Julian "Jumpin' " Perez and house music went on to bigger things. So has Pilsen. This video reminds us of how far Pilsen has come and how far it has to go. more ›

Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan abruptly resigned yesterday, ending a 26-year relationship with the team, 23 of them as head coach. Sloan's tenure as Jazz head coach was the longest current tenure in professional sports. The native of downstate McLeansboro is the only NBA coach to win 1,000 games with one team. The rest of his wins came during a 94-121 stint as head coach of the Bulls. Sloan's history with the Bulls runs deep. When the Bulls joined the NBA in 1966, Sloan was their first choice in the expansion draft and, with it, the nickname "The Original Bull." Along with coach Johnny "Red" Kerr, Sloan led the Bulls to the playoffs in their inaugural season, posting the best expansion record in league history. more ›

25 years ago today the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch. Some of you might not have been born then, but this was one of those "do you remember" moments that's etched in our memory. It wasn't simply because of seeing it happen live in the classroom. The news cycle wasn't 24 hours of white noise then. It was three networks and the fledgling CNN, nowhere near the 500 channels and nothing on we see today. more ›

As Benjy mentioned earlier, a lot of folks around town are referring to Bears-Packers III Sunday as the biggest game in Bears history. Never mind Super Bowl XX or Super Bowl XLI. With the NFC championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLV on the line, it's certainly the biggest game in the rivalry in 70 years. It's also the biggest sporting event to be held in Soldier Field (old or new models) since the legendary heavyweight championship boxing match between former champion Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, the man who beat him for the title a year previous in Philadelphia. Their September 1927 rematch is also forever known as "the Long Count fight." more ›

Sometime tonight raise a glass and make a toast to the state of Illinois. On this date in 1818 Illinois became the 21st state in the union. What originally was a French colony has now become the fifth-most populous state in the nation; sixty-five percent of that population is concentrated here in the greater Chicago area. more ›

The early years of Burr Tillstrom's puppet show was produced from 1947-1957 right here in Chicago, first at WBKB and later at WNBQ (the predecessor to WMAQ), and had more adults watching the program than children. more ›

Fifty years ago today a stretch of interstate over seventeen miles long opened, connecting the Loop with O'Hare Airport by cutting through the heart of the Northwest Side. The Kennedy Expressway has since become one of the busiest highways in Illinois, and one that draws the ire of motorists on an hourly basis. more ›

With his endorsements, his appearance in the NBA 2K11 video game and the continued frenzy (and sometimes homicides) over his shoes, Michael Jordan as an international brand is as hot as ever. Earlier this week, Deadspin excerpted a chapter from the Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History, from the writers behind the wonderful basketball website Free Darko. The chapter, from Bethlehem Shoals, dealt with a young Michael Jordan, just launching his professional career, and how Jordan was considered rebellious, even edgy, at the time. more ›

We used to run a series called "The Friday Flashback." Figured now is as good a time to resurrect that, 'cause it was a lot of fun to write. Today, we're going back a decade to a time when Michael Jordan had only retired twice, Sammy Sosa was beloved, fiberglass cows were on parade throughout the city, Brian Urlacher was a wide-eyed young linebacker who could form complete sentences, Miegs Field still existed and parking meters were owned by the city. more ›

Dry your eyes, kiddies - the world will very likely continue to spin after Opes packs her bag and hustles over to the west coast. But while we're all in a collective state of mourning, let's turn to the internet to find us some shining examples of the Way Things Used To Be. Throughout Oprah's long and storied career, through the tabloid weight rollercoaster coverage and the choruses of "look at her hair!" photos throughout the years, we could always count on Ms. Winfrey to bring us the hard news, the soft news, the loopy medical advice, the celebrity softball interviews, and the occasional discussions of va-jay-jay painin'. more ›

