Author: WBEZ Chicago

Medusa’s was “like a community center for weirdos and freaks and everybody else in between,” say some Chicagoans who went there as teens in the 1980s and ’90s. In this week’s episode Axios Chicago reporter Monica Eng finds out how the club got started, what it was like to hang out there and why, despite its popularity, it closed its doors in 1992.

Growing up, one listener heard tales about how an engineer was hidden inside Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain in order to make sure the water spouts out each day. This week we go inside the innards of the fountain to see how it works and learn the history behind it. Plus, we get the answer to the question: Why does Chicago have so many alleys?

Abolitionists in Chicago and Illinois helped freedom seekers reach Canada, and freedom.

Lakeview once had a thriving Japanese community, but it fell victim to a push for assimilation. As one Japanese-American puts it: “You had to basically be unseen.”

Tips and tricks for spotting and enjoying birds in Chicago, from far flung marshes, to one birder’s window.

Find out how the folks behind El Paseo Community Garden in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood changed a contaminated site into a space for neighbors to grow plants, keep bees, meditate, and congregate.

A tourist to Chicago in 1910 might have gone to see hogs being butchered, sought illicit pleasure in Chicago’s vice district, or simply enjoyed the majesty of Lake Michigan. We virtually explore those sites, and then trace the long history of Chicago’s rivalry with New York City.

As a classical composer and a Black woman, Florence Price blended African and European music into a new style of symphonic music.

As a classical composer and a Black woman, Florence Price blended African and European music into a new style of symphonic music.

We track down the band members, musicians and dancers who popularized dances in Chicago, and meet the people who keep La Danza Azteca alive in Pilsen.