PODCAST · society
The 78
by Tom Barnas
Historically, Chicago is made up of 77 neighborhoods with their own stories to tell. Only separated by blocks, woven in the microcosm that gives Chicago its unique taste, its people are the epitome of true grit. Each neighborhood, held together with blood, sweat, and tears that are now traditions, giving us this amazing collection of stories from each neighborhood. That is true Chicago.Chicago's newest neighborhood is being developed right now. It's called 78. Chicago, as in the 78th Chicago neighborhood. There you have it, this site is dedicated to all the stories in the 78 neighborhoods.
Episodes
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Grandstand: Bridgeport’s Family-Owned Home for White Sox Fans
In Bridgeport, where the Chicago White Sox have been woven into the neighborhood for generations, there’s a family-owned shop that has become part of the game-day tradition. Grandstand. Since 1989, the family-run business has been selling White Sox merchandise just a short walk from the ballpark....
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Jon Lampley’s Next Act: From Stephen Colbert’s Final Show to a Soulful Solo Spotlight
There are moments in music that nobody plans. No rehearsals, no carefully arranged publicity campaign, no second takes. Just a musician, an instrument, and the instinct to share something special. For Jon Lampley, one of those moments came during the historic final episode of The Late Show with...
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Dollywood NightFlight Expedition: Inside Tennessee’s Newest Family Adventure
What happens when a roller coaster, whitewater adventure, flying experience and immersive dark ride collide? You get NightFlight Expedition at Dollywood. We went down to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for National Roller Coaster Day and got an inside look at one of the most talked-about…
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Tahaa Kahn: Finding the Funny in a Life Between Cultures
Tahaa Kahn has lived in four countries—Pakistan, Turkey, Germany and the United States—and somewhere along the way, he discovered that moving between cultures can provide an almost endless supply of material. Book Concert Tickets For the New York-based Pakistani-American comedian, comedy is about...
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Warren Haynes on Gov’t Mule, Life on the Road, and Why Live Music Still Matters
For more than three decades, Warren Haynes has lived where rock ’n’ roll, blues, improvisation and American roots music collide. As the guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and longtime leader of Gov’t Mule, Haynes has never seemed particularly interested in staying inside the lines — and that…
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Andy Gross: The Art of the Trick — From Racquetball to a Magician With A Billion Views
What happens when a Midwest kid obsessed with magic and ventriloquism becomes a professional racquetball player, comedy club performer, touring entertainer—and eventually a viral magician with more than 1 BILLION online views? Andy Gross tells the incredible behind-the-scenes story. Known around...
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The Sheet Show: Logan Square’s Paul Gees Five-Foot Pizza Flex Just Got Bigger
There are big pizzas, and then there’s The Sheet Show. Paulie Gee’s Logan Square, fresh off its 10-year anniversary lap, is going full spectacle mode with what might be the largest pizza currently coming out of an Illinois kitchen. We’re talking a grandma-style slab that clocks in at a towering…
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Reading the Season: Inside Bridget’s Intuitive Guidance Process
There’s a quiet moment that happens between seasons. It’s not marked on a calendar, and you won’t find it on a weather app. It’s that subtle shift when something in your life feels ready to turn, evolve, or reset. For Bridge Rose, founder of Intuitively Bridget, that moment is where her work...
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The Fields Studios: Inside Chicago's Largest Sound Stage
There’s a particular Chicago irony baked into The Fields Studios, and it’s this: the city that gave the world The Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller, and a Michael Mann filmography’s worth of skyline shots has spent decades watching its own productions decamp to Atlanta, Albuquerque, and anywhere…
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Gordon Charles MacLean on Discipline, Collapse, and the Art of Waking Up
There’s a certain Chicago rhythm to reinvention. It hums beneath the L tracks, flickers in glass towers along Wabash, and lives in the quiet second acts of people who’ve lost everything and decided that wasn’t the end of the story. Gordon Charles MacLean fits neatly into that lineage—though...
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How Bloodshot Records Founder Rob Miller Built an Indie Music Empire in Chicago
Most entrepreneurs don’t fail because they lack great ideas—they fail because they move too fast. Rob Miller built a legacy by doing the opposite. As the founder of Bloodshot Records, the iconic Chicago-based indie label that helped redefine alternative country and roots music, Miller has spent...
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The Sheet Show: Logan Square’s Paul Gees Five-Foot Pizza Flex Just Got Bigger
There are big pizzas, and then there’s The Sheet Show. Paulie Gee’s Logan Square, fresh off its 10-year anniversary lap, is going full spectacle mode with what might be the largest pizza currently coming out of an Illinois kitchen. We’re talking a grandma-style slab that clocks in at a towering…
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Inside America’s Ballparks: The Hidden History of Class, Race, and Power in Major League Baseball
There’s a long-standing myth stitched into the seams of baseball: that the ballpark is a great American commons, a place where the country exhales together under summer skies. It’s a comforting image, one painted in hot dogs, scorecards, and seventh-inning stretches. But as historian Seth S....
