Ep. 16: Living in Lakeshore East featuring Kerry Bowler of Smith & Wollensky!
In this episode of "Living in Chicago," host Jake Lyons interviews Kerry Bowler, an events industry veteran currently with Smith & Wollensky, about living in the Aqua Tower and the Lakeshore East neighborhood. Kerry shares insights on the area's hidden gems, local amenities, and the vibrant lifestyle it offers, emphasizing the neighborhood's safety, walkability, and proximity to cultural activities. The conversation delves into the evolution of Chicago's Riverwalk and local real estate, highlighting the unique living experience in this part of Chicago.
The Living in Chicago Podcast is where I, Jake Lyons, get to interview all kinds of people about the Chicago neighborhoods they live in, work in, and play in. This way, you can learn about the lifestyle pros and cons of various neighborhoods directly from the people who live there (or maybe even learn something new about your own neighborhood!)
More from Kerry Bowler/Smith & Wollensky:
smithandwollensky.com/private-events/
Follow/Watch Living In Chicago:
LIC - YouTube, Insta, LinkedIn, FB, TikTok, etc.
Want to be a guest on the show?
livinginchicago.com/guest-form
About The Host:
Real Estate in areas discussed:
thechicagohomesource.com/loop/
Real Estate Quick Start Questionnaire
https://www.thechicagohomesource.com/form/
Local Businesses Mentioned:
Monarch and Lion
https://www.monarchandlion.com/
Avli
Robert's Pizza
https://www.robertspizzacompany.com/
[00:00:00] Jake: Welcome to Living in Chicago, the podcast where I get to interview real Chicagoans about the neighborhoods that they live, work, and play in. My name is Jake Lyons. I'll be your host. And in this episode, I interview Kerry Bowler, who is a veteran of the event space industry from various restaurants and other top notch venue spaces where one can reserve some space and throw a great party.
[00:00:25] Jake: She is currently with Smith & Wollensky. Who is undergoing some really exciting renovations from the sounds of it that will enable them to host, you know, even bigger and better events and parties going forward. Smith & Wollensky, of course, is a famous steakhouse, which is on the bottom of the Marina towers, which you might know as the big corn in the cob buildings, which we go into a lot of the.
[00:00:48] Jake: Cool history and whatnot of that. Kerry lives in the, the Lakeshore East neighborhood, which kind of goes by a couple different names. If you look at it on Google Maps, they know it by the, [00:01:00] the New East Side. Some other places I see to it refer to as the Near East Side. Lakeshore East is what I'm going to call it for now.
[00:01:08] Jake: Lakeshore East, if you're unfamiliar, is a subsection of the loop, and it's kind of the, the furthest north east part of the loop over by Navy Pier, just south of the river and just. Just inland from the lake. So you have Lakeshore Drive right there to the east. You have Randolph Street to the south. You have Wacker to the north.
[00:01:28] Jake: And then Michigan Avenue to the west. And it's a really cool neighborhood. It's got a lot of really exciting High rise buildings, both old and new. There's some new developments going on there right now that are, you know, in various stages of being built that you know, have, have very significant impacts on the aesthetic of the Chicago skyline, almost all for the, for the better, I can't think of anything, you know, it's not like there's anything that I, that I would say is taking away from it by any means.
[00:01:56] Jake: I mean, there's, if usually if a building like that is getting approved, it's. [00:02:00] It's usually going to be, going to be a pretty good, pretty good project. And it's going to look really cool. And she lives in the Aqua tower, which is, has all kinds of really cool things going on and you know, historical in its own ways that we get into the Lakeshore East neighborhood is kind of like this hidden little gem.
[00:02:17] Jake: It's, it's like they've accomplished this crazy feat of having. Some privacy in the middle of just all this, you know, the hubbub of, of the heart of downtown Chicago. I mean, they have kind of like a semi private park down there that anybody can get to it, but Unless you had a specific reason to go there, you wouldn't so it's basically only for the people that live in these, you know, surrounding buildings and then even beyond that, you have millennium park just to the south of you.
[00:02:44] Jake: And then just a little bit more than that. You have grant park right there. Obviously, you know, you have the lake, all that kind of stuff. And yeah, just all these, all these amenities, all these great restaurants. I mean, it's, you know, you're right in the middle of downtown Chicago. Like, if that's the kind of vibe that you're going for, it's hard.
[00:02:58] Jake: It's a hard, hard area to [00:03:00] beat. So look forward to you hearing more from Kerry. She is an expert in the area and she's been in some other parts of downtown Chicago as well. So can kind of compare and contrast different, different little subsections like Streeterville and places like that. And, you know, without further ado, let's go ahead and get right into our interview with Kerry Bowler.
[00:03:18] Jake: So this, you can tell you what it's like to live in the Lakeshore East neighborhood of Chicago.
[00:03:24] Jake: All right. Joined here today by Kerry Bowler. We got through some technical difficulties and now we are here. We're ready to have a great interview. Kerry Bowler is originally let's see if I, let's see if I get this straight. So born in the Beverly neighborhood, grew up mostly in Lincolnwood.
[00:03:41] Jake: Spent some time in some other places, a veteran of the events space game currently with Smith & Wollensky, which is a high end steakhouse in downtown Chicago. She spent some time in Streeterville, Gold Coast, and currently is in the Aqua Tower, which we will get into with, with, in some detail, I [00:04:00] would imagine that's that's 225 North Columbus, right?
[00:04:02] Jake: That's the
[00:04:03] Jake: address. Okay.
[00:04:05] Jake: Normally I don't, you know, when, when we talk to people in other, in other neighborhoods you know, we don't really like to give like exact addresses, but in this case, I mean, these, the buildings in the area that you live in are basically small towns unto themselves. So I think it's okay in this area.
[00:04:19] Jake: And, you know, I'm not going to give, you know, obviously no like unit numbers or anything like that, but
[00:04:23] Jake: you know, yeah. So thank you for coming on. Did I get that? Did I get that somewhat correct? Mm
[00:04:27] Jake: hmm.
[00:04:27] Kerry: yeah. So,
[00:04:28] Kerry: The Aqua building is in Lakeshore East, which you're right, the whole Lakeshore East is, I don't know, 30 buildings, maybe, surrounding this beautiful park, right on the lake and, and the river, technically.
[00:04:37] Kerry: So, that's its own community. I have been there for two years. Part of that, I lived across the river and Streeterville, also in a high
[00:04:44] Kerry: rise.
[00:04:45] Jake: hmm.
[00:04:46] Jake: hmm.
[00:04:46] Jake: What has brought you to this area?
[00:04:49] Kerry: Well, Streeterville kind of, fell for this, fell from the sky. In my opinion, I used to work at Navy pier for several restaurants and venues.
[00:04:57] Kerry: I was looking to, to walk to work and it turned [00:05:00] out to be great.
