CPL - Bezazian Branch - 1226 W. Ainslie St. Serving Uptown and Edgewater, the Bezazian Branch of the Chicago Public Library opened at 1226 W. Ainslie Street on January 26, 1957. It features a display of photos of the neighborhood in the 1970s, as well as a mural painted by local children. Our favorite feature,... Continue Reading →
Kibbitznest - 2212 N. Clybourn Simply put, Kibbitznest is one of the coolest places that we've inadvertently stumbled on. While out and about the other day we weren't ready to go home yet so I was scanned Google Maps for somewhere to go. After looking at a couple places Kibbitznest in Lincoln Park popped up.... Continue Reading →
Being one of the great cities of the world, many novels have been set in Chicago. This is the first of a series looking in how the city has been portrayed/described in novels. While it would be difficult to find anyone shocked by Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie nowadays, it almost never made it to... Continue Reading →
Amazon Books - 3443 N. Southport Ave Out of sheer curiosity we stopped in at the Amazon bookstore in Lakeview yesterday. The whole idea of the online retailer who put many small businesses out of business, including bookstores, opening brick-and-mortar stores, is bizarre. The store was everything one would expect – cold, uninviting, sterile. What... Continue Reading →
Little Free Library – N. Glenwood Ave & W. Berwyn Ave Sure, it's weird having 50 degree days in Chicago in December, but hey, it means getting to wander neighborhoods and stumbling on Little Free Libraries! We came across these two in Andersonville. The first, themed to the neighborhood with the Swedish flag, is near... Continue Reading →
CPL - Edgewater Branch - 6000 N. Broadway Good morning! Apologies for not posting more, the recent icy cold has forced us inside, but we're back and exploring all things literary related in the city! Today we're looking at the Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library.Located at 6000 N. Broadway, the Edgewater Branch opened... Continue Reading →
I was asking one of the regulars at the coffee shop I work at about his fiction writing. In describing it he made a comparison to Stuart Dybek. Living mostly in classics as I do, I wasn't familiar but added him to the list. As it would happen, the next day I stumbled onto a... Continue Reading →
Kenosha Public Museum - Kenosha, WI Okay, you'll have to forgive me. This isn't in Chicagoland but it was a very cool exhibit all about the development of the mystery/crime genre as told through art and only an hour or so away from the city! Looking for a mini-adventure we jumped in the car and... Continue Reading →
Chicago History Museum - 1601 N. Clark Street The permanent "Chicago Authored" exhibit at the Chicago History Museum is pretty rad. Celebrating "how those who write about Chicago shape our understanding of the city," it's the museum's first ever crowdsourced exhibition. Yup, back in 2013, people were given some 450 topics to chose from and... Continue Reading →
