Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 1h

In the fancy-shmancy WBEZ green room. I'll be on at 10:40 or so, talking about Open House Chicago. You can call in, too.

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 5h

"The almost certain loss of 67 E. Oak St., isn’t a full-scale preservation emergency. But its likely demise is still worth noting as the architectural face of Oak Street continues to grow more polished, profitable and upscale — and maybe just a bit characterless — with each passing year."

Is it the end for a modernist Streeterville building with Victorian roots?

The Chicago Plan Commission will vote on a proposal that calls for wrecking the five-story building and replacing it with a 34-foot tall, two-story glass-fronted retail structure.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Lee Bey

Leah Millis @leahmillis.bsky.social · 16h

The @chicago.suntimes.com photographer who risked their personal health and safety to take this photograph is Anthony Vazquez. Please credit photographers and media outlets. In this age of misinformation, a photo with no context could be anything at all.

50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 16h

Please remind us who the domestic terrorists are again.

Photo from Chicago: DHS militarized agent holding a gun up directly in someone’s face as the victim has their hands up, pleading for them not to shoot.

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 1d

Sun-Times wants us to do more TikTok stuff like the young folk, so here goes, talking about my five picks for the Chicago Architecture Center's Open House Chicago this coming weekend. (Unfortunately, the CAC says Morningstar Baptist dropped out.)

The Chicago Architecture Center’s free annual spectacle, Open House Chicago, returns this weekend, unlocking the doors to more than 200 sites that most of us might not otherwise see. Here are our top ...

TikTok video by Chicago Sun-Times

www.tiktok.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 2d

Yes indeed!

Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 3d

Annie Hall La Di Da

YouTube video by I love Chris

youtube.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 4d

😂

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 4d

The Chicago Architecture Center's Open House Chicago is next weekend. But the Sun-Times asked me to get a jump on it for this weekend. This year’s OHC has 200+ sites with 30 new places to gawk at. All of them are pretty good, but here are my top five:

Open House Chicago returns next weekend. Here are the top 5 must-see sights.

This year's event includes 30 new places to gawk at, and while all of them are pretty good, there's a few worth checking out.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 5d

Yes!

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 5d

He really did

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 5d

Today's architecture column. That fantastic Moorish Revival building at 79th and Stony? Its longtime owner, Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church, is making moves to get the structure landmarked and restored.

South Side church seeks to reawaken Stony Island's architectural slice of ancient Persia

The Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church congregation is making plans to restore and landmark its Mideast Revival fellowship hall, a structure that was built in 1928 as a swanky restaurant.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 6d

Got this today from Joshua Bowen at TickTock Filmworks and Kurtis Productions: My 2023 Midwest Emmy nomination as host of Building/Blocks, our doc on South Side architecture, based on my Southern Exposure book. Our team got nominated, but didn't win. But just getting the nod was (and is) a blast!

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 7d

Turning 60 this month. So I'm easing the shock of it all by listening to music from my youth. (More than I do normally, I mean.)

After Hi School by The Time on Apple Music

Song · 1981 · Duration 4:22

music.apple.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 8d

Today's architecture column. "Public park spaces like the lily pool, where Chicagoans can pause to catch a breath and experience some of nature’s beauty, are well worth preserving and protecting."

Need a cool spot to watch fall colors? Try the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, which reopened after two years.

Public park spaces like the lily pool, where Chicagoans can pause to catch a breath and experience some of nature's beauty, are well worth preserving and protecting.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 8d

I dug this song back in high school. And the call-and-response near the end, plus the bass synth running through the tune are the chef's kiss.

Beverly by Fonzi Thornton on Apple Music

Song · 1982 · Duration 5:26

music.apple.com

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Reposted by Lee Bey

Neil Steinberg @neilsteinberg.bsky.social · 9d

If it helps, there is a long tradition of the U.S. government sending soldiers to make things worse in Chicago. From the 1894 Pullman strike:

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Reposted by Lee Bey

Lynn Becker @cmgiulini.bsky.social · 10d

A single image by the Sun-Times photographer Anthony Vazquez encapsulates our present moment: a masked soldier in the hatch of an armored military vehicle with blacked-out windows aims his gun at unarmed citizens filming with their cellphones.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...

Border Patrol shoots woman on Southwest Side; agents, protesters battle for hours

The shooting occurred Saturday in Brighton Park when federal patrols were "rammed by 10 cars," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which has yet to be verified. In the p...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 12d

Today's column looks at architect-turned-photographer Tom Rossiter's new exhibit emphasizing the nature surrounding the Mies van der Rohe-designed Edith Farnsworth House.

Land's the thing in new multimedia exhibit on Mies van der Rohe-designed Farnsworth House

Called "Inhabit," the exhibit seeks to emphasize the relationship between the historical modernist house and its beautifully wooded 60-acre location.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 12d

Thank you, Dennis!

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 12d

*Ballinger, I mean.

Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 12d

Man o man. Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballenger, wheeling that big Ford down Wacker Drive past the old Sun-Times Building in this 1960 episode of M Squad.

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 15d

I spotted a phone booth in the men's room of Bar Sol restaurant at Navy Pier today. Phone doesn't work tho.

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 17d

The righteously polychromatic front entrance to Haven of Rest MBC's John L. Conner Fellowship Hall, 7901 S. Stony Island. Built in 1928 as Raphael's restaurant, designed by architect Frederick Stanton. Seen by me today when the good folks at Haven of Rest gave me a tour.

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 19d

A cut from an album I bought way back in 1983, Warm Summer's Night from the NYC Peech Boys. Don't Make Me Wait was the hit, but the whole album is worth revisiting. Bernard Fowler kills on vocals.

Warm Summer's Night by Peech Boys on Apple Music

Song · 1983 · Duration 4:52

music.apple.com

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Lee Bey @leebey1.bsky.social · 20d

My architecture column returns today (I'm back from two weeks off).

Chicago cop gets street named in honor of Prairie School architect Dwight Perkins

It took 30 years, but four blocks of Milwaukee Avenue near the Perkins-designed Schurz High School will get brown street signs honoring the architect next month.

chicago.suntimes.com

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