Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen is a beloved Chicago institution, serving massive corned beef and pastrami sandwiches alongside pickles, thick potato pancakes, and golden matzo ball soup for nine decades now.
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Chicago
A Family-Owned Old-School Pop Manufacturer Nears a Century in Business in Chicago
Daniel HautzingerFilbert's Old Time Root Beer was started by Charles Filbert in 1926. His grandson Ron continues to run it today, producing pop on old-fashioned machinery on the Southwest Side.
Memories of Chicago-Area Grocery Stores, As Shared By Our Audience
Daniel HautzingerFrom cramped corner stores to big local chains, our audience shared memories of grocery stores in the Chicago area both extant and long-gone. The reminiscences track the changing landscape of grocery stores over the decades.
The Infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as Seen by Novelist Norman Mailer
Daniel HautzingerThe famed writer covered both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of 1968 in a book called Miami and the Siege of Chicago, witnessing the protests and violence that took place in Chicago.
How Parallels Between 1968 and 2024 Are – and Aren't – Instructive
Daniel HautzingerAs the Democratic National Convention takes place in Chicago after the sitting president suspended his re-election bid, comparisons between today and 1968 abound. A Northwestern professor explains their limits.
The Story of Chicago’s Grocery Stores – And How They’ve Changed How We Eat
Daniel HautzingerFrom open-air public markets to big national supermarkets, grocery stores have both tracked and influenced our diets and urban life. The Chicago area has had its share of homegrown companies, from Dominick's to Jewel and all the independents in between.
A Cartoonist's Immersive Vision of What Chicago's Architecture Could Have Been Is on Display in One of the City's New Icons
Daniel Hautzinger"Welcome to Tribuneville" by Klaus is a retro-futuristic cityscape consisting of unbuilt entries to the 1922 competition for a Tribune Tower design. The animated cartoon is on display at 150 Media Stream inside 150 N. Riverside.
These Two Brothers Have Worked a Combined 72 Years at a Classic Chicago Steakhouse
Daniel HautzingerJuan Muñoz started working at Gene & Georgetti in 1979 as a busser. He learned English along the way, got his brother J.J. a job there, and worked his way up to server. He's still there, 45 years later.
How The Original Rainbow Cone Has Delighted Customers for Almost a Century
Gonzalo GuzmanThe Original Rainbow Cone has been delighting customers with their namesake, five-flavor ice cream treat for 98 years at their iconic original location in Beverly on the far South Side of Chicago.
The Extraordinary Chicago Interfaith Gathering That Introduced Asian Religions to America
Daniel HautzingerThe 1893 World's Parliament of Religions that took place during the World's Fair in what is now the Art Institute of Chicago introduced Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and the Baháʼí faith to mainstream America.
Bus Tour Encourages Chicagoans to "Disrupt Segregation" By Visiting All Neighborhoods
Daniel Hautzinger“You can understand another person’s perspective when you see their neighborhood and what it’s like to live there,” says Tonika Lewis Johnson, the founder of the Folded Map Project, who is organizing tours in partnership with the city and popular historian Shermann "Dilla" Thomas.
Geoffrey Baer on His Upcoming Special 'The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago'
Daniel HautzingerIn 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.
Why America Is the Only Country That Embraced the Lie Detector—and Chicago’s Role in Its Rise
Daniel HautzingerThe 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.
Revisiting the Biting Articles That Branded Chicago the "Second City"
Daniel HautzingerSeventy 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?
The Foods of Chicago's Christkindlmarket
Jack X. LiRoasted 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.
