Ep. 8 Living In Andersonville, Uptown, Non-Profit Events Industry, Inclusivity, and More w/ August Spree!
In this episode of "Living in Chicago," host Jake Lyons interviews August Spree about her experience living in the Andersonville neighborhood. They explore Andersonville's unique culture and lifestyle, its location within the Edgewater community, and its LGBTQ-friendly atmosphere. August shares her journey from Pittsburgh to Chicago and discusses how the city's diversity and vibrancy have influenced her personally and professionally. The episode offers a deep dive into life in one of Chicago's most eclectic neighborhoods.
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 August Spree:
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Real Estate in areas discussed:
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Local Businesses Mentioned:
Green Mill: An iconic jazz club and cocktail lounge in Uptown Chicago, with a rich history and a speakeasy past. Website: Green Mill
Fat Cat: A bar and restaurant near Uptown, known for its American cuisine and cocktails. Website: Fat Cat
Demera Ethiopian Restaurant: Located across from the Green Mill, this restaurant offers traditional Ethiopian cuisine in Chicago. Website: Demera Ethiopian Restaurant
Time Out Market: A food and cultural market featuring a variety of vendors, including some Ethiopian options. Website: Time Out Market
Riviera Theatre: A historic theater in Uptown, Chicago, that hosts various events and shows. Website: Riviera Theatre
Pizza Lobo: A pizza restaurant in Chicago known for its unique style of pizza and cocktails. Website: Pizza Lobo
Bar Roma: An Italian restaurant in Chicago, popular for its happy hour and wine selection. Website: Bar Roma
Fiya: A Middle Eastern restaurant in Chicago, noted for its exceptional hummus.
Rattleback Records: A record store in Chicago specializing in vinyl records, both new and used. Website: Rattleback Records
Hester: A plant and gift store in Chicago.Brown Elephant: A resale shop in Chicago that supports LGBTQ health. Website: Brown Elephant
Forsided: A unique gift shop in Chicago. Website: Foursided
Note: the following transcript was generated automatically and not checked closely for spelling, grammar, or accuracy
Jake Lyons: Hello and 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 August Spree about what it's like to live in the Andersonville neighborhood. We talk a little bit about Andersonville and uptown because she's kind of in a in a tweener area that's not quite either of them technically would be uptown. But she spends a lot of her time in Andersonville and we, you know, we talk about a lot of different neighborhoods and just the lifestyle of Chicago. And this is a wide ranging, really interesting, really, really, really good conversation in a lot of different ways.
And I look forward to you guys hearing it and hearing what you guys think of it. Real quick, if you are not familiar with Andersonville, which is the neighborhood that we spend the majority of time talking about, I would say, as far as the neighborhoods that we actually do talk about. It is a subsection of the Edgewater community area. So there's 77 community areas in Chicago, but each of those community areas may have more neighborhoods within within it. So this would be a neighborhood that is within the Edgewater community area. And it is located just to north pretty much. If you're if you're starting from downtown Chicago in the loop, you just get on the Lakeshore Drive and go up five or six miles, get off on Foster Avenue or Highway 41, as you might, you might know it.
And go not even a few blocks and you are pretty much in Andersonville. So it's it's as the term Edgewater, it's parent neighborhood Edgewater might entail. It is right by the the lake. So you have a really cool beach right there, a foster beach.
Hollywood Beach isn't too far as well. So and, you know, don't sleep on Chicago beaches, because, I mean, it's in the middle of summer. I'm telling you, if somebody just blindfolded you and put you on on one of the beaches here in Chicago, I hope that doesn't actually happen. But if it did, and they were consensual, you know, I think you would in somebody that's told you like, yeah, this is this is the coast of Florida somewhere. You would be like, yeah, OK, I'm in Florida. That's cool.
You know, the beach scene here in Chicago really is really is pretty pretty great in the summer. But that's neither here nor there. Edgewater or sorry, Andersonville starts at starts at Foster Avenue goes up. It's a pretty small area, actually. Andersonville itself is it goes about as far as far east as broadway before it turns into Ridge Avenue goes about as far east as Ravenswood Avenue, which I've talked before is kind of a street that doesn't really feel like a street feels like kind of more of a parking lot or an alley because there's a train line going right through the middle of it. But nonetheless, that is the dividing line before you get to the Rose Hill Cemetery, which is huge on the other side of it. And then the north goes as far north as Victoria Street, according to Google Maps, which is kind of in kind of a random place to end it.
But, you know, the whole area really isn't very big at all. As far as what is it like? Let's hear from August about what actually living in this neighborhood is like. All right, here joined today by August Spree. She is a veteran of the nonprofit event planning and public speaking.
I would say it's not a circuit, but, you know, that's definitely the realm that she has been in for quite some time here in the Chicago area. August, hey, how are you? Hi, thanks for having me.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on. And I look forward to getting into whatever we get into. So you've been in the uptown, kind of a point of park adjacent Andersonville adjacent area. How long have you been there?
August Spree: I've been here for two years. So I lived in Chicago for more than a decade. And then I left and went to Detroit for a little bit and then came back home because Chicago, I love Chicago. Where are you from originally?
Jake Lyons: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Okay. Yeah. And so cool. Let's just, I guess, rewind to that point. What about what brought you to Chicago to begin with?
August Spree: Okay, so I was, I did like an internship. I was working with an organization. And at the time I was really involved with dance. So I had become a dance instructor and we were working with troubled youth, people who were, you know, maybe getting off of drugs or had troubled homes, things like that. And we had an arts program for them, which included dance. And I was in charge of the dance portion. And I came here to work with the organization because I was young and able to go wherever. And I thought, okay, yeah, I'll go see what that's like, have a little adventure, be there for like six months, maybe a year and then see where life takes me. And then fast forward and it was like 19 years before I was like.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, before you went to Detroit and then came back. Yeah. Gotcha. So you grew up in Pittsburgh. You were there what through through high school, through college and then came through high school.
