Chicago

In his newest special, Geoffrey Baer explores The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago, from gilded lobbies to verdant parks and eye-bending skyscrapers to glorious sacred spaces. He discusses the project, and what he loves about Chicago. 

The technology behind the lie detector is basic and available around the world, but only America has used it extensively over the decades, thanks in part to pioneering work in forensics in Chicago that attempted to address the city's notorious crime.

Seventy years ago, the New Yorker writer and New York City native A.J. Liebling published a series of articles about Chicago that saw the city as a "not-quite-metropolis" imbued with a "collective sense of disappointment." Was he right?

Roasted nuts and other festive foods have been drawing visitors to the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza for 27 years. The Chicago photographer Jack X. Li recently visited to document the snacks—and people’s delight in them.

As iconic signs like Dinkel's and Orange Garden's disappear from Chicago, celebrate some of Chicago's most memorable restaurants, past and present, the kind of places where the surroundings are an inextricable part of the experience. 

Brian Lee has designed one of the tallest buildings in the world as well as neighborhood-level buildings such as three libraries in Chicago. "To be able to reinforce and maybe enhance a neighborhood with a building—I think that’s a great positive goal of architecture and urban design,” he says. 

Black people’s contributions to Chicago's historic architectural legacy have been a story less told for too long. Architecture photographer and writer Lee Bey celebrates a few of them around Chicagoland. 

The list of semifinalists for the James Beard Awards has been released, and fifteen Chicago people and places in the food industry are on it. Meet them here.

Chicago native Mia P. Manansala's Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery Series is packed full of lovingly described food—as well as engrossing mystery. Manansala believes a character's approach to food reveals a lot about them, and wants to expose people to Filipino culture.

October is Polish Heritage Month, the perfect time to explore Polonia, or Polish Chicago. Geoffrey Baer takes you on a tour of some sites that evoke the community's rich and influential continuing history in Chicago. 

Blair Kamin has announced he is leaving the Chicago Tribune after 33 years, 28 as its architecture critic. A frequent guest on Chicago Tonight, he once shared his favorite place in Chicago and a story about his first review. Revisit it now.

Lanzi Candy's Cashew Nut and Rice Crunch was once sold internationally and on American Airlines, all while made out of a small family-owned factory in Chicago. A documentary follows the business's story and a quest to recreate its most popular treat.

The documentary Chicago at the Crossroad shows how the failure of public housing has contributed to gun violence in the city today. "Your housing will dictate every other aspect of your life, from school to food to violence exposure to your percentage of the possibility of actually committing a crime,” says the producer.

Attending college on the G.I. Bill changed Abner Mikva's life. As a congressman, judge, and mentor to Barack Obama, Elena Kagan, and numerous young people, Mikva tried to show that government could be a force for good in people's lives. 

A huge backlog of mail in Chicago in 1966 caused long delays and led to bipartisan reforms of the postal service. Chicago's role was unsurprising, given that it was an important part of the national postal system, which had also contributed to the city's growth.