A tour bike leaning on yellow painted posts in front of a wall covered in yellow painted and unpainted pipes with a Mexican style female skeleton with grand wide hat among the pipes.

Some sights from recent rides.

Contact me for half or full day custom guided rides and gift certificates, or use The Map to plan your own ride, run, or walk.

A tour bike leaning on just inside of a tunnel paionted light blue with dark leafless tree limbs representing winter.
“The Grove” by Juan De La Mora in Glen Ellyn, 5/25/23. Painted as part of the College of Dupage Project Art Project 2022.  You can see winter transitioning to spring. I rode passed while doing a fun Great Western Trail / Prairie Path loop.
A tour bike standing at the base of a four store limestone late 19th Century department store building with modern tenants and signs.
Former Moeller Bros Department Store, 1278 N Milwaukee Ave (1895), 5/11/23. A 1913 fire started under police surveillance. Later, a 1918 Fair Store ad bragged about buying and reselling all of this store’s merchandise. Today, Shuga Records and Secret Agent Supply Co, a non-profit writing program for Chicago teens.
A tour bike leaning on a colorful mural of Black female icons on the other side of a pink and light blue painted basketball court.
Paint The City mural at Pop Courts in Austin (2021), 9/6/23. This is an early stage of developing the Soul City business district along this part of Chicago Ave.
A tour bike leaning next to the corner entrance of a yellow brick one story with a limestone Art Deco second story design above the doorway.
5659 W Irving Park Rd (1931) in Portage Park, 9/6/23. The usual newspaper search yielded nothing but taverns. A 1943 Old Style ad lists Praiser’s Tavern. In the 1970s-80s you could visit the Ring of Kerry Irish pub. Pub OK was its most recent bar incarnation. Easy Does It furniture repair is here now.
A tour bike leaning on a light post at the corner of a six story double lot flat roof red brick storefront and above parking with colorful geometric murals.
Rockwell & Devon parking garage and condos in West Ridge, 9/7/23. Started in 2007, a lengthy build time and other issues haven’t made it hugely popular in the neighborhood. I didn’t find any real recent news so maybe now it’s all good now.
A tour bike standing at front of a series of white Mid Century Modern arches over a row of windows topping brown brick, three double doors are at the base.
St Eulalia Catholic Church in Maywood (Gaul & Voosen, 1962-63), 5/4/23. It is Maywood’s only Catholic church and an Illinois Landmark.
A tour bike leaning at the base of an underpass mural depicting a sunflower-shaped-hair brown skinned girl with her eyes closed mouth set to blow into the dandelion she holds in her hand.
Sun Flower Child by Natalia Virafuentes in Edgewater, 9/7/23. This is just a part of a much larger track underpass mural by many artists. The pigeons have taken over here as evidenced in the strip of ground you can see. I exchanged pigeon related comments with a local resident walking passed and she told me her shoes would be left outside of her house.
A tour bike standing in front of a corner lot red brick and tan bricked detailed Lutheran Gothic Revival church
Former German Lutheran Evangelical Grace in Little Village (Worthmann & Steinbach, 1904), 8/29/23. It was most recently a New Life/Nueva Vida church but I believe they’ve moved out. This church is on an “in process” 200+ location map of Worthmann & Steinbach buildings.
A tour bike standing on an Atlas entrance mosaic to a bricked up entry
Former tavern entrance in North Lawndale, 8/29/23. The Atlas Brewing Company was in the Pilsen neighborhood east. Being on the bike I usually miss these awesome entrance mosaics. This time I was taking pictures of a green & white glazed brick building across the street.
A tour bike leaning at the corner of a five story Mid Century Modern bank that extends at the top like a pedestal with long vertical stripe alternating with grey stone, glass and white concrete.
Devon Bank in West Ridge, opened 1966, 9/7/23. The bank has been run by the Loundy family since the 1950s and provides services tailored to the neighborhood’s Muslim community.
A tour bike standing at front of a three story dark blue and white trim 1890s wood residence with a small round witch hatted roof dormer in between two square witch hatted second floor windows.
100 block of Menard in South Austin (1894) 8/30/23. John and Elizabeth C Northrup lived here in 1928. Mary Vyverberg (77) lived here when she died in 1953.
A tour bike leaning on yellow painted posts in front of a wall covered in yellow painted and unpainted pipes with a Mexican style female skeleton with grand wide hat among the pipes.
“La Muerte Catrina” by VICN, backstage in Little Village, 8/29/23.

For more, have a look at Looking Around 29

Contact CBA for a custom guided ride that includes some of these sights and for gift certificates for the cyclists in your life. Also, check out the The Map, where you can plan your own ride, run, or walk around Chicago.

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