Firefly in Boystown closing: hope and change continue to roll across America
Firefly is a little bistro in Boystown that part of me still thinks is a CIA safe house or a front for the mob, because of the erratic hours this restaurant kept in the six years or so it has been around. Some days, apparently, the staff would just not feel like opening, so it would be closed on random week days with no explanation. There were menus posted that implied it should be open every day (and not closed on Sundays and Mondays like a lot of restaurants here in Boystown), but I swear this place was closed more times than it was ever open when I walked by.
My friend Panda loves this place, and was heartbroken when he learned it is closing. Apparently, he was privy to the double secret squirrel calendar of when it was actually open, so he had more of a relationship with it than I ever managed to (but, then again, last night at 2am Panda was frantically texting everyone in his phone that a monster had attacked Japan and was headed for Tokyo…only to “nevermind” and backtrack a few hours later when this all proved to be the work of an earthquake and not the Chuthlu or even Oprah).
I actually had one of the weirdest Boystown experiences in Firefly. This was maybe five years ago, and my friend Robby’s sister Ann-Louise had asked me to do her a favor and show her friend from New York around Boystown while he was in Chicago on a business trip. I volunteer to this day with the Chicago Greeter program, which pairs Chicagoans up with tourists so we can show them around, and I especially love taking people around Boystown so I was happy to do Ann-Louise this favor.
I forget her friend’s name but he was the original inspiration for the “Eeyore” term I have used ever since to describe a person dragging around their own personal rainclouds. This guy was the absolute most negative and picky person I had ever met.
Everything was terrible to him.
It was late August and one of those perfect evenings in Boystown where a cool breeze picks up the crispness of the lake and all the colors seem so vibrant and happy…like the whole neighborhood is a giant theme park filled with pleasant and attractive oddballs with adventure around every turn.
But, not for Ann-Louise’s friend, who loudly told me how much he hated everything he saw on our tour. Everything was better in New York, of course, and none of the restaurants we passed on Halsted were good enough for either him or his gourmet Manhattan palate.
Until we got to Firefly, which he agreed to try only because he was a Joss Whedon fan and it shared its name with his short-lived SciFi-Western that FOX canceled several years before.
The only time this guy stopped complaining or issuing his nonstop running criticism of a gorgeous day in Chicago was when his fork was delivering bites of chicken something-or-another to his otherwise perma-frown at Firefly. The food was not just good that night…it was evidently seasoned with pharmaceutical magic, since it seemed to have a positive narcotic effect on this Eeyore. He actually cracked a smile while eating and honestly licked the plate like a basset hound when he was done, because it was so good.
I imagine various waiters in New York to this day still listen to running streams of complaints regarding how poorly Pastis or 21 or wherever compare to Firefly…a restaurant that was open only when it felt like it, but apparently laced everything its chef touched with industrial grade anti-depressants.
Ann-Louise later explained to me this Eeyore is an air traffic controller…who was working at one of the New York airports around 9/11. “I swear, he never used to be like this. But he has never been the same since 2001. He really liked that restaurant you took him to, though, Lightning Bugs or wherever”.
I will always call this place “Enigma”, the restaurant of mystery, and will be sad to see it go…leaving another empty storefront in Boystown, right on the Halsted main drag…joining all the other odd, trendy, fancy, and enigmatic little “how do they stay in business?” places in Chicago that have been around since I moved here…but are dropping like fireflies in our hopechangey Obamaconomy.
A common thread with all of them, oddly enough, is that I honestly remember most of the staff and proprietors of these small businesses being big Obama nuts.
Firefly plastered its windows back in 2008 with those creepy blue and red Shepherd Fairey “Hope” posters…and soon those same windows will have the “Closed!” and “For Rent” signs that are depressingly ubiquitous in even the most trendy and magical parts of town.
Do you have stories like this about little shops that seemed to stay open no matter what for years that are now collapsing in this The Golden Age of Hope and Change?