August Spree: And then I did an internship. In like the Southern States in Oklahoma. Did not enjoy my time in Oklahoma. I mean, the arts scene is very cool there, but, but then yeah, from there, so I came here via Oklahoma. Gotcha.
Jake Lyons: Forgive me for presuming college because you don't have to go to college. There's plenty of ways to get through this whole life thing. Okay, cool. And what so coming from Pittsburgh, I would assume I would assume growing up there, you're probably a little bit like East Coast biased, right? Like if you're thinking of any big cities, you're probably thinking obviously like Philadelphia or like Boston or of course, obviously New York, you know, places like that. What would you say that's that's true or you know what about Chicago seemed a little different.
August Spree: Yeah, for me, Pittsburgh never felt like a fit. So Pittsburgh being very different because, you know, Pennsylvania is a very wide state and Pittsburgh is on the Ohio border, whereas Philly is over closer to New York and the coast over there.
Fair enough. So they're on opposite ends of the state. They're like eight hours apart and they have very different vibes. Pittsburgh is very old. Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 and all that stuff. And so it's, I guess, yeah, it is more of an East Coast vibe, but I do think it's definitely very different from Philly or New York.
I love Philly and New York. They've just grown with the times, let's say. So like as a woman of color, places that I've lived resonate differently for me in different ways, maybe than just, you know, someone who isn't a female or a personal color. So in that way, I think Pittsburgh felt limiting to me and from a very young age, I was like, okay, I'm going to have to go somewhere. I'm going to have to go somewhere else to find my place. And yeah, and I always did believe that there was a place on this planet for everyone to feel like, like a place where you click energetically and to feel the most yourself and the most alive. And I wouldn't say at the time that I came to Chicago, I had already traveled to two or three other countries and I was sort of exploring my way through life and plan to do that. I had also been to, let's see, by the time I came to Chicago, I had been to 30-something states. Wow. So I did a significant amount of...
Jake Lyons: At a pretty young age too, right? Yeah. That's getting around. What were you doing that had you visiting so many places?
August Spree: No, I was so privileged because I was involved with dance and in the company, it was like traveling. So for most of the year, we would travel and do different festivals, different shows, different things like that. And so I really was very blessed in that opportunity to experience that at such a young age.
I highly recommend it for anyone because you get to know so many people and obviously the team that I was with, like we tighter than ever and some of them 30 years later are still my best friends and stuff. So yeah, so I had had that chance and so that's why I didn't think I'd be putting down any routes when I came to Chicago and it just worked. At first I was in the suburbs. I think that's important to say because people are always like, where are you from? Chicago? And then they'll be like, Arlington Heights and you're like, that's Chicago. But I always had, like for the first few years, I had aspirations of moving to the city and I always had people assume I was from the city and go places and maybe like, do you live in Chicago?
It seems like you're a city person. And I would like, thank you. I feel it too. You know, so when I finally did move to the city, I was like in Ukrainian village area and just, I just feel like I sort of like inside myself, I was just like, it was like an exhale. Like this is my vibe. You know, what about it?
Jake Lyons: Do you think appealed to you most if you could kind of dissect the different, just the different aspects of city life that you vibe with and felt most at home with? Yeah.
August Spree: Um, I love that in the city, people, which I know some people say the opposite, but I feel like people are friendly. You're just, you're around so many people. Like a lot, you know, from like walking or taking public transit or just everything is closer. So I just felt like I engaged in conversations much easier. You know, then when I was in the suburbs and people seem to be in their own little capsules, I also appreciate again, going back to being a woman of color, just the diversity of it. Like I've always lived in neighborhoods that have been incredibly diverse from languages spoken to how it you know, people's appearances and gender identities and just like, I really appreciate that because if there's someone walking down the street with like a beard in like a sequin dress and, you know, like just expressing themselves in the full way that they want to, then I feel like I'm allowed to do that too.
You know what I mean? So it's just sort of that ability to be whoever you want to be. In that moment, I just feel like in my experience, I've seen that more in the city than I have in the suburbs, where it's more like you're expected to sort of conform. Certainly.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, that would definitely in my experience as well, for sure, be true. Yeah, I would say, you know, coming because I'm from Indianapolis originally and that's, you know, probably most of Indianapolis is probably pretty comparable to like a suburb of, you know, most of the suburbs of Chicago. I mean, India is a pretty big city in its own right, but, you know, most of it is pretty suburban in nature. So I can definitely relate to, you know, like in Arlington Heights, Naperville, Jean-Bourg. Like I've never been, I've never lived in those places, but I have a pretty good idea of what living in those places would look and feel like, you know.
So like, yeah, I think, you know, coming from kind of like a more conservative background, I know a lot of people are more likely to or they say like, oh, you go to like a liberal college or you move to, you know, quote, unquote, like a liberal city and you become liberal, you change, you, you know, your values go, whatever, you know, insert whatever, you know, sensitivity here.
Speaker 3: And it's like, that's really not what's going on. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: To me, it was just like, well, you're exposed to all these people who on the surface are different from you and you're, you're forced to reckon with the fact that like these people are not your enemy. Yeah, these are just normal people like having, you know, living the same kinds of dealing with the same things you are, you know, every kind of way in a lot of, in a lot of ways. And it's just like, yeah, it's just like such a good growth, growth experience kind of thing.
August Spree: I agree. I think I did come from a very conservative background in Pittsburgh and being out on my own at first, it was like, this is going to really date me.
