Chicago ordinance once forced female swimmers into cumbersome ‘bathing dresses’
By 1911, critics were complaining about rowdy behavior and “scantily clad bathers” at Chicago beaches.
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Making the Marx Brothers: Groucho, Harpo and the rest honed their shtick on local vaudeville stages
The Marx brothers were born in New York, but Chicago was the true birthplace of the act called the Marx Brothers, one of the world’s funniest.
Brick City
Here’s what we learned from a new book on Chicago’s checkered history with the ubiquitous building blocks.
The Justice League of Chicago
What we learned from a new book about a vigilante group that chased down local bootleggers and extortionists in the early 1930s
Handel’s ‘Messiah’ wasn’t meant to be Christmas music, but it still became a Chicago holiday staple
Some Chicagoans came to appreciate “Messiah” as a piece of music with appeal that extended beyond its Christian themes.
The Golden Girl of the Avant-Garde
A new book explores how early 20th-century editor Margaret C. Anderson outraged the literary establishment. Here’s what we learned.
Maybe Things Will Be Better in Chicago
A spirited Mavis Staples cover of Tom Waits‘s “Chicago” gives us reason to muse on music, migration, and our city.
Chicago’s Original Celebrity Athlete
The new book Eckie spotlights Walter Eckersall, a bygone local sports pioneer. Here’s what we learned.
Chicago’s Uptown Theatre: 100 years of glory and decay
The Tribune's movie critic in 1925 wrote the Uptown Theatre is "lavish of space, decoration and comfort, is sumptuously furnished and is beautifully and softly lighted inside."
The Birdbrain Case for Stopping Lincoln Yards Development
The discovery of grassland-loving dickcissels on the site of Sterling Bay's stalled megadevelopment suggests the value of preserving open land.