Blogs from Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America

Well, after almost three years of a pause on travel to prevent the spread of the covid virus and not be complicit in the increasing death toll, we finally took a Canadian family vacation in July to visit Montreal Toronto and Ottawa. I will catch up on that blog before the end of the year. This blog is for my first trip out of the country in three years to the USA for a work conference. I left on November 1 so that I could enjoy Halloween with Riley the night before. I left at 5am to Uber to the YVR airport and had a direct flight to Chicago. Unfortunately, it was a newly purchased refurbished plane for Air Canada Jazz with no wifi or entertainment system. Fortunately, I had books and music to keep me ... read more

About this tour https://www.heygo.com/tourswithmike Chicago has at least 77 neighborhoods (it depends on who you ask), each with its own histories, evolutions, landmarks, and unique characteristics. The "Chicago's Neighborhoods" series reveals these stories and highlights the diversity of this wonderful city. The Printers Row area has had many lives: a prolific vice district, a bustling publishing center, a zone of urban decay, and a revitalized residential neighborhood. Throughout all these incarnations, it has always been one-of-a-kind. Despite being next to Chicago's Loop, the city's central business district, many people do not know much about this landmark area filled with unique features, beautiful lofts, and wonderful stories. This tour is a great opportunity to discover what makes Printers Row so special. By the late 1... read more

The first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived around the 1849 Gold Rush. As the Chinese population moved eastward over the next few decades, along with the trans continental railroad, Chicago’s first Chinese community emerged downtown, around Clark and West Van Buren Streets. But as Chicago’s population swelled from 500,000 to over 1 million between 1880 and 1890, the growing Chinese community needed elbow room and a place to call its own. Many moved to the near southwest portion of the city, around South Wentworth Avenue and Cermak Road, establishing what has today become Chicago’s thriving Chinatown, a densely packed, 30-block area with 27,000 residents and over 400 businesses. A prominent building in the Chinatown streetscape has a colorful history. In the 1920s, a group of Chinese community leaders known as the On Leong decided that a ... read more

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