Who is NEW in the Oak Park Arts District!

by annette coffee | Apr 1, 2023 | Blog, Uncategorized

By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe

It’s spring in the Oak Park Arts District!  The weather is getting better every day and it’s the perfect season to check out some of these businesses that have opened in the last few years.  If you haven’t been on Harrison Street in a while, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Valdo’s Barbershop

Valdo Leon first started barbering as a child when he cut his uncle’s hair in exchange for being allowed to take over the kitchen on Sundays.  It’s been more than thirty years, but he finally realized his dream of having his own shop when Valdo’s Barbershop opened in September 2020 at 128 Harrison Street.

After years spent in the military, barbering, working for UPS, and then back to barbering, Valdo became fixated on opening his own barbershop.  He took his wife’s advice and drove down Harrison Street one day after dropping his son off at school.  “I started seeing multiple storefronts that were available and checked out each one to see what would best accommodate my needs.  I hit 128 and thought, ‘This is it.’”

Valdo is known for his versatility and can manage anything from a basic gentleman’s cut to the tightest fade and graphics.  And while many people tend to forget that esthetics are taught in barber school, Valdo believes that it’s time to highlight those services.  “We’re losing that essence in modern barbering.  People get caught up in being a chop shop.  There are very few barbershops that offer pampering services.”

Purple Sun Arts

Ann Viernes recalls loving both science and art from a young age.  “I can remember in kindergarten always wanting to paint on the easels, but I don’t think I ever actually did it.  I was very, very shy.  But all through school my two loves were science and art.  The gifts I always got from my parents were things like a microscope or art supplies.”

Anne chose to study biology in college and worked at Rush University Medical Center for more than 30 years.  After several years of retirement, Ann took a sabbatical to contemplate her next step.  “I went up to my hometown of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, with all my painting supplies and stayed for ten days right by the lake.  Then, when I returned, I was walking through the Arts District and I saw this space for lease and I thought, ‘This is it.  I’m not in healthcare anymore.  I’m an artist now.’”

Anne opened Purple Sun Arts at 142 Harrison Street in the fall of 2020.  The name was inspired by her love of  “purple sun glass.”  In addition to her paintings, Ann makes jewelry and greeting cards.  She also sells some of the vintage glassware and jewelry that she has collected for years.

Taco Mucho

As a child growing up in Indiana, Ron Aleman loved watching his mother and grandmothers in their own kitchens.  After college at Purdue University, Ron worked in sales.  But he had always really enjoyed cooking and was considering culinary school.  It was the events of September 11, however, that gave him the push he needed.  “Life is too short,” Ron told himself, eventually graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago.  It took twenty years, but in August 2021, Ron opened his own restaurant, Taco Mucho, at 220 Harrison Street.

When asked what he hoped for for the business, Ron said, “We want to be a casual, neighborhood taqueria—a place parents can bring their kids and a casual date-night spot with great food and cocktails.  We see Taco Mucho as an extension of our home and want you to feel like a guest when you come in to eat.”

The menu is focused on tacos that are all served on handmade corn tortillas.  They also offer nachos, tortas, bowls, and quesadillas.  Sides including “abuela’s” rice and beans round out the menu.  Taco Mucho is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30am to 8:00pm and also offers carry-out and delivery.

Steve Fisher Arts

For years, Steve Fisher’s art studio had been in the basement of his home behind the Friendly Tap in Berwyn.  “I’d been thinking of getting a dedicated studio space, and I finally said, ‘If not now, when?’” said Steve.  “But I needed a place that was as quick to get to as my basement.”  That “place” ended up being 301 Harrison Street where Steve opened shop in the fall of 2022.

Steve has been painting since he was a child and was particularly influenced by his family’s visits to the Art Institute of Chicago.  He always liked the Impressionists, and then, in the mid-1960’s as he was about to start high school, Steve took in his first Picasso exhibition.  “It was a wake-up call.  I walked from one end of that show to the other and back again.  From then on, my art was never really the same.  Before, I had done the kind of art kids do to get a pat on the head.  After, I went my own way.  The experience opened doors for me.”

