Column: When I almost died: My days battling the coronavirus and what I remember the most
Last week, when I read my own obituary, I remembered the first time I almost died. It was a cold December morning in 1963 when I fell through and under...
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Column: Comedy finds ways to persevere in Chicago for fall 2020. What else can we do but laugh?
Heard a good joke lately? Had a good laugh? Deprivation shadows the land and though laughter may not be considered as essential to human life as food, water, safety or...
With ‘Boots in the Ashes,’ one of the first female ATF agents looks back on the murder and mayhem she saw on the job
Observe, if you will, this delightful domestic scene. There is a mother and a son and a dog. They are nestled on a comfortable couch in modest house in the...
In tales of the Chicago Outfit, the widowed Annette Nitti mostly stayed in the shadows
The name Annette Caravetta Nitti does not echo in the alleyways of local infamy. Perhaps that is understandable. The gangster history of Chicago — glorified in movies, television, themed restaurants,...
Harry Caray’s is haunted by Chicago’s past: Landmark building was a mobster’s hideout, has secret rooms and sits on Chicago’s block No. 1
On one of those horrifyingly hot days this week, few people were out and about around the corner of Dearborn and Kinzie streets. Four restaurants sit on this corner and...
‘Where the Tour Buses Don’t Go’ is a different kind of Chicago guidebook from the creative mind of a former teacher
The latest steps in the seven decades-long creative journey of Gerry Lekas finds him exploring the lives and haunts of such notable Chicago-area characters as Sam Giancana, Jack Ruby, the...
Up close and personal with a president named Obama, his wife and kids and their cute dogs in ‘Uncommon Grace’
The members of the Obama family, two of whom made notable television appearances as part of this week's Democratic National Convention, include two Portuguese Water Dogs who lived in the...
Today’s ghostly ballparks got you down? Chicago book takes us out to Comiskey Park, circa 1959
Baseball's become a remote-only treat, an odd viewing experience even for the most ardent fans. But long before coronavirus clamped down on all facets of life, baseball had been drifting...
In Beverly at the new Two Mile, drinking coffee and hot chocolate and looking at art with rich Chicago roots
It was as perfectly pleasant a Saturday morning as one could hope for in this battered city. Near the 99th Street Metra station, a cute four-month-old puppy named Hazel was...
Hearing despair and anger walking through Chicago’s Gold Coast on Monday morning. ‘What is this city becoming?’
Across the street from where I live there is an ancient, famous structure. It is the Water Tower, and affixed to it are three brass plaques noting its durability and...