America has often written off the mess in Detroit as unique to that city. But Chicago's shrinking population and growing swaths of vacant emptiness on the South Side should have us questioning that solace. more ›

Look north from within Sherman Park and you catch a jarring sight: ruins. Towers of rubble loom over the field house, but it isn't nature taking a toll: its the Archdiocese of Chicago! more ›

WBEZ's Lee Bey shared two clips of a 1957 television drama filmed in Chicago called Chicago 2-1-2 on his blog last week. The show, as Bey noted, was part of a DuPont Anthology series on ABC and starred Frank Lovejoy as Chicago Fire Department Inspector Ed McCook, tracking down an arsonist. Chicago 2-1-2 — the "2-1-2" being the call signature for the main fire alarm office at the time — was essentially Dragnet for firefighters. more ›

During pre-Prohibition days, tied houses were the original brewpubs. they were taverns that sold only the brand of beer that they were "tied" to. Chicago was a heavy tied house town during the day with Schlitz, and the distinctive globes and architecture can be found throughout the city. more ›

Vocalo's Lee Bey takes a look at some of the best ambassadors for appreciation of Chicago's architecture: local hip-hop artists. According to Bey, love him (like we do) or hate him, Kanye has a keen eye for the city's architectural beauty. [via Gapers Block] more ›

It wasn't too long ago we were looking at the Chicago connections to the world's new tallest building, located in Dubai. Now, Lee Bey uncovers the story of plans to build the world's then-tallest building...in Schaumburg. Proposed in 1973, behold, the Schaumburg Space Needle. [via] more ›

WBEZ's Vocalo blog made a splash late last year when they added former Sun-Times media columnist Robert Feder to their roster in a bid to up their web presence. Now, they're adding three more well-known names of the Chicago media world to their roster: architecture critic Lee Bey, Steve "The Hungry Hound" Dolinsky, and Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The trio start action next Monday. more ›