Very much so. But I remember like the first goth person that I came across, you know, because I graduated high school in 1993. So, full on Gen Xer, but like I had not been exposed to like various gender identities or even anyone in the LGBTQ community. I mean, actually I was, but I didn't realize at the time, because people were kind of keeping it under wraps and all that. So I remember coming across like a goth person and they were so beautiful and kind.
And I didn't say it like, thankfully, I didn't put my foot in my mouth or say anything and I don't consider myself like immediately to be a judgy type of person. So, but I realized once inside, I felt surprised by their kindness. I had that moment where I was like, wait, why am I surprised by that? What did I, what did I expect? And that's when I started to realize that I had this preconceived idea of the type of person who would dress that way.
Jake Lyons: And you thought you were going to be like a sacrifice to Satan as soon as you met them or something?
August Spree: Not necessarily, but I did expect them to be sort of like, sort of like broody and grumpy. And, you know, I don't like, so those experiences and then like moving forward and experiences with people and other, you know, genres of being human. Yeah. I, yeah, I think you're exactly right. Like being in a city does force you to acknowledge that we're all here just like moving around, trying to live our lives. And, you know, your neighbor hangs a flag and I, it's not, it's not my job to tell them, you know, what kind of flag they can hang. Like it's just you live in your life and everybody has their own. And let's just like let people be people. Yeah, absolutely.
Jake Lyons: So you were in Ukrainian village for a time. Were you there pretty much until Detroit or have you, what all areas? So it's pretty much just been Ukrainian village and where you are now? Or was there a?
August Spree: Yeah, I am friends where I spent a lot of time. So I spent some time in Logan Square. I spent some time on North Lawndale and, you know, things like that.
But as far as living, yeah, Ukrainian village. And then here, I think this is my favorite so far. Like, yeah, never. But I'm always trying to get my friend. Well, they do. They come over here all the time. I used to hang out here when I live in Ukrainian village. I used to hang out in Andersonville. So when I was looking to move back, you know, and thinking about, OK, where would I, where would I like to live? I was really excited to find a spot that was so close.
Jake Lyons: Andersonville is a hard place to get into. Speaking as a real estate agent, I can tell you, man, places just don't come up for sale very often. I mean, no, no neighborhood is really like, you know, chuck full of places to buy right now. But Andersonville is like, especially so, like it's it's really, really low inventory there. So I know.
August Spree: Well, that's why I'm being on the edge of uptown, I think, is the benefit. So I can like walk over to Andersonville and all the stuff that's on park. Right. But I'm right near Green Mill, which I used to always bring people to, like, anybody who came to visit me in Chicago. We made a night to go over to Green Mill. It's like an icon, you know? And that's the half a block for me, you know? So I feel like I'm getting the best and then one of the best Ethiopian restaurants is right across from Green Mill and people come all over the city. Yeah, to eat there. Fantastic.
Jake Lyons: And I can just like I think they have a little they have a little satellite set up now down in the the time out market, I believe. All right. That's fun.
Yeah. If I'm lying about that, I'll just take this part out of the podcast. But I'm pretty sure they I'm pretty sure they have. I know there's Ethiopian there, but I may not be the mirror, but in any case, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, actually just had more over there. Yeah. OK. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: I actually just had a guy on a previous episode showed up, Chris Anderson. He was the the manager of the Green Mill for 12 years. So we got to have a pretty nice, pretty cool conversations. It's about all the history with that. The underground tunnels, the old Alka-Pone tunnels and all that. But, you know, all that kind of that history. Totally. Green Mill is man. What a what a what's absolute gem. Does it?
August Spree: Yeah, it is the oldest still operating speakeasy in the whole country. In the whole country, is that true? Yeah. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Wow. I mean, that would make sense, because it's like a real true like every sense of the word, you know, speakeasy like that was. Yeah. Like pure prohibition era. Like that's what that place was.
August Spree: Yeah, it existed, I believe, a little bit before like Alka-Pone finally acquired it. And then and then I think, you know, from his time period, is kind of what put it on the map, so to speak. And I love that they haven't changed it like the carved wood inside and the lights outside, like you can just picture, you know, like people pulling up in their like flappers, you know, gear and sparkles and stuff like that. And the Riviera is right there, the theater.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, pulling up in their like model tees. Yeah, I love it.
August Spree: Something like this was like the theater district, you know, this is where people came to hang out in that time period. And there was the Green Mill and there was the Riviera, you know, like this was the place to be seen.
So yeah, I just I love it. And there's a really cool cemetery, which I know is like a weird thing to talk about. But I think cemeteries are beautiful. I like to stroll through them when the weather is nice, because it's really quiet and in the middle of the city.
Jake Lyons: Presently kept grounds. I mean, yeah, cemeteries are nice. You know, I know I see I can at least see where you're going with that for sure. Yeah, I know.
August Spree: I know some people think they're I always say to my friends, I'm like, it's creepy. I'm like, ghosts don't hang out in cemeteries. OK, if they're roaming, they're not going to hang out with other dead people. They're trying to go like they're not here, you know, right?
Jake Lyons: You're not going there in the middle of the night. You know, that maybe that might might change things a little bit. But even then, you know, I don't know.
August Spree: I don't know. It doesn't freak me out. So that's like. It to me, it just feels like a peaceful slice of nature sort of in the middle of all of the city stuff.
Jake Lyons: So yeah, the classic real estate agent joke about living next to a cemetery is like, well, you get quiet neighbors.
August Spree: I know. I know. Yeah. When when I walked through here the first time, she was like, OK, so in the back, there's an alley, but then on the other side of the alley, there's a cemetery. But I think it's like she was trying to justify it and like convince me. And I was like, oh, I have no problem with that. I think it's awesome. It is very quiet. So. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: What do you like most about the Andersonville neighborhood specifically?