[00:05:00] Kerry: The
[00:05:01] Kerry: neighborhood was very up and coming. They were building tons of new buildings there, which the one I left was brand new, it was only four years old, called moment. So the difference. From that to where I was previously was the Gold Coast is all the buildings are new and the amenities are gigantic and they're all competing on who has the best amenities.
[00:05:18] Kerry: So I kind of went with that too. where did I feel safe Um, that building was a little bit smaller. It was only 45 stories. Now we have the aqua it's 85.
[00:05:27] Kerry: so
[00:05:27] Kerry: it's basically double of everything double security double door people, but the building aqua is a mixed use.
[00:05:34] Kerry: building, so
[00:05:35] Kerry: it's condos on the top, rental in the middle, and then the Raddison Blue Hotel on the bottom.
[00:05:39] Kerry: So we share the amenities. We have a Junior Olympic outdoor pool, outdoor spa pool, outdoor kids pool, private running track. and Indoor lab pool, indoor spa pool, and a gigantic gym. And then other various workspaces throughout the building. Radisson Blu has
[00:05:55] Kerry: A great
[00:05:55] Kerry: restaurant and also a Starbucks. So I'm [00:06:00] gonna, there are days when you don't have to leave the building.
[00:06:03] Jake: Yeah, I'll bet. Yeah, and I know there's a few buildings in that area that are a similar setup to where, you know, there's a hotel in the building, plus, plus long term residential units, and so is it, is it like this where you get to kind of benefit from some of the services that the hotel has, like, I don't know, turndown service and you know, different things like that?
[00:06:23] Jake: I'm sure you had to pay extra for some of these things, but, you know,
[00:06:25] Jake: is that,
[00:06:26] Jake: is that kind of a potential part of the deal or
[00:06:27] Jake: no?
[00:06:28] Kerry: Not really, there are, there's corporate housing in my building, which they can sign on for any of that.
[00:06:33] Kerry: I don't
[00:06:34] Kerry: think the condos need it, but they might have their own concierge, but we have two door people full time, 24 hours a day that handle the entrance from one lobby, the entrance to the rental side of the entrance to the condo side.
[00:06:45] Kerry: And then the hotel obviously has a completely separate entrance that we can all cut through. So, I know if you're out at the pool, you can order drinks and food right to your lounge chair
[00:06:54] Kerry: if you
[00:06:54] Kerry: want to.
[00:06:56] Jake: Okay.
[00:06:56] Kerry: most people bring their own stuff down there because, why, you know, it's a lot cheaper. But yeah, [00:07:00] they do try to make it kind of special and they have lots of events. and, You know, kind of social stuff for the tenants as well.
[00:07:07] Jake: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, if you're not familiar with that exact building, which many of the people watching or listening won't be, I mean, it's a absolute marvel of a building. It's like no other building you've ever, you, you've probably ever seen. The, the design of it, Well, first of all, the architect of it Jeanne Gang, right?
[00:07:23] Jake: I think it's Jeanne, right? Isn't it? Yeah.
[00:07:25] Jake: Jeanne Gang is renowned, you know, pioneer female architects. She has really put her stamp on the Chicago skyline and a lot of very, very massive, significant ways. And this building in particular was, I think, was kind of her first big splash, if I'm, if I'm not mistaken.
[00:07:42] Jake: I mean anytime you
[00:07:43] Jake: take the you know, Chicago is, is famous for the, the riverboat architecture tours. If anybody ever, I always tell people, if you, if you have 3 hours. And only three hours to spend in the city of Chicago and you want, you know, one, you know, a recommendation for just one thing to do is the riverboat architecture tour, hands down, not
[00:07:59] Jake: [00:08:00] even
[00:08:00] Kerry: I agree.
[00:08:00] Jake: and they will, yeah,
[00:08:03] Jake: this is,
[00:08:03] Jake: this is, something that they'll spend a solid five minutes on, you know, every single time because of its significance.
[00:08:07] Jake: And yeah, just the design of it is maybe it helped me out a little bit because I remember, you know, they, they, they say a lot in those tours and some of it. Yeah. It kind of doesn't I don't retain everything like the design of it looks like waves and it's something like it was designed to be like shady at all times or something like that.
[00:08:24] Jake: I don't remember exactly what the what the, you know, purpose was for
[00:08:27] Kerry: Yeah, I think
[00:08:28] Kerry: so.
[00:08:29] Kerry: It's
[00:08:29] Kerry: the, the outside of the building is three dimensional and these concrete kind of waves that make the impressions in the building that you see from the ground up are actually the balconies too. So every floor, also every floor is different and the balconies are different.
[00:08:43] Kerry: And you, know, when you rent there, you have to go and you want to see, but they're they're, they're moving. They're like waves. So everything is like an unusual space. Everything is different. So I guess she really likes the water and I think those balconies cause the shadows. So it does kind of [00:09:00] look like it's moving at different times
[00:09:01] Kerry: of the day
[00:09:01] Kerry: when the sun's going down.
[00:09:03] Jake: hmm.
[00:09:04] Kerry: Then she also has
[00:09:04] Kerry: the other
[00:09:05] Kerry: building on Lake Shore East which they call the St. Regis. It was originally called the Vista, and then the hotel St. Regis moved in there and got the naming rights, but that is the largest commercial, I'm sorry, residential building, and that's one of her other projects, and the glass on it and the shape of the building, they look like waves too, so she has some, I don't know.
[00:09:25] Kerry: Waves and sea and water and the aqua.
[00:09:28] Jake: Yeah,
[00:09:29] Jake: Yeah. And there's
[00:09:30] Jake: another
[00:09:31] Jake: and there's another one that looks kind of like a, like a mini version of that, of that St. Regis, right? Kind of more in the South loop that she has. I
[00:09:38] Kerry: I'm not sure,
[00:09:39] Kerry: Not sure. But I do have a fun fact with the St. Regis. If you look up and there's one section of it has a big black box that they call the observatory, but it was really
[00:09:48] Kerry: Installed
[00:09:49] Kerry: to help the building from swaying.
[00:09:52] Kerry: So it's an open space. So I guess you can go in there. I have been in the building. It's really beautiful. It's very high end. It's I mean, the same ages
[00:09:58] Kerry: is probably one of the most expensive [00:10:00] hotels and just got its first restaurant. So it's moving along.
[00:10:05] Jake: Yeah, you know, for the longest time, I, before I, before I learned that fact that it was about, you know, the, the aerodynamics of it I would look up there and I would just be like, man, when are they gonna finally finish this building?
[00:10:18] Jake: Why
[00:10:18] Jake: did they just, you know, leave these, these two, you know, floors in the middle?
