About once a year, photos from the gargantuan collection, painstakingly arranged and maintained by Indiana University, left behind by amateur photographer and Indiana University grad Charles W. Cushman crop up on one website or another. The photos, spanning 1938 to 1969 (he passed away in 1972), are a treasure trove spanning the entire country (and others) but have a particularly nice collection of photos from that period taken here in Chicago. Our pals at Gapers Block had a fantastic series where they recreated some of Cushman's shots. And Vocalo's Lee Bey took a look at the architectural aspects of Cushman's collections earlier this spring. There's also his NYC shots which have been featured on the Mothership Gothamist. So, now that we're in the dog days of summer, we thought we'd visit the archives and take a few spins through some of his photos over the next few days. more ›

About once a year, photos from the gargantuan collection left behind by amateur photographer and Indiana University grad Charles W. Cushman, painstakingly arranged and maintained by Indiana University, crop up on one website or another. The photos, spanning 1938 to 1969 (he passed away in 1972), are a treasure trove spanning the entire country (and others) but have a particularly nice collection of photos from that period taken here in Chicago where Charles lived at several points of his life. Our pals at Gapers Block had a fantastic series where they recreated some of Cushman's shots. And Vocalo's Lee Bey took a look at the architectural aspects of Cushman's collections earlier this spring. There's also his NYC shots which have been featured on the Mothership Gothamist. So, now that we're in the dog days of summer, we thought we'd visit the archives and take a few spins through some of his photos over the next few days. more ›

Friday's weather doesn't give a damn who you are or who sent you. It's gonna stay like this, dammit, and you're gonna like it. Temps in the low 30s? You're gonna like it. Snow that accumulates from 1 to 3 inches? Tough, deal with it. Gusty winds? Hey, don't blame me. Overnight lows in the mid 20s? Stop asking questions. Dis right here is how winter gets done, son. more ›

While searching Flickr for some photos, we stumbled across this collection from user Eric Fischer. These are some great old photos and brochures we had to share. Links above go to large versions for easier reading pleasure. more ›

Football not your thing? While everyone gets ready for tonight's Bears game, take a step back in time with Disco Fantasy. more ›

Dave Burge over at Iowahawk uncovered quite a gem of a magazine: the April 3, 1959 edition of a little rag called Night Life in Chicago. It's quite a sight and worth looking through for a peek into yesteryear, including gossip, columns, and ads for show girl lounges. [via] more ›

What better way to celebrate the NFL's impending return (later this week) than by running through some old school TV intros? more ›

Flickr user John McNab shared some great old-time Chicago photos that he found via the Library of Congress American Memory website. On a gloomy Friday morning, they're a welcome step back into the past. more ›

In a great big "OOPS!" move, the governor's office accidentally promoted the wrong website in its crusade against violent and sexually explicit video games. At the announcement last week, state school officials mistakenly promoted a website that rediculed Gov. Blagojevich and his crusade. Why the mixup? The governor's site is www.safegamesillinois.org and the site promoted was www.safegamesillinois.com. So easy! So brilliant. Chicagoist is a techie-nerd so we can't understand when this happens and why they didn't shell out the extra $100 to buy a few more URLS, like safegamesillinois.com, safegamesillinois.net, safegamesillinois.gov, etc. Half the novice internet users on this planet automatically put .com at the end of anything they hear anyway, including staff at the gov's office, it seems. They left themselves wide open. more ›