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City Cast Chicago

Adrian González

It’s Black History Month, so we’re testing your knowledge of local Black history.

A souvenir from the annual Negro League All-Star Game. 

at Humboldt Park! Neighbors, myself included, were crushed to hear the swan boats flew the coop in 2025 due to years of slow business. The paddleboats first came on the lagoon in 2018 and will return April 25.

Besides the swans, there are plenty of water and boat activities to enjoy as the season heats up.

 is officially upon us! Rides run daily through September, and stops include Ogilvie, Michigan Avenue, and Chinatown. It’s $10 for a one-way ticket.

Yes, I drifted down the river in one of those floating hot tubs — 

. Six friends fit into the jacuzzis which coast along the river for 90-minute rides. And although that season is over, rentable party options for the spring and summer include 

The architectural boat tours are not just for tourists. Trust us. 

, which partners with the Chicago Architecture Center, is usually the go-to option. It’s also 

Many different companies offer river kayak rentals throughout Chicago. 

, one of the larger competitors, rents from Goose Island in May, with expanded summer hours beginning later that month.

 offers weekend rentals from Clark Park beginning Memorial Day weekend. 

 also offers rentals and tours from Rockwell on the River. Even further north, Forest Preserves of Cook County offers 

canoe, kayak, and different boat rentals on the Skokie Lagoon

 offers kayak rentals along Bubbly Creek.

 REI no longer offers kayak rentals from Ping Tom Park.

If you want to get wet, Seadog is the way to go. This speedboat ride, which leaves from Navy Pier, offers 30 fast minutes bouncing around Lake Michigan. Part tour, part thrill ride. Real thrill seekers should try 

Jet skis are available to rent at outposts across the city, from 

 but the season hasn't started yet — stay tuned.

👙 Personally, though, I just hang along the ledge, usually near the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, until a passerby jet ski offers me a free ride. Works every time.

Editor's Note: A version of this article was originally published May 13, 2025. 

As we mourn the Humboldt Park swan boats, there are still plenty of Chicago water and boat activities to enjoy as the season heats up. 


Chicago Water Rides and Boat Rentals

Chicago’s Splashiest Water Activities

Find the best of everything that Chicago has to offer.

Chicago’s Best

Chicago's Best

Michelle Navarro

It’s National Poetry Month, and while you can find 

 in April, poets call Chicago home all year round.

 is a poet, artist, and educator born and raised on the South Side. She is also Chicago’s poet laureate who began her two-year tenure in January.

We talked to del Valle to learn more about how her upbringing in Chicago impacts her work and what makes Chicago’s poetry scene special.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

How does your South Side experience inspire your work?

“My earliest experiences as an artist happened in the house I'm in right now, and down the street from here. Even while I was living away from home, when I left for school, and as my career took me to NYC and LA, I always returned to many of the same themes, moments, and memories. I was gone for so long, but was always coming back, physically and metaphorically. It's just cooked into me! … I think a lot about that young woman who was running up and down 63rd St in the 90's and the things she was looking for. The way she wanted to see herself reflected in something. So I think I write for her a lot of the time.”

“I think there's a sense of community and a commitment to activism here in Chicago that you don't find in many other places. There's an underlying sense here that poetry is meant to be written and shared for a greater good, and people who do this work either know each other or know of each other, because of the level of commitment to building a better world that poetry asks of us. It's an art form that demands truth from the audience as well as the writer, and I think Chicago's scene exemplifies that in a way you don't find in many places. … It's done from a place of love for people, for the city, and from a place of "passing it on" and contributing to the lineage of poetry as a truth-telling tool. I love that.”

What is your favorite poem about Chicago, and why?

. It's just amazing to think it was written in 1914, and it remains one of the best portraits of Chicago. It's beautiful to think that what made the city so special and real back then still stands today. It's unapologetically rough, raw, never pretentious, and always defiant.”

🎤 Poetry events all month long

For more poetry events and to learn more about Chicago’s poet laureate program, check out the 

Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE)

It’s National Poetry Month, and while you can find a variety of workshops and open mics in April, poets call Chicago home all year round. 

3 Questions With Chicago’s Poet Laureate

What Chicago celebrities, public figures and key citizens have to say about living here.

3 Questions With Chicago Public Figures

3 Questions With

If you are like me, all your family history lives within multiple photo albums and VHS tapes stored in your parents’ living room cabinets. I love the rare occurrences where we pull them out and talk about the day that the photo was captured, who was still around, and how the block used to look.

What if you could share that family history with the city? These three archival projects are keeping Chicago family stories alive through photographs and videos past and present.

