Elysia Liang

On the corner of 25th and Christina Avenue in Little Village stands a small, two-story building with a pointed tower. Behind its plain exterior is a room with goldenrod walls and decorations featuring crosses, saints, and depictions of the Virgin Mary. A few people sat in small chairs and someone stood behind the counter, looking busy. From a room in the back, the music from a child’s birthday party floated through when its guests wandered into the cafe. A few framed photos sit on a small table next to a flight of stairs. Cafe Catedral had all the makings of a coffee shop, but with two noticeable exceptions: no drinks or food items could be found, and a homemade sign announced that the building was for sale in bold Times New Roman.

The cafe has a history that is as unique as its decorations. Abraham Dueñas and his wife, Alma, opened this cafe in 2005 after noticing that there was something missing in the neighborhood. When Mr. Dueñas, who grew up in a college town in Mexico, moved to Chicago, he noticed that the coffee shops that were so ubiquitous in his childhood were missing in his new home. After traveling in Europe with his wife, Dueñas wanted to bring a little piece of the Continent to Little Village. “We had tapas from France, crepes from France, and paninis from Italy,” he said about his menu.

Elysia Liang

Sitting in at a table near the entrance, Dueñas sat in a white polo after giving tours of the building to interested passerby also discussed the cafe’s decorating scheme. “The building used to be a flower shop, and we thought it looked like a cathedral.” The various portraits, carvings, and statues of religious figures and symbols came from friends, yard sales, regular customers, and even archeological excavations. In one corner, there is a small figurine of Saint Anthony who “can help you find your better half,” noted Dueñas as he surveyed his collection in search of notable finds.

The cafe’s claim to fame extends beyond its fascinating inception. The coffee shop was featured in Stranger Than Fiction as the setting for the 2006 release, featuring Will Ferrell. It has seen patronage of famous faces such as Rahm Emmanual. Perhaps most importantly, it has been a place to foster a sense of community. Various organizations used the cafe’s space to host and plan events. Dueñas himself is vice president of a local newspaper and a group that runs internet radio shows, both of which are based in the second floor of the space. “We created an impact,” he noted.

Due to recent economic conditions, Dueñas has been forced to shut down his business. However, he hopes to sell or rent the space “to someone who will continue to do what we do.” For the time being though, the cafe still stands, opening its doors briefly to groups that had asked to used the space before the decision to close had been made. Even after its official closing, it still has deep roots in the neighborhood in which it resides and the people who live there.

Last year, the Chicago Weekly published a feature entitled Swept Under the Rug about University of Chicago housekeeping staff layoffs. Here’s an update on that issue.

Matt Wan

It remains to be seen whether the massive protests on Wall Street and other financial centers around the country will lead to any real change; but students at the University of Chicago can take to heart the fact that their own protests appear to have ended in victory.
Last spring, university administrators announced (during Housekeeper Appreciation Week, no less) that they were planning to outsource dormitory housekeeping jobs to a private subcontractor. Would the current housekeepers get to keep their jobs, or could they all be fired? That administration kept mum about that issue, leaving workers to fear the worst.

Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL), a labor-rights group on campus, organized weeks of protests, demanding that the university guarantee that each worker would get to keep his or her job and benefits. They held sit-ins, teach-ins, study-ins and rallies for several weeks, but as the students left at the end of Spring Quarter, there were still no guarantees from the administration. It was possible that the protests would do nothing: even weeks of rallying can be forgotten in the long months of summer.

However, it appears that, whether they were the cause of it or not, protestors got what they wanted. On September 28, Karen Coleman, the Associate Dean of Students, stated in a letter to university students that all staff members were offered a choice between a job or retirement with a severance package. The housekeepers have a new union and a new boss, but at least they still have their jobs. Coleman wrote:

“More than 75 percent of the staff members affected by this transition were selected for new positions within the University or were hired into new jobs with ABM [the new sub-contractor]. Most of the remaining staff elected to leave the University and accepted an enhanced severance package. All housekeeping staff that applied for new positions are now working, either with the University or with ABM (with the exception of one staff member currently unable to work). We are pleased that this outcome means that residents and staff will continue to see many of the same faces in their buildings that they have come to know over the years.”

According to University Spokesman Steve Kloehn, 55 housekeepers were affected by the transition: 24 were hired by ABM; 16 found other University positions; and the remaining 15 workers chose to leave. Both the retiring workers and those now working for ABM received severance packages. Just as SOUL was about to celebrate, however, they discovered that its victory was more than a little bittersweet.

“Our job load has doubled,” explained Mazurie Wright, a housekeeper at the South campus dormitory, in a SOUL meeting last Thursday. According to her, out of the 16 workers in South before the transition, 8 remained in the dormitory as housekeepers. Wright went from cleaning one house in the dormitory to cleaning the entire first floor, which includes six lounges, four kitchens and ten bathrooms.