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Submerged Futures: Alison Ruttan’s “The Paradox of Inaction” Floods Hyde Park Art Center
At Hyde Park Art Center, the gallery floor becomes a shoreline after the tide has already claimed everything. In The Paradox of Inaction, interdisciplinary artist Alison Ruttan constructs a haunting, slow-motion catastrophe, an immersive installation that invites viewers to wander through the…
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Grant DePorter’s Cancer Battle Fuels A Chicago-Style Comeback Through Gilda’s Club
In a city that measures resilience the way it measures winters, long and unforgiving, Grant DePorter’s story lands with weight. The CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group has spent a lifetime building institutions rooted in Chicago tradition. But his most defining chapter didn’t happen in a dining...
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Ike Reilly and Shane Reilly Carve a Bruised, Beautiful Family Anthem on Blind and Surrounded
There’s always been a voltage running through the songs of Ike Reilly, a current made of busted streetlight poetry, half-healed bruises, and characters who keep moving even when the map gives up. On his tenth studio album, Blind and Surrounded, that voltage doesn’t just spark, it multiplies. This...
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Pop’s Italian Beef at 46: The South Side Institution That Built a Chicago Classic
There are origin stories, and then there are Chicago origin stories—the kind that begin with smoke so thick you can’t see the counter and end with a line out the door that never really stops. At Pop’s Italian Beef, the legend starts exactly that way. On March 24, 1980, Frank Radochonski opened…
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Straight Outta Skokie: Al Krockey’s Wild 1968 Journey Through Chicago’s Counterculture, Hustle, and Rock ‘n’ Roll
Here’s a story you don’t embellish—you just light a cigar, pour a whiskey, and let it ride. In 1968, Al Krockey was 18 years old, coming of age at the exact moment America seemed to crack open—politically, culturally, and musically. It was a year of upheaval and possibility, and for a kid raised…
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Paul Natkin: The Chicago Lens That Captured Rock ‘n’ Roll Immortality
he kind that starts under the dim lights of Chicago Stadium—where a kid tagging along with his father realizes the perks of photography aren’t just free parking and great seats… they’re front-row access to history. The kind that ends—if it ever really ends at all—in a quiet Avondale home, where...
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Doorways of Chicago: A Photographer’s Intimate Journey Through the City’s Hidden Entrances
There’s a certain magic to Chicago—a city where history doesn’t just live in museums, but quietly lingers in the details: carved stone archways, weathered brass handles, and hand-painted signage that has outlived generations. For local photographer Ronnie Frey, those details became an…
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How Night of the Living Dead Shaped a Life: Daniel Kraus on Trauma, Horror, and the Art of Survival
There are films we admire, films we revisit—and then there are films that rearrange us. For Daniel Kraus, Night of the Living Dead was never just a movie. It was a language, a mirror, and, at times, a lifeline. In his haunting and deeply introspective new book, Partially Devoured: How Night of…
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Unlocking the Secrets of Chicago's Architectural Heritage: A Deep Dive into Residential Design
In a place famous for its skyline showdowns and architectural swagger, a quieter story unfolds at street level—inside the homes that truly define Chicago. This episode dives into “Chicago Homes,” a richly illustrated guide that unpacks the residential DNA of the city, from stoops to cornices,...
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“Soccer Dad” by David Murray: A Real Talk Guide to Youth Sports Parenting
For parents navigating early morning games, travel teams and the emotional highs and lows of youth athletics, Soccer Dad delivers a timely and relatable story. In his memoir, David Murray traces his daughter Scout’s journey from recreational leagues to elite competition and, ultimately, a…
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Chicago’s Next Act: Inside Downstage Arts, Where Access Meets Ambition
In Chicago, there’s a conversation happening beneath the spotlight—one that has nothing to do with opening nights or donor galas, and everything to do with who actually gets the chance to step on stage. This episode dives into that reality with Isabella K. Coelho and Downstage Arts, an…
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October Café Chicago: A Cozy Fall Escape Families Will Love All Year Long
Step inside October Café and you’re instantly wrapped in the feeling of a perfect fall morning—no matter the season. In a city like Chicago, where families are always on the hunt for inviting, all-ages spaces to gather, this charming café delivers something truly special: comfort, connection, and…
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Belmont Tavern Reopens in Avondale: Inside Chicago’s Grittiