Talk by
Alan Solomon

Podcast courtesy of WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified

Chicago is often called “The City of Neighborhoods” – from Rogers Park to Hegewisch, Austin to the Loop, and everywhere in between, treasures await discovery in every part of the city. Last year, research teams scoured every neighborhood in search of restaurants, shops, landmarks and other tourism sites. Over 2000 such attractions are featured in new content and engaging essays by award winning journalist Alan Solomon on ExploreChicago.org, the city’s official tourism website. Collected here for the first time, Solomon’s narratives capture the essence and flavor of each of Chicago’s unique communities. Use this compendium as your guide to exploring Chicago’s unique places and people as you Eat, Play, Love Our Neighborhoods! **Note: A high resolution pdf is also available for download to your desktop: http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/supporting_narrative/events___special_events/special_events/tourism/neighborhood_ebook.html.

Through a grant from the 2016 Fund for Chicago Neighborhoods, established to support the city’s Olympic bid and ensure lasting benefits for Chicago neighborhoods and residents, Chicago Office of Tourism research teams scoured every community in search of restaurants, shops, landmarks and other one-of-a-kind attractions. Solomon followed up by visiting each neighborhood, going off the beaten path and into the heart of the community to capture its unique essence and flavor

 Alan Solomon has been a writer and editor for four major metropolitan newspapers in a career that began at the Chicago Tribune in 1968. As a Travel writer with the Tribune (1994-2008), his work earned 62 national and regional awards, including being honored as Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year for 1998 by the Society of American Travel Writers, the highest honor in the field. Among his food-related works: a story on his participation in a Bologna cooking school (he flunked tortellini), an interview with Julia Child for the Tribune’s Good Eating section, and a piece on chicken-fried steak in the Texas Hill Country that earned him a 1999 James Beard Foundation award.

A lifelong Chicagoan, Alan is currently a freelance writer and teaches journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Columbia College Chicago and other area schools.