[00:10:22] Jake: On undone, you know, but yeah, and then I realized and it was like, okay, that makes sense. There's so many, there's so many cool ways that architects over the decades have have solved the riddles of
[00:10:33] Jake: of the wind of, of different versions of of swaying of you know, space considerations of air rights and things like that, where they'll build it, you know, tiny in the beginning and then it kind of, it,
[00:10:42] Jake: it
[00:10:43] Jake: Sprouts out as the building goes up. I mean, there's all kinds of really cool stuff going on. But yeah. Very cool. So how long, what, what was some of the kind of the in between here of what, what led you to, to be in this neighborhood and in the industry that you're in? You've, you said between Lincoln [00:11:00] wood and now
[00:11:00] Kerry: Sure, sure. I,
[00:11:02] Kerry: Once I moved back from college, I lived in New York for eight years.
[00:11:04] Kerry: I kind of fell into the restaurant industry and I started working at a French Vietnamese restaurant in the Gold Coast called Lake Colonial. Very famous, very unique. I stayed there for nine years and then I started
[00:11:15] Kerry: moving along
[00:11:15] Kerry: in my career. I worked at a couple of hotels. What's weird is that almost every place that I work at is close to where I live.
[00:11:23] Kerry: Not on purpose. I swear. I just have turns out that way and it's awfully convenient. So now I'm fairly new It's nothing. Lenski
[00:11:29] Kerry: steakhouse. I've been here five months. And it's probably a seven minute walk, so that commute is just brutal. Um, so
[00:11:37] Kerry: they're right on the river. So, it's a two story large restaurant.
[00:11:41] Kerry: The lower level is actually at river level, We're just above it. We're right at the base of the Marina Towers, another iconic building.
[00:11:49] Kerry: And they actually have a marina below us. So, we can look out our windows and see boats, like, coming out of nowhere. And people are like, where did that boat come from? But what's really great, they've been here for 25 years.[00:12:00]
[00:12:00] Kerry: So, for 20 years, they looked across the river at nothing but graffiti and garbage and homeless people. And, you know, and my whole life, they talked about cleaning the river. And it took that long, so it took at least 20 years to develop that, and then five more years to develop the Riverwalk. And now it is the hotspot, like the jewel of Chicago, we're right across
[00:12:20] Kerry: from City
[00:12:21] Kerry: winery boats can dock there, it's a public dock, so we get big yachts, we get small boats, kayaks, you know, personal boats.
[00:12:28] Kerry: You know, everything. So, it's a really cool view. And what's funny is people come in, I do a group business. So we have seven private dining rooms. Those are being renovated right now. Completion for parade day. Are you going to ask me what parade? Because a lot of people,
[00:12:42] Jake: Right. Yeah. Which parade is about a dozen of them.
[00:12:45] Kerry: Well, the parade on the river is the St. Patrick's
[00:12:47] Kerry: day parade
[00:12:48] Kerry: When they dye the
[00:12:49] Kerry: river green.
[00:12:49] Kerry: So we have a large event here that's already been booked. They signed obviously before the completion of the construction, but they feel comfortable with us. Our private dining spaces will [00:13:00] be open and they're at river level.
[00:13:01] Kerry: So you can literally see the, you know, the river being dyed, all the activities, super fun and really beautiful. We have a series of rooms in a row and they all have retractable walls. So you can take one space, two
[00:13:13] Kerry: spaces.
[00:13:14] Kerry: They're taking all
[00:13:14] Kerry: the spaces. So
[00:13:16] Kerry: we better
[00:13:16] Kerry: be done
[00:13:16] Kerry: with our construction, but we feel pretty comfortable.
[00:13:18] Kerry: It will be ready for March. Yeah,
[00:13:22] Jake: very cool. Are there any, are they retractable you know, windows and things like that too? Can you kind of do like an indoor outdoor or is it,
[00:13:28] Kerry: No, the lower level has no outdoor space on our upper level. We do have an outdoor patio, but it's set back
[00:13:33] Kerry: from the
[00:13:33] Kerry: river because you're too high.
[00:13:35] Kerry: So what's funny is when the groups come in for these corporate events at conventions and things, they go down the stairs and they think they're going into the basement, like a dark room with no windows. And They're just blown away. It's kind of like the big reveal when we open the doors and they're like, oh, this is, you know, something that you can't really see from any other locations.
[00:13:51] Kerry: So, it's very unique. And I don't know if they thought about that when they moved in here 25 years ago, but Yeah,
[00:13:58] Kerry: they've been talking about my whole life. So they finally made it [00:14:00] happen.
[00:14:00] Kerry: So
[00:14:01] Jake: Mm hmm.
[00:14:02] Jake: I was just asking
[00:14:03] Jake: because I know St. Patrick's Day to me is always just
[00:14:06] Jake: the
[00:14:07] Jake: the ultimate trick or treat holiday, well, aside from, you know, I guess Halloween would be the ultimate trick or treat holiday, but in terms of weather because St. Patrick's Day, I've, I've had some St. Patrick's Day here where it's been 70 degrees and I've had some St.
[00:14:20] Jake: Patrick's Days here where it's been like 28 degrees.
[00:14:23] Jake: Is this the ultimate you just have no idea what's good. It could be beautiful. It could be frigid, you know,
[00:14:28] Jake: Regardless of what it is, people will treat it like it's a nice day,
[00:14:32] Kerry: Right.
[00:14:33] Jake: They'll figure it
[00:14:33] Jake: out.
[00:14:34] Jake: They'll, they'll, yeah, exactly. They'll, they'll drink until they feel what they want to feel.
[00:14:38] Jake: But
[00:14:38] Kerry: right.
[00:14:40] Jake: Yeah.
[00:14:41] Jake: And that, that is a really cool event. If you know, if, if nobody, if, if anybody out there is unfamiliar, just Google Chicago St. Patrick's day parade and That river turns neon green. It's, you know, it's, there's obviously a, a very storied Irish history in Chicago and things like that.
[00:14:56] Jake: So Chicago is definitely one of the cities, you know, I would say up there
[00:14:59] Jake: with [00:15:00] Boston,
[00:15:00] Jake: that probably goes the hardest time for the real estate stats corner presented by me, Jake Lyons, real estate advisor here in the Chicago area with at properties and my website, the Chicago home source dot in this section, I am going to. Give you two statistics about the Lakeshore East neighborhood that I think will give you at least a good general idea of what real estate prices are looking like.
[00:15:23] Jake: And, you know, just more importantly, what people are willing to pay to live in this neighborhood. I might be biased, but. I think that real estate prices are super relevant to any discussion on any neighborhood because, after all, what really is a neighborhood without real estate? So, with that being said, the two stats that I am going to provide are the median sales price for two bed condos and the median rental price for two bed apartments.
[00:15:49] Jake: Normally I would also provide the median sales price for single family detached houses, but in this section, this is downtown, like right in the heart of downtown Chicago, after all, zero, [00:16:00] uh, single family houses like that to be found. So obviously we will not be covering those. All information provided here is courtesy of InfoSparks and Rent O Meter.