Steve compares his work as an artist to a physicist working on equations on a giant blackboard.  “They start with a hypothesis and different ideas.  But then things start to mesh.  That’s what I do with my artwork; I push things around until my ideas crystallize.”  While Steve uses his new space as a studio, he also plans to display a rotating collection of paintings that will be available for purchase and to have tie-ins with Arts District events.

So much to celebrate at Bead in Hand!

by annette coffee | Oct 31, 2022 | Blog, Uncategorized

By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe

Bead in Hand, located at 145 Harrison Street in the Oak Park Arts District, has two reasons to celebrate this November: the kickoff of their 30^th anniversary celebration year and the 10-year anniversary of Kim Humphrey owning the store.

As a child, Kim was taught to do things with her hands. She remembers being five years old and her mother sitting her at the sewing machine to practice stitching on paper. “My grandmother lived with us until her death. She was an artist and it was considered a valuable skill. I realized later in my life that not all families see it that way.” But it wasn’t until she was a mother with young children that Kim started beading. “I had little kids and I needed something that didn’t talk back and didn’t move and it really fit the bill,” she says with a laugh.

Although she can’t pinpoint the date, Kim thinks she started patronizing Bead in Hand within a few years of their 1993 opening. She took a few classes and was soon working at the store on weekends. As her kids got older, she was able to add more hours. When Doris Weinbaum, the then-owner, announced that she was planning to retire and wanted to sell the store, Kim worried what it might mean for her future. “I loved the shop, the customers, the beads, my job, all of it. I didn’t want that to change.” And so ten years ago, Kim took a leap of faith and purchased the store.

Kim is honest that being the owner of a small business has its challenges. “People today have so many ways of spending their money that I think it lessens the amount they have for any one place at any one time.” But Bead in Hand also has a unique market niche which draws people into the store. “It’s a tactile business. It’s so much more helpful for people to see the product in person before they buy. We’re one of very few bead stores in the area so we draw customers from all of Chicagoland.”

They can also offer more personalized service than a chain craft store. “It’s nice to be able to provide that service. To be able to explain to people what their options are. We aren’t just scanning items at a register. Most of our items don’t have a price tag so all our employees have to know our inventory and be able to answer questions.” Jewelry repair is another unique service that Bead in Hand offers. “There are very few places where you can take your favorite necklace from your grandmother and have it restrung,” says Kim.

Classes are one of the best ways to educate potential and current customers. Prospective students can view the current schedule and register for classes online. Classes are taught by Kim or by employee Kate Linne and include Basic Earring Design, Basic Stringing, Beginning Bead Weaving, Bead Embroidery, Knotting, and Kumihimo: Japanese Braiding. Classes vary in length from 1½-2½ hours and in cost from $35-45. Materials are generally not included.

Bead in Hand is kicking off their 30^th anniversary year with special events throughout the month of November starting with a November 11 trunk show of semi-precious beads. On November 18, the staff jewelry show begins, and on November 25, the traditional snowflake ornament drop-in event returns for the first time since before the pandemic.

On October 11, Kim was honored by the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce as a Community Titan “for championing the small business community … with might and ferocity.” The Community Titan Awards were presented to individuals this year in lieu of the traditional Spotlight Awards that focused on small businesses. The Titans were nominated via online submission and according to the Chamber of Commerce are “those who have worked tirelessly, relentlessly and whole-heartedly for the well-being of our business community. Their strong and wide shoulders support the rest of us to grow and flourish.”

Being a small business owner is a tremendous responsibility, but Kim is still passionate about the art she discovered almost 30 years ago. “One of the great things about beads is that it is a never-ending learning experience. You can string beads on wire, you can do bead weaving, you can embroider with beads. There are so many different ways to incorporate them that you are never really finished learning. There’s always something new. It’s amazing.”

Bead in Hand is located at 145 Harrison Street. They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11-6, Wednesday from 1-6, and Saturday from 10-5. They are closed on Sunday. They can be reached at 708-848-1761 or [email protected].