John Owens

Disney’s Chicago birthplace could open to public as soon as next summer

June 16, 2018 at 3:18 p.m.

The Northwest Side home in Chicago where Walt Disney was born in 1901 could partially reopen to the public by next summer as early childhood learning and innovation center, members...

Caroline Perzan, the set decorator for the Fox television show "Empire", at one of the standing sets for the drama, which shoots at Chicago's Cinespace Studios at 16th and Rockwell streets in the North Lawndale neighborhood.

How ‘Empire’ set decorator gives the show its look

December 18, 2018 at 12:44 a.m.

When "Empire" protagonist Lucious Lyon meets with his three sons in his plush New York mansion, or when Lyon's ex-wife, Cookie, holds court with the hip-hop mogul in his gleaming...

The Rev. Lincoln Scott stands in 2013 at the front of the House of Prayer Church of God in Christ in the North Lawndale neighborhood. The historic Central Park Theatre was abandoned by 1970; the church bought the property, cleaned it up and began holding services there in 1971. The church was forced to close in 2013 because of building code violations.

The Rev. Lincoln Scott, who resurrected West Side movie palace, dies at 82

August 19, 2019 at 1:25 a.m.

The Rev. Lincoln Scott resurrected North Lawndale's historic Central Park Theatre as a church and opened an adjacent homeless shelter and food pantry that served hundreds of men and women...

A Cinderella story for Walt Disney’s childhood home

December 18, 2018 at 1:17 a.m.

It is a modest, two-story frame house, sitting on the corner of Tripp Avenue and Palmer Street in Chicago's working class Hermosa neighborhood. But the story behind this humble green-and-gray...

MLB Commissioner denies latest appeal for Buck Weaver reinstatement

May 9, 2019 at 12:11 a.m.

The latest request to get Major League Baseball to clear the name of former White Sox third baseman Buck Weaver, one of the eight Sox players banned from baseball after...

Buck Weaver’s family pushes to get ‘Black Sox’ player reinstated

August 23, 2019 at 11:00 p.m.

For almost 30 years, Patricia Anderson has lived in this scenic, rural Missouri town about 100 miles southwest of St. Louis. But in her living room, she is surrounded by...

Owners of Chicago’s shuttered historic movie palaces hope for revival

August 19, 2019 at 12:39 a.m.

At one time, the Central Park Theatre and the New Regal Theater weren't just movie palaces — they were the entertainment and cultural centers of their respective communities on the...

Radio docudrama ‘Unshackled’ still rings true after 65 years

August 19, 2019 at 12:09 a.m.

For much of his adult life, William Jarabeck was an aimless drifter, desperately trying to find a way to fit into society. Raised by a steelworker father in western Pennsylvania,...

Descendants of Chicago photographer King Daniel Ganaway congregate over his grave at Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island. From left are Fred Rabe-Pickett (Ganaway's great grandson), Susie Schlottman (Ganaway's great granddaughter) and Brenda Fredericks (married to Tim Fredericks, Ganaway's great grandson.)

Family holds first ‘photo exhibit’ showing rare King Ganaway works

August 18, 2019 at 11:51 p.m.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — In this mid-South city of more than 100,000 people, which was the scene of one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, a group of about 30 people...

Chicago Film Archives celebrates 10th anniversary

June 18, 2018 at 10:30 a.m.

In a climate-controlled warehouse in the Pilsen neighborhood, there are thousands of documents of the rich visual history of Chicago and the Midwest. A silent film featuring legendary dancer Ruth...

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