Strange Closets

It’s %#8&%#@$ cold in Chicago. Seriously %#8&%#@$ cold. Every year I make the same error; I drive over to Target in a frantic search for long winter underwear* (and inevitably lose my gloves in the parking lot) only to discover that everybody in town had the same idea yesterday. Thus I haven’t worn long winter [...]

Owner Jeanne Steen bought Figaro Antiques and its entire inventory when she relocated to Chicago after a lifetime on the east coast. While Figaro’s merchandise had its own charms, it just wasn’t Jeanne. But over the past year, many of the legacy pieces have been sold off and replaced with the bounty from Jeanne’s periodic [...]

Vintage Pine is one of the best-kept secrets in Chicago, a large antique mall specializing in European antiques, located not in the Merchandise Mart, but in an old factory located just south of the bustling North Avenue Shopping District (I’ll never say SoNo and I’ll mock you endlessly if you do). Despite its proximity to [...]