Drone light show at Sox Park

Millie in 1955 with Hugh and Christie passing by the Miracle House on Nordica Avenue.

If you've ever wondered why a megachurch owns so much vacant land and parking lots around 63rd St between Stony Island and Cottage Grove, here's the reason.

More: aerial view looking west along Belmont. Riverview bottom right. Sawtooth roof bldg upper rt was Bally Pinball Co. Barge on river is pushing coal to ComEd at Addison. Bldg that is now Electrical Audio is visible. Grebe Shipyard barely in view far right.

Witty* college DJ that I was, I made a campus 'traffic report' spot that gave the times from various campus bldgs to bars nearby. 'It's four minutes from SAC to McGee's, ten minutes from UHall to Rose's, and five minutes from McGaw to Lounge Ax' *not at all

On the right is visible part of the roller rink at Riverview Park. The four smokestacks in the distance visible (behind the bridgehouse) were part of the Commonwealth Edison coal-fired generating station on California Ave.

Cottage Grove looking north from 67th, 1934. Only two buildings in this photo are still standing.

Reupping this

but a giant $42mil basketball practice facility is green-lit. Got it.

Gerri had a few stacks of these, unused and banded, that she'd sell from, but only if you knew to ask her.

Lindbergh Beacon

'31 Model A Sport Coupe and its builder/owner, back then & recent times.

Three spirits, etc.

A real Old Town dump from the outside, owned by Michael Pierpaoli, who owned this and a steak house nearby (he wanted to have his own places to indulge his interests in music and food). He died in 2024 at 93. Here's the front window of the Plugged Nickel - check those coming attractions.

Having been at both 63/Cottage Grove and Broadway/Lawrence today, it's striking the difference between them now, considering they had such near identical early days and exponential growth.

Phil Upchurch, RIP. Masterful player, incredible list of seasions. Seems especially fitting tonight, with the passing of Steve Cropper, to share his performance with Booker T. youtu.be/1YEjCsv3mcI?...

Play it, Steve. youtu.be/iFQEsUjI0U8?...

Before he beat it (har) to New York in 1939, Huncke lived with his folks in Rogers Park at 1322 W Sherwin. He returned decades later w Louis Cartwright, stayed at an SRO and hung out at the El Gato Negro bar on Irving.

Bo's childhood job was cleaning out incinerator ash box at the Regal Theater, and he'd sift through the ashes collecting any coins that survived the burn.

The Chicago Reader's Best of Chicago nominations are out today and in the category of Best Radio DJ is the one and only Mr. Jimmy himself: James Porter! Vote online here: chicagoreader.com/best-of-chic...

Yes, the very same theater that is now the Cadillac Palace. They stopped having rock shows here after the stage collapsed during a Frankie Goes To Hollywood performance.

Good piece. As it happens, Crime Story end of Season 1 and most of Season 2 dealt with the Outfit in Vegas almost ten years before Casino - most of the real guys were still alive when it aired, and the downfall had *just* happened.

Floriene Watson Willis never became a major star, but she nevertheless held a prominent position in the sanctuary as gospel music formed and flourished in Chicago some 90 years ago.

Read here about (I may be biased) the greatest cultural loss in Chicago in 50+ years. Some photos from Gerri's album - Quincy Jones, Flip Wilson and Jimmy Smith

Note that the larger center house has a BOARDING sign in the old photo. 103 years later, it's still an apartment house. Across the street from this was the American Shipbuilding Company (1890-1970s) In far distance of old photo is bar & rooming house that became Kay's Pilot House.

Rest Easy, James Chambers (Jimmy Cliff) - July 30, 1944 – November 24, 2025.

John Peel at the 11/22-23 1963 press conference in Dallas

Russell Lee's 1941 photographs of Bronzeville have very little specific information. This caption: 'the band at the Savoy Ballroom'. Well, true. But this is Count Basie's band on Easter '41. I'll try to ID who I can in this photo (1/2)

ICE helicopters over Hyde Park, Woodlawn and South Shore

Watching via other social media a peer and acquaintance, a wildly talented musician and visual artist, descend into the belief that he's the target of a governmental conspiracy, is unnerving. Now I'm scanning my memory - did I miss cues they were giving?

Roberts Westside in Forest Park shaking things up in '26

It's almost like Lucas made an homage to this very photo in American Graffiti a few years later.

This is the exterior shot of this scene. That's Rudy Ray Moore's Cadillac. Sun Ra poster is for Jazz Showcase date. House is still there, 64th & Kimbark in Woodlawn.

She painted these during Hyde Park's urban renewal days, surrounding the house where she lived, when the doors of condemned buildings were used as worksite barriers.

My old man worked for Stans on Wall Street. Stans asked him to basically keep a second set of books,, my old man said GFY, quit, joined Merchant Marine. Dad went around the globe 7x, Stans went to prison in Watergate.

Don't forget, the alderman of the ward in which this building sits had something to do with making this raid happen

Shop drawing of a terra cotta Schlitz belted globe insignia, likely destined to grace a tied house 📸 Northwestern Terra Cotta Collection, National Building Museum

Making steamed hams at La Rabida

Once ICE leaves, what becomes of their collaborators who are among us?

Oh and when in doubt, record. Pritzker pushed this and I thought wtf just RECORD? What do I know. It's powerful. There's a lot of footage of these pricks just saying fuck it and giving up under pressure, and the videos help a lot in many ways

Would suggest at min: Put up signs. People see them and know you're not a fucker. Let anyone around who might be exposed know that your house is open to them if they need it. Get a loud whistle. Wear it everywhere. Stand on a corner and eyeball these little bitches. Make their lives difficult.

An aside: Lake freighter traffic in Chicago is a fraction of what it once was (So. Chgo '74) but along the Calumet you can still see them pass through inc Alpena (oldest on the lakes) & the Arthur Anderson. Sometimes tie up close enough to the bridges you can talk to the crew (photos zeolite/gerard)

See you in Spring

Can someone clarify what they mean when they said they installed slot machines?

If you want to visit the grave of the guy who was the first person to drive on this (and a bunch of other firsts), he's buried at Lithuanian National Cemetery in Justice.

(1/2) Confluence of '40s Chicago hipster: '47 radio check on WGES of Jimmy Dale Band on Al Benson (pioneer Black DJ). Dale's band was actually paid for by Harold Fox, Chicago purveyor of the zoot suit (store still in biz), recorded by Myron Bachman who had Bruce Goff remodel his house that year

Wow I finally saw a Simpsons gag in real life

Late night nicotine scrubbing