You are in your 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s, and you are single. You want companionship, but the idea of warming a bar stool until someone notices holds no appeal. Besides, you have heard all the pick-up lines. Now you are wondering if any alternatives to the bar scene and singles clubs exist. With , of about 2 million people age 50 and older in the nine-county Chicago metropolitan area being single, according to the U. Census, there must be places that attract the mature bunch.
And indeed there are. Our research turned up some spots where age is not a factor but where older singles do meet and chat with potential soul mates. The folks we talked with say the key is meeting interesting people, not just looking for love. Not divulging anything more about her age then that she fits the over single category, Reese said she preferred places where she could meet interesting people, particularly people active in the political arena.
Newly divorced, she checked out singles groups on the Internet and found Single Gourmet. A few shared dining experiences at Single Gourmet led to friendship with Glenview advertising salesman and widower Richard Daniels. But the two really became good friends while trying out new restaurants and food experiences with ChicaGourmets! Purdy said she likes ChicaGourmets! Daniels likes both clubs. If people want to be put at a singles table, ChicaGourmets!
Meeting people is not about staying home, according to Oak Lawn widow Aggie Nehmzow, She is willing to leave the varieties of heirloom tomatoes she nurtures in her yard for excursions to the city to catch jazz or ethnic music at the HotHouse, a cabaret at Balbo Avenue and Wabash Street, world music at Old Town School of Folk Music on Lincoln Avenue and culinary treats at wine and food outings. At a recent ChicaGourmets!
I usually strike up a conversation with people next to me. Going alone is better than staying home alone, watching TV. But lots of people in the older singles group said they enjoy dancing and seek places where they can dance and find dance partners. Highland Park widower John Holcomb, 80, met Mozell Phillips, 80, of Evanston, who is divorced, at a dance sponsored by Spares, a Chicago-area singles club.
