Flo's Algiers Lounge

If your gramma decked out her basement like a tiki bar, the result would be Flo's. Faux palm trees sway, lights twinkle, and plastic baskets of pretzel sticks tempt on the formica tables. The bar is in a converted drycleaner's building. Flo and her husband bought it 30+ years ago. He died, Flo got a gun, whipped up some pierogies to serve with her Budweiser, and kept the place going. The rest is history as only a Chicagoan like Flo can tell it.

The sassy octogenarian will give you an "Impeach Mayor Daley" bumper sticker. She'll tell you dirty jokes. She'll bring ice for your whiskey via a shopping cart from the back room (because those damn ice bags are heavy).

Once a month Flo hosts the Revolutionary Swing Orchestra. The 15-piece brass band plays oldies and polka tunes for a rockin' crowd of mostly senior citizens. Catch the next gig on Jan. 22 starting at 9pm.

Flo's is at 5436 W Montrose Ave in Portage Park.

Vonnegut Library/Museum Opens

The new Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library has opened in downtown Indianapolis. Why Indy? Because Vonnegut was born and raised there, of course.

“All my jokes are Indianapolis. All my attitudes are Indianapolis. My adenoids are Indianapolis. If I ever severed myself from Indianapolis, I'd be out of business," Vonnegut once said.

The library/museum is currently open Fridays and Saturdays. After the official kickoff party on January 29, it'll extend hours to weekdays. Other quotes to tide you over until then:

•    Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God. Cat's Cradle
•    All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental. Timequake
•    Why don't you take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut? Slapstick
•    So it goes. Slaughterhouse Five

Chicago Food Trucks

You probably know Chicago lags behind its big-city counterparts in the food truck department. While technically we have trucks that sell food - like 'naan-wich' seller Gaztro-Wagon, sammie man Meatyballs Mobile, and thick-icing'ed Flirty Cupcakes - the chefs must prepare all their chow in a licensed kitchen offsite, according to current city law.

Food trucksters are hoping to change the regulations so food can be cooked fresh to order onboard. Check their website - www.chicagofoodtrucks.com - for updates. In the meantime, new trucks continue to hit the road. The newest, rolling as of last week, is Sweet Miss Givings, a brownie/cookie/muffin purveyor who gives 51% of proceeds to charity.

Check the Tribune's food truck Twitter feed for locations of all the local trucks.

Snowman vs Sandman

It doesn't suck when your job requires travel to the Caribbean during winter - especially when you live in Chicago. For comparison purposes:

• Average temperature Chicago vs Virgin Islands: 29 degrees/84 degrees
• Average water temp: 42 degrees/79 degrees
• Average rum shot price: $3/1

But when it comes to Chicago snowman vs VI sandman in an alley fight, I'll take  Chicago.

Buh Bye BoA Cinema & Wonder Bar

As the new year rolls in, we bid adieu to a couple of long-standing if under-the-radar Chicago entertainment venues.

1. Bye, Bank of America Cinema - For 38 years this oddball movie house - hidden in an obscure northwest side bank building - screened Hollywood classics like Laurel and Hardy along with themed series such as "Mustache Cinema" (where one might watch Mutiny on the Bounty, the only Clark Gable movie where he's sans 'stache).

2. Underground Wonder Bar - Lonie Walker's teeny jazz and blues club has been open every night for 21 years in the Gold Coast and given many newbie musicians the chance to cut their chops. Established musicians, too - Liza Minnelli and Tiny Tim rank among the eclectic crooners who've grabbed the mic.

In both cases, the venues fell victim to new landlords who kicked them out. The cinema is hoping to start up again as a Wednesday night series at the Portage Theater. The Wonder Bar is trying to move to a new site at 736 N Clark St.

Candy Capital

Halloween = candy = Chicago. That's right: Chicago is the nation's Candy Capital, home to factories making treats such as Snickers, Lemonheads and Tootsie Rolls.

The sweetness started in the early 1900s, thanks to the city's large immigrant population (bringing their confection recipes from the Old World) and crossroads location (rail and waterway hub to ship the goods). At one time, Brach's chocolates, Peerless peppermints, Fannie May Frango Mints, M&M Mars candy bars, and Wrigley chewing gum perfumed the air. Many have now fizzled or moved production to cheaper locations.

Still, Chicago retains some fine tooth-rotting opportunities:

1. Blommer Chocolate Factory - It wafts the shoot-your-own-mother-in-the-kneecaps-to-get-to-it aroma that permeates the Loop. The company mostly processes chocolate for mega-companies like Nabisco, but there's an outlet store that sells chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered nuts, chocolate drops, and chocolate everything else for cheap.

2. Ferrara Pan Factory - The folks who make Lemonheads, Red Hots, Boston Baked Beans, Orangeheads, Grapeheads and Jawbusters also have a wee outlet store that sells the goods in bulk for a ridiculous $1.50 per pound.

Chiclone Remnants

The great 'Chicago Cyclone' blew through yesterday, making the Windy City windier than usual. You probably heard the hype:

•    The storm's barometric pressure was equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane
•    60 mph winds in the city, 20-foot waves on Lake Michigan
•    More ferocious than the storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 (admit it: you're humming the Gordon Lightfoot tune right now)
•    Gusty enough to close the Willis Tower (nee Sears Tower) 103rd floor observatory 

That's all nice in theory, but here's how it hit home - literally. An inventory of what the gales of October dropped in my yard:

•    Eureka vacuum cleaner (box only)
•    Neighbor's roses
•    Orange ball
•    White cat (who wouldn't sit for the portrait)