Marvin Traub, 63, new kid in town. The chairman of Bloomingdale`s-a consummate New Yorker who entered Chicago with a splash in `88-will concentrate on burnishing the fashion reputation and excitement at Bloomie`s Michigan Avenue store with a giant French-theme promotion in the fall. The goal is to establish a solid customer base before adding a store at Old Orchard in 1991 and providing even more competition for . . .
Philip B. Miller, 50, chairman of Marshall Field & Co. This old-line Chicago retailer is expanding also-but into Ohio, where Fields will open a store in August. Closer to home, Fields will be fighting back a la Francais with a grand-scale four-month promotion of its own this fall. In the longer term, it`s pinning stratospheric hopes on the massive rehab of its State Street store, already underway. That should heat up the Loop, which brings us to . . .
Dennis S. Bookshester, 50, corporate vice chairman and chief executive officer of department stores, Carson Pirie Scott & Co. In charge of CPS` 37 Midwest department stores (including the former Donaldson`s of Minneapolis, acquired in 1988), Bookshester will oversee the addition of new CPS stores in Ford City as well as the new Lincolnwood Town Center. And, as always, he is rumored to be looking for the right real estate on North Michigan Avenue.
Regina Boyd, 35, literacy leader. Boyd, a mother of six, was an active worker in CYCLE (the La Salle Street Church-sponsored Community Youth Creative Learning Experience) when IBM chose the group to help set up a literacy program for Cabrini-Green residents. ”We provided the money, the technology and the leadership,” said IBM`s David Cox, ”but Regina (a Cabrini resident herself) has been the real energizing force-organizing, discouraging dropouts.”
More Top Picks Asus Rog Strix G16 Review
Dr. John Fahey, 44, anti-smoking activist. For more than a year, Fahey, a non- practicing physician, has been researching a proposed smoking ordinance for Arlington Heights. His proposal is a hybrid of local ordinances from Skokie to Phoenix-and tougher on public smoking than the ordinance proposed by Arlington Heights` own village attorney. The two versions are to be debated at a village hall meeting Jan. 19, where there may be both smoke and fire.
Leo Melamed, 56, trading whiz. As chairman of the executive committee and special counsel to the board of governors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he has a rather densely printed business card; but his current enthusiasm can be stated simply: Globex. At midyear, it goes on line-an electronic means for traders in other countries to bid on the Exchange while Chicago sleeps. The system will be ”a giant step toward unification of the world`s financial centers.”
Mary Ittelson, 32, and Bruce Guenther, 40, museum directors. He decided when he was 11 that Picasso was his hero; she trained to become a dancer. Now they`re interim co-directors of the Museum of Contemporary Art. While the search for a permanent director goes on, they`ll try to move the already-acclaimed museum into even higher realms: ”We want to show the art of the last decade, the art of the decade in which we are living,” Guenther said.
William L. Weiss, 59, phone man. As chief of Ameritech, he may campaign hard enough finally to break the ”regulatory shackles” he feels have held back telecommunications companies since the AT&T divestiture. If only left alone, said Weiss, the ”little Bells” (such as Ameritech and its five-state phone company subsidiaries) could dominate equipment manufacture and various forms of electronic networking before foreign competition swallows the market.
Rev. Jack Wall, 45, priest. Known as the Chicago Archdiocese`s media chaplain, Father Wall also has a reputation as a pastoral dynamo. In the five years since he became pastor of Old St. Patrick`s Catholic Church, membership has increased from 4 to almost 1,000. For 1989: ”We want to continue to make St. Pat`s a place where people might be more reflective about their work experience. The church is an appropriate setting to look at one`s work.”
Margot Felling, 41, taste temptress. Can she duplicate the success of Foodstuffs in Glencoe, which she took over in 1986, with expansion stores in Evanston and Chicago? This year will tell. ”We show off beautiful fresh foods” at the two new stores-at 2106 Central St. in the suburb and at Halsted and Webster in the city. ”We take pride in our food and pride that we are tremendously clean,” Felling says. ”We`ll be fine-tuning what we have in 1989.”
Manford Byrd Jr., 60, Chicago schools superintendent. Presiding over what has been called the worst school system in the country, Byrd does not seem the least bit inclined to loosen his grip on the controls. His contract expires in March, but even his most vociferous critics know Byrd won`t be easy to unseat if he decides to stay. He regards himself as one of the ”most gifted”
administrators in the country. A consummate insider, Byrd`s survival instincts are the stuff of legend.
