Michelle Peterson-Albandoz

For those of you who don’t know, Petra and I live in Edgewater which is a fairly decent neighborhood here in Chicago. It’s best feature is that it IS, in fact, at the water’s edge and also where the bike path along the beach comes to an end. Other than that, there’s really not much else here, but only a mere 8-10 blocks away is the up and coming Andersonville neighborhood. It holds the second highest gay population next to Boystown which is further south and closer to downtown. 

As described to us by a high end furniture salesman last night, “Andersonville is the perfect neighborhood for people in their early 30’s to late 50’s who still crave culture and like to go out and do stuff, without all the annoyance of young hipsters throwing up in the streets and running from nightclub to nightclub” (I’m paraphrasing). 

Petra and I went to meet up with our flatmate, Dina, who was taking part in a gallery showing that was taking place in a space that will be Restoration Salon in a few months (probably more like 5). Andersonville was putting on a sort of “Art Walk” to stimulate interest in the local shops and galleries that have recently sprung up all along Clark street. Most of the participating shops weren’t actually selling art, but rather an artsy version of their usual stuff; nick-nacks, unusual furniture, antiques, arts and crafts, etc. 

There were, however, a few galleries that actually had some exceptional art inside. One particular gallery was the Las Manos Gallery. We found a plethora of quality works by people who actually specialize in art. Instead of the annoyingly more and more prevelant “weekend warrior” artists, who just want to call themselves artists and want to be a part of the scene. Some artists of particular interest and ability were Michelle Peterson-Albandoz (the owner of the gallery), and Chuck Meyers.

We ended the evening with a late night snack and drink at Calo’s Italian Restaurant. An affordable upscale restaurant with nice ambiance.