When Oak Park Billiards closed 10 years ago, the vintage Brunswick pool tables remained. But with a new tenant moving in, those iconic tables, along with hundreds of other items, are up for sale to the general public this weekend.

In this week's edition of “Ask Geoffrey,” find out the “hole” story about the spire that was not to be.

An African-American movie studio in Logan Square made silent films that got people talking, but for all the wrong reasons. Geoffrey Baer shares the story of Ebony Films and more in this week's encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Our summer series of politically inspired cocktails has come to an end but goes out with a bang as we look back at a man who encompassed just about everything wrong with Chicago politics – longtime alderman Fred Bruno Roti.

Not that long ago, air pollution from burning coal made the Windy City more like the Smoggy City. Geoffrey Baer tells us how Chicago cleaned up its act, and shares other stories about Chicago history in this encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

The saddest ballad of all is the ballad of what never was – like the ballad of Thomas Hoyne, who was elected mayor of Chicago, but never served. Belly up to the bar and get a little taste of Chicago’s spirited history.

When most people visit a National Park Service site, they visit the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. Not many realize that there are more than 400 National Park Service sites. But that’s one thing Mikah Meyer hopes to change as he travels cross-country visiting all 412 of those sites.

Our latest cocktail, inspired by Chicago boss William Dawson, brings north and south together with the sweet peaches of Dawson’s ancestral Georgia and the Irish whiskey of Chicago’s rough politics.

Geoffrey Baer tracks down answers for three questions about Chicago's bygone streetcar heyday in this encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Thanks to an extension of Statue Stories Chicago, you still have plenty of time to chat with the Tin Man and Dorothy in Oz Park.

Levi Boone was arguably one of the most disliked mayors in Chicago history for his crackdown on immigrants and alcohol. He inspires a frosty, boozy melting pot of Americana.

Geoffrey Baer shares the story of the remarkable man who gave Sox Park's famous intersection one of its names.

One-term Mayor Michael Bilandic’s downfall in 1979 has become a cautionary tale to future would-be mayors of Chicago: Always make sure the snow gets plowed. His chilly defeat inspired this iced cocktail.

The building that thousands of cars drive under every day will be turned into commercial office space. Looking at the future of a building that's been empty since 1997. 

William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson was arguably the most corrupt politician Chicago has ever seen. He inspires a bourbon-based cocktail topped off with a taste of Chicago.