Black Film Club Collective’s new archival project, Making Meaning, partnered with photographer Kenn Cook Jr. to take 

beautiful black and white portraits of West Side families

 like photos and home movies that reflect life on the West Side to their collection.

 is dedicated to digitizing and showcasing Chicago’s Latine history. The project, founded in 2024, hosts photo-scanning events where Chicagoans can digitize their memories. They accept submissions of photographs taken before 2008.

📷 This collection makes me so nostalgic of my childhood in Chicago because it showcases backyard parties, kids playing in open fire hydrants, posing outside of storefronts that no longer exist, or the everyday gatherings with family and friends.

This searchable catalog has over 700 digitized home movies shot by South Siders from 1929-1982. The project started over two decades ago with the mission to preserve and celebrate personal histories on the South Side. If you are or were a South Sider, you can 

How are you preserving old family photos and home movies? 

If you are like me, all your family history lives within multiple photo albums and VHS tapes stored in your parents’ living room cabinets.

Who’s Preserving Chicago Family History?

People, places, and scenes from Chicago's past.

Chicago History

Emily Mack

. The City of Broad Shoulders is home to the 

, which publishes “Poetry” magazine, plus constant

spoken word events and workshop opportunities. We’re on it year-round. But since April is 

 National Poetry Month, consider diving in deeper.

Some classic and more contemporary lyric odes to the complicated city we love. 

Hog Butcher for the World … City of the Big Shoulders

Chicago who wears her skyscrapers like a necklace ...

Chicago … Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies, but never a lovely so real.

✒️ Favorite line: The whole thing! (It’s short.)

“the great stone lions outside monumentally pissed by jumbo wreaths and ribbons”

“whenever i’m at that land is chicago”

underneath my gym shoes. is a trail of salt. that last sentence is a test.

 “i’ll miss crossing guards ushering the grown folks too, like ducklings”

Chicago Public Library and plenty more organizations are hosting readings, workshops, lectures, and performances throughout the month.

 | April 8 | Call & Response Books | Kenwood

 | April 9 | Haymarket House | Uptown | Free

 | April 11 | Archer Heights Branch | Free

 | April 11-12 | Ruth Page Center for the Arts | Near North Side

 | April 13 | Portage Cragin Branch | Free

 | April 15 | Harold Washington Library | Loop | Free

 | April 19 | Offshore Rooftop | Navy Pier

Patricia Smith, Ashley M. Jones, Donika Kelly, Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 | April 23 | Poetry Foundation | River North | Free

Sijo and Sijo-song: Korea’s Poetry Form

 | April 25 | Little Village Branch | Free

Every month is Poetry Month in Chicago. But since April is actually National Poetry Month, consider diving in deeper. 

Celebrate Poetry in Chicago for National Poetry Month

Celebrate Poetry in Chicago

Chicago has no shortage of good bites around town. That’s why we’re highlighting the best new restaurants opening in the city.

You might recognize Schneider Deli as the picturesque, old-fashioned eatery attached to Ohio House Motel. Now, a second location has opened in Lincoln Park. I’m visiting soon to try the giardinera-Russian-dressed reuben and will report back 🫡

, this all-day cafe is open to all. It offers coffee, cocktails, and light bites, including a popular breakfast sandwich.


Indgō Mrktō is a new food hall and event space in Pilsen featuring four restaurant concepts: a coffee shop, a multicultural seafood spot, a street food bistro, and a late-night cocktail bar. They’re all by the same chef. And there’s a chilaquiles torta on premises 👀

Crying Tiger has been generating buzz since it opened in the fall — now there’s a swanky cocktail bar in the basement: Kitty’s. The addition marks another step in 

Unsurprisingly, the food at Chubby Skewers comes on a stick. From the folks behind Chubby Cattle, it’s another cook-it-yourself spot.

Oooh Wee! IT IS! Smothered Potatoes Breakfast Bar

Oooh Wee! IT IS!, a popular soul food restaurant that closed in 2024, has a soft reopening Saturday in a new Chatham location. Formerly located on 83rd Street, this new spot is in the old Reggio’s Pizza space on Cottage Grove Avenue. Although it has 

Award-winning bartender and Speed Rack champion Katie Renshaw has opened her own bar — and it’s buzzy. The interior literally glows. The menu, meanwhile, features send-ups of classic cocktails and elevated bar bites. (I’m actually checking Bar Bambi out tonight, so I’ll keep ya posted.)