Daniel E. McLean, 40, developer. He got into residential development only four years ago, but McLean expects sales at MCL Development to reach $100 million in 1989. His Embassy Club condo and townhouse development in West De Paul is a hot seller; now he`s moving in on the Dearborn Park II project. The South Loop is ripe for growth, he says. ”It is the only place left where there are large parcels of available land remaining in close proximity to the Loop.”
Gaylen Gerber, 33, artist. He paints still lifes-each almost identical and done in monochrome so they are barely visible. When he showed his work at the Robbin Lockett Gallery last year it caused quite a response. ”Actually, they`re intentionally bland,” he said of his works. ”I was playing on the failures of previous art-but not in a bad way. They`re very quiet paintings.” Expect another Gerber show at the Lockett gallery in early fall.
Jerry Cizek, 42, auto exec. As new executive VP of the Chicago Automobile Association (which represents 700 new car dealers and runs the annual Auto Show), Cizek aims to change the car-salesman stereotype from someone ”with checked sportcoat and white shoes” into ”the man or woman who lives next door to you.” This year he sees ”the association expanding and improving its role. We`ll answer all questions. Yes, if you buy a lemon, you can call our office.”
Gene Sage, 63, restaurateur. He`s still getting used to his new Sage`s Restaurant, 203 N. LaSalle St.: After 30 years in the biz, he has returned to the Loop-while forsaking much of his meat-and-potatoes past. Part of the change is due to daughter Nancy, who works with him, and part to French-country-classic chef Margaret Wangelin. Will sun-dried tomatoes and carbonnades of beef work for Sage? He`s betting on it-and on the growing vitality of the Loop. –
Chas. A. Stevens, 102, clothing store. Nine Stevens branches and two sister Chas stores are all that remain of the 29 stores with which Stevens began 1988. The venerable chain (yes, that`s founder Chas` picture) is now in Chapter 11 and searching for a buyer. To help Stevens rally and get back into the retail ring in 1989, president John W. Lee II plans to add more larger sizes and vows to stick to classic, feminine styles with more moderate prices. The Regal, Chicago and ETA Theaters, ongoing dramas. The Regal, at 79th St. and Stony Island-despite ending `88 with the delightful ”Harlem Suite”-has had a rocky road since its grand opening in 1987. ”Chicago has a `show me`
attitude,” says spokeswoman Andrea Smith, ”but we are here to stay.” One hopes 1989 will be the Regal`s year of acceptance. The Chicago-supposed to be the crown jewel of the North Loop redevelopment-turned sour in September, with bankruptcy proceedings. But the lights will be on and the building ”viable” in 1989, according to Howard Silverman, representative of one of the corporate partners in Chicago Theatre Restoration Associates. At ETA Creative Arts, which opened in October at 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. after years of nomadic existence, ”We`re going to expand our audiences, upgrade staff salaries, computerize our management systems and develop (the funding) that will ensure the permanence of this institution,” says Abena Joan Brown, co-founder and president. Seven main stage performances are scheduled for 1989.
Anita Miller, 62, and Jordan Miller, 67, publishers. After a highly publicized legal imbroglio with the family of John Cheever, the Millers` publishing house, Academy Chicago, finally expects to go to press with ”Uncollected Stories of John Cheever” in 1989-albeit in slightly shorter form than the originally planned 500-pager. If pent-up public curiosity about the collection isn`t enough to bolster sales, then the book Anita is writing about the whole episode just might.
Jack Berger, 43, architect, and Marc Berger, 36, contractor. When these brothers arrived at the intersection of Chicago and Milwaukee Avenues eight years ago, they saw seedy urban decay-and potential. Now, after pioneering the area`s redevelopment (with River West Lofts, 925 W. Huron St., and River West Plaza commercial lofts, 770 N. Halsted St.), their efforts seem poised for a big return on investment. River West is fast becoming a new-and cheaper-alternative to the arty River North. Expected to add to the area`s
attractiveness: a new legitmate theater and restaurant the Bergers will announce for River West Plaza this month.
