Arts & Entertainment
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THE CHRONICLE
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Arts & Entertainment
Calendar
Moday
Come to Del Close Theater, 3541 N.Clark St., or the Armando Diaz Experi-ence, a comic perormance that oteneatures celebrity guests.Tickets are$12. The show starts at 8:30 p.m.
Call (773) 880-0199 for more iformatio.
Tuesday
For between $25.50 and $122.50you can purchase tickets rom Ticket-master.com to see Andrew Lloyd Web-ber’s “The Phantom o the Opera”at 7:30 p.m. at the Cadillac PalaceTheater, 151 W. Randolph St.
Call (312) 977-1700 ext. 1259 for moreiformatio.
Wedesday
Graduates and current students o the Annoyance Productions TrainingCenter will be perorming their setso Cheap Beer Improv at the Annoy-ance Theater, 4830 N. Broadway St.Tickets are $2.
For more iformatio, visitEmptyBottle.com.
Thursday
Avenged Sevenold, a punk-metalband, will be perorming at the Con-gress Theater, 2135 N. MilwaukeeAve. Tickets cost between $27.50and $30. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Call Ticketmaster at (312) 559-1212 formore iformatio.
Friday
The Matter o Reaction MovementProject will be perorming at LinksHall Studio, 3435 N. Shefeld Ave.,at 8 p.m. The modern dance workswill also eature guest choreogra-phers. Tickets cost $10.
For more iformatio, visitSOFAExpo.com.
Saturday
“Light o Love” is a world-premierecommedia Dell’Arte play. Ticketscost $20, and the show will beperormed by the City Lit TheatreCompany, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.,at 8 p.m.
Call (773) 293-3682 for moreiformatio.
Suday
Head up to ESPN Zone, 43 E. OhioSt., or the Chicago Bears game at3:15 p.m. Games are eatured onbig screen TVs in high defnition.
Call (312) 644-3776 for moreiformatio.
REMnAnTS OF
dust litter the marble oors
o the staircase and empty entryway o
the building. The white paint on the walls
looks resh, but the stained glass chande-
liers hanging rom the ceiling seem to have
hung untouched in the same spots.
The somewhat-darker connected hallwayto the let spells out the history o the build-
ing on its walls—literally. Framed newspa-
per clippings documenting the 101-year-oldlandmark’s evolution throughout the yearsare hung on the walls and lead to a dimly lit
lounge, with sports games and newscastsplaying in the background.
Although the Division Street Russianand Turkish Baths, 1914 W. Division St.,has catered to men in Chicago or more
than a century, the last remaining Russian bath in Chicago will soon open its doors to women.
In November, the previously men-only
establishment will open a ully renovatednew wing just or the ladies.
The entire acility, which was closed
down in 2005, reopened in 2006 ater banker
Murad Sweiss bought the historic building
in 2005 and began renovations on the struc-
ture that was built in 1906. Co-owner o the
Baths Joe Colucci had worked in the Baths
of and on throughout his lie, since bothhis grandather and ather had operated
the business since 1974.
“There’s just a history here,” Colucci said.
“They come here or the heat and to getaway rom the outside world. They get a
little bit o everything.”
Noteworthy people including the Rev.
Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama have re-quented the Baths, Sweiss said.
For $20, men receive a towel, soap, razors
and sandals and can stay all day i they like.
Ater paying, patrons head downstairs to
the shower room, where they can rinse of,
or head straight to the hot room, where
water is splashed onto hot granite boulders
in an oven to produce the Baths’ inamous180-degree heat.
A 35-year patron, Jefrey Serota visits the
Baths twice a week and is known aroundthe establishment as a “heat junkie.” Ina group o about a dozen men on a chillyaternoon, Serota explained that the heat
in the hot room opens the pores in the skin,
then the cold pool and cold showers in the
shower room close them to cleanse theskin. Serota said at the end o his day, hecan relieve stress by taking in a massage
with oak leaves.“I eel at peace,” Serota said. “Here’s the best thing: When you come here, it doesn’t
matter i you’re black, white, Asian or Mexi-
can. You’re all the same.”
Although the Baths has attempted to
appeal to women in the past by adding ona spa area, it wasn’t successul. But or the
new wing that will open this month, Sweiss
Ladies and gents: Full steam ahead
Eddy Anaya, a masseur o 35 years at the Division Street Russian and Turkish Baths, gives Roger Garcia, a patron o 20 years, a massage in the aternoon.Andrew A. Nelles THE CHRONICLEGidon ‘Giddy’ Lavr relaxes in the shower room ater soaking in 180-degree heat in the hot room at theDivision Street Russian and Turkish Baths, 1914 W. Division St.Andrew A. Nelles THE CHRONICLE
BATHS,
x
PG. 15
Historic Russia Bathsprepares ew wig for wome
By Jessica Galliart
A&E Editor
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