I’m skeptical of dive bar overhauls (lookin’ at you, Small Bar) but Belmont Tavern seems truly laid back. That’s a feat considering I visited on a jam-packed Friday night. And while cutesy, 

the interior doesn’t feel overly curated.

 It’s naturally eclectic. Extra points for carrying bison grass vodka!

Hero’s sub shop was an institution, and seeing the shack sit empty since 2017 hurt my soul. Now, new life has sprung in the form of Retro Pizza. The take-out only shops serves square Roman slices of ‘za plus coffee. 

. But avoid visiting on school day afternoons or face the mobs of Lane kids — a Hero’s tradition.

Tune-Up, in a former auto body shop, doesn’t 

 live up to the name. Although drink names like Anti-Freeze and Brake Fluid are fun to order, the space, affixed with flittering disco balls and mirrors, leans away from its blue collar roots. However, Tune-Up is bound to turn up — it’s open till 5 a.m. on Saturday nights. Yes, 

Logan Collective is the neighborhood’s newest coffee shop with home-roasted beans and extremely reasonable prices. $3 for a drip coffee? Hell yeah! With a comfy couch and relaxed vibe, it’s also an excellent spot to write a daily newsletter from … On that note, shout out to barista Keillor!

The return of the $10 cocktail. That’s how Radicle, a new bar in Logan Square, is billing itself. And I have to say, it’s quite the hook. Radicle arrives in the former Daisies space — find that 

 a couple blocks away — but the focus really is 

. My favorite was the ESOO, with rye and balsamic olive oil.

Carmine’s, one of Chicago’s most old-school Italian restaurants, has reopened in its original Rush Street location after 

 If you missed the red sauce, you’ll be happy to know Carmine’s 

participating in Restaurant Week. (Pasta, plus an app, salad, and dessert 

If the pared-down name didn’t tip you off, 

 is serving classic brunch in, yep, Portage Park. Located near Milwaukee and Montrose, the opening marks another boost for 

. It comes from two chefs who met working at the popular 

Quesabirria Jalisco Tacos expands beyond in Pilsen

 has opened a location in Chinatown Square, marking its first expansion to the midwest. Naturally, this place is for shrimp lovers (

) but there are plenty of seafood and non-seafood options alike, ranging from shrimp broth noodles to prawn buns to chicken rice bowls.

 opened in Bronzeville in 2019. Now, a third location has come to Lakeview. The menu draws from the owner’s family’s 

, with dishes like Creole fish and honey-butter muffins.

. The latest spot, Black-owned Brûlée, offers a comfort food take. Think fried-lobster-tail-sweet-potato waffles. And don’t worry if you sleep in — Brulee is open till 4 p.m. Non-breakfast highlights include a brisket grilled cheese.

Once the “it” cookie of New York City, Levain expanded to the West Loop in 2022, then River North. Now, there’s a third Chicago location in Lincoln Park. In addition to famously gooey chocolate chip cookies, the chain began offering savory sandwiches and flatbread this fall.

After 15 years in Chicago kitchens, Ecuadorian brothers Enrique and Luis Calderon opened their own, Savanna, in 2018. Now, it’s expanded to four locations. The newest is in North Center on Western Avenue. All serve brunch — working at the former (beloved) Ina’s Restaurant, Enrique earned the nickname 

, New York slices are great on the go. (Sorry, it’s true!) That’s exactly what Chomp Pizza is serving, straight out of a window inside the 18th Street Pink Line ‘L’ station. Portability aside, I hear it’s pretty damn good.

It’s hot pot weather. (Honestly, I’ll take anything hot at this point.) And Tasty Pot, a new Taiwanese spot in Chinatown, makes it extra accessible by focusing on 

 and Canada, but this location on Jefferson Street marks Illinois’ first.

Sourcing tea and coffee from different Asian-owned businesses, HAIBAYÔ is a nexus for Asia on Argyle. The cafe operates within the space of the HAIBAYÔ nonprofit, which aims to bring more visitors into the cultural area. As the name suggests in Vietnamese: “One, two, three, cheers!”

Pilsen brunch hub Azul 18 has opened a second location at 1230 W. Taylor St., bringing Mexican-American flavors to the heart of Little Italy. Azul 18 serves breakfast, lunch, brunch — and, for now, the spot is BYOB. Get your at-cost bubbly on while you can!

It’s all women’s sports all the time at Babe’s, a new rosy-hued sports bar on Armitage Avenue. It’s Chicago’s first sports bar of its kind, featuring eight TVs for game-watching and chile margaritas. Think Sporty Spice.