Hinsdale telephone switching station. With any luck, next Mother`s Day won`t bring a massive fire capable of knocking out 42,000 phones. Still,
repercussions from last May`s fire that gutted the Illinois Bell call-switching station continue to be felt. Two reports are due soon: one from Illinois Bell and the other from the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois state fire marshal`s office. One conclusion might be that big isn`t always better; the huge concentration of technology in Hinsdale magnified the extent of the disaster. ”But we have no idea what the recommendations are going to be right now,” said Bell spokesman Dick Hill. ”The information is being held closely.”
Gale Gand, 32, pastry chef. Before discovering the joys of cooking six years ago, Gand trained as an artist. The result is food that`s a pleasure to see and eat. Her artistry will have greater public exposure, literally, in her new post as pastry chef at Bella Luna restuarant, 525 W. Monroe St., where the kitchen is open and customers can watch Gand create her desserts. Married to Bella Luna chef Richard Tramonto, Gand thinks of food as an artistic medium and cooking as a kind of performance art: ”My goal is to get accepted as an artist in the community. This is like theater almost.”
Primitive Prayer, rock band. They called themselves Wild Blue when this five- member Chicago band first formed in 1984, but changed the name in 1987 when they ”found themselves musically and went in a new direction,” according to manager Ric Bracamontes. ”Before, their music was homogenized, they weren`t really being themselves. Now it`s a new sound. It`s rock with a bluesy edge, and they`re going places with it.” The band is expected to soon sign with Los Angeles-based Pasha/Epic records, with a record release in early summer.
The starter home, quickly disappearing. In the Chicago area, the condominium is replacing the post-World War II American dream of the freestanding
”starter” home for a young family. Homes with a selling price of $70,000 to $75,000-about all that families with the area`s median income of about $30,000 can afford-are as rare as a dodo bird. While some existing homes in the south suburbs of Lansing and Calumet City may sell at those prices, few
(if any) new homes are being built in that range. Builders claim they can`t make a profit on entry-level homes anymore. Whatever the reason for the dwindling supply, the dream of a little house with a white picket fence is fading for many.
More Top Picks Best Soft Coolers
HMOs, ailing. Considered just a few years ago to be the shining solution to affordable health care, HMOs have hit hard times. Two major Chicago-area doctors groups (Wheaton Medical Clinic and Northwestern Memorial Hospital`s Northwestern Healthcare Corp.) dropped their contracts with HealthChicago in September, affecting about 9,500 patients; and the Glen Ellyn Clinic dropped its 10,000 Maxicare patients. The question for 1989: Can the HMO concept get well?
Illustration by Slug Signorino (color). Commonwealth Edison, 75, public utility. Will Chicagoans continue to be blessed with the distinction of paying the highest electricity rates in the nation? A Citzens Utility Board report recently said that Edison customers pay 78 percent more than the average in the country`s largest 25 cities during winter months-though Edison said the report was ”misleading.” Stay tuned-and keep your lights off as bickering over even higher rates continues.
89 people to watch in 1989. Cover illustration by John Craig (color).
Illustration by David Cowles (color). Oprah Winfrey, 34, dieter. Okay, she lost 67 pounds. But as so many of us know only too well, keeping it off is the test. So while Oprah joins Rich Melman in a soon-to-open restaurant and heads her new Harpo Productions, all eyes will be on that now-size-10 bod. A word to the wise: Weight maintenance doesn`t include poached eggs drenched with hollandaise and served on brioche that Miss O was recently spotted scarfing down in New York.
Illustration by Holly Dayin. The comedy boom, often juvenile. The funny business has had its own population explosion here. For a decade, Zanies in Old Town was the only stand-up game in town. But in `88, three upstarts were handing it some stiff competition: the year-old Funny Firm, plus the newer Improv and Catch a Rising Star. Now even jazz cabaret rooms (George`s, for example) are booking more comedians. Will `89 be the year for the long-talked- about stand-up shakeout?
Du Page County, Dan Ryan Expressway and North Michigan Avenue gridlock. Will traffic on these roads come to a dead halt in 1989, leaving motorists forever immobile in whatever spot of overused pavement they happen to occupy at the moment? There is no major east-west road in Du Page County that isn`t torn up and filled with barricades. Construction on the Dan Ryan Expressway (the term is used lightly) will resume in March. And the flip side of all those wonderful new shops on North Michigan is the traffic jam of would-be shoppers. The solution? Get a cellular phone if you want to stay in touch while pinned in traffic.