Dave Hoekstra

2 months ago | resto.newcity.com | Dave Hoekstra

A lucky midnight star brought new light to West Humboldt Park in the summer of 2006 when Alex Huebner and Lynne Marrs opened Weegee’s Lounge, 3659 W. Armitage, a fine tavern named after New York’s ace tabloid photographer Arthur Fellig, aka Weegee (1899-1968). Weegee found delight in photographing crime scenes, young immigrants, and stray dogs. He would have enjoyed West Humboldt Park. It was the first swing for Huebner and Marrs as bar owners.

Feb 4, 2025 | davehoekstra.com | Dave Hoekstra

Now Reading Gene Barge: The Sound of a Dream (1926-2025) 24 24 In these times it is important to know the strength of one voice: a clarion of dignity, grace, and conviction. When delivered on note it becomes a sound that can move others forward. That was the sound of Chicago musician Gene Barge. Barge died Sunday of natural causes at his home in the  Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.

Jan 15, 2025 | blockclubchicago.org | Dave Hoekstra

CHICAGO — The beloved Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman recorded his final album “Santa Ana Winds” in 1984. They are the same winds that spread the Los Angeles wild fires that killed at least 25 people this week and destroyed thousands of homes. Two of those homes belonged to Goodman’s daughters, and they now fear some of their father’s prized keepsakes — including guitars and the original handwritten lyrics to his legendary hit “City of New Orleans” — were lost to the fires.

Jan 14, 2025 | newcity.com | Dave Hoekstra

The shadows were closing in on the old fighter. Chicago martial arts legend and rock ‘n’ roll security maestro Fred Degerberg sits on a sofa on a late October 2024 afternoon in the front room of his home in the quiet, tree-lined Arcadia Terrace neighborhood on the North Side. Eight cables with handles, in different colors, hang above his sofa. The darker the color, the harder the pull. “I’m crippled now, I’m old,” the seventy-nine-year-old Degerberg tells me in a lengthy and animated conversation.

Dec 17, 2024 | art.newcity.com | Dave Hoekstra

There were no toys when Dalia Verbickas Ancevicius lived with her family between 1944 and 1949 in a Lithuanian refugee camp in Hanau, Germany. Ancevicius was eleven when her family left Germany for America’s open doors. To pass time in the camp she played a homemade game with friends to see who would be the first to slap hands down. Ancevicius’ inspiring story of immigration led her to become an industrial designer at the iconic Marvin Glass & Associates toy design company in Chicago.