Lost Chicago: Windy City History

In 1952, Chicagoans began to notice something strange about the meat being sold in restaurants, butcher shops, and grocery stores across the city. At first, it sounded like a rumor, a few odd flavors, a few suspicious shipments, a few questions nobody wanted to answer. But as federal investigators followed the trail through packing plants, city inspectors, famous restaurants, and the shadowy world of organized crime, the truth became harder to ignore.This episode of Lost Chicago looks back at a forgotten food scandal that shook the city’s trust in its own dinner tables — and revealed that in Chicago, even the most ordinary meal could hide a disturbing secret.

Before Target, Lowe’s, and The Brickyard shopping center, there was something almost impossible on Chicago’s Northwest Side — a ski resort.In this episode of Lost Chicago, we uncover the strange, nearly forgotten story of Thunder Mountain, the short-lived ski hill that opened at Diversey and Narragansett in 1968. Built on the remains of an old clay pit and brickyard, Thunder Mountain offered rope tows, night skiing, snow guns, a chalet, and a claimed 285-foot vertical drop — all within Chicago city limits.For one brief moment, Chicagoans could ride the CTA to the slopes, ski above the city, and look out toward the Loop and O’Hare from the top of a man-made mountain.So what happened?Why did this bizarre resort disappear so quickly?And how did a place this unusual vanish beneath a shopping center?This is the story of Chicago’s lost mountain.

Before King Kong became a movie legend, Chicago had its own giant.His name was Bushman, and for more than twenty years, he was one of the most beloved figures in the city. Crowds packed Lincoln Park Zoo to see him. Schoolchildren sang songs about him. Sailors visited him before heading off to war. Chicagoans brought him green bananas on St. Patrick’s Day. And when he died on New Year’s Day in 1951, thousands came to say goodbye.This episode of Lost Chicago tells the strange, funny, heartbreaking story of Bushman, the orphaned gorilla from Africa who became a Depression-era symbol, a wartime celebrity, and one of the most mourned animals in Chicago history.But Bushman’s story is also complicated. He was adored, but caged. Celebrated, but alone. And decades after his death, Chicago still refused to let him disappear.

For decades, Riverview Park was Chicago’s playground — a sprawling world of roller coasters, carnival barkers, freak shows, parachute drops, funhouses, and summer nights filled with lights and noise along the Chicago River.But behind the laughter was another story.In this episode of Lost Chicago, we go back inside the vanished amusement park that once drew millions to the North Side. Riverview was thrilling, chaotic, and unforgettable — but it was also home to dangerous rides, troubling attractions, racial stereotypes, accidents, crime, and a side of entertainment that feels very different today.From the legendary Bobs roller coaster to the famous Pair-O-Chutes, from the crowds that packed Western and Belmont to the strange mystery of why the park suddenly closed in 1967, this is the story of a Chicago landmark that disappeared almost overnight.Riverview Park is gone now. But for generations of Chicagoans, the memories never left.