How do we really draw public attention to just how poorly Obama kept his 2008 promises…especially to small business owners like those who ran places like Firefly, who believed in the Media’s Obamapropaganda…and who were ultimately destroyed by their own stupidity in voting for him?
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
- More scenes from the hopychangey Obamaconomy: Borders in Boystown closing its doors
- Sad news in Boystown: Pie Hole Pizza Joint closing in May 2010
- Heart attack of the day: Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame closing
- Chicago is America's murder capital. Please remind us again what hope and change Obama's ever brought to his "hometown".
- One Year Into the Golden Age of Hope and Change
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A long read but highly recommended.
Fast Facts About Dr. Charles Krauthammer , MD
1. Born: March 13, 1950
…2. Birthplace: New York City, New York
3. Raised in Montreal, Canada
…4. Attended Mc Gill University and Harvard Medical School
5. 1972 diving accident left him paralyzed from the neck on down.
6. Directed psychiatric research for the Carter administration
7. Began writing career in 1981 with The New Republic
8. Helped develop the “Reagan Doctrine” in the 80′s
9. Appointed to Presidential Council on Bioethics in 2002
Dr. Krauthammer is frequently on the Fox News Channel. He is an M.D., a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer .
He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.
Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment.. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views . He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.
The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally.
Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not drunk the Kool-Aid, feel free…
Summary of his comments:
1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be
underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn’t show his emotions. It’s very hard to know what’s behind the mask.The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them.
Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton . He has a way of making you think he’s on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite.Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would
not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain orCanada .
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn’t care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the
costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid!
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he’s a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world.. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.
8.. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan , but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future… We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state’s rights.
9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don’t have..This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda.
But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package.These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.
11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it’s under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it’s between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what’s happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it’s far too late.
Do yourself a long term favor, send this to all who will listen to an
intelligent assessment of the big picture. All our futures and children’s futures depend on our good understanding of what is really going on in DC, and our action pursuant to that understanding!! It really IS up to each of us to take individual action!!
“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children (America), the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.” – Ronald Reagan
“When ignorance reigns in society and disorder in the minds of men, laws are multiplied, legislation is expected to do everything, and each fresh law being a miscalculation, men are continually led to demand from it what can only proceed from themselves, from their own education and their own morality.”
– French jurist M. Dalloy, quoted by Kropotkin, Law and Authority, 1886, p. 1
It’s very sad to see this bookstore close after 15 years in the Nashville gay community. They were the catalyst that eventually transformed Church Street into the gay district is has since become with it’s many bars, restaurants and a gay community center.
Like the businesses in Boystown, they were Obamamaniacs. Oh, but it’s not Obama’s policies that killed their business, it’s because of Amazon. Puh-lease.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/as-outloud-closes-its-doors-nashville-loses-an-anchor-of-the-gay-community/Content?oid=2236960
I’m guessing “Firefly” is a euphanism for lights on sporadically.
You would have to be a diehard optomist or a gambler to open a business now-the odds are against you from the start…no matter how great your idea is, or how hard you are willing to work; the only requirement for
success is very deep pockets which will carry you through until the economy improves and that’s a crapshoot.
Our small village, which will host the US Open in 2012, has been hard hit-golfers and tourists are neither a steady or dependable customer base. The last three years have been a disaster for small businesses here.
I LOVE me some Nathan Fillion!!!!
My first thought as well. Firefly was a-MAY-zing.
“How do we really draw public attention to just how poorly Obama kept his 2008 promises…especially to small business owners like those who ran places like Firefly, who believed in the Media’s Obamapropaganda…and who were ultimately destroyed by their own stupidity in voting for him?”
What would be great is some photos of that same store with the Obama campaign posters in the windows alongside some photos like those above. (Kind of like a reverse before and after ad for phony diet pills) Putting on a flier and posting around town will force the Obama-zombies to face the reality of hope and change.
