Geoffrey Baer has the story of a Chicago nightclub that helped launch the careers of artists like Peter, Paul and Mary, Shel Silverstein, and many more.

Mexican Americans didn't let the pandemic stop their celebrations. Was there a better way?

For more than 50 years, a family business in West Garfield Park has persevered in good times and bad. They run a record shop that sells music in many formats – and pretty much anything else that will sell.

Geoffrey Baer on a mysterious lakefront structure in this week's Ask Geoffrey. 

Tuesday marks the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates of the cultures and honors the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. We discuss the varied and vast impact of Latinos on business, art and politics in Chicago.

​Mexican Independence Day celebrations are a community staple across many communities in Chicago and beyond. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, those celebrations are looking very different this year.

Two famous Germans take up permanent residence in Chicago, only to witness the evolution of a West Side neighborhood. Geoffrey Baer goes long on two enduring Humboldt Park statues.

After a three-year, student-led grassroots campaign, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners voted to officially remove the name of Stephen Douglas from what’s now temporarily known as Park 218. 

The Chicago Historic Resource Survey, completed in 1995, has been an invaluable tool for preservationists. But it’s beginning to show its age, and the lack of sites of significance to the Black and Latino communities is notable.

The Chicago Commission on Landmarks unanimously approved preliminary landmark status for Emmett Till’s former home, calling the red brick two-flat a “modest home that is monumentally important.”

An iconic Chicago building could soon be facing an identity crisis. Geoffrey Baer has the backstory of a prominent – and sometimes underrated – member of Chicago’s skyline.

Inside a 1907 tavern once owned by Schlitz that's being restored by new owners and heading for city landmark status.

Exactly 65 years after the brutal killing and shocking open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, the red brick two-flat where he lived with his mother is finally on the path to an official city landmark designation.

Development of DuSable Park, stalled for more than 30 years, is finally inching forward. Advocates say Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable set an example for multicultural harmony we’ve yet to follow.

The painful legacy of Emmett Till seems fresh amid this era of civil unrest. We reflect on his death with Ollie Gordon, Till’s cousin, and Chris Benson, who co-authored an autobiography of Mamie Till-Mobley, Till’s mother.

Brick of Chicago’s virtual tours of Printers Row, set for Saturday and Sunday, will bring the history of printing to life with a demonstration from Starshaped Press.