Showing posts with label local history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local history. Show all posts

Destination: Loop--The Story of Rapid Transit Railroading in and Around Chicago (SGP shortline RR series) Review

Destination: Loop--The Story of Rapid Transit Railroading in and Around Chicago (SGP shortline RR series)
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Destination: Loop--The Story of Rapid Transit Railroading in and Around Chicago (SGP shortline RR series) ReviewThis is a wonderful, rare book about something we know all too little about: how rapid transit was engineered and built around the downtown Chicago area. In light of the imminent reconfiguration of major rail lines around Chicago, this is a great thing to learn more about.Destination: Loop--The Story of Rapid Transit Railroading in and Around Chicago (SGP shortline RR series) Overview

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Chicago from the Air Then and Now (Then & Now (Thunder Bay Press)) Review

Chicago from the Air Then and Now (Then and Now (Thunder Bay Press))
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Chicago from the Air Then and Now (Then & Now (Thunder Bay Press)) ReviewOwing Already a copy of "Above Chicago" By R.Cameron, a ground-breaking master in this kind of aerial photographic himself, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this new release by O'Gorman, which from the title seemed to follow in Cameron's wake with, maybe, a little more attention to the comparison between old and new.
The moment I started browsing through its pages though I immediately realized this was no second best, especially because the "now" images are really recent ones (Cameron's title dates back to 1987). All areas of the city are caught on film, or more likely on pixel,and Chicago has never looked better! The overall quality of the images is very high, both technically and in terms of content, the text captions are concise, accurate and very informative, which is also a plus for this book.
Glad I pushed the button "purchase", I'm already looking forward to the release of the upcoming title in the series "Los Angeles from the air".Chicago from the Air Then and Now (Then & Now (Thunder Bay Press)) Overview

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Randhurst (IL): Suburban Chicago's Grandest Shopping Center Review

Randhurst (IL): Suburban Chicago's Grandest Shopping Center
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Randhurst (IL): Suburban Chicago's Grandest Shopping Center ReviewI have been looking for this for a present for a dear friend. He was just delighted with it. It arrived on time and was just a real surprise and well received. I have gained an aprreciative friend and was extremely pleased with the prompt service.Randhurst (IL): Suburban Chicago's Grandest Shopping Center Overview

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Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City Review

Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City
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Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City ReviewSo many of these ghostly compendiums are sloppily researched and written for the lowest common denominator. Not so with this book. Bielski is first and foremost a historian, a "ghost scholar" second. Her stories of these Chicago legends, many of them done to death (sorry), resonate with a scholar's respect for research and a sociologist's eye for the big picture. A ripping good read.Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City Overview

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Weird Chicago Review

Weird Chicago
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Weird Chicago ReviewToo often, books on "weird history" are LONG on the "weird", and very, very SHORT on "history".
But here, we get a good, well-written history of Chicago.
Spooky stuff is not lacking, but a good picture of Chicago's odd & occasionally bloody history emerges.
Pleasant to read, well-illustrated, & absorbing. Thumbs up for a book both fun & informative.
A recommendation to the authors for the next edition: include a map of the city.
The Hipster gives it a Big Thumbs UP!
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Creepy Chicago: A Ghosthunter's Tales of the City's Scariest Sites Review

