Geoffrey Baer on His New Special, 'Touring Chicago's Lakefront'

Touring Chicago's Lakefront premieres on WTTW and streaming on Monday, April 14 at 7:00 pm. Dive deeper at wttw.com/lakefront.

Geoffrey Baer is back with a new special, Touring Chicago’s Lakefront. Watch Geoffrey traverse the length and breadth of Chicago’s world-famous “front yard” to explore its many attractions, reveal some of its secrets, and tell colorful stories about how it was created and why it looks as it does today.

We sat down with Geoffrey to ask him about the making of the show.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

In your specials, you have explored the city from many different perspectives. What makes this different?

Geoffrey Baer: For many years, my programs were literally tours with me as the tour guide. More recently we’ve included more voices in the form of people I meet and interview along the journey. We have an especially great cast of characters in this show, from a horseman who stages rodeos at the South Shore Cultural Center showcasing young African American riders, to an “old salt” who takes me on my first-ever fishing trip, to the birder who gave our famous piping plovers their iconic names, Monty and Rose.

One of the people you profile is Chicago’s founder, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, for whom Lake Shore Drive was recently renamed. How did the lakefront he found when he arrived here differ from what we see today?

Baer: DuSable would not recognize the lakefront today. First of all, it has been extended almost a mile further into the lake with landfill, so the site of his former lakefront estate is now well inland, in the shadow of Tribune Tower. In DuSable’s time, the mouth of the river was a huge sandbar and the river itself was just a trickle navigable only by shallow draft vessels like canoes. The only major building in the landscape aside from his own home was Fort Dearborn directly across the river. There is nothing left of the natural landscape DuSable knew, since the river was deepened and straightened, bridges were built, and the banks crowded first with railyards and warehouses and later skyscrapers. And the lakefront to the north and south is transformed into manmade parkland, Navy Pier, museums, McCormick Place, and Soldier Field. Imagine what DuSable would think!

Apart from DuSable, were there other historical figures who were influential in the shaping of the lakefront? If you could meet and talk with any of them, whom would you choose and what would you ask them?

Baer: Let’s start with Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln's famous debate opponent. I might give him a piece of my mind. He crafted the land grant that allowed the Illinois Central Railroad to build its tracks right up the lakefront from the south terminating at the river. It’s a condition we’re stuck with to this day. (Douglas owned property along the south lakefront, so there was likely some self-interest there). Mail order magnate Aaron Montgomery Ward fought a 20-year legal battle to force the city to clean up the lakefront, which had become a rather trashy no-man’s land, and to reserve it as parkland free of buildings. City planners Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett took the idea of a lakefront park to a whole new level with their Plan of Chicago in 1909, much of which was realized. Richard M. Daley filled in the last gap in the lakefront with Millennium Park. As for whom I would want to meet…I would stand with Montgomery Ward, who was embittered by loud opposition from his peers about his idea of reserving the lakefront for the people. And, oh yes, I was lucky enough to meet Mayor Daley once or twice.

Is there anything in the process of filming this special that you had never done before? And if so, would you encourage viewers to try them?

Baer: Five things!

1. I had never gone fishing on the lake. I didn’t know if we’d catch anything, but we came back with a whole boatload of lake trout and salmon.
2. I put on snorkel gear and dove to a real shipwreck that is just a few feet below the water’s surface and just a few hundred yards offshore at about 47th Street.
3. I borrowed binoculars and joined the birders at Montrose Point who keep watch over the descendants of [piping plovers] Monty and Rose.
4. Our visit to the South Shore Cultural Center really was my first rodeo!
5. NASCAR! I’m not an auto racing fan, but I have to say it was pretty cool. 

These are all things people can experience themselves, but if you’re going to go snorkeling, be sure you are a strong swimmer and go in calm weather with a buddy. And if you go to a NASCAR race, bring earplugs!

What are some of the legacies of the past that can be found on the lakefront today?

Baer: McCormick Place can trace its history to the World’s Fair of 1933-34. The Fair was held on that site and set a precedent for using that part of the lakefront for expositions, contrary to the vision of a lakefront “forever open, clear and free.” In Jackson Park, the Museum of Science and Industry is the one building left from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. It was the only pavilion that was not a temporary structure, because it was built to house art treasures from around the world. The Japanese garden on Jackson Park’s Wooded Island is also a legacy of that world’s fair. The neighborhood of Streeterville is named for a scoundrel who ran his steamboat aground there in 1886 when it was just a barren patch of sand. Streeter claimed the land for himself and presided over a vice district until police finally evicted him decades later.

What was your favorite experience you had – or discovery you made?

Baer: Northerly Island! As an aviation fan, I will controversially confess that I loved when this was a tiny lakefront airport called Meigs Field. But to visit it today, transformed into almost a wilderness area bursting with native plants within sight of downtown skyscrapers is fantastic. The park plan is only partially realized at this point. It would be great to see it fully completed.

What do you hope viewers will take away from Touring the Lakefront?

Baer: As a city built on a flat, soggy landscape, the lake is our one truly spectacular natural feature. As the source of our drinking water, it is critical to our very survival. And thanks to fierce lakefront protectors of the past, we can step out of our crowded metropolis anytime to renew ourselves with inspiring views stretching to the horizon, and we can swim, boat, bike, and relax. But the lake is threatened by many things, from climate change to pollution to invasive species. I hope this show will remind people how critically important the lake is, and inspire them to do whatever they can to protect it for generations to come.