In news of the bored today, the Chicago Public Library finally updated their website. You know the one that was just white with a little bit of green and just linked to a bunch of PDFs? Now it's all pretty and red and green like, yeah, kind of like a Christmas tree, but the redesign is better organized and most exciting, has an entire section devoted to digital media with ebooks, audio books, and archival photos available. more ›

We’ve read (and cried through) her diary and now we get a glimpse into her family photo album. “Anne Frank: A Photo Album” is on display at Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich. Funded from a state grant and brought in from the Anne Frank Center in New York, the exhibit features over 70 black and white photos taken by Anne’s father, Otto Frank, who was a talented amateur photographer. The exhibit chronicles Frank family life from when Anne was a baby all the way up until the family's last summer together at home. more ›

We love to read and write, and not just our own posts here on the World Wide Webs. We’ve been working on our first novel for years. It’s a love story involving time-traveling unicorns and so far we have about 850 pages of it written, but we don’t know when we’ll get it published (fingers crossed!). As such, we have a soft spot in our heart for local writers who have been a tad more successful. Luckily we live in a city that gives us a chance to here these talented scribes read! more ›

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits... more ›

It was twenty years ago today that Mayor Harold Washington collapsed at his desk in City Hall. He died of a massive heart attack. In 1983, Washington surprised Chicago by winning the Democratic Primary for Mayor. He won with 36% of the vote, beating out incumbent Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Richard M. Daley. In the April 1983 general election, Washington received 52% of the vote to become Chicago’s first black mayor, trumping Bernard Epton... more ›

Tuesday we gave you the rundown of who is running for a Green Party nomination in Illinois, but among the candidates, one in particular stands out. Richard B. Mayers, a white supremacist connected with Matt Hale's Creativity Movement is running against Jerome "Jerry" Pohlen in the 3rd Congressional District. This isn't the first time Mayers has run for office. In 2002 he was removed from the ballot in the 9th Congressional District, leaving Jan Schakowsky... more ›

You might have already heard of the City 2000 project. The mission was to document life in Chicago in the first year of the 21st century for future generations and all that (which, as NASA's "Ask an Astrophysicist" informs us actually started in 2001). Over 200 photographers set out to capture life in the city, as well as sounds and video, which are housed at UIC's library. You can watch parts of the project... more ›

The debate over the Chicago Children's Museum plan to relocate to Grant Park has escalated since Monday’s neighborhood meeting at Daley Bicentennial Plaza. There, museum officials introduced plans for a more sunken, environmentally friendly design adjacent to the Plaza. The Museum’s growth has been remarkable. Founded in 1982 in two Chicago Public Library hallways, it’s since moved three times, most recently to Navy Pier in 1995. Twelve years later, they’ve apparently outgrown that tourist magnet.... more ›

Here’s what you missed while you were sneezing and burning: Guest #18, your comments are hilarious, but how do you fare with a live audience? If you think you’ve got the chops, submit a 1-2 minute video to Time Out Chicago by September 20. Best entries will be screened online for their discerning website visitors. The top four will compete live for the chance to be crowned “Chicago’s Funniest Person.” (... at least according to... more ›

Happy Labor Day Chicago! Although for many this is a day of picnics and playing, Labor Day has a bit more history behind it, and a significant role in its creation was played by people right here in Chicago. In the midst of the Industrial Revolution, with workers putting in 12 hour days and seven day weeks and child labor rampant, a small slice of our city lived in relative labor peace for a good... more ›

If you're like Chicagoist then you're a warrior. A warrior without air conditioning. And in times like these, hot times … in the city, it's best to know all sorts of tricks for cooling down. There's the lake, there's the public library, most restaurants and, of course, lying very still with fans on every side of your body. Those are just a few ways of keeping cool without the aid of energy draining, electric grid straining pure 100% Freon (that's still what it is, isn't it?). But there are other ways. Like meals that don't involve the kitchen stove. A perfect example of at least part of a meal, though easily a main lunch course, is gazpacho. Ah, gazpacho the lovely summer soup everyone, herbivores and omnivores alike, can enjoy. When Chicagoist was a little one we weren't overly fond of gazpacho. We didn't get the concept of cold soup and we weren't overly fond of hot tomatoes (unless they came on top of our sauce) but we're all grown up now and have concocted our own mix of fresh veggies that we think will lower your internal temperature a little bit. more ›

Chicagoist got a blast from the past yesterday when our man in Dirksen, Patrick Fitzgerald, announced the indictment of former 10th Ward Alderman Fast Eddie Vrdolyak on charges of federal fraud and bribery in connection with an alleged scheme to collect kickbacks in exchange for the sale of choice Gold Coast property. The charges allege that Vrdolyak conspired with businessman Stuart Levine to defraud the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science of the full... more ›

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with... more ›

Chicagoist has a confession to make. We were not living directly in the city in 1992. Sacrilege, we know. Being the reluctant suburbanites we were, however, we couldn't help but hear about the flooding that went on in the Loop. Yes, Friday marked the 15-year anniversary of the colossal city cluster. Months before the disastrous date, construction workers rehabilitating the Kinzie Street bridge unknowingly placed some wooden pilings atop an abandoned tunnel and drove them... more ›

Chicagoist really has no idea if these public meetings that are supposed to be to hear community thoughts/suggestions/comments/feedback really are that. Or if they're just legal due diligence, or if they're just so people feel that they had a chance to express themselves, or what. We still plan on going to the last meeting* about the three-track-were-you-smoking-crack sitch in the hopes that we can say something about it, but we're not really sure what it... more ›

