Where a brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel, and a recluse met one Saturday and changed their lives forever.

These chunky stone towers out in Lake Michigan are the key to Chicago’s drinking water.

These abandoned grain silos and tunnels are an urban exploration dream.

Where dioramas can follow you home.

The sign to a demolished amusement park now stands in front of a local library.

The clothes-washing king doubles as a community center with some unusual features, including an aviary filled with finches.

A towering Art Deco movie palace made to look like a Mayan temple.

The murals have transformed a residential alley into a vibrant drive-through gallery.

A historic beacon built in the aftermath of the worst maritime disaster on the Great Lakes.

An outdoor urban gallery of large-scale artworks by the world's most influential street artists.

Over 1,000 pieces of one of the most niche art objects imaginable: the glass paperweight.

A student designed this 3D-printed scale replica of the entire university campus.

The last masonry skyscraper ever built reveals a transitional moment in architectural history.

Roses and other fascinating flora fill this garden built to commemorate Britain's immortal Bard.

Hidden on the 7th floor of a historic building, this Cajun spot features wall-to-wall bottles of hot sauce.

A 400-foot-tall tall map of Chicago makes this once-ignored building stand out.

Small and slightly hidden, the American Writers Museum is preserving the legacy of America's finest authors.

Honoring Italian greats from Joe DiMaggio to Rocky Marciano.

Pumpkin-like gargoyles and grotesques peer down from the rooftop of this unassuming apartment building in Illinois.

A shining sculpture made of 3,115 lights, the number of visible stars in the Northern Hemisphere.

The first and only museum dedicated to stained glass and horology opened outside of Chicago in 2017.

A Japanese temple, old German townhouses, and public chess tables offer a peaceful escape from the bustle of the North Side.

In a quiet north Chicago neighborhood rests a stunning relic of the golden age of earthenware design.

You can take a class, browse the library, or visit the lavish lair of an international men's humor society.