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You, to the rescue

Chicago culture needs your support to stay afloat.

…shopping district: Store owners talk frankly about the state of business in an off-the-beaten-path area.

…performance venue: This Wrigleyville performance venue gets lost in the Cubs crowd.

…newspaper: Drop 75 cents for the paper just once a week—you might get hooked.

…hot-dog stand: A plea to patronize Max’s, the last hot-dog stand in the Loop.

…museum: The recently shuttered Freedom Museum lives on.

…orchestra: The Chicago Philharmonic needs your donations to stay on a high note.

…feminist bookstore: Women and Children First fights tooth and nail to survive.

…record label: Flameshovel Records speaks out as the industry model shifts.

…farmers’ market: This South Side market needs your help to survive.

…gay bar: Uptown’s gay Brit pub is deserving of your dough.

…grocer: A plea to save West Town’s local and organically minded grocery store. …comedy club: Lakeview’s fledgling improv theater hopes to become less recession-stressed. …gallery: Help this female-artist–promoting space. …children’s theater: If Chicago Children’s Theatre doesn’t get some funds fast, its camp for autistic kids might not happen.

Back in the black: Bakeries, bike shops, personal trainers and comic-book stores are flourishing during the downturn.

Let them die: These annoying businesses need to go.

Bring it back: Here are a few of the culturally important venues, institutions and curiosities we’d love to see make a comeback, at least for a day.