It would be interesting to see how many of these closed stores once supported Obama’s campaign, either through posters in the window (a great parallel) or funds somehow.
Here in Chicago on West Irving Park Rd, are tons of closed shops. One open place had an Americana style mural of Obama and kids with the Hopey changey words all over. I wanted to draw a hiltler mustache on him but the place was open when I’d walk by.
I noticed about a month ago, the place is closed. But the BHO face and those wondrous words had been painted over(!) Guess they figgered out who helped doom their shop.
You said the magic word.
NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: “A common thread with all of them, oddly enough, is that I honestly remember most of the staff and proprietors of these small businesses being big Obama nuts.”
I went poking around in Boystown after work last week one day and saw that Adesso was closed. I’d thought of going there at some point – so much for that idea! I went to eat at Nookie’s and it was dead, there were two people in there. I dunno maybe everyone is still hibernating lol.
Also, don’t forget to give Quinn his due for crapping on the economy with his income tax increases. Wish he would spend more time concentrating on Illinois’ problems than he does verbally sparring with the governors of New Jersey and Wisconsin. I had some small hope he wouldn’t be completely worthless…
What is up with the John Wayne Gacy painting? Is that gay dark humor or did some one not know what that was or what he did to gay men? I would have thought that would have got the same reaction there as a Che poster in Miami.
i was wondering the same thing! creepy.
Isn’t that in the window of the
“Obama Re-Election Campaign HQ?”
I’ve never seen anything quite so bad in 62 years. Somewhere between a quarter and a third of commercial spaces in the best business district here are vacant. For sale sign are all over for houses, many of which have been on the market for a year or two. The largest & most prestigious Realtor? Shuttered. Signs abound with “Ask about our new lower commissions!”
This started when Duh!1 was elected but it has gotten far worse.
I was thinking the other day while I was checking my precious metal stocks, how devistating Keynesian economics are to Earth’s enviroment. We all have seen the economic devistation caused by liberal left’s and the establishment Bush-Global republican’s embrace of an economic policy that depends on providing cheap easy money. But what most people don’t think or talk about is the precious metal rush that it inspires when investors flock to metal for a hedge against inevitable inflation caused by this idiotic economic policy. China is mining the hell out of Africa. Theyare shifting populations around in Sudan and manipulating bleeding heart liberals into helping them move these populations so that they can mine in areas where people once lived. Mining world wide has exploded due to the demand for Gold, Silver, Copper, Platinum and evey other precious metal that serves as a hedge against inflation. Mining is the worst thing for our enviroment, just ask Al Gore, oops; he probably doesn’t want you to know that since he sold massive amount of his inherited acreage in Tennessee to mining firms. So next time you speak to a green Nazi Obamabot, try explaining to them how Obama’s favored (Only) economic policy has expanded an industry that is more devistaing to our enviroment than the hot air coming out of Al Gore’s mouth. Then stand back while their head explodes.
Maybe a good way of showing how Obama has failed every one of those small businesses is to tape all of those Obama “Hope” posters back up in the windows of stores that are closing, right under the closed signs.
You can probably find them in dollar store clearance bins somewhere.
Wasn’t the third picture down once “On The Bus“?
Technically, we’ve been in a depression for the last year. And it’s going to get much worse. Much worse. What you get for voting for a communist.
Really great, ran sporadically at uncertain hours, closed without warning- “Firefly” indeed.
You can’t take the sky from me
I got it all on DVD
But I’m guessing “Man Country” is still doing a land office business, especially with our new mayor…
from politico, Barack Obama’s dilemma: When to declare recovery
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51145.html
Win-ning!
This is SO SAD. The little Colorado tourist town I grew up in has empty retail space on the main street than I’ve seen in my life. In fact I don’t remember ever seeing empty spaces there before.
Terrible times. I am hopeful that exposing the detrimental effect public employee unions are having on the economies of cities and states will help to turn things around. We can’t let Barack Obama do the same thing to this nation that Democrats have done to California.