http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0621-the-witjun21,0,2318988.story
Chicago's Wit hotel an entertainer
By Christopher Borrelli | Tribune reporter
June 21, 2009
The phone rang.
It was 6 a.m.
"Yes," I said, groggy.
It was the president.
"Enough filibustering!" he shouted.
"OK, but ..."
"Up and at 'em!" he shouted.
"All right, fine!"
On the other end, I heard a dog bark, presumably Bo, the Portuguese water dog. I swung my feet off the bed. "Are you done?" I asked, but the line was already dead.
Now, here's what's unusual about that:
No. 1, the president rarely calls; No. 2, 6 a.m. calls from the president are very unusual; No. 3, I was talking to a recording; and No. 4, the president, despite a halting syntax I assumed belonged to Barack Obama, sounded like a Bill Clinton impersonator. Which is possible. I was waking up on a Tuesday in the Wit hotel in the North Loop, that slender new 27-story building with the chartreuse lightning bolt plunging down the facade, at State and Lake Streets. The Wit hired a handful of Second City actors to record its wake-up calls. You choose your poison the night before. Do you want an Ann Landers impression? Harry Caray? (Too loud.) Or Mayor Richard Daley? (Too scary.)
The Wit takes its name seriously; you wake with a smile. Still, local celebrity impersonators aside, even more surprising is how it weaves itself into the landscape, both aesthetically and culturally, and how staying there is not like staying at just any upscale chain hotel (though it is a Doubletree property). For instance, consider the bathrooms -- more specifically, consider how the bathrooms in the guest rooms offer you a remarkable opportunity to become a part of the Chicago landscape.
I stayed on the seventh floor, at the precise corner of State and Lake. The window in my bathroom stretched floor to ceiling, a sheer plate, and an exhibitionist's dream. The tub was against the glass, overlooking the CTA station. Draw the blinds. Or put on a show.
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