[00:16:09] Jake: Respectively. So the first that median sales price of two bed condos, as of the most recent data that I have available to me, which is January of 2024, the median sales price for two bed condos in the Lake shore East neighborhood was 549, 000. So 50 percent sold for more 50 percent sold for less. That's the median sales price.
[00:16:31] Jake: And if you are looking to rent, A two bed apartment in the Lakeshore East neighborhood that will be a median rental monthly price of 3, 800. So obviously there are a lot more variables that play here than just the median sales price or median. Rental price, we can get fully into the weeds on that. If you want, go ahead and reach out if that is something you want to explore.
[00:16:52] Jake: But in the meantime, if you want to see what all is available in the Lakeshore East neighborhood or anywhere in Chicago, for that matter, you can go to the Chicago home [00:17:00] source. com, which is also available and can be found in the show notes of this episode.
[00:17:06] Kerry: So then, in this construction our company, speaking of Boston, our
[00:17:09] Kerry: company, our owners
[00:17:10] Kerry: are based in Boston. So that the first one was in New York after that they bought the chain It's actually a small steakhouse change chain in comparison to some of the larger ones, which is actually kind of nice for me you get to wear more hats, I think, and be more involved.
[00:17:22] Kerry: So they recently bought. An East coast chain called legal seafood. It's all over the East coast and right next to us was an an empty space
[00:17:31] Kerry: that was
[00:17:31] Kerry: empty since pre COVID. It had a restaurant called Dick's last resort. That was very casual and kind of kitschy. They left that space has been vacant. So our company has acquired the chain, legal seafood, and we're putting it right next door.
[00:17:44] Kerry: So that's the first one we'll be out of the East coast that should open The end of May or June is what I've heard I've seen. I've been in there. The walls are going up. And yeah, so we've got not only our own construction. We've got the new construction, so we will be almost bridge to bridge for all the window [00:18:00] space
[00:18:01] Kerry: with the
[00:18:01] Kerry: two locations.
[00:18:02] Kerry: So it'll be super fun.
[00:18:04] Jake: Yeah.
[00:18:05] Kerry: And
[00:18:05] Kerry: then
[00:18:05] Kerry: we'll have a small
[00:18:06] Kerry: outdoor balcony.
[00:18:08] Jake: Will you be, will you be sharing your time with the new restaurant then? Or will your time still be mostly focused on the Smith & Wollensky wing of it?
[00:18:15] Kerry: Probably both, It's the game plan at this point. Yeah, which would be great.
[00:18:20] Jake: Yeah,
[00:18:20] Kerry: it's a little bit lower price point.
[00:18:22] Kerry: It's a different look. It's really fresh and kind of almost like a new looking beachy, modern beachy kind of style. So we're really excited and it's, it's, they're moving quickly, which is great.
[00:18:33] Jake: Sounds like the perfect spot for it right there on the river. I
[00:18:35] Jake: mean, you're,
[00:18:36] Jake: you know, even though we're in the Midwest, you know, technically landlocked and far away from wherever
[00:18:41] Jake: most of the
[00:18:42] Jake: seafood is actually coming from, you're still on a large body of water. So it makes you it makes you feel like it's appropriate, you know,
[00:18:47] Kerry: Yeah. Well, they buy their own fish and, and, and all
[00:18:50] Kerry: their seafood
[00:18:51] Kerry: in Boston, they're processing it. So they have a super good handle on the freshness. Obviously, and the quality and they have the quantity. So [00:19:00] that's why they can do it at a pretty good price and do it Well,
[00:19:05] Jake: Yeah, that's great. Yeah, it's surprising to, to hear, cause I've lived in Chicago now, I'm from Indianapolis originally, I've lived here, it'll be nine years this summer, so I pretty much only know the Riverwalk as a pretty nice inviting place, you know, cause I think they probably were, they were probably done with that, I don't know, maybe, maybe six years ago, something, somewhere around there, maybe even longer, I'm not, I'm not exactly sure,
[00:19:27] Kerry: Well, but they kind of shut down, you know, during COVID. So we lost a couple years, but they started it and it
[00:19:31] Kerry: never really,
[00:19:32] Kerry: So each summer, each season, they've been adding more and more and more.
[00:19:35] Kerry: Even now I can see closer as you're going
[00:19:38] Kerry: east,
[00:19:39] Kerry: They're redoing places. There was the Tiki bar, the Tiki boats, that's all being redone. I see signage going up. So they're still developing which is great.
[00:19:48] Jake: yeah, yeah, it's just amazing that you had this That it took them 150 years to figure out that you have this just awesome asset of a
[00:19:57] Jake: place that,
[00:19:57] Jake: of course, everybody would want to hang out in if [00:20:00] you made, if you fixed it up, you
[00:20:01] Jake: know,
[00:20:01] Jake: I know running a city is probably complicated and there were probably a lot
[00:20:04] Jake: of other things to get
[00:20:04] Jake: to before that, but still, I don't know.
[00:20:06] Jake: I'm glad they got to it eventually because it's a really, really nice place.
[00:20:10] Kerry: Yeah. Well, we never thought of growing up as the river was the place to go. I mean, it smelled, it was dirty. It was, I mean now they're swimming in it in parts of it, which is kinda shocking. But people are doing it. not here, not here in the downtown area because it's too congested. But in further up northern portions of the river, it goes east and west, and then it goes north and south.
[00:20:28] Kerry: So there are areas
[00:20:30] Kerry: where they're swimming technically.
[00:20:32] Jake: Yeah.
[00:20:33] Kerry: Or if you're on a small boat, you can do the whole thing. And some of the architectural tours go pretty far.
[00:20:37] Jake: Mm
[00:20:38] Jake: hmm. Yep, they do. They almost go up to kind of like Goose Island area up
[00:20:41] Jake: that way.
[00:20:41] Kerry: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:20:43] Jake: What was you said you were in New York? I'd like to
[00:20:46] Jake: Explore that just a little bit if you don't mind when
[00:20:48] Jake: What what part of New York were you in?
[00:20:50] Kerry: I was, I went to college in Manhattan and I went to an art school there called
[00:20:54] Kerry: Parsons School of
[00:20:55] Kerry: Design. And then I stayed for eight years doing that and um, it was [00:21:00] great. I came back to do the same industry for a company here in Chicago.
[00:21:04] Kerry: They found me and brought me back and I kept thinking this doesn't work out. I can always
[00:21:08] Kerry: go back to
[00:21:08] Kerry: New York and then. It did that company, this is a long story. So it was in fashion design, but the company here in Chicago manufactured in Hong Kong. And I wasn't getting that experience from any companies I worked for in New York.
[00:21:19] Kerry: So I moved back and my second day on the job was on a plane with 16 people to Hong Kong. I think the flight was 17 hours. So, and we stayed for 3 weeks.
