Author: admin
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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 35 years. She is currently the only branch manager in CPL that holds a PhD…
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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 CTA employees for Daniel, Ben ran into one of his work clients (New Moms and…
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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 to the city or to the Calumet River, was shaped by industrial development and the…
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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 Great Chicago Fire. (You’ll also remember that I took a potshot at British food in…
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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 reward. We walked through Madison St. and stopped in a few shops. We decided to…
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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 excursion. Daniel found a coffee shop 9 minutes away from Near North Branch called Standing…
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Logan Square (#5)
To the Library! BEN: Sam’s quest to borrow a particular book led us up to Logan Square, a neighborhood bearing the name of an actual square, the Illinois Centennial Memorial (which we didn’t know existed until after visiting – whoops!), and marking the northern terminus of the Chicago Boulevard System (which I also didn’t know…
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Back of the Yards (#4)
To the Library! BEN: Back of the Yards is one of our frequent library haunts. For the “official” Project 81 visit, we headed over for a program called The Sound of Science, where the kids each made a “Sound Sandwich” – a rubber band sandwiched between popsicle sticks, with plastic straws as spacers, resulting in…
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Clearing (#3)
To the library! SAM: Curiosity caught our attention this weekend. The Branch Manager at CPL’s Clearing Branch set up his collection of retro video games, which was quite popular among patrons, ourselves included. I felt like I was thrown back to my childhood days in the ‘90s (back when I was addicted to Super Mario on…
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Harold Washington Library Center (#2)
BEN: What pairs well with public libraries? Free museums! I’ve been trying to visit the Money Museum at the Chicago Federal Reserve building for literal years. It’s only open Monday through Friday, ruling it out for weekend excursions, and was closed for a long time during the pandemic. Friday, July 5th finally presented an opportunity…