August Spree: Oh. Well, I love. Walking up and down Clark, like, well, I should say, I really, really love that it is so LGBTQ friendly. And there's just flags everywhere. I had a kid that I've known for quite some time who was coming to visit me and has grown up in an area that is and they're queer and they grew up in an area that that is just not OK and couldn't wait to graduate high school so that they could at least like not deal with being ridiculed. And so we planned a whole day and went walked around and did some shopping and grab lunch and their first comment was like as we're walking down with like, there's a lot of rainbow flags.
And I was like, oh, yeah, this is a very like queer friendly area and one of the businesses are owned by, you know, people from the community and and they were just like, but like a lot. And I was like, yeah, it's like, how did that feel? You know, like that weird to you or and they were just like, no, it feels great. You know, and it was like, it kind of feels like an exhale. And that's going back to what I said before when when you're in an area where people are like, even though I myself am not queer and I am cisgender, it's just like if you're in an area where people are free to be themselves, it gives me more comfort that I can be myself because I've lived in places where I can walk around and people are like.
Surprised that there's a black person, you know, I've had that I've had all the comments and people put in their hands and my hair and like all the stuff. So it's just nice to like walk around and. And just not be noticed, honestly.
Like no one cares, you know what I mean? So I like that. Also, to be perfectly honest, as like a single female who's like moving around on my own a lot, I really enjoy the fact that a lot of the males are gay. Because I feel a whole lot safer around gay men than I do around.
Jake Lyons: That makes sense. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Yeah, that's why that's why, you know, the like gay bars are so popular for bachelorette parties. I mean, you know, you know, you can just go there have a great time and they're not going to get hit on. I mean, it makes perfect sense.
August Spree: I know. I mean, not great for the dating life, but honestly, on a day to day, I appreciate it and I make like a ritual once springtime, springtime, summer and fall. I usually have a ritual where one day a week I'm walking through Andersonville. I'll just stroll, maybe get a coffee, maybe I shop around, maybe I don't.
But it's just sort of like my walking. Like ritual just to get out, get some fresh air and gotten to know some of the small business owners of the places that I love to pop in. And yeah, yeah, I love it.
Jake Lyons: And as a bill, definitely is this nothing but good vibes in my and my experiences there as well for all the reasons that you mentioned. And then just, I mean, even like going back like the old Swedish history of it and stuff like that, that is still, you know, holds on to at least a little bit. And just, yeah, that whole that whole strip across Clark Street is just I mean, there's just so many things you can get into there.
What are some of your favorites, you know, like restaurants, bars, like eclectic shops and things? I mean, there's so many of them. Yeah. Time for the real estate stats corner presented by me, Jake Lyons, real estate advisor here in the Chicago area with app properties and my website, the Chicago home source dot com. In this segment, I'm going to give you three statistics about the Anderson Bill neighborhood that at least paint a broad picture of what real estate prices are looking like in this neighborhood right now.
I do this because I think real estate prices are relevant to any discussion over any about any neighborhood because after all, what really is a neighborhood without real estate, right? So to get into it, the three statistics that I will give you are the median sales price for a two bed condo, the median sales price for a at least a three bedroom house and the median rental price for a two bedroom apartment. So the first stat here, the median sales price for a two bedroom condo and Anderson Bill as of December 2023, the most recent sales data that I have available to me of the recording of this is $375,000.
So 50% sold for more, 50% sold for less. $375,000 is the median sales price for a two bedroom condo and Anderson Bill. If you want a house and Anderson Bill of at least three bedrooms, the median sales price for such a thing was $1.25 million. And if you want to rent a two bedroom apartment, the median rental sales price on that would be $2350.
So there you have it. That is the real estate status corner presented by the ChicagoHomesource.com. If you want to see what all is available in the Anderson Bill area right now or anywhere in Chicago, for that matter, anywhere in the Chicago land area, go to the ChicagoHomesource.com. You can find that in the show notes. I know.
August Spree: So I love. Okay. So we're talking about Anderson Bill right now, but I already mentioned Green Mill and Fat Cat is on that corner too. So that's technically uptown. So Fat Cat is one of my favorites I can also stumble to. In Anderson Bill, I love Bar Roma for Happy Hour. They have a really great Happy Hour with these little wine crafts. And Pizza Lobo is great for... I am not a Chicago Pizza person. I know it's like sacrilege.
Jake Lyons: But I think most people, if given a lie detector test, I think most people are kind of on that same path. I know it's true. It's one of those things that we feel like we have to say it, but nobody's really.
August Spree: I mean, it's like a brick of cheese, right? I don't.
Jake Lyons: Anyway, it's absurd. It's ridiculous. Yeah, the only time we do it is if somebody's coming into town who visits Chicago like for the first time ever and they just want the full stereotypical Chicago thing. Exactly. That's fine. We'll do it. But there's much, much, much better pizza all over the city that is not quote, unquote, Chicago style. But anyway, sorry to interrupt.
August Spree: Yeah, definitely agree. So Pizza Lobo is one of my faves. Great cocktails, great pizza, and they have a huge patio. So I like going there with the family or whoever else, because you can just kind of sit outside and really enjoy, excuse me, the weather. Baye, which is like a Middle Eastern style. I think that's a great date night restaurant.
Jake Lyons: Some of the best hummus. I'm a big hummus guy and they're hummus samplers. They are the best. So good. The absolute best.
August Spree: I can make myself sick on that hummus so much. And I am picky about my hummus too, because I've been to Israel multiple, multiple times and there's nothing like having like hummus there. So I can attest it is and I go there with my Israeli friends. So I can definitely like say that that's definitely a good spot to go. Let's see. Rattleback records, because I love finals. And have you been?
Jake Lyons: I don't think I've been in that. No.
