Related Recs

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Western Pole

Located at the intersection of Western and Cermak in Chicago, the Western Pole is a makeshift rotating exhibition space on a city-owned light pole. It’s run by the artist and curator Jesse Malmed and is one of the single most delightful things in my life. I get to walk by it on my commute to the train and see the exhibitions change at a seemingly random cadence. They’re usually poster-based in format but I’ve seen a very cool sculpture of a birdhouse affixed to the pole and sometimes the work is interactive, using phone numbers, QR codes, and even links to artist’s Venmo’s. I’m aching to know how artists are picked and what the general “infrastructure” of running the pole is. But also, I’m addicted to the mystery and in love with the reclamation of The Commons. Chicago has a gorgeous and historied community of alternative art spaces, including an ecosystem of apartment galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces. We have Barely Fair, a miniature art fair with tiny booths. There’s a gallery run out of someone’s purse and a now-closed space that existed inside of someone’s medicine cabinet! One curator commissioned artists to make earrings and used her earlobes and neck as an exhibition space. I’m even in on it. My husband and I ran Curb Appeal Gallery out of our living room for a year and a half! I guess what I’m trying to say is, be scrappy, be nimble, and be creative. You want to do a show, build up your artist CV, get into curatorial work? Make the spaces you want to be within. They can be as simple as a city light pole.

@salad_valet

Feb 25, 2025

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Some stray chicago spots

Def can depend on where you’re staying, but these are kinda all over the place things I’d say are good Art Institute is def one of the top galleries in the world. If you’re an art person it’s a 100 you wanna do it. If you want a deeper cut art museum-Wrightwood 659(even people who live here don’t rep it enough.) People talk about the hot dogs(Devil Dawgs is the one I usually have), but the Polish Sausage at Jim’s Original is very much its own distinct vibe. Fancyish vibes - Monteverde(Italian hard to get rez for but good) Kumiko(it’s in the top 25 bars in the world for a reason but also not fussy) Day 2 Day vibes - Delilah’s, Goose Island(you said beer it’s at least local), Ming Hin(Chinatown locale), Charleston(gotta get at least one corner/residential bar in)

@jrpaperstack

Jun 1, 2024

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Welcome to chi!

Food/Drink: -Iced ube latte + pastries at Kasama are delish. Get order pickup if you don't want to wait in line -Small Cheval for burgers Shopping: -The secondhand combo of Everything and Knee Deep Vintage (right next to each other in Pilsen) Museum: -I love the Marc Chagall America Windows at the Art Institute, they're tucked away in an alcove separate from the other galleries so it's nice to stumble upon and have mostly to yourself 🌜

@lyyn

Sep 11, 2024

Top Recs from @salad_valet

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Breaking free from spotify

i canceled my Spotify account over the summer and have spent the last few months rebuilding my digital music library on a refurbished iPod Touch. reading critiques of the app (and it’s enshittification), i realized i wasn’t even sure of my own musical tastes and preferences. i had stopped picking for myself, stopped seeking out new music, ceasing to know how to choose what i wanted or articulate what i like. breaking free from the algorithm has been such a joy! i’m borrowing gobs of music from the library, rebuilding my old playlists, and consuming more music than i have in years. and better yet, my data isn’t being tracked by Spotify and i own what’s in my personal library. further, my receptors are more open when i’m out in the world exposed to music, searching for recommendations in an organic way.

@salad_valet

Jan 16, 2025

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The anti-capitalist nature of pi.fyi

i’ve been trying to articulate why i enjoy this space so much. yes, the UX is reminiscent of Tumblr and the early days of the internet. and there’s genuine sincerity and vulnerability on here that makes it feel really cozy and real, which i haven’t felt online in at least a decade. but i think what’s undergirding my love of this space is how anti-capitalist it feels. most of the recs everyone shares are vibe-checks, quality of life shifts, meditations and offers, music and movies, just plain good art. i don’t feel compelled to buy anything when i come here. i feel excited and pumped to be a cheerleader, find connection, find common ground. and FWIW the recs i’ve shared that have gotten the most traction are my suggestions for leading a less capitalistic / consumerist life (quitting Amazon, getting off of Spotify, building community to take care of you and your things). all of this is to say, i love it here and i love you guys.

@salad_valet

Feb 7, 2025

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Quitting amazon

hear me out—this one might feel impossible, but i quit purchasing items on Amazon in 2018 and cancelled my GoodReads account shortly after. i did some serious reflection and realized i’d become super reliant upon, and frankly, quite used to the instant gratification of purchasing something and knowing i’d have it within a day. that’s not normal. the labor practices, economics, and environmental impacts of getting what you want from the internet delivered quickly and right to your door are skewed. i was filling a void in myself with mindless purchases. i’m aware that they service a huge swath of the internet (Amazon Web Services), own Whole Foods and Abe Books, and will likely take over more businesses we like and rely on. weaning off and avoiding entirely is very very hard, but it can also be a measured decision. that said, i know that it is a privilege to abstain from Amazon. i am able bodied, i don’t have kids, i have access to a car, i live in an urban environment with access to a lot of stuff at my fingertips. but making the choice to break out of the Amazon loop has ultimately been better for my pocketbook and better for my relationship to these mega-tech-companies that have their fingers in everything. in contrast, i’m becoming more interested in alternate economies, like bartering and sharing. i love the idea of having commonly shared tools and items (tool libraries are very cool). we don’t need to own it all, we have each other. interested in exploring more? the zine pictured below is a great start, and summarizes a much larger book by the same author on how to resist the leviathan that is Amazon.

@salad_valet

Jan 22, 2025

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