Lee Bey

Spoke at an event tonight honoring Herbie Hancock. As a son of the South Side, it felt good to lay this particular bit of literature on a fellow son of the South Side.

Capturing famed Chatham cleaners is a point of pride for some artists "I've always been inspired by the building and the sign," artist Brandon Breaux said. "It tells the South Side story."

Today's architecture column. "Pride Cleaners is the kind of attention-grabbing roadside modernism found in places like Palm Springs, California, and not often in broad shouldered Chicago. A building like that is bound to fire-up an artist’s imagination."

Print edition of my latest column. Right next to Andriana Furs, letting me feel the warmth and luxury that I deserve.

What's the big idea? If you've got it, World Business Chicago wants to know The organization is calling for architects, designers, neighborhood groups, artists, innovators and interdisciplinary teams to submit visionary ideas that explore what Chicago could look like in 2050.

My latest architecture column. "The organization is calling for architects, designers, neighborhood groups, artists, innovators and interdisciplinary teams to submit visionary ideas that explore what Chicago could look like in 2050."

The song "Return of the Mack" is 30 years old today. Which means it's as old now as the Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" was in 1996. I gotta go lie down somewhere now.

Rev. Jesse Jackson to be laid to rest at Oak Woods Cemetery, 'part of the city's unrivaled historic fabric' The 173-year-old cemetery — solemn, historic and picturesque — will be the final resting place of the Rev. Jesse Jackson this week.

Today's column looks at what will be the final resting place of the Rev. Jesse Jackson: 19th Century landscape designer Adolph Strauch's solemn and picturesque Oak Woods Cemetery on the city's South Side.

Preservation Chicago put the space on its most endangered building list announced today.

Will Art Institute expansion leave Louis Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange room in the cold? No decision has been made, but the museum says "the east side of the building — where the Trading Room is located — represents the area where gallery space could increase the most."

My architecture column today. Art Institute tells the Sun-Times no decision has been made on the old CSE trading room, but adds "the east side of the building — where the Trading Room is located — represents the area where gallery space could increase the most."

Column: ‘Sirens in the Loop’ book give us City News Bureau in all its raucous glory “Sirens in the Loop: A History of the City News Bureau of Chicago,” is not at all a textbook, but rather an intimate look at a time long gone.

A new book, “Sirens in the Loop: A History of the City News Bureau of Chicago,” gives you a raucous story. Like a massive high school yearbook, it's peppered with the names of kids-who-made-good: Mike Royko, Seymour Hersch, Pam Zekman, even Kurt Vonnegut www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/03/s...

Pei or pave? Former mayor says City Hall debate should be focused on keeping Mavs, Stars Mike Rawlings says moving building and redeveloping site could anchor teams instead of spending heavily on aging building repairs.

Surprise, surprise. The battle over whether to save Dallas's IM Pei-designed city hall is less about the cost for repairs as it as about giving up the land to appease still another billionaire sports owner, in this case casino magnate Miriam Addison.(paywalled)
www.dallasnews.com/news/2026/02...

I photographed Pride for today's column, trying to reference the shot I did 9 years ago for my 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial exhibit and 2019 Southern Exposure book.

Modernist 79th Street dry cleaners featured in film 'Ali' and Chance the Rapper's video set to close The closing creates an uncertain future for one of Chicago's most unique modernist sites — an absolute showstopper of a building with its original sign, neither of which are under city landmark protec...

My architecture column today. "Pride Cleaners closing creates an uncertain future for one of Chicago’s most unique modernist sites — an absolute showstopper of a building with its original sign, neither of which are under city landmark protection."

Tyler knocks it out of the park again today with his photography of Metropolitan MBC in the @chicago.suntimes.com

An architecturally important West Side church gets blessed by the National Trust A $500,000 grant will help Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church make important repairs to its 125-year-old building.

Today's architecture column. Metropolitan MBC — once documented by photographer Gordon Parks and listed on the National Register of Historic Places — gets a $500,000 grant to help fix up the 125-year-old building.

The Archbishop Quigley Center, 835 N. Rush St. Gothic Revival to the bone. Completed in 1920, and designed by Zachary Taylor Davis. As seen by me today.

I will check this out. Thanks, Brie!

Jim Brown and Fred "The Hammer" Williamson chase a bad guy down Wells Street in the Old Town neighborhood in 1974's "Three the Hard Way."

Neglected storybook house in Beverly heads toward a happy ending, thanks to $1.5 million state grant The 132-year-old Eugene S. Pike House might end up happily ever after, as the first phase of stabilization and repairs — initial steps toward turning the building into an arts center — is likely to be...

Today's architecture column. "The 132-year-old Eugene S. Pike House might end up happily ever after, as the first phase of stabilization and repairs — initial steps toward turning the building into an arts center — is likely to begin this spring."

Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson's impact in pop culture The late Rev. Jesse Jackson will be remembered for his decades of civil rights leadership and political campaigns. But he also carved a name for himself in pop culture. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lee...

From WBEZ: "The late Rev. Jesse Jackson will be remembered for his decades of civil rights leadership and political campaigns. But he also carved a name for himself in pop culture. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lee Bey joined WBEZ’s Clare Lane to talk about it."

Lights, camera, Jackson: Civil Rights leader also became a pop culture presence Jackson's decades of civil rights efforts and running for president in 1984 and 1988 are his most important and lasting work. But that he did this while also forging a position in the nation's pop cul...

Took a break from architecture today to write a column about the Rev Jackson as a presence in pop culture, from Sesame Street to SNL. "The combination of politician and preacher just made him a magnetic force," Charles Whitaker, dean of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism said.

Ever notice Robert Duvall's few-second cameo in the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake?

I'm outside the Obama Center museum tower right now. The new letters -- an excerpt from Obama's Selma speech -- are tough read to me, giving off the lorem ipsum vibes.

Artist Judy Chicago logs out of Google renovation project over artistic differences The troubles described by the artist are the public's first look behind the glass walls of the $300 million development, beyond the news releases and architectural renderings released by Google.

My architecture column today: "The artist was picked in September to create a new terrazzo tile atrium floor at the base of the building. The job included a new decorative skin — possibly a mix of vinyl and stained glass — to adorn the atrium’s exposed 17-story elevator system."

For Valentine's Day: The intro to "Cupid," a 1998 sitcom starring @jeremypiven as Trevor Hale who may or may not be the God of Love, and Paula Marshall as Dr. Claire Allen who has to figure it out. Witty, set in Chicago, and a theme by The Pretenders. Deserved more than 1 season.

Aw man! I got one for you. I'll send it on slack

Thanks Neil!

Model shop that provided the first draft of many great Chicago buildings closes Columbian Model & Exhibit Works made architectural models for the Lakeshore East high-rise development, the Jeanne Gang-designed St. Regis at 363 E. Wacker Drive and the Obama Presidential Center in J...

My architecture column today. "To show off these structures that are being developed in Chicago, I think it’s a really beautiful art," Chicago Architecture Center Chief Marketing Officer Lauren Bakos said. "And it’s sad that it’s kind of a dying one."

Remember Hill Street Blues' dark riff on Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne moving into Cabrini Green? Mayoral candidate Ben Fisk wanted to move into the Dante Projects and...

The Cure - Hot Hot Hot!!! YouTube video by TheCureVEVO

Dug these cats when I was in college. Still do.