August Spree: So it's a cool little record shop, but they buy and sell. So they have used records in there. And I really like getting like old school. And it'll have a little label on there that'll tell you if it's like how it plays, you know, so you don't buy it and then get home and the whole thing scratch you doesn't play or whatever. So Hester, I get too many plants from Hester and Brown Elephant. Brown Elephant.
Jake Lyons: I'm not sure if it's Anndale or Anndale. I know there's like like an internet thing about how to pronounce their name. I'm not sure. One of the little sort of bodega kind of place woman owned. So it's Hester. Oh my God, I could just keep going like really. Yeah. Yeah.
August Spree: I love that all the places like well, most of the places are local and like small business too.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, it does seem I can't really picture. I guess there might be like a McDonald's or something up there at some point, right? What's up? Yeah, fast food up there. But yeah, for the most part, yeah, for sure, like 95 percent of it is.
August Spree: So yeah, I mean, I think the small business has kind of come together and they want to keep it small business focused.
Jake Lyons: As yeah, as they should. I mean, that's the part that's that's what the whole charm of that neighborhood is. Yeah. So that's what's so special about it, you know. Yeah. I'm trying to think like what else?
August Spree: Forsided for gifts. Like I always find something unique in there. Oh, L.E .T. Do you know that place? Is it Eli? I never know how to say things because I don't hear people say the name.
Jake Lyons: Oh, the tea place. Yeah. Yeah. I do. Yeah. I've been there once or twice. Yeah. And it's their tea menu is this out of this world is like everything you could, you know, you couldn't even imagine how many teas they have.
August Spree: I know. So good. And what I love about it is that it was established as a zero proof, like place, like alternative to a bar. So people who don't drink it, they still have like open like nights and they do like they have all of these like, so many nights and things like that that are happening there. But they serve tea and they don't have alcohol. And so I think it's a really cool spot for young people if they want to go on like a date night or something like that, or just if you don't feel like drinking or I have friends who are zero proof who just don't drink. So it's a good spot for all that.
Jake Lyons: That is nice. It would be good to see some more kind of, yeah, like alcohol optional alternative kind of things like that. Cause I mean, I feel like Chicago really is a city that like if you're going to go out and do things and be, you know, alcohol free, this is tough. It's tough to do. Like you're going to your, it would be tough to feel like you're not, you know, missing out on something or, you know, like, it's definitely getting better. Yeah. Yeah.
August Spree: Just from an event, like producer perspective, a lot more places have zero proof options on their menu that aren't just like whatever that alcohol free beer was that old tools or like a fairly temple. There's a lot of places that have honest nuanced beverages that are either mixed or I know there's like hop water is like kind of a thing that's trending right now. So everywhere from concert venues to restaurants will have some version of hop water or maybe like kombucha or something like that on their menu. So it's definitely getting better because the movement, I think everybody became alcoholic during the pandemic. And then like afterwards people started to
Jake Lyons: be everybody had a phase at least. Yeah.
August Spree: Alcohol sales were way up during the pandemic. And then there was, there was sort of a movement that emerged post pandemic. Why wouldn't they post? Cause I don't know if we are post, are we technically? I don't know.
But in the last like two years, there's been, there's been more attention on the zero proof movement, especially since, you know, weed is legalized. So yeah. Yeah. So there's like, yeah, and then there's, you know, free. Yeah. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. And I've even seen, uh, like alcohol free spirits. Um, yeah. You know, like, like gin and tequila and that can really taste like gin and tequila, but it doesn't have any alcohol in it somehow. I have not actually tried these, but yet, but it's actually produced in Chicago, I believe. Yeah.
August Spree: There are some, there's some different brands. Um, which one? Because there's like, I'm trying to think of I know there's several because I have a friend who owns a bar and they're, they've looked into a couple,
Jake Lyons: but there are no three tequila Chicago. This is quality content right here. It's me Googling random stuff. Uh, ritual.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah. Ritual.
August Spree: There's also like, I feel like once it starts with an S. I can't think of it right now.
Jake Lyons: Anyway, I'm not, I have not been able to confirm whether this was actually is, is a Chicago based or not. I guess it doesn't have to be, still to be cool, but it would be cooler if it was. Yeah. Um, what would you, uh, just to kind of pivot a little bit, what would you say the, the nonprofit world of Chicago has been like operating in that space? Cool.
August Spree: Um, it's been difficult bouncing back from the pandemic. I think when lockdown happened, that was obviously a major shift for all businesses, you know, profit and non-profit alike. Um, but at the time, one of the organizations that I was working with, we already worked with a vulnerable population in like working with people who deal with cancer. So a lot of our offerings were partially in virtual anyway. So we found it wasn't as big of a shift for us. Um, and people were sort of used to seeing that kind of, we obviously ramped it up and offered more things virtually.
Um, but for another organization that I work for who works with children and was working in schools and things like that, it was incredibly challenging. And, um, and then on top of that, like budgets and I mean, with the cost of everything rising and things like that, as we've come out of, you know, more restricted lifestyle and gone back to normal, so to speak, I don't even like that.
Jake Lyons: But, um, I mean, it's at least not, you know, lockdowns and all that stuff going on, you know, like, yeah, we can at least, I think we can safely say we're at least past that stuff, right? COVID is here forever now. Exactly. Yeah.
August Spree: You know, that is what it is. But in the event space, which, you know, I deal with fundraising events. So in the event space in that regard, at first we started doing events tentatively, like carefully in mid to late 2021. It was like, okay, I think we can start to gather. But of course there was still a large portion of people who were like, I'm still not comfortable with it, you know. And so numbers were down. And then as 2022 came around, we found that corporations who had typically been like, oh, sure, here's, you know, $50,000 towards your mission and what you're doing and things like that. All of a sudden it was like, we had to cut back and we had to do this. And so we can no longer support or we can only support it, you know, a quarter of that level or something like that.
