Branching Out to Chicago’s Libraries
A family of 4 decided to embark on a journey to visit every library in the city of Chicago. Using libraries as a guide, visit different neighborhoods along with the Opp family!
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Oriole Park (#15)
BEN: Welcome to the far Northwest side! Oriole Park is one of 5 small neighborhoods in the Community Area of Norwood Park (which has its own library branch – stay tuned!), and is home to many city employees and first…
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Merlo (#14)
But first, coffee. BEN: Today’s adventures required extra liquid propellant and thus began at Pedestrian Coffee, directly adjacent to the Belmont “L” station and just a few blocks away from the library. This is obviously a super popular spot and…
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Chinatown (#13)
First, Food. SAM: My brain thrives on variety and today, my heart is filled because of the variety of food we ate and activities we did as a family! Daniel and I took the CTA route to Chinatown. We had…
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Woodson Regional (#12)
Starting off with city planning! SAM: Before we visited Woodson Regional Library, we stopped by the 95th Street Corridor Plan Open House. BEN: This is a community-driven plan for development on 95th St. between Halsted St. to the west and…
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West Lawn (#11)
BEN: What do you do on a gray, drippy November afternoon? You take the kids to learn Python at the West Lawn library! SAM: We had an opportunity to speak with Mina, the branch manager, who has worked at CPL for…
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Altgeld (#10)
SAM: The impetus that landed us in the area of Altgeld branch was an event promoting awareness of the CTA’s Red Line Extension Project (RLE). We all found things to get excited about: a bounce house for Nathan, chatting with…
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Vodak-East Side (#9)
BEN: Ever the Opportunists (see what I did there?), we made a quick stop on the way home from Michigan to check off Vodak-East Side, the easternmost branch of CPL. The East Side neighborhood, named perhaps for its location relative…
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Blackstone (#8)
Get ready for some history! BEN: If you read about our visit to Harold Washington Library, you’ll recall learning that the Chicago Public Library’s initial collection consisted of about 8,000 books donated by British citizens in the aftermath of the…
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West Loop (#7)
BEN: This accidental library visit was brought to us by: summer reading challenge coupons! SAM: We began our family outing by filling our stomachs with Lou Malnati’s pizza in the West Loop, courtesy of this year’s CPL Summer Reading Challenge…
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Near North (#6)
A transit-related coffee shop!? SAM: In the morning, I randomly searched for interesting library events and came across a Paint and Sip event that the Near North Branch offered. Initially, it was just going to be a mommy and boys…
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