There was once a club scene in Chicago that was something of a rarefied world. A photographer who was not part of the scene ventured into one of the clubs and captured a fantastic nightlife that is now long gone and preserved almost exclusively in his work. A new book pairs those photos with poems from an acclaimed poet. Eddie Arruza has the rap.

A small, windowless building on Block 37 is dwarfed by glassy new high-rises. A viewer wonders how it managed to escape the wrecking ball. Geoffrey Baer shares the story behind this unusual building, plus the history of the Marshall Field’s holiday windows and Kermit the Frog’s commercials for milk in this week’s edition of Ask Geoffrey.

A little-known waterway built in the 1830s allowed Chicago to grow not once, but twice! Hear the story of the crucial canal that you may never have heard of, and the story behind one of the South Side's best known public works of art in tonight's edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Geoffrey Baer shares his stroll through Chicago's South Side in a show that premieres tonight.

A famous photo taken in 1940s Bronzeville features the faces of five young African-American men, but their identities have remained a mystery for generations. Local history expert Geoffrey Baer is here with the story behind one of Bronzeville's most enduring images in this week’s edition of Ask Geoffrey.

The famously irascible Frank Lloyd Wright estranged two artists on a single short-lived project. Learn the fate of Wright's lost Midway Gardens and play tennis at the Kenwood Country Club as local history expert Geoffrey Baer heads to the South Side.

Local history expert Geoffrey Baer visits the towering walls on the south lakeshore and a swampy nature area in the middle of an industrial neighborhood in this week’s edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Television writer and producer Norman Lear took a lighthearted approach to many challenging social and political issues in groundbreaking sitcoms such as “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.” 

Local history expert Geoffrey Baer gets schooled at Midway Airport, snags a free pickle at a long-lost Old Town favorite and soars with 19 terracotta eagles in Lakeview during this encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

The award-winning author discusses his latest book–also the newest One Book, One Chicago selection–a sweeping history of his hometown, subtitled "When Chicago Built the American Dream."

Geoffrey Baer cruises by with the history of the Illinois Tollway oases, a Chicago lass on Irish cash and O'Hare's sleek new air traffic control towers in this week's edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Geoffrey Baer visits a towering turtle on the Near West Side, a retro motel in River North and a vanishing South Side lake in this week's encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Test your news knowledge with this week's set of questions.

From three Chicago MacArthur Foundation fellowship winners to Chicago aldermen calling for Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s ouster amid a rise in violence to the Bears first victory of the season: Test your news knowledge with this week's set of questions

In this edition of Ask Geoffrey, our local history expert Geoffrey Baer makes a splash at a long-gone waterfall, visits a bar with an unbeatable view of the Chicago skyline and tells the fishy tale of an Albany Park building.

From Alice the corpse plant to liquid water on Mars to the Chicago Bears: Test your news knowledge with this week's set of questions.