So it has been a little bit of a struggle. I think there are people who still want to and believe in giving back. And I love working in the area because I've always been the kind of person like I need my work to be meaningful. I need to feel like I'm contributing in some way, because there's just a lot of like crappy things in the world.
And I feel like if I have to do, if I have to spend most of the hours that I'm living doing something, I really want it to make a difference. That's for me. So and everybody has their own approach to that.
Some people are like, I can do work that, you know, that doesn't matter to me, but then the money I make from that, I want to contribute to something. So or whatever the formula is for each individual, I'm not trying to throw shade, but sure. Yeah, I think this year, 2023, it has, we've felt it those losses a little more. The shifts of companies and corporations specifically, not the individuals necessarily, but more the larger donors and larger gifts that have had to scale back because of their own reasons, you know. And then some vendors that we were used to working with, because my focus, the reason why the places that I work with brought me on is because I have a heavy focus in working with local and historically underrepresented business. Like people, historically underrepresented owners of businesses. I didn't say that right, but hopefully you can fix that. You'll say it again.
Jake Lyons: Historically, business owners who are historically underrepresented. Yes. Is that better?
August Spree: Okay, let me take another run at it.
Jake Lyons: We have all the right words. It's just what it was the order that they go in.
August Spree: I know. So the organizations that I work with now brought me on specifically because I have a focus on working with local businesses and also businesses who are owned by historically underrepresented people. So we have owned people of color, LGBTQ community. So that's like my first go to is to support those. And I was like that prior to the pandemic, but I think it rose up on the radar of a lot of businesses during the pandemic when people realized, oh, these small businesses are just like going out of business after a very short period of time. So we want to, we want to make sure that if we're giving business, we're giving it to the community that we're in. Yeah. So it was sad to see some of our favorite places go away, but I think we've built, since coming back, we've built some really great relationships. And I love my roster of people that I enjoy working with are just incredible. So yeah.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. I mean, it definitely seems like what you mean like the like business owners and things like that or other people in the nonprofit space, I guess in both cases.
August Spree: Yeah, both. But specifically business owners because we have offices that are like we have offices downtown. We have with the kids organization, we're working in various neighborhoods where they need us. So I get to personally, I'm enjoying the uptown Andersonville, you know, place where I live, but I also get to work with businesses that are on the South side and further north and, you know, everything in between.
So I'm working with businesses that are located all over Chicago because my goal is to always be working with someone local, wherever I'm doing, you know, whatever the event might be. So. Okay. Makes sense. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Thank you for sharing, sharing all that. I guess I'm curious if there are if certain aspects of what was going on in the and this is just like a question of curiosity. This is obvious, stupid. We can take it out, but certain aspects of what was going on at that throughout the pandemic, like specifically like the civil unrest and, you know, Floyd and all that. Did any of that almost play into like your favor in a weird way of like just like more, there's more attention being brought to underrepresented, you know, people's, especially particularly people of color, I guess, in that respect, but, you know, maybe some of that going into different areas too. Yeah. Yeah.
August Spree: Yeah, I did find there was a bit of a scramble because when George Floyd happened, now that that was the first time I was not only alive, but very old enough to know when Rodney King and all of that was happening. And it's just, you know, it's a cycle that our country has been through, unfortunately, multiple times. But I think on top of everyone being locked down and just and there being social media, which was not available, you know, in previous larger incidents like that. We were just all staring at the news every day.
And I think the scramble with businesses was sort of like an, oh, shit. Like we're looking around and we actually aren't doing a very good job at being inclusive. And I do think my focus, because I had been talking about it for a while, I had multiple arguments with multiple places I had worked with about this.
And people saying things to me like, well, I mean, we can't have everybody, you know, we can't think about everybody. We just like it was just like statements like that where I'd be like, Hey, look, there's this business who's owned by, you know, an API like woman. And they do the same thing as this like, you know, white man owned business here. So why not in their local?
So why not give our business over there? And it would just be a lot of pushback that I would get. Whereas, after George Floyd and a little bit of awareness was raised, there was a little bit less resistance. I mean, there were still some people who were like, okay, we're happy to add like one or two.
But you know, that's enough. So I don't know, it's up to the individuals. I think the people who were already aware, you know, we're already on that path. And the people who were reluctant about it before, we're still reluctant about it.
But maybe they did a few more things. I'm grateful for whatever brings people's awareness to being more inclusive in the workplace and, and all of that. And whatever encourages people to grow as a individual. I think that that's a good thing.
Jake Lyons: But you hope next time it doesn't, you hope next time it doesn't have to come from, you know, such a tragic off thing. But sometimes that is what it takes, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
August Spree: But I mean, I will say, I mean, I know this isn't what the podcast is about. But on the other side of that is being a woman of color in the room, while all that is going on in the world. And now all of a sudden, all the questions and everything gets passed through you. And you're like, I don't speak for having I, you know what I mean? Like it did become exhausting to a point where I had to disengage.
I had people who I hadn't spoken to in 20 something years, reaching out to me being like, I'm not a racist, right? I mean, you know that. And I'm like, I don't know you anymore. You know, like, I'm not here to validate, like, you know, and they give me this, like, I did this and this and this. And I'm just like, that's not my, it's not my job to play, you know, how you're doing in the race category.
