Wild West

THE PARTY Neighboring restaurants M Street Kitchen and Stella Rossa Pizza Bar in Santa Monica hosted the 25th anniversary of Windy City West, a culinary event uniting more than 500 individuals in the film, television and music industries, all with roots in Chicago. THE PLAYERS Jim Belushi, Chris O’Donnell, Jeff Garlin, Marilu Henner, James Denton, Billy Zane, Kevin Farley, Dennis Farina, Joe Mantegna, Chuck Hittinger, Ali Corbin, Sonal Shah, Joel Murray, Richard Kind, Pat Finn, Adrian Zmed, Neil Flynn, Amy Landecker, Ernie Banks, Willie Gault and Evan Lysacek. THE SCENE Produced by Brenda Sexton and sponsored by the Waldorf Astoria Chicago and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, as well as Harry Caray’s, Cinespace Chicago and Illinois Production Alliance, the event included Windy City staples like Lou Malnati’s pizza, Vienna Beef hot dogs, Portillo’s Italian beef, Garrett Popcorn Shops, Eli’s Cheesecake and more. THE HIGHLIGHT Many of the original Windy City West founders gathered to honor Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts with the 2012 Windy City West Man of the Year award in recognition of his contributions to the city. Photography by Vivien Killilea, Tiffany Rose and Mitch Canoff