For anyone still bummed about Chicago's international "You've got a great personality, though" incident this morning, consider this: We had the games once - and we gave them away. Oh, yes. We first saw it posted on the ChicagoansForRio site (which has been updated in the past few hours, if you haven't visited lately) and checked it out - Chicago had been awarded the 1904 Games and passed them to St. Louis in order to prevent the country's smaller population from splitting the difference between the Games and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The exposition was held to celebrate the centennial of the Purchase, and introduced the world to the ice cream cone. more ›

Someone's pockets are $40 million lighter this morning, and if the unnamed buyer of the old Post Office, straddling the Eisenhower, has any buyers remorse, they're not telling anyone. For the rest of us, all we can do is watch the calendar and wait for this anonymous developer to roll up the bulldozers and truck in the slot machines. (If, that is, the inevitable Chicago casino doesn't go to Navy Pier - both scenarios lay even odds with the Chicagoist bookmakers.) more ›

This has been floating around the Chicagoist offices for a little while now (thanks, Alex!) but only makes its way to the Flashback desk this morning (thanks, Rob!). It's worth the wait - all ten minutes of this James Fitzpatrick-hosted travelogue movie reel (think Travel Channel meets Walter Winchell) is fascinating not just for how much has changed in 60 years - but also in how familiar almost everything here remains. more ›

WTTW's aired between 1988 and 2003 (with a short seven part revival in 2006) and took a look at various wacky and unusual places, people, and events around the city. The show went through a number of different hosts and correspondents over the years, and while they all had their certain charm, we have a special affinity for original host Ben Hollis (sorry Will, while we love nerds you just didn't connect with us). Part of Hollis' charm was his complete lack of pretense running around town in a khaki outfit and pith helmet. Watching clips of the old shows lead to a lot of "Oh, I remember that place" moments, and once in a while a "Before they were stars" sighting, such as in the video below from 1990. Hollis was in Lincoln Park asking people a dumb question as part of the regular -- what else -- "Dumb Question" segment, and one of the participants happens to be a familiar face. Familiar now, anyway. We would tell you who it is, but as you're sitting at work on this dreary Friday counting down the minutes until 5:00, we don't want to spoil a chance for you to kill some time so we'll let you try and spot him/her for yourself. more ›

There are a few statistics that get thrown around every year: Tryptophan in turkey around late November, numbers of toilets flushed at the Superbowl, and the number of phone calls made on Mother's Day. That number dropped dramatically in the Chicagoland area back on this date in 1988 (which just so happened to be Mother's Day) when a fire at a Hinsdale Illinois Bell station knocked out phone service to 35,000 people in the DuPage area. more ›

Since today is International Workers' Day, a day meant to commemorate the Haymarket Massacre that took place in Chicago in 1886, we thought a brief look at the tragic event important to the labor movement around the globe was in order. more ›

Believe it or not, there was a time in the 70s and 80s when a Daley wasn't running the city of Chicago. We broke some barriers during that time period, too, when we saw the first African American mayor, Harold Washington, elected as well as his predecessor, Jane Byrne, who was the first and only woman to serve as Mayor of Chicago and was elected on this day, April 3, in 1979. Byrne was no stranger to Chicago politics when she ran for office -- while working to help get John F. Kennedy elected in 1960, she met Mayor Richard J. Daley and in 1968 Daley made Byrne the head of Chicago consumer affairs. She kept that job until Mayor Bilandic -- who took over after Daley's death in 1976 -- fired her. Byrne apparently took the firing personally, and started campaigning to beat Bilandic in the mayoral primary. With the help of Bilandic majorly botching the city's handling of the Blizzard of '79, Byrne defeated him and went on to win the general election. more ›

Since citydwellers have been collectively exercising their civic rebellion muscles this week* in terms of the ongoing parking meter revolt, we at the Flashback desk figured it could be illuminating to go back and see where this whole thing started. Not just with the sale of the city's parking meters to LAZ, no sir - we're setting the Wayback Machine for 1936, when the argument was raging about whether or not to install the things in the first place. more ›

