1959 guide to Chicago nightlife: [link]
Scans of a free magazine aimed at conventioneers and other out of town visitors on where to find showgirls, etc.
I liked this bit of celebrity gossip:
STRICTLY HUSH-HUSH -- Lauren Bacall is still burning up over the embarrassment she suffered when she and her debonair escort stopped at a side street bar. Lauren's escort not only paid very little attention to Lauren but wound up falling all over another debonair young man at the bar. When the two fellows started kissing each other on the mouth Bacall decided it was no place for her and left the two lovers alone.
And this I didn't know (eta: blogger commentary):
But the best back story of all belongs to the 606 Club at 606 S. Wabash. By all accounts this discrete gentleman's club -- which started as a Prohibition-era speakeasy -- was the swankiest joint in town, with the prettiest girls, and catered to a clientele of the rich and powerful. Among them was a young Chicago magazine publisher named Hugh Hefner, who used the 606 as a model for the new "Playboy Club" he would open on the Northside in 1960.
The 606 was also a nexus for Chicago's powerful political machine. Its owner, Louis W. Nathan, was Democratic precinct captain for the city's First Ward and was a ninja in the ancient Chicago art of vote manufacturing. In fact, he was convicted of election fraud in 1956 for his part in a 1954 vote-rigging scheme. The conviction cost him his job as precinct captain, but not his liquor license; and the 606 continued to be a popular destination for locals and visitors alike. According to legend, the 606 Club is the site where Nathan, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, and a Massachusetts senator named Jack Kennedy first worked out a plan to deliver enough Chicago "votes" for Kennedy to take the 1960 presidential election.
The kicker: according to the same legend, when the first US postal zip codes were being assigned in the early days of the Kennedy administration, both Kennedy and Daley insisted on the strangely out-of-sequence "606" prefix for all Chicago zip codes, as an eternal tribute and inside joke.
Strega, they're going to be showing the remaining episodes on the ABC website.
Yeah, I saw that. One article said they might put the whole thing up on iTunes as well, which would be nice since I missed one. Not that I'll ever have time to watch it, but in theory I would.
I came home, puttered, had lunch. Now I will clean! Huzzah!
Sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads:
It seems like science fiction, but the U.S. military would like to use sharks as underwater spies. The folks at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who dream up the future of weapons and military systems, envision squads of sharks prowling the oceans with sensors that could transmit evidence of explosives or other threats.
DARPA turned to Jelle Atema, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of biology at the Boston University Marine Program, who for many years has been researching how marine animals use their sense of smell. Atema proposed that because sharks are expert at tracking odors over very long distances, the key to steering a shark was to follow its nose. With more than a year of DARPA funding, which ended last year, Atema was able to use electrical stimulation of a shark’s brain, mimicking odor, to guide the shark around a large tank.
Lauren's escort not only paid very little attention to Lauren but wound up falling all over another debonair young man at the bar.
Dude. When you are out on the town with Lauren Bacall, you make sure you're an attentive date, then repeat any great stories she tells to the hot guy when you return to the bar after you've seen her home!
Hi. Any news as to whether Plei has power? (Skipping and skimming after being without myself.) Any of the other Seattlistas?
Gar, IIRC, Plei does have power. I'm pretty sure that Jilli and Pete do, also.
Gar, I have power. And a cat draped across my knees.
Pete and Jilli have power, as does Susan. I think we're all clear!
a ninja in the ancient Chicago art of vote manufacturing.
I love this phrase so very, very much.
Thanks . Here in Olympia we heard people were hit pretty hard from Portland to Seattle. Since we experienced this first hand, I'm just catching up on the news.
