but this is the first time I’ve gotten a real feel for Chicago. I’m impressed! Staying at the small, chic Talbott Hotel, we were on a beautiful tree-lined street, right in the middle of the Gold Coast action. Although time was short, we managed a tour of the Loop, seeing many significant skyscrapers, from early buildings of 19th C. architect Louis Sullivan, to contemporary showpieces. The multitude of European-style parks and Beaux-Arts public buildings, near Lake Michigan, were standouts. Big and bold, downtown Chicago, boasting both the Chicago River and the great lake, makes even Manhattan pale in comparison; our struggling downtown L.A. seems all the more sad–unplanned, provincial–unfortunately neglected. Driving north on Lake Shore Drive, which turns into bucolic Sheridan Road, we saw luxury high-rises turn into forty-miles of lakeside mansions; the sightseeing ended in the platinum village of Glencoe. No time for the Frank Lloyd Wrights–they were in another direction–but dinner at Il Mulino, a terrific Italian in the Victorian Biggs mansion, was a special treat. I will be back. BTW: Read the new book, Get Capone, by Jonathan Eig, while there.