Andersonville mainstay Marty’s Martini Bar closed in 2024. Now, its former manager has opened his own neighborhood watering hole: Wil’s Martini Lounge. The featured fall cocktail with cardamom bitters sounds especially cozy.

Crumbs.nd.Creams is Chicago’s first shop specializing in silvanas: Filipino sandwich cookies. These cookies are made of frozen cashew meringue and coated in cookie crumbs. They’re also filled with buttercream — Crumbs.nd.Creams offers 10 flavor options.

Midōsuji is as much an experience as it is a meal. Tucked away inside an old speakeasy space within the Chicago Athletic Club, Midōsuji is intimate, serving just two seatings of eight per night. The “nouvelle omakase” tasting menu featured 11 rotating courses for about $200 per person — beverage pairings will run ya extra, but you’re gonna want to try the tomato martini. The crab salad with miso egg yolk is another unique standout.

Located inside the multi-floor Hawksmoor steakhouse, Beef & Liberty is a dimly lit cocktail bar with English noshes like Scotch eggs and Yorkshire pudding. Drawing inspiration from Soho bars, it’s more upscale than your typical pub — but just as cozy.

Van Leeuwen’s recent Chicago opening made news for two reasons: $1 scoops and a (strong) Malört flavor. While both of those specials were temporary, it’s still worth trying the velvety smooth treat that’s had East Coasters buzzing for years. The new shop is located 

 because it’s a new Greek place in Greektown. 

 However, don’t expect an old-school, family-style Greek feast at Ithaki. It’s a modern take on the taverna

 get flaming saganaki, though, and that’s what’s really important.

Chicago has no shortage of good places to eat around town. Here are some of the bar, restaurant, and café openings we're watching.

Chicago's Best New Restaurants and Bars

New Spots To Dine & Drink in Chicago

The latest on the best and newest restaurants and bars in Chicago. We'll help you find where to eat, drink, and socialize.

Chicago Food & Drink

Food & Drink

the city’s last Black-owned bowling alley

, closes permanently April 26. In operation since the 1950s, it was one of the South Side’s few remaining bowling alleys as the sport 

 after 98 years following the pandemic. More recently, 

 and closed its city site. My teenage haunt, Lincoln Lanes, burned down years ago …

There are just about a dozen bowling alleys left in Chicago. Lucky for us, though, they’re as fun as ever.

 in Logan Square — call in advance since there are lots of leagues. You can also form your own!

 in West Lawn is an old-school joint with a Sunday Special for big groups.

 may look old, but the manual-scoring spot is a fairly new addition to 

 in North Center is where it’s at. And if you’re at nearby businesses, keep on the lookout for those free coupons!

 in Jefferson Park has been a North Side birthday destination for over 50 years.

 in Forest Park is, yes, technically suburban, but it’s been a local staple since 1941.

 is located inside Marina City in River North, carrying on the 

long tradition of bowling within the famous complex

 in Auburn Gresham has 12 bowling lanes in addition to its 

 in River North and Wrigleyville. A free open house (with cheap drinks) for Wrigley’s summer league 

 in Bucktown is more known for, well, WhirlyBall, but the event space has several bowling lanes.

 in Goose Island, part of a national chain, 

Where You Can Still Bowl in Chicago

Sure, April showers bring May flowers. Tulips and cherry blossoms, specifically! But this month has a lot more than just rain in store. Check out all there is to do in Chicago.

. Just 130 galleries will be participating in the Navy Pier event, a drop of about 23%. (I will still be there, people-watching for outfit inspo.)

. That’s plenty of time to check out the jam-packed roster of shows at Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Lakeview.

showcasing filmmakers under 22 returns to FACETS in Lincoln Park 

, but April has extra opportunities to dive in:

CAConrad, Rickey Laurentiis, Jake Skeets, S Yarberry

 | April 2 | Poetry Foundation | River North | Free

 and stay tuned to City Cast Chicago all month long for more poetry events.

The eight-day Jewish celebration starts tonight! Here’s where you can 

, Easter is a time for special delicacies in Chicago. 

Then it’s time for carrot cake. Reader recs include:

And if, like me, you find lamb-shaped butter heartbreakingly nostalgic, you can pick some up at 

 in citywide park cleanups ahead of Earth Day on 

Last year, I tried to partake in 420 and had an ego death at Lottie’s after drinking a 5 mg soda. Know your limits — and consider hitting up these 

April showers bring May flowers. But this month has a lot more than just rain, check out everything to do in Chicago!

Chicago, Explained

How Well Do You Know Chicago’s Black History?

Adrian González

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