She also took a pay cut of two dollars per hour, but is now working an hour extra per day (this returns housekeepers to the amount of hours they were working a few years ago). According to Kloehn, because of the longer work day and a better benefits package, “total compensation is now higher” for the housekeepers. When a student at the SOUL meeting asked Wright if she made more or less the same amount of money per day as before, she answered yes – but that it doesn’t really matter when “you’re too tired at the end of the day to spend it.”

Not all of the housekeepers have taken a pay cut: some moved to different positions on campus, and a lucky few are now “Building Maintenance Workers,” or BMWs. Their job role is to respond to certain maintenance issues, such as heating/cooling or moving furniture, and they enjoyed a pay raise.

The point of the consolidation of Housekeeping and Facilities service was to “take advantage of the expertise and experience in Facilities Services,” according to Coleman; however, Wright says, “The quality of the work is going to go down because we just don’t have enough time.” Moreover, she says, it’s been difficult to adjust to the new, stricter rules and protocols that go with the new contractor.

However, Wright is still happy to have a job at the university – an institution she’s worked for since she was 18 years old. She stressed, “We have to say thank you [to students]. The first meeting, they said we’d be laid off.”

For now, Wright and the other housekeepers will just have to adjust to the new contractor and the new workload. Not much can be done until next year, when the housekeeping contract will be up for renewal. In the meantime, my guess is that SOUL will be occupying its time on Wall Street.

DV Team: Siobhan Strong, Valencia, Law Roach, Rukey Styles, Christopher Adams. All Photos by Charles Young

Two words describe the scene at Deliciously Vintage this Wednesday evening: pure glam. With the launch of a revamped website, the Pilsen clothing boutique had an excuse to celebrate…and to do so in style.  I was fortunate to find myself on the guest list and dropped by to join the revelry.

The room throbbed with hip-hop beats and loud champagne-induced conversation.  Clothing racks formed vibrant walls and flukes of pink champagne hovered about the room on silver platters.  Guests were kids in a candy store—a chic candy store.  One woman tried on a vintage studded motorcycle jacket.  Upon examining herself in the mirror, she turned to me “Too bad it’s already sold.” She shrugged with a pout.  Dressing room curtains would burst apart and revelers emerged decked out in prospective purchases: dresses, furs, and blouses. “I got this at DV about two years ago,” said one party-goer in a ocean-blue kimono-style cocktail dress.  Another guest worked the room in a cropped snow leopard coat, streaked hair, black leggings, and studded footwear.

I spied co-owner Siobhan Strong on the opposite end of the boutique, obviously the center of attention amongst a plethora of stylish guests.  I spoke with Strong about the new site, speaking loudly over the festive din.  Said Strong: “At first we struggled with the idea of an online store—we wanted to maintain the client-stylist relationship that comes with visiting our actual boutique.”  The clothing featured on the website will be a handpicked collection, shot as high-fashion editorial, and mirroring current trends.  So what’s on DV’s style radar? Strong responds without batting a lash: “The cape. This season is all about the cape and the cloak. Very much town-and-country with lots of tweeds.”  Strong herself looked dazzling in a vintage beaded mini-dress, vintage Diane von Furstenberg blazer and sky-high pumps.

Deliciously Vintage’s new home page features a video, which fuses print editorial and video advertisement.  A demure girl with doe-like eyes and blond Marilyn Monroe coif lounges on sofa in a pink dress and then lingerie. Eartha Kitt’s “I Want to Be Evil” plays in the background.  Steamy? Yes.  Good girl gone bad? More like, good-girl-trying-to-edgily-expand-her-closet.  I asked Co-owner Law Roach to comment: “The ad just felt right and is just how we want to show the perfect Deliciously Vintage girl,” He paused to great a guest with la bise. “Yeah, some people say it’s a little sexy, but that’s what we wanted. Now let’s get you a drink, girl.”

In addition to the new website, DV is starting a blog, has hired a publicist and is poised for success while dressing the part.

Check out Chicago Weekly’s previous coverage of Deliciously Vintage here and the boutique’s new website here

In February we profiled ShoreBank, the paradigmatic financial institution with a social conscience. Founded in the ailing South Shore neighborhood in 1973, it has been credited with proving that responsible lending can raise a profit, serving the low-income neighborhoods that other banks ignored. Although the bank has attempted to keep up with the surging post-recession demand for its services, it has faced troubles of its own in the past months. After its assets took a significant hit, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) ordered it to raise enough capital to remain solvent. Despite seeking bailout money from the state of Illinois, private donors, and national foundations, ShoreBank’s future remained uncertain until this week. But now Crain’s Chicago Business, which has closely tracked the community development giant’s battle for survival, is reporting that General Electric has agreed to kick in $20 million, which combined with $120 million from other private sector lenders will allow the bank to access $75 million of bailout money from the Treasury Department. It now looks like ShoreBank is saved, and communities in need can breathe a sigh of relief.