I don't know. So there's two parts to it. Like, on one part, I did feel like I could speak up about things. And it wasn't shocking to people because they were seeing it other places. And on the other hand, I also didn't want to be the person everyone went to to talk about it all the time. Because it's exhausting. So. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: And you might have even seen that on, on like, that was like kind of corporate levels, whereas like, now all of a sudden, there's, there's so far overreacting to the other side, they're like on the other side of the spectrum from where they were so much. And now it's just ingenuous. And it's like clear that they're just
August Spree: trying to, you know, catch the wave. Right. Became trendy people who added roles, like chief diversity officer, and then those roles were eliminated two years later, you know, things like that. And it's just like, it's performative. So you just, for me, I'm just like, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing. I'm going to keep talking about it. And the people, like I said, the people who care will continue on their growth path. And people who never really cared will do them themselves in whatever way they usually do them.
Jake Lyons: Right. Either way is not up to you. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. How would you say the neighborhood that you live in and just Chicago in general has influenced your own personal, professional and creative endeavors?
August Spree: Well, personally, I think, like I said earlier, I am a firm believer that there is an energetic match for every human being on this planet. I don't, I know that not everyone gets a chance to explore that opportunity.
But I have seen it so many times, like there was someone that I knew, a kid that I used to teach dance to who just really struggled, it seemed, in every aspect of his life. And then we did the summer trip for dance and music. He was on the music side. And we went to Denmark and he was like a whole different person. Fast forward, graduate high school, does some college, ends up moving to Denmark, getting married there, has a family there, is like, like just a different person.
Another person I knew who is still in the music scene, same thing except it was Australia. Like just, I've seen it happen with so many people and state side as well. So I think for me personally, having been a lot of different places like Chicago just feels like a match for me. I feel, you know, it's hard to describe because it's one of those feelings where you only recognize it in the relief from it. That makes sense.
So I will give a tangible example. So the place I was living outside of Detroit area was a little more rural, it was like an hour outside of Detroit. I was reminded on a regular basis that I was the only person of color in the whole neighborhood. And not necessarily in like malicious ways, but just again, like it's nice to just not be noticed. Like I just want to move around. I don't want people to point out and be like, oh, yes, I remember you because you're the one with the brown skin.
Like I don't need to hear that. So I am a fan of graphic t-shirts and like a good graphic tee that just says like woman on it or whatever. I love doing that and throwing a blazer over it. That's like part of my aesthetic. Anyway, so I have this shirt that says equality. I think I made a donation to an organization and got it and it just says equality and part of the tee has like a little rainbow in it.
And it's very simple, but I threw it on, went over to the post office because the place I was living, you had to like go there to pick up your mail, but it was like walking distance. So on my way, a couple of people decided to just randomly passing me by make a comment about my shirt. Oh, are you gay? Like just it literally says equality. So it's not like, yay gay people or lesbian or I don't know, like it wasn't a label.
It was anyway, it was very annoying. And I found like that I would double check what I was wearing before I strolled out the door for something as simple as going to get the mail, you know, and then I moved back to Chicago and had been here for a few months, wasn't thinking about it, had the same shirt on and walked around the corner to the post office to mail something. And two guys that were walking and passed me said, Oh, I like your shirt. And I looked down and realized like it was the same shirt that I had gotten heckled in before. And I say that to say not that like, Oh, I need encouragement about what I'm wearing. But what I really noticed was that I didn't think about what I was wearing before I left the house. You know what I mean?
Like, that's where the relief of not being stressed like, Oh, what what does my shirt say before I leave the house? You know, sorry, that's my clock. Can you hear that? No. Oh, okay. Leave a Santa. Leave a Santa clock. So it was just like, Oh, I didn't know if you could.
Jake Lyons: No, no, yeah, I couldn't hear it. Okay.
August Spree: So anyway, I think the relief from the stress of worrying about being so visible in an area where I'm such a minority is a huge mental health benefit to me, personally, where I can walk out the house and not worry about what I'm wearing and I can, you know, or what my t-shirt says, I should say. And so and then professionally, I find that the team that I'm working with here versus some of the teams I was working with at nonprofits in that area are vastly different. I do not get the comments or harassment or and I'm not going to go into like some really horrible stories of times where people said really ignorant things to me in the workplace in front of other people. And then my boss talked to me about it and said, Listen, this person now is worried that you think they're racist. If you could just go up and let them know you don't think that. And I'm like, Well, they said a very racist thing to me just now. So, you know, and I wasn't going around calling people that I would just be like, that's not appropriate to say.
And then I would get disciplined, you know, for saying that. So, the difference being that the team I'm working with now, Chicago just is, it doesn't, I guess I don't want to say that, but it, in my experience, I don't find that the majority of people are or I find that the majority of people are more inclusive and more aware of how they interact with their coworkers than I was finding in other places.
Jake Lyons: So, really like a more empathetic default mode, you know, in a way or just something like something along those lines.
August Spree: Yeah, I feel like I can be more of myself in every aspect, personal and professional life. And that's just, like I said, it's just a huge relief. It's extra energy of like, I don't have to shoot up every time I drive into my workplace, you know, things like that. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.
Jake Lyons: That's not a vote of confidence for a place. And it can make you feel that way when you haven't felt that way in other situations. And yeah, I don't know what is, that's great. So, I guess, you know, this bottom line, like, who would you say that this neighborhood that your neighborhood is ideal for? Why was somebody want to, why should somebody move there over maybe some other options? That's a good question too.
August Spree: I, you know, I hate to be like really broad, but I feel like it's good for families or like single folks. There's like stuff to do for either or. Yeah. Obviously, like very diverse, there's, I live right near Asia or Nargile too. So, there's like the Lunar New Year and things like that. And there's always like really fun things happening there with that community. There's, like I said, the Andersonville being very LGBTQ friendly, uptown is very friendly to like people of color. So, I just, this particular corner, you know, this edge that I'm living on is, is friendly to like very, a very broad range of people and their lifestyles and stuff.
