Curious City

Biddy Mulligan’s was not built for music. In Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, this unassuming Irish pub was a friendly neighborhood dive bar that, somehow, became an iconic blues club.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, fans came from around the world to see blues artists who would become legends: Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Koko Taylor, Billy Branch, Carey Bell, and many more.

But today, the old storefront sits empty. Curious City investigates what happened to Biddy Mulligan’s.

Around Chicago, there are ribbons of paint on utility boxes that look like little doodles. But there’s much more to these paint splotches. The street artist and graffiti writer behind this and much larger work says painting has been a lifesaver.
This story first published on Feb. 22, 2024.

Chicago has a rich and sometimes sordid past, making it ripe for creepy, perhaps paranormal activity. In that spirit, Curious City recently hosted a live event at the Empty Bottle called “Tales from the Curious Crypt,” where storyteller Jonathan Pitts told an eerie tale of working late nights at the Athenaeum, Vocalo’s Nudia Hernandez talked about the ghost that haunted her family and storyteller Lily Be explained why things were vanishing during a particularly difficult time in her life.

Nuclear power is Illinois’ biggest source of energy — over 50% — and nukes are once again in the spotlight as AI data centers jack up the demand for energy. What does this massive spike in demand mean for consumers in Illinois? Why are our electric bills continuing to rise? And are we at risk of major blackouts, the kind Chicago experienced in the 1990s?

There’s a hole in the map of Chicago. It turns out, it’s a cemetery. But there are many other cemeteries in Chicago that don’t show up as holes on the map, so what’s up with this one?  We take you to the 19th Ward and explore the history of this dead zone.
This story was first published April 11, 2024. Mt. Greenwood Cemetery is now owned by Troost Cemeteries.