Changes

Bethany, my upstairs neighbor and favorite waitress, is moving out at the end of the month. She's moving in with her boyfriend the musician and rent in Wicker Park has been getting too expensive for her. So, they've chosen a less gentrified locale.

It's a good move for her, but sad for me. She always brought me a plate when she made cookies, was generous in supplying free shots for me and my friends and even got involved in a couple of my romantic dramas.

Kristen, the bartender who makes the best bloody marys in the world, has left her neighborhood joint for a spot in an adjoining neighborhood. I've been to her new locale with some friends. It's a bit more....upscale. More of a corporate bar establishment. It's too bad, because her skill in dealing with people deserves a more authentic setting. Truthfully, I'd rather have a good bartender than a good lawyer or doctor.

Filter, the most laid back coffee house in the hood, has closed its doors and is awaiting its transformation into a Bank of America. I ran out of coffee beans the other day and the only store that was open at 8:00 am was Starbucks. Not to rag unnecessarily on Starbucks, but it always seemed like an indication of bizarre preferences to go there when a nice local place was less than a block away. Now, I no longer have that option.

Wicker Park has a reputation for being hostile to corporate chains---when MTV filmed an episode of The Real World in a loft that had once housed a coffehouse, protestors stood outside with signs and the cast and network crew were shunned in most establishments. When Starbucks opened several years ago, its windows were smashed on a nightly basis for about two weeks.

Extreme, definitely, but it's nice to live in a neighborhood that attracts more than its share of artists and musicians. Every time a funky restaurant or charming dive bar closes, it's replaced by the kind of Lincoln Park self-styled Irish Pub or Sports Bar that's always packed with baseball cap wearing frat boys and vapid girls with lobotomy eyes.

For me, the quality of a neighborhood can best be measured by the conversations in its bars. When the regulars spend their time talking about money and sports, it's time to find a new bar. And it's a little sad to see Wicker Park changing....