Creepy Chicago: A Ghosthunter's Tales of the City's Scariest Sites
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Creepy Chicago: A Ghosthunter's Tales of the City's Scariest Sites ReviewChicago isn't the first place I think of when I think about hauntings, but as Ursula Bielski points out in her book, "Creepy Chicago", the windy city has a long and rich tradition of ghostly happenings dating back nearly two hundred years. Bielski's book relates dozens of stories of hauntings from the Chicago and surrounding areas. The earliest stories date back to the War of 1812 and Indians who attacked Fort Dearborn, killing the inhabitants and burning it to the ground. Even today, people still report seeing soldiers in period dress marching about the Michigan Ave. Bridge, the site of the former Fort Dearborn.
Archer Ave. is reported to be among the most haunted stretch of roadway in the country with numerous ghosts including the "Wailing Woman whose sobbing can be heard by those who passby the Archer Woods Cemetary. Then there is Chicago's most famous ghost, dubbed "Resurrection Mary" who made her first appearance in the 1930's. Mary is a beautiful blonde who would meet men in night clubs, dancing the night away with them, and then ask for a ride home. When the car approaches the cemetery, Mary jumps from the car and runs through the locked gates and disappears.
The Cemeteries of Chicago are replete with ghostly goings on...Rosehill Cemetery on the city's north side is said to be home to more than a dozen ghosts including several little girls. We all know how scary little girls can be! This cemetery is home to "Gerhardt Foreman" an associate of famed occultist Aleister Crowley, whose tomb is chained shut so he cannot get out. Rosehill is also the final resting place of Richard Sears, founder of the Sears Roebuck Co. who has been seen dressed in best in suit and top hat, walking through the mausoleum where he is entombed.
Not to be outdone in the ghost department is Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, a favorite destination for ghost hunters. This spot, reputed to be a spot where Chicago's gangsters dumped bodies is said to have spectral lights that chase visitors, mysterious 30's era cars that drive about, a woman in white who carries her baby, and a magical house that gets smaller and smaller as you near and eventually disappears completely.
One of the eeriest places to visit is Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Hillside. In 1921 Julia Buccola died giving birth to her baby, and the infant died as well. Julia's mother had nightmares for several years and finally had her daughters grave exhumed. When it was opened, all were shocked to see that Julia was still perfectly preserved although the baby had decomposed. Now visitors will find a haunting photo of the perfectly preserved body on Julia's monument.
From Chicago's Field Museum, to the Ghost of Horace Greely who haunts the elementary school named after him and from the site of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre to Wrigley Field where long-time broadcaster Harry Caray's ghost is said to haunt, this is a fascinating trip through Chicago's ghostly attractions. Unlike many regional tales of ghosts that are often rather dry reading Bielski relates these stories with a lot of enthusiasm that the readers will certainly share. I only wish there had been some photographs to accompany her text. Well done!
Reviewed by Tim Janson
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Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries Review

Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
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Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries ReviewThere are some who think it's weird to tour cemeteries. They're missing the serene tribute to a city's history -- graveyards are neighborhoods and time capsules; art museums and in some cases the final repositories of enduring secrets.
Hucke and Bielski serve as knowledgeable and respectful tour guides for some of the most impressively landscaped, richly historical acres within and adjacent to the city's urban sprawl. It's a field trip through bold headlines and unsung achievements represented by a carved catalog of famous -- and infamous (at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery, mob boss Sam Giancana's mausoleum is padlocked) -- names.
The book follows Lake Claremont's practical design of dividing interesting sites by sections of the city map. I know from firsthand experience that you can spend the whole day in the Metro North area touring renowned Graceland Cemetery (Chicago's second oldest burial ground, final home to many whose surnames -- Field, Getty, Palmer, Kinzie, Kimball, Goodman, Sears, Armour, and Pullman to drop just a few -- are synonymous with Chicago's growth); or Rosehill, within whose 350 acres lie bicycle king Ignaz Schwinn, water magnates Otis Ward Hinkley and George Schmitt, shoe guru Milton Florsheim, "merchandising arch-enemies" Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Warren Sears, and 14-year old Bobby Franks, murdered in 1924 by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
Hucke and Bielski devote much-deserved attention to the artistic aspect of grave markers and cemetery architecture across a span of more than a century's worth of changing styles. Additional highlights: more unusual burials (attorney Clarence Darrow's ashes scattered in Jackson Park; musician Steve Goodman's cremains under home plate in his beloved Wrigley Field); a nod to necropolises in outlying areas, and a partial directory of Chicagoland cemeteries. This unusual guide is unusually enlightening on many levels fundamental to Chicago's identity.Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries Overview

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Chicago Then and Now (Compact) (Then & Now Thunder Bay) Review

Chicago Then and Now (Compact) (Then and Now Thunder Bay)
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Chicago Then and Now (Compact) (Then & Now Thunder Bay) ReviewI have several of these "then and now" books, and I would say this is the weakest of the bunch. I dearly love Chicago, and some of the old photographs were very interesting, but the book has a few problems. First, the photographic perspectives are rarely in synch, so it is difficult to compare the two pictures directly; either the angle is off to the side, or it's at a different distance. This seems rather to defeat the purpose of a "then and now" theme, which is to facilitate comparison. Secondly, a great many of the buildings and scenes are virtually identical to what they were, so one wonders why they were included. Finally, a map should have been included.
On the positive side, many of Chicago's key spots are targeted, such as the Water Tower, the stockyards and Hull House, and the paragraphs that accompany each picture do convey a lot of interesting information.
If you are interested in Chicago or urban history you will undoubtedly still enjoy this volume, but lower your expectations a bit before the book arrives so you won't be disappointed.Chicago Then and Now (Compact) (Then & Now Thunder Bay) Overview

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