In 1936, a man named Leo J. Hulseman created the Paper Container Manufacturing Company on the South Side of Chicago to sell his conical wax paper cups. They renamed it the Solo Cup Company in the 1940s, and in the 1970s they released that red plastic cup we all know so well. more ›

Continuing the celebration of its 75th season, the Grant Park Music Festival has released Sounds of Chicago's Lakefront: A Celebration of the Grant Park Music Festival, a 219-page look back at the history of both the Festival and the downtown lakefront area. For a coffee table-ish book, there's plenty of food for your noodle. The first part of the book is a history of "Chicago's frontyard," from the 1850s, when outdoor concerts began in Lake Park (as it was known then), through the countless landfill and construction jobs that brought Grant Park and Millennium Park to the museum- and concert-filled expanse of today. The second and larger section is a decade-by-decade look at the Festival's development, major events, and guest artists, with quotations from musicians, concert-goers, city officials, and other local notables, as well as archival excerpts from newspapers and magazines. more ›

The Grant Park Music Festival's 75th season gets started tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. The anniversary celebration kicks off with concerts on Wednesday and Friday at the Pritzker Pavilion and on Saturday in the Harris Theater. more ›