I mean, I have kids too, they're older, but I also have a grandbaby and they live with me. And so, I'm always like, oh, hey, like, we can go do this. We love to like walk in Andersonville all together. And there's lots of strollers and things like that around. It's usually dog friendly area. So, if you like dogs, you know, it's a great place for that. But then I also do see like couples walking around, you know, without kids and stuff and doing their thing. So, I wouldn't say like, I know there are other neighborhoods that are very family focused or others that are very much more like not kids focused, you know, but this one I think it kind of is for both.
Jake Lyons: Were your kids, are your kids of the age, were they going to Chicago schools for the most part, was most of that when you were in the Detroit area probably? Yeah. Yeah, in the car. Because I know, yeah, I've talked to a couple people about, you know, I would say like, I don't have kids yet. So, I like the whole how school, the school system in Chicago works is like a pretty big blind spot of mine. I know it's can be very difficult to navigate. So, I wasn't sure if you, you know, had to do all that.
August Spree: That's good. Yeah. I know it is though. What I do appreciate though is that them just using public transit, I think that's an important skill to learn, like navigating your way around. But again, they're older. So, it's not as much of a concern as it might be to have younger kids. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, I have wondered that. Like, what do you think is like the right age to start being like, all right, you're old enough to go get on the red line by yourself, you know? I don't know.
August Spree: I don't know.
Jake Lyons: It's so scary. I would be petrified as a parent. I'm gonna be a proper parent. I already know it. I'm gonna be such a micromanaging parent. And I was so like, not raised that way. Like, my parents just let me do whatever I wanted and it worked out. But I feel like, I feel like we always like overreact to however we were raised, you know? Very true. So, I think I'm, I think that's gonna be me.
August Spree: Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's scary for me sometimes and I'm an adult. So, but I know like, there's public school kids who take the bus every day to school, like the regular bus, not the school bus, you know? Yeah. Just like the regular bus to school. So, like, I guess, yeah, it's individual. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Well, awesome. This is, are there any other, you know, before we kind of close out like the neighborhood, city portion of our conversation? And obviously, we jumped around some bunch of stuff in between. But, you know, are there any, any thoughts on, on any of that you want to get out or questions I should have asked? Hmm.
August Spree: I don't think so. I think I talked about a lot of my fears. So, yeah. Cool. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Anything you'd like to highlight or promote or just in general, you know, that you want people to know about either about yourself, ways to get ahold of you, if that's, if that's relevant or yeah, things around the city, you know, anything?
August Spree: Yeah, I will say that the two main organizations that I work with, one is called Twist Out Cancer. And we work with those who've been affected by cancer using arts programming in various different forms.
So, if anyone is a survivor, a pre-viber or caregiver of someone who was diagnosed, please feel free to reach out, augustattwistoutcancer.org. So, yeah. And then the other organization I work with is Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Chicago. And they've been around for 108 years. So most people know who they are.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, I might have heard of them. Yeah.
August Spree: So, I'm very happy to be able to contribute to a new generation of young people through that organization as well.
Jake Lyons: Excellent. All right, August, thank you so much for giving me your, giving us your time here. I know our audience will definitely get a lot out of this.
August Spree: Thank you so much for having me. I can, I love talking about Chicago. And when people come in and tell them, I'm always like, okay, what do you want to do? Do you want to turn up? Do you want to chill out? Do you have like kids with you? Like literally, you could visit Chicago probably eight times and do completely different things. You know what I mean?
Jake Lyons: Oh, you could live in Chicago for your whole life and do different, you know, a whole day of different things every day. I mean, yeah, it's endless.
August Spree: And I'm even talking about Michigan Avenue or all that stuff. Like, that's, I don't even include that. I'm just talking about neighborhood stuff. Like, it's endless things. Yeah. Yeah.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, I brought this up on a few different episodes by now. If the audience is listening to every episode, they're probably tired of me, Marina. But there's this guy, and I, if I'm going to keep bringing this guy up, I need to actually get him though, like, what is his Instagram handle? It's a guy on Instagram. I'm just going to look it up. It's like Chicago food. I don't know.
That's going to take too long. But this guy, he goes around and his goal is to eat cuisine from every country in the world without leaving the Chicago land area. And I think he does have to venture into the suburbs every once in a while. But like, yeah, that's just like, you can do that here. And that's just crazy.
August Spree: Yeah. I mean, I'm a huge foodie. So I go to most places for the food. So that sounds pretty awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. Now you're like, Oh, yeah, there's Cuban and they're like, Oh, yeah, everything.
Jake Lyons: We went to a Filipino place last night. That was really good. I mean, we're over here in Albany Park. So, you know, super diverse neighborhood, there's all kinds of stuff over here.
And we haven't even, we haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg with all the different different types of cuisines there are over here, you know, Persian, there's a couple really famous Persian restaurants over here and like Cambodian. I mean, this is, you know, it goes on and on. Yeah.
There's like Kazakhstan, like this like Kazakhstan-y. Yeah. There is. Yeah, that's an interesting one. It's like a, it's kind of like a combination. It's like Arzon cafe. It's like a combination.
The food there is like, it's like a little bit Middle Eastern, but with sort of like Chinese and Russian influences on it. Yeah. It's really, it's really interesting. It's pretty cool.
August Spree: I didn't even know that that country existed. I met someone ironically in Israel, who was traveling, who was from Kazakhstan. And then I looked on the map and I was like, it's massive.
Speaker 3: Like how did I, I'm pretty good with geography. I'm like the person who people put on geography at like trivia things. And I can't believe I just like missed that one. But that's cool. You'll have to send me that because I would like to go.
Jake Lyons: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. This is right down the street from us. So, hey, if you ever come over and hang out, we'll just, we'll just walk down there. It's like 10 minutes walk.
August Spree: Yeah. Awesome. Cool.
Jake Lyons: August, thank you so much for all your time and for sharing everything that you shared. Thank you for having me.
