It’s another sign that Chicago is returning to normal: Conventions are beginning to return to the city, including the Chicago Auto Show, which is set for mid-July at McCormick Place Convention Center in the South Loop.
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Officials say the mammoth event space had a $1.9 billion economic impact on the city before the pandemic, one that nearly disappeared during COVID-19.
“As folks come in, I always say that our goal and our role is to bring in conventions, trade shows and meetings, so that we can bring people in from all over that they can spend their money in Chicago,” said Larita Clark, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which oversees McCormick Place. “That will stimulate the economy for restaurants and hotels, and folks will spend their money and create jobs.”
Video: Watch our full interview with Larita Clark.
The convention center sits in the South Loop on the Near South Side, which is home to about 24,000 residents and plenty of businesses, restaurants and music venues.
As conventions are returning, Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) says the community is working to be more connected with the convention center, with $10 million in tax increment financing going toward streetscaping along Motor Row to support foot traffic into the businesses there.
She adds that while the businesses in this area did fairly well during the pandemic — and more businesses are in the works — the conventions add even more value.
“We’re really psyched about the Auto Show coming back, we’re really excited about more attention in Chinatown, Chinatown is coming back. So the real goal is to connect the South Loop, Motor Row, with McCormick Place, and Chinatown and Bronzeville,” Dowell said.
Video: Watch our full interview with Ald. Pat Dowell.
One of those longtime area businesses is Reggies, a restaurant and live music and comedy venue in the South Loop.
Owner Robby Glick says since the city has reopened, his customers have been coming back in full force, and he’s thankful it provides work for everyone, from wait staff to the lighting engineers who produce live music performances.
And it’s those same behind-the-scenes folks at the convention center who make up a big part of his customer base.
“It’s mainly the people that set up and tear down the shows, so mostly the decorators, the riggers, the carpenters and the Teamsters, that work over there that come in for their lunch, and come back after their gig,” Glick said.
Glick says he typically has about 50 bands a week between his three venue spaces at Reggies, and while they’re not quite up to that level yet, he is expecting performances to pick up significantly in the fall.
Reggies, a restaurant and live music and comedy venue in the South Loop. (WTTW News)
Around the corner from Reggies and just north of Motor Row is what’s called Record Row — home to Chicago’s rich blues history.
The last vestige is Chess Records, where musical greats like Etta James, Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon made their music.
Janine Judge, executive director of Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation, helps keep the memory of Willie Dixon alive here. And just this week, she resumed giving tours of the building for the first time in 16 months.
“I would like to see the city of Chicago embrace the musical genre that they have. Very few cities can actually claim a genre of music. Chicago blues is actually a genre in itself. And as Willie Dixon said, ‘The blues are the roots, the rest are the fruits.’ Just about all music does stem somewhere from blues music,” Judge said.
Chess Records, in the South Loop, is where musical greats like Etta James, Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon made their music. (WTTW News)
There’s the musical history on Record Row, the car history on Motor Row, but there’s also significant architectural history in the South Loop.
The epicenter of that legacy is Glessner House, one of the original Prairie Avenue homes of the late 19th century. It was built in 1887 by architect Henry Hobson Richardson for the Glessner family, in part to show off their success and wealth.
“The South Loop was very popular because it was close to downtown, it was easy to get to their businesses, you didn’t have to worry about crossing the river,” said Bill Tyre, the house’s curator. “By the early 20th century though, as the city grew and it was easier to get out to parts of the city, people left the South Loop, and it really went through a long period of decline for much of the 20th century. Which is why most of the houses around Glessner House were ultimately lost,” Tyre said.
And today only seven of the original 90 homes are still standing.
Tyre, who literally wrote the book on Prairie Avenue and its history, says homes like Glessner House are important to understand the city’s history and how it grew so rapidly when it did.
And many of the Chicago institutions that we know today, like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Art Institute of Chicago, were started by the Glessners and their contemporaries.
Glessner House resumed tours in March of this year.
Glessner House is one of the original Prairie Avenue homes of the late 19th century. (WTTW News)
“Chicago Tonight” is expanding its community reporting. We’re hitting the streets to speak with your neighbors, local businesses, agencies and leaders about COVID-19, the economy, racial justice, education and more. See where we’ve been and what we’ve learned by using the map below. Or select a community using the drop-down menu. Points in red represent our series COVID-19 Across Chicago; blue marks our series “Chicago Tonight” in Your Neighborhood.Community Reporting Series
