Follow Geoffrey Baer on a heartwarming, nostalgic, and humorous journey as he tells the story of Hanukkah, exploring the time-honored traditions of this joyous Jewish holiday and making a few surprising discoveries along the way. With the help of Chicago-area Jewish and interfaith families and children, musicians, and religious leaders, Geoffrey also sets out to answer some age-old questions, samples seasonal culinary delights, attends a car-top Menorah parade, visits a home lavishly decorated for the holidays, hits a Hanukkah pop-up bar in Wrigleyville, and much more.
Chicago is full of places that take your breath away, from gilded lobbies to verdant parks and eye-bending skyscrapers to glorious sacred spaces. Geoffrey Baer has seen a lot of these stunning locations while exploring the Chicago area for his WTTW documentaries, and his newest special takes you even further into The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago.
When your family piled into the car for a vacation, where did you go? Starved Rock? Lake Geneva? The Dells? Maybe the Indiana Dunes? Or Michigan’s Harbor Country? The road trip is a time-honored tradition. “Are we there yet?” is a familiar refrain, but with Geoffrey Baer behind the wheel, you’ll be asking, “Where are we going next?” WTTW takes Chicago on Vacation to the beloved lakes, resorts, and towns we go to escape life in the city—and the stops we make along the way. Through archival film, old home movies, testimonials, interviews, and beautiful new footage, Geoffrey explores these cherished destinations for rest and recreation now, and in generations past.
The story of the South Side of Chicago is a story of immigrants and of migrants, of workers and unions, of political dynasties and sports legacies, art and commerce, progress and struggle. It is a story of Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Chinese, Lithuanian, Croatian, Slovakian, Mexican and African Americans, of blue collars and brownfields, of White Sox and Black Sox – and of one Red Bridge. Above all, the story of Chicago’s South Side is a story of neighborhoods – a rich patchwork quilt of neighborhoods, each with its own origin story, identity, culture, and heroes. And while some South Side neighborhoods might seem defined by how much things stay the same, most demonstrate how much in Chicago continuously evolves. Explore some of the South Side’s neighborhoods and their stories.
In Biking the Boulevards, Geoffrey Baer bikes his way across Chicago, using the city's network of boulevards. The boulevards are wide, tree-lined streets, which connect Chicago's largest parks. This system of parks and boulevards was the first of its kind in the country - imagined nearly 150 years ago. Discover how these boulevards came to be and explore these magnificent parks, from Washington and Sherman Parks on the South Side, to Douglas, Humboldt and Garfield on the West. These green spaces are often overlooked, but they're every bit as beautiful as Chicago's famous lakefront parks. Geoffrey invites you to take a new look at the old neighborhoods that emerged along these boulevards in the 19th Century. Places like Bronzeville, Englewood, Back of the Yards, Lawndale, Humboldt Park, and Logan Square. Many of these enclaves have seen their share of hard times over the years, but hidden just beneath the surface…you'll find some remarkable surprises.
Host Geoffrey Baer takes viewers across the country to the places that changed America.
10 Buildings that Changed America presents 10 trend-setting works of architecture that have shaped and inspired our American landscape. These aren’t just historic structures by famous architects. These buildings have dramatically influenced our built environment in many ways – and in one case, for over two centuries.
Did you ever wish you could travel back in history to find out what happened right on the spot where you’re standing? That’s exactly what WTTW Host Geoffrey Baer did. With his Chicago Time Machine, he peels back layers of fascinating stories all over Chicagoland, going back as far as 14,000 years. We’ve put all of these stories – and many more – together. Happy travels!
In an area barely ten square blocks, Geoffrey Baer traces the history of the skyscraper in the city where it was born. What makes a city, a city? Is it the buildings? The people? Is it what happened here 100 years ago — or what is happening right now? To find out, we invite you to join us in an urban adventure with WTTW host, writer, and producer Geoffrey Baer’s new multimedia tour through Chicago’s downtown Loop. Explore this site. Listen to the audio stories of the everyday people who inhabit the Loop. Take the tour yourself, with our audio download. Watch the show wherever you are. We know you’ll find one answer for sure. Chicago’s Loop is one of the great American city spaces. Discover its history, architecture, excitement — and most of all, stories.
You are what you eat goes the old saying. So what can we learn about Chicagoans from the food on our plates? WTTW 11's Geoffrey Baer plays both taste-tester and tour guide, exploring the little-known stories behind Chicago's favorite foods.
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