Odd, decrepit fountain honors Chicago author who had mixed feelings about his hometown.

Theater has had many different incarnations but has survived the ravages of time.

Where old school Polish Chicago and young hipster Chicago live side by side.

Former bath house turns gastropub.

Home to a protest movement, a bombing, and a dramatic change in labor history.

Once called the "Polish Gold Coast" it is an icon of the neighborhood that bears its same name.

Internationally known record store and purveyor of "dusties."

"No writer ever gave more to a city and got back less.”

Combination beer garden and music venue in the heart of Wicker Park.

These mansions date back to Chicago's days as a brewer's paradise.

A European-style bath house in Chicago.

Beloved bar home to musicians of all eras and reputations.

A Museum of Holography frozen in 1974.

Huge abstract sculptures of the Puerto Rican Flag.

A beloved Chicago music venue offering cold beer and lots of “Friendly."

This historic-shipwreck-cum-diving-spot can still be seen poking its boiler out of the Lake Michigan waters that claimed it.

An unassuming store hides relics of its former life as the jazz club that hosted some of the best black performers of the 1920s and '30s.

This bronze sculpture on a former squash court marks the secret origins of the Atomic Age.

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

This cheerfully-named branch of the Chicago River is the fetid result of years of blood, entrails, and meatpacking waste.

What was once one of the country's largest confectionary plants is now an abandoned ruin, but is still pretty sweet.

This modest post office sits on the site of H.H. Holmes' famous murder castle.

The famous author's birthplace is preserved in a town that he once described as narrow-minded.

A tribute to one granddaughter's old apartment which now represents the whims of each visitor.