While children of the early 70s grew up with the likes of Ray Rayner and ), and featured segments such as children demonstrating the art of candle making, junior high rock bands, animals from the Brookfield Zoo, and interviews with mega-superstars like Todd Bridges and Lou Ferrigno. In this clip, a young Marcus Gilmer Michael Sheehan shows off one of his many collections: more ›

Most Sox fans know about the arguments about whether or where to relocate the team over the years. Notably, the team was considering a move down to Florida, but do you remember when the team was ready to say Na-Na-Na-Na-Hey-Hey to the South Side in favor of.... more ›

With Franklin Delano Roosevelt's name being bantered about more these days, what with the comparisons of his New Deal and the current economic stimulus, we thought we would take a look at the 44th Mayor of Chicago, Anton "Tony" Cermak, who died from a gun shot wound 76 years ago today. Had Cermak not taken a bullet intended for the then President-elect, Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't be getting their Social Security checks and we never would have had the chance to watch FDR's delightful fireside chats on television. more ›

Kerner was the son of Otto Kerner, Sr., a Cook County Circuit Court judge who became Illinois Attorney General in 1932 and saved Illinois from three-two beer hell by clarifying liquor sales law after prohibition. Following in his father's footsteps, Kerner himself went on to receive a law degree and became a United States Attorney and a Cook County judge, and also married Helena Cermak, daughter of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, shortly after the mayor was assassinated. In 1960, Kerner ran for Illinois Governor and defeated incumbent William "Billy the Kid" Stratton (sidebar: Stratton was acquitted of charges of tax evasion in 1965), and went on to serve two terms where he most notably chaired the Kerner Commission in 1967 that took a hard look at the racial unrest and riots going on at the time. Kerner declined to run for a third term, and instead became a United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge. more ›

Since Chicago radio icon Jonathan Brandmeier has been conducting a late night television "experiment" the past couple of weekends, we thought we would take a look back at his first dip into TV waters, the nationally syndicated . more ›

When those of us on the Flashback Beat aren't gazing back wistfully at days gone by, we're thinking to ourselves, "Man, radio when we were kids was kickass." See also: The awesomeness that was WLUP AM 1000, Steve Dahl, and Kevin Matthews to name just a few. To be honest, only one thing defined that era of Chicago radio other than the Loop for us - and that was the Blaze. Home of Steve Seaver, Major Tom, and the first radio home of one Eric "Mancow" Muller. It was also where we learned to love bands like Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, and other various lesser hair-metal 'bangers like Warrant, Faster Pussycat, and Savatage. more ›

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving, and that means it's time for the annual McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade down State Street. While the parade is being touted as celebrating its 75th anniversary, that's somewhat misleading -- the parade has gone through a number of incarnations over the years. In fact, it just started being held on Thanksgiving Day in 1999, and wasn't officially called a "Thanksgiving Parade" until 2002. more ›

The CTA's "Chicago Card" and standard fare cards have given riders loads of grief, with everything from incorrect balances to unreadable cards. Maybe we should go back to transfers. more ›

For as long as I remember, I've loved classic horror movies. I can remember (during my early grade school years) walking home in the afternoon after class was dismissed, dropping my backpack at the back door, grabbing a grape drink and hot corn chips and heading to the living room to watch the afternoon movie on Channel 7 before doing homework. Channel 7's afternoon movie was almost always a Hammer horror flick, known as much for their cleavage-baring Victorian sexuality as their shock value. Now, Christopher Lee is the definitive Dracula, but the Hammer adaptations paled compared to the classic Universal horror flicks. more ›

Ahhhh, the Schwinn Stingray. Our first real bicycle at 7 years of age was a Stingray in blue, with a five-speed gear shift on the top tube, banana seat, coaster brake, sissy bar and baseball cards fitted between the spokes. That Stingray sparked a lifelong love affair between the bicycle and us. Over the years we've saddled atop a seeming score of other Schwinns, including our current bike, a 2000 Mesa GS that's logged over 40,000 miles in eight years of riding. more ›

Last week we offered belated birthday greetings to Bob Newhart. Which meant that we missed out on looking back at the late Mel Tormé on his birthday. more ›