LITERARY LOCAL | Ellen Shubart

Secret North Shore–Chicago: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

CHICAGO–A lifelong Chicagoan, Ellen Shubart has worked as a teacher, a journalist, and a sustainable city planning advocate. A historian by training, with master’s degrees in US history and historic preservation, she is also the author of What’s With Chicago?; Chicago: An Illustrated Timeline; Glencoe, Illinois; and Taylor Street: Chicago’s Little Italy. In retirement, she is a docent at the Chicago Architecture Center.

Driving north from Chicago opens up the wonderland known as the North Shore, a string of remarkable suburban areas, each with its own story and yet all bound together by rail lines, highways, and a similar background. While most of the area is known for its tree-lined streets, large, single-family homes, and quaint downtowns, hidden along the way are unusual sites and spots that elicit responses like, “Wow, I didn’t know that was there.”

The book looks at those places that are weird in that they are different, odd or even ghostly (see Lake Bluff ghosts, Edens Expressway); wonderful, beautiful, awesome or cultural (see Lake Forest Presbyterian Church Tiffany Windows, Baha’i Temple, Mormon Temple); or obscure, unknown or hidden in plain view (see Great American Train Robbery or Evanston’s Thayer Ave. Garage Door art gallery). The author has added a section on Natural, including prairie remnants of the past, hiking and biking trails, not to mention a fishing hole, and gardens (see Skokie Lagoons, Kent Fuller Air Station Prairie, Jens Jensen Park, Shakespeare Garden).

Hop in the car, grab a lunch of famous hot dogs, pancakes, or burgers, and start your journey with Secret North Shore–Chicago to discover the different, the weird, and the obscure. Enjoy the ride. Available on Amazon.com