[00:21:30] Kerry: so I went
[00:21:30] Kerry: 5 times a year for 3 weeks, each trip in that year. And then the company kind of imploded. And just couldn't do, it, couldn't sustain what they were building anymore.
[00:21:38] Kerry: So I didn't want to go back to New York and I took a bartending job, took a class, and then I got a job and I just got sucked into the restaurant industry. And here I am 20 years later. So,
[00:21:50] Jake: yeah.
[00:21:51] Jake: What was your, what would you say your experience was of New York, you know, as opposed to, I mean, living, it seems like you've had pretty much the, the biggest [00:22:00] doses possible of both cities living in Manhattan and then right where you are now is you're obviously in the middle of. As much hubbub with Chicago as you can handle.
[00:22:07] Jake: So what, what would be the sort of some, some ways that, you know, pros and cons of both, I guess.
[00:22:13] Kerry: Well, it was weird because after I went there from, you know, like high school, I had never lived anywhere outside like my neighborhood in the suburbs.
[00:22:19] Kerry: And You know, you get help when you're in college and you go into classes and they push you
[00:22:23] Kerry: into different
[00:22:24] Kerry: areas. And then I stayed when I came back to Chicago. I never really knew the downtown area. I actually knew New York better.
[00:22:31] Jake: hmm.
[00:22:31] Kerry: It took me a couple of years to, you know, decide where I wanted to live and what I wanted to do.
[00:22:36] Kerry: And I just, you know, came right back downtown and um, it's just, I maybe I'm a city person. I guess that's it. So,
[00:22:42] Jake: yeah, yeah.
[00:22:45] Jake: Very cool
[00:22:45] Kerry: if you're talking about the types of events. So, you know,
[00:22:48] Kerry: I
[00:22:48] Kerry: think Chicago got hit really hard during COVID.
[00:22:51] Kerry: I'm not sure why I think because we're, we're, you know, winter based, we don't have that outdoor seating, like any cities on the coast, [00:23:00] like Florida opened up sooner. It took us a long time. Our big hotels really got hit. They just couldn't get the employees and many people left the industry. So I kind of traveled around a little bit
[00:23:08] Kerry: because there were no
[00:23:10] Kerry: good places to work or you took a job during COVID where you had to wear,
[00:23:14] Kerry: You know,
[00:23:14] Kerry: five different hats because they just couldn't hire enough people. Now, as I I did
[00:23:19] Kerry: go to
[00:23:19] Kerry: Florida for a while. First quarter I got referred to a resort in Isla Morada,
[00:23:25] Kerry: which is
[00:23:25] Kerry: the second key, 27 acre resort. I sat down for three weeks, staying in a suite,
[00:23:31] Kerry: was room and board.
[00:23:32] Kerry: You know, helping in the events department there. I ended up staying three months. So I stayed the whole first quarter of last year in Florida. So now I feel like I'm re transitioning to winter
[00:23:43] Jake: Yeah.
[00:23:44] Kerry: I I missed one. But now that I've come back, I would say mid September, we got
[00:23:48] Kerry: Finally, a really big convention came into town where they call it citywide, they take every hotel room.
[00:23:54] Kerry: In downtown Chicago, all the way to Rosemount and sometimes even into the suburbs to come in for these conventions. I think it was [00:24:00] 65, 000 people. So, since then, all of the conventions are kind of following suit. We have a really big 1, the day after Thanksgiving for radiology. I think that was 65. And they just keep rolling in.
[00:24:11] Kerry: We just had one for HVAC or heating and air conditioning. They they're 55 and these people like
[00:24:16] Kerry: to go
[00:24:17] Kerry: out for dinner. They love our hotels. I joke that I live in a hotel. I do spend a lot of time in the restaurant at
[00:24:22] Kerry: the Radisson,
[00:24:23] Kerry: but cause it's a fun group there are in, in the restaurants. And all these multiple spaces, you'll get people
[00:24:29] Kerry: from the
[00:24:29] Kerry: outside, you'll get condo owners, you'll get renters, and then you'll get the people staying in the hotel.
[00:24:34] Kerry: So you meet a whole
[00:24:35] Kerry: different,
[00:24:36] Kerry: like, group of people. And I, I listen to what they say about, you know, how was your stay, and just because it's my industry. And they love it. They love, they think it's clean, they think it's, you know, the food's great. They always want a recommendation. I do send them all on the architectural cruise.
[00:24:50] Kerry: There's many, by the way. I also worked on Navy Pier. I've been on every architectural cruise. They're all a little bit different, depending upon how busy it is on the river. So these conventions are [00:25:00] continuing to come. There we have the dental show coming up, auto show. So that's, I feel like it's all back and it's I think last year, I don't think the international guests came.
[00:25:08] Kerry: Now they are. Now they're all coming back. So we're doing great. We'll, we'll be doing even better once our construction's done. But it's so with that, it's, it's big group corporate dinners. We also do weddings.
[00:25:18] Kerry: We do
[00:25:18] Kerry: small weddings. The rehearsal business is huge right now. We're surrounded by luxury hotels and they're all doing huge weddings and now they're doing high end rehearsal dinners.
[00:25:27] Kerry: So we're all kind of feeding off each other for this business that I think they're excited. They want
[00:25:32] Kerry: to come
[00:25:32] Kerry: down here. They want to see what's going on. And then we've got the river. So it's really exciting.
[00:25:37] Jake: lot of
[00:25:38] Jake: good stuff going on. Yeah, for sure. would you say just, you know, on a personal level, you living there, what would you say are some things that have surprised you about the area since you've moved in? And you can kind of, you know, you can speak directly to Lakeshore East, or you can broaden it to sort of You know, I know street reveals not too far, you know, just that downtown Chicago as a, [00:26:00] as a whole.
[00:26:00] Kerry: Well, you can't turn a blind eye to the crime. It does exist. People pretend like it doesn't exist. I always remind all these travelers and these conventioneers and that you really have to be safe. I
[00:26:09] Kerry: think we're
[00:26:10] Kerry: busy enough where you don't have to go down the street that no one else is on, look for other people.
[00:26:14] Kerry: You know, wear a cross body bag, put it
[00:26:17] Kerry: under your
[00:26:17] Kerry: jacket. I mean, if you do, I think this is happening in any big city, you know, but
[00:26:23] Kerry: the
[00:26:23] Kerry: neighborhoods are closing earlier for the most part, the downtown. We close early, many restaurants close early, and the conventioners are shocked by that. They want to go out, they want to go out after dinner, and the places are closed because they want their
[00:26:36] Kerry: employees
[00:26:36] Kerry: to get home safely.
[00:26:37] Kerry: So there's still a lot of that. It's kind of like the post COVID, you
[00:26:40] Kerry: know,
[00:26:41] Kerry: problem. But I think we just have to work through it.
[00:26:46] Jake: Yeah. I've heard that from a few different people, even, even up into some of the, the, the more northern neighborhoods and things like that. Like, I I interviewed. I interviewed somebody who managed the Green Mill for a while and things like that, and he was saying that, yeah, back in the 2000s, [00:27:00] 90s, even, not even that long ago, you could rely on that place staying open till 4am, you gotta
[00:27:05] Jake: kick people out. Now it's like 11pm and
[00:27:08] Jake: there's only a couple people left in there, and it's like, no problem at all getting those out, you
[00:27:11] Jake: know, So yeah, it is, it is interesting.
[00:27:13] Kerry: We didn't know. Yeah. So I think it's a very walkable
[00:27:18] Kerry: area.
[00:27:18] Kerry: I don't have a car. I don't really need one. I mean, I could
[00:27:21] Kerry: rent
[00:27:21] Kerry: one if I wanted to but I don't have to pay parking. I'm like a seven or eight minute walk. And it's pretty incredible. There are several grocery stores around us in
[00:27:30] Kerry: Lakeshore East.
[00:27:30] Kerry: They have
[00:27:30] Kerry: a huge
[00:27:31] Kerry: Mariano's. Whole Foods is two blocks away. So they've built up a lot of this because these buildings were coming in. And Lakeshore East also has a huge dog park. I don't have a dog, but It would be very easy to have a dog there because it's everything's available to you.
[00:27:46] Kerry: Yeah,
[00:27:46] Kerry: that Yep. Go ahead. Sorry.
[00:27:48] Kerry: Lakeshore East, the park has only one street in and one street out. So it's very safe. You don't get random people driving through. They do have security down there, but you always feel safe. And then everyone, there's so [00:28:00] many, most of the people are residents, the majority of them. So they know each other.
[00:28:03] Kerry: They know you from the coffee shop. They know you from all the restaurants. So that's really fun to meet those people and see your neighbors, which is kind of cool. So it's our own little community. And again, you can, you know, a couple of steps, you're walking on the lake front of Chicago. Which I do, which that's really fun and beautiful.
[00:28:18] Kerry: We're a half a block from the Pritzker pavilion. They have live concerts out there on the grass all summer long. It's free. I mean, that's kind of incredible. The Harris theater is right
[00:28:27] Kerry: there.
[00:28:28] Kerry: So I'll probably be going there. Like
[00:28:30] Kerry: to go to a lot of things. Yeah. So we're right. Kind of in a good little area.
[00:28:35] Kerry: Concerts at United center are not that far away. Lyric opera is really cool. So, and the museums are right here. So there's, you
[00:28:43] Kerry: know,
[00:28:44] Kerry: a lot going on and a lot that's walkable. Ride your bike, you know, IES are everywhere. So, yeah, that's, what's cool. It is clean. And we're we're just waiting for that summer.
[00:28:53] Kerry: So
[00:28:55] Kerry: if
[00:28:55] Kerry: you've never been here, come in the summer.
[00:28:57] Jake: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, [00:29:00] definitely. It's not reliably warm until about mid May
[00:29:03] Kerry: right?
[00:29:04] Jake: is
[00:29:04] Jake: is,
[00:29:05] Jake: Yeah, maybe. Yeah, no, the Grand Park, Millennium Park being right there, there's always, always all kinds of activities going on, like you said, the free concerts, and then even, even beyond that, I mean, there's movies in the park, there's always some
[00:29:16] Jake: kind of like
[00:29:16] Jake: summer dance, and just whatever, I feel like there's, you know, a dozen different random programs and things going on that's all over the place that if you're, if you have your ear to the street, you can, you know, you know what they are, but, you Yeah, that's a really cool area.
[00:29:29] Jake: And that park, the park in the middle of Lakeshore East that you were talking about, the big kind
[00:29:33] Jake: of loop
[00:29:33] Jake: that you go down, it's so nice. I lived here for a few years before I even knew that I was there, to your point, you know, it's so, it's so, it's for, for being so prominently, such a prominent location in the city, it's so You know, hidden in plain sight,
[00:29:47] Kerry: Yeah, I agree. And It's down. It's lower level, which is kind of, it was a very smart landscape of the whole park was very smart and creative.
[00:29:54] Kerry: And I don't know if
[00:29:55] Kerry: they realized how big it would get. Like, there were originally, like, 3 buildings
[00:29:58] Kerry: there.
[00:29:58] Kerry: then everyone just kind [00:30:00] of moved in around it. So, yeah, it's fun.
[00:30:04] Jake: That whole area is so creatively designed. I mean, I couldn't even imagine the the sort of the, the civil engineering that must've gone into, you know, three levels of whacker and. You know, it's just everything that that whole area is. It's like, man, this place was a swamp,
[00:30:19] Jake: you know.
[00:30:21] Jake: some people said this swamp right here, we're going to build it into what it is today and just made it happen.
[00:30:25] Jake: And I the history of Chicago is endlessly fascinating in that way. Let's see.
[00:30:32] Jake: What are some
[00:30:33] Jake: places, what are some things to do? I mean, obviously, tons of, you know, kind of higher end restaurants, steak houses you know,
[00:30:39] Jake: things, things like that, but are there any kind of like, you know, local, local spots, hidden gems, restaurants, shops, you know, things like that in that area
[00:30:46] Jake: that
[00:30:47] Kerry: Oh, sure.
[00:30:48] Jake: out?
[00:30:49] Kerry: Yeah, in Lakeshore East, they have Avli.
[00:30:51] Kerry: It's a modern
[00:30:51] Kerry: Greek restaurant. I know there's
[00:30:52] Kerry: a few other Avli's. There's a smaller one in River North, but the one here is very large. It has a gigantic upstairs outdoor patio in the [00:31:00] summer. That's very cool, kind of hidden. I mean, I'd like to walk still walk over, I call it, over the river and through the woods to get back to Streeterville.
[00:31:09] Kerry: Where I lived for several years and they have a little jazz club hidden in there off. They have this inlet behind the Illinois street. It's like a dead end of the river.
[00:31:18] Kerry: And along there
[00:31:19] Kerry: are all these little restaurants and shops. Robert's Pizza is really famous right now. He won a bunch of awards.
[00:31:24] Kerry: He's from New York, but
[00:31:25] Kerry: it's been there for
[00:31:26] Kerry: several years. Another, they have an outdoor patio, and then they have a floating dock with more seating.
[00:31:30] Kerry: You can
[00:31:30] Kerry: step down to just like maximize that. All outdoor, there's a Mediterranean restaurant called Pinched. All outdoor seating. So once it warms up, I think, you know, the outdoor seating just blows up.
[00:31:41] Kerry: We're very close to the Lowe's Hotel. They have a great outdoor patio in the summer called the Street of Real Social, that if you didn't know about that, you might see the activity up there from the street, but it's kind of, it's open to the public as well. And that building is also mixed. So there's renters, condo and hotel kind of all intermingling.
[00:31:59] Kerry: They
[00:31:59] Kerry: [00:32:00] just opened a new bakery called
[00:32:02] Kerry: The Paris Baguette. Really known for everything. They have beautiful pastries, beautiful cakes. They're all being made on site and you can look in the window and see the bakers decorating the cakes. Very cool. That's just open and they're the big AMC theaters there. So if you want to go to the movies, go out for dinner, they just opened an English Indian restaurant
[00:32:22] Kerry: called.
[00:32:23] Kerry: Monarch and the Lion, I believe.
[00:32:25] Kerry: or Lion. It could be reversed, but that seems to be really popular. So I think people in Chicago want to go to all these new restaurants. I know I do. You hear about it. You haven't been there. You
[00:32:34] Kerry: feel like you're
[00:32:34] Kerry: missing something. Um, We still have restaurant week It's continuing. They're extending it. I think a little some restaurants.
[00:32:41] Kerry: And then from there, you just kind of branch out. I was out with some friends last night and they wanted to go during restaurant week to all the old school restaurants. They had never been to. They're kind of doing like their own food tour.
[00:32:52] Kerry: So
[00:32:52] Kerry: it's a really good deal. And
[00:32:54] Kerry: It's very popular. things like that.
[00:32:56] Kerry: And then once summer opens up every neighborhood has their own. Summer [00:33:00] festival, street festival. So that's, you know,
[00:33:02] Kerry: there's like four
[00:33:03] Kerry: big ones that I have to go
[00:33:04] Kerry: to.
[00:33:05] Jake: Which ones do you
[00:33:06] Jake: go to?
[00:33:07] Kerry: Definitely the Old Town and Welle's Street Art Fair. That happens in June. I'll
[00:33:11] Jake: My wife will be
[00:33:12] Jake: in the Wells Street, actually. She's an artist.
[00:33:14] Kerry: Oh, great.
[00:33:15] Kerry: great. Yeah. And
[00:33:17] Kerry: what does she do?
[00:33:18] Jake: She is an acrylic painter. She does all kinds of figurative, abstract paintings of all, of all shapes and sizes. Emma Lyons Art, if anybody wants to look her up.
[00:33:27] Jake: very
[00:33:27] Kerry: Very cool.
[00:33:28] Kerry: A little
[00:33:29] Jake: she's, she's been there, this'll be her third year doing that one. It's always one of the best ones for her. It's
[00:33:33] Kerry: Fun. Yeah. Um, I like the Randolph Street. It's usually fun. Gosh, there's so many. There's some Greektown. There's a big one too. just there's, I like to hang around the yacht club does a race to Mackinac party before that big sailing race. So they're sailing from the Chicago yacht club to Michigan in one of like the most dangerous parts of like Michigan.
[00:33:53] Kerry: So, I've been told that there's like a mini. Bermuda Triangle out there. So, and if they get bad weather,
[00:33:59] Kerry: soup,
[00:33:59] Kerry: [00:34:00] people have died before, but you know, it's all different sizes, classes of sailboats. If you want to take sailing lessons, you can go to the other yacht club, Columbia Yacht Club, and they're all like within walking distance.
[00:34:09] Kerry: You can learn how to ride a boat. You can buy a boat, rent a boat. I mean, there's, it's crazy what's going on, on, along the
[00:34:15] Kerry: lake
[00:34:15] Kerry: front and the river. So, right now, I think it's, it's all about the water. When I worked on Navy Pier, People wanted a water view. And then all of a sudden the river started happening and people like, well, we decided to go to this other restaurant for a rehearsal dinner.
[00:34:28] Kerry: It's on the river. And I used to block it. that's not
[00:34:30] Kerry: a, that's not a water
[00:34:31] Kerry: view, but now I get it.
[00:34:33] Jake: Mm
[00:34:34] Kerry: And I
[00:34:34] Kerry: think it's
[00:34:34] Kerry: that much better. I mean, it's really, they did a great job with Riverwalk. So very cool.
[00:34:42] Jake: If somebody were to come in and just,
[00:34:44] Jake: And
[00:34:44] Jake: spend one day in your neighborhood, what would be the, what would be the perfect way to spend that day?
[00:34:49] Kerry: in Lakeshore East?
[00:34:51] Jake: Yeah, Lakeshore East you, you maybe, maybe bring, you know, you can, you can maybe widen that by a little bit if you want,
[00:34:57] Jake: But yeah,
[00:34:58] Kerry: I, I think.
[00:34:59] Kerry: they're [00:35:00] coming
[00:35:00] Kerry: in the warm weather, which I would suggest you're somewhere in between and hope for nice weather. You got to get outside. I mean, I feel like we wait 10 months for two months and you got to really take advantage of it and people do.
[00:35:10] Kerry: So I think this summer, I think that maybe the restaurants will stay open later because
[00:35:14] Kerry: people
[00:35:14] Kerry: will want to go out more.
[00:35:16] Kerry: But if you can take in an outdoor big concert outdoor on the lawn of Pritzker Pavilion. If you can pop into this little jazz bar winter's jazz bar, it's almost hidden.
[00:35:24] Kerry: and you
[00:35:25] Kerry: can buy a ticket and get a great seat, but they also have a bar where you can just randomly walk in and sit at the bar.
[00:35:29] Kerry: I mean, there's so many good restaurants on both sides of the river. Go down the river walk, I would take a walk, a stroll on the whole
[00:35:35] Kerry: lake front,
[00:35:37] Kerry: take one or two cruise boats. I mean, you
[00:35:39] Kerry: could take
[00:35:39] Kerry: a boat cruise and go
[00:35:40] Kerry: out
[00:35:41] Kerry: onto the lake
[00:35:41] Kerry: and then you see the city
[00:35:43] Kerry: from the water, which is really cool. And. that one yet.
[00:35:46] Kerry: Yeah, that's that's really fun. Some of them will do both,
[00:35:49] Kerry: river
[00:35:50] Kerry: and lake, but they have to go through the locks. So that takes about an extra 20 minutes. It's kind of like our little Panama Canal. But that's kind of interesting to watch the water rise and, and [00:36:00] how they, you know, the whole mechanism of it is pretty mind boggling.
[00:36:03] Kerry: Navy Pier has fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday night the entire summer. And they actually did fireworks in December, too, every Saturday night. This is the first time we had winter fireworks. Which I didn't even know about it. I just happened to be walking over the bridge one night. I'm like, what is that?
[00:36:18] Jake: Yeah,
[00:36:18] Kerry: the fireworks and they're pretty great. Yeah. So
[00:36:21] Kerry: interesting
[00:36:21] Jake: want to, you never
[00:36:22] Jake: want to hear big booming noises
[00:36:23] Jake: when you don't expect them.
[00:36:24] Jake: right?
[00:36:24] Jake: But
[00:36:25] Kerry: yeah, I was a little bit alarmed. I'm like, wait,
[00:36:27] Kerry: this is something I know, but it was just odd. And it's odd seeing them, it was kind of foggy out.
[00:36:31] Kerry: It was just kind of a cool, different but, people were stopping and taking their pictures as people love to do right now. So there's so many good spots, architecture, architecture, Tours, just walking are cool. I lived, I walked past the Chicago Architecture Foundation every day. They have a brand, it's a newer building right on Wacker in Michigan.
[00:36:48] Kerry: So, that's, they have fun exhibits there too.
[00:36:52] Jake: Mm hmm.
[00:36:52] Kerry: You got to
[00:36:53] Kerry: plot it out to, I think, when you're coming here to see what is happening at that time.
[00:36:59] Jake: Okay.[00:37:00]
[00:37:00] Jake: Yeah, I saw I saw on your forum you said you like opera and museums, which have, you know, you can definitely, plenty of options for both of those things here in Chicago. What what are your favorite ways to, to experience those and like, what will be your ranking of the museums in
[00:37:14] Kerry: Well, you know, it
[00:37:15] Kerry: would depend too on what exhibits are showing. So obviously our, our prima donna museum is the Art Institute of Chicago. I like the MCA, which is modern. You can just go, I mean,
[00:37:26] Kerry: then we
[00:37:26] Kerry: have our whole museum campus.
[00:37:27] Kerry: So you have Shedd Aquarium, which I love.
[00:37:29] Kerry: you
[00:37:29] Kerry: know, the Field Museum. You can go, you know, there's just so many. Okay. The Peggy Note about Nature Museum, if you wanted to go north. So, Lincoln Park Zoo. There's just so many things to do.
[00:37:40] Kerry: You know, something for everyone. So
[00:37:41] Kerry: if you were going with a group or a family, I think you could find, you know, everyone's going to hit their spot and then there's shopping.
[00:37:47] Kerry: So but besides on Michigan Avenue, which is, you know,
[00:37:51] Kerry: taking a
[00:37:51] Kerry: bit of a hit since COVID State Street, very close to me has become like a secondary shopping area. Which, you know, it has a lot of [00:38:00] I don't know, maybe younger stores, maybe not so fancy because most of the high end clothing stores went into Michigan Avenue as their huge flagship stores, but retail is tough.
[00:38:08] Kerry: So they are kind of moving that stuff around, but a lot of them have moved down to state street, which is very convenient and they're
[00:38:13] Kerry: all in
[00:38:14] Kerry: a row. And you can just, you know, go through there. I take the bus. Frequently, I think our bus system, our train system is really good. So, you know, if you are exhausted from walking around, you can take it just, you know, from one end to the other.
[00:38:27] Jake: hmm. Very good. Yeah, we've covered a lot of territory already. I think I think I could just sum it up with just the, the, a nice, this bottom line question here. So, bottom line, why do you think somebody should want to move, A, move to Chicago over some other options, and B, if they are moving to Chicago, why would they want to live in your neck of the woods?
[00:38:50] Kerry: I think it's fun.
[00:38:51] Kerry: I can think from what I've said. I'm pretty much a sociable person. I like to go out and experience everything. And I think maybe I got that because when I lived in New York, that was the thing to do. [00:39:00] You had to see the latest show, the latest movie, the latest museum, because
[00:39:03] Kerry: that's
[00:39:03] Kerry: what people would talk about when you would go out.
[00:39:05] Kerry: And if you didn't, you really kind of got the like you felt like you were missing out.
[00:39:08] Kerry: FOMO. You're
[00:39:09] Kerry: missing out. So
[00:39:10] Jake: Mm hmm.
[00:39:11] Kerry: here I kind of just kept on that same trail. Those are the things I like anyway. But I went
[00:39:15] Kerry: to the Madonna concert last night. Now I didn't, it was the makeup concert from August when she got sick.
[00:39:20] Kerry: I had not purchased a ticket for that. Because I just
[00:39:23] Kerry: couldn't buy something that.
[00:39:24] Kerry: far out. I don't know what I'll
[00:39:25] Kerry: be
[00:39:25] Kerry: doing if I'll be busy. Anyway, I bought that online last minute you know, a seat and she was amazing. So, yeah, it's just crazy. You can do things like that on a whim. So I like that. I like to walk.
[00:39:36] Kerry: I'm like an outside person. But I also like to go to like the latest restaurants and see the competition and see what's going on. and like all different types of cuisine. So,
[00:39:45] Kerry: I'm usually out and about a lot.
[00:39:50] Jake: Yeah, you know, it's nice being in a place where when, when the big, big musical artists or acts come through, it's like, it's a big deal for them to, to [00:40:00] be in Chicago, you know, like I'm from Indianapolis and we would get big acts coming through, but it always felt like they were doing us a favor by coming through.
[00:40:08] Jake: You know, instead of like the other way around where it's like, you know, people are like, yeah, Chicago, I'm here. I made it, you know, like I get to the performance Chicago dreams. And I always dreamed of this, you know, kind of thing. So yeah, a little bit of a different vibe. Well, that's all I have as far as you know, the, the, how, how was it feel like to live in Chicago part of it?
[00:40:25] Jake: Is there anything that anything that I should have asked or that, you know, you would like to expound upon more things you'd like to promote? You know, how can somebody get ahold of you if, If they're interested in reserving a room at Smith & Wollensky and
[00:40:38] Jake: all that.
[00:40:39] Kerry: I would go to our website if you want if you're a bigger group and you were looking for anything from 10 to 400.
[00:40:48] Kerry: That you could go into our website, you'll fill out a very simple form and it comes right to my system gets logged in. I can, I can respond from my phone or my computer anywhere, anytime. So that's the fastest way and I can look it up and [00:41:00] see if your date and what rooms are available and send that information with photos and menus from my phone.
[00:41:05] Kerry: So that's the easiest way that we have your contact information and we can,
[00:41:08] Kerry: Contact back and forth. We have been really busy knock on wood because of our beautiful riverfront spaces. And we're going to get a lot of press. I think once we finish the remodel and then open the new restaurant, so we'll be busy.
[00:41:20] Kerry: So feel free to reach out Kerry. And yeah, I'd love to speak with anyone or elaborate on anything we've talked about.
[00:41:28] Jake: Okay, sounds good.
[00:41:30] Jake: Kerry, thank you so much for your time
[00:41:31] Jake: and sharing
[00:41:32] Jake: all of your experience and expertise about Chicago and your neighborhood. I know that a lot of people will for sure get a lot out of it. So thank you so much.
[00:41:39] Kerry: Great. Thank you. I appreciate it. Have a great weekend. Thanks.