Playing a little catch-up this week after our first round of reader contributions. There's no overriding theme this time other than a general lack of foresight. To paraphrase Gov. Rod's campaign commercials, "What were they thinking?" The municipal elections offered their fair share of the ridiculous. We'd like to thank Arenda Troutman, the campaign volunteers in the 16th and 24th wards, and supporters of Bernard Stone for their special contributions. (Thanks Jerry) A Chicago man... more ›

The Chicago Cultural Center is one of those magnificent hives of activity that's so accessible that it's far too easy to take for granted. It's right there on Michigan Avenue, and impossible not to see; yet we often just rush right past it without giving it a thought. Well, we want to change that, especially after seeing the breathtaking Tiffany dome recently. Tonight at 7 p.m. the Cultural Center hosts an event sponsored by... more ›

It’s that time of year -- leaves are falling, radiators are clunking, and the Chicago Humanities Festival is raring to go. We love the fest, we really do. Chicagoist even worked for them for a few years. We don't want to look in gift horses' mouths, but we can't help wishing they would un-stuffy it up a little bit. Maybe book some more fun guests and authors. (Neil Gaiman sold out in minutes a few... more ›

We love the library. We can hardly believe this idea exists. Don't have THIRTY dollars to spend on a book you'll read in a day and a half? You can just go and check it out of the library, read it, and give it back. Ever since we were kids, we have been checking out piles of books, reading them quick, and getting more. There's something about getting lost in a book that we've never... more ›

Book burning, gay bashing, kicking a homeless woman out of a library for freeloading public resources? It sounds like the Holy Trinity of turn-ons in one of Rush Limbaugh's wet dreams, minus maybe a pharmacist handing out endless prescriptions to Oxycontin. But it turns out a fire at the John M. Merlo branch of the Chicago Public Library on 644 W. Belmont back in June was a little more pedestrian. Erica Graham, a 21-year-old homeless... more ›

"[We’re] reminding the kids that there is another way of life, that you don't have to be Britney Spears. Trying to get 16-year-old girls to pick up guitars instead of hot pants. Or guitars and hot pants." The source of that quote is Justine Frischmann, lead singer of the punk rock band Elastica (ask your older brother about them; then ask your cool uncle to tell you about Wire). One could argue whether Elastica was... more ›

We love to see people on the El all reading the same book. It’s a great conversation starter and it’s even more fun when it’s part of the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago program. On February 15, CPL announced the tenth book in the program, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. What’s extra cool about this pick is that we will partner up with readers in our sister... more ›

James Frey discovered the glare of the Oprah’s Book Club spotlight isn’t always wine and roses. But Elie Wiesel and his haunting memoir Night, which Oprah selected for the next Book Club reading, isn’t likely to see the same fate. Wiesel's chilling account of life in a Nazi concentration camp and subsequent aftermath has stood up to 50 years of scrutiny. And anyone who suggests the Nobel Peace Prize winner embellished his story risks becoming... more ›

Chicago’s cinematic history is being preserved in all sorts of ways this week. Steve James’s Hoop Dreams, the story of two Chicago high school basketball players, is now part of the National Film Registry, a list of films that have “cultural, historical or aesthetic significance.” Every year, the Library of Congress adds twenty-five films to its National Film Registry from a list of films nominated by the public (click here to send your recommendations for... more ›

Oak Lawn (southwest of Chicago) Police Chief Bob Smith sent letters this week to five businesses within his jurisdiction telling them that they could be prosecuted for selling adult videos and magazines. In the letter, sent to one video store and four convenience stores, Smith notified the businesses' proprietors that he was working with prosecutors to determine whether the dirty mags and videos break local obscenity laws. more ›

The Chicago Public Library yesterday announced the 9th selection for One Book, One Chicago: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. We admit to feeling a thrill when we heard the news--an excuse not only to reread Pride and Prejudice, but to watch the positively dreamy Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the epic A&E movie adaptation. And again in Bridget Jones's Diary. Swoon. more ›

Chicagoist has always thought of library work as a noble calling--you gotta do it for the pure love of it, not the money. That is, until we learned about one Springfield librarian who has been raking in the dough (not to mention her own personal library) by skimming off donated materials. Lori Burger allegedly pilfered a couple thousand books, CDs, and videos from a public library in Springfield, selling about half on Ebay for... more ›

Looking for something fun to do tonight, but want to sound scholarly when you tell your friends where you're going? A number of our favorite Chicago-bloggers-turned-published-book authors will be at the Sulzer Public Library in Lincoln Square tonight, and you should go. Chicagoist's own Erin J. Shea will be participating in a panel hosted by Gaper's Block, along with Wendy McClure, Kevin Guilfoile, and Claire Zulkey. The "Author's Roundtable: On Authorship, Blogs, and the Changing... more ›

Focus on Uptown Library more ›

If you like holiday celebrations but can do without your neighbors’ steady stream of homemade firecrackers, head up to Ravinia this Saturday to celebrate “Don Quixote Day.” Professor Anne Cruz of the University of Miami will be on hand to discuss Cervantes’ seminal novel followed by a discussion of Richard Strauss’ own Don Quixote, the focus of Ravinia’s “One Score, One Chicago” initiative. That night, Chicago favorite bass-baritone Samuel Ramey returns to Highland Park for... more ›