. And before I give the impression of nostalgia for the establishment, let me also say that it was super sketchy.
These signs are only a small sampling of the posted requirements to enter and inhabit Dennis' Place. Not long after I moved to the city, I noticed the place and thought to myself, "Cool, an arcade near my home." I walked in, took one lap around the place and walked right back out. It was not an inviting, warm or particularly safe-feeling place.Also, they did not have Silent Scope.
Well, the citizens of Lakeview can rest easy once more. The former home of Dennis' Place for Games now sits vacant, ready to eventually become another weird business.
No, Mgmt. WE are sorry.The word on the street is that Dennis' Place is the latest victim in Alderman Tom Tunney's "Clean Up Belmont" campaign. If that's the case, then mission partially accomplished.
Still, it always kind of makes me sad to see businesses fail. I'm sure someone started that place with the best of intentions and I'm sure that some people will miss it. When I see an empty storefront, I always wonder what happened to it. I'm sure it's very rarely the choice of the renter to shut down.
One storefront on Clark Street has been about 4 or 5 different things in the 2 years I've lived here. I vividly remember seeing a young girl, maybe college-age, painting her heart out and making it into a cute little accessories shop that I'm sure she had been dreaming of opening for a long time.
It lasted maybe 3 months.
It's a head shop now. And inexplicably, those never close.
8 comments:
You can take Dennis out of the Sketchy Area, but you can never take the Sketch out of Dennis.
I feel bad for that girl with the accessories shop. Only three months? That's either bad planning or just atrociously bad business.
Yeah, I'm not sure how fleshed out her business plan was. I rarely saw anyone in there when I walked by. And if she only had enough initial capital to stay open for three months, then that's just bad planning.
Does this head shop have a website, perchance?
Jake, you live in California. If you need to come to Chicago to get your hippie paraphernalia, you're doing something wrong.
Wait, Jake moved to Cali? I thought the air around here smelled a little sweeter...
As a firm believer that you should never post comments on old posts because no one will ever read them here's my 123 game results (even though you didn't ask). P.S. you should have let me cheat when selecting the book...
"Larry Pogemiller, who chaired Senate Taxation in Minnesota, also had definite preferences when it came to an omnibus education finance bill. "I have a dog in this fight," he told his colleagues. The chair may have his or her own ideas; the chair may be carrying out the wishes of legislative leaders or the governor; or, alternatively, the chair may be carrying out the will of his or her committee colleagues."
That's from Alan Rosenthal's Heavy Lifting: The Job of the American Legistlature. If I could have cheated I would have taken Ro's laptop to the couch where I could be next to my coffee table books "Zombie Survival Guide" or "The Official Preppy Handbook." You and your rules... its your loss.
Just like pizza, hot dogs, and obnoxious sports fans, bongs can be crafted in a distinctive Chicago-style of which I am nostalgic for.
I LOVE ANGELINA JOLIE. SHE'S GOT ENORMOUS LIPS.
DOES ANYONE ELSE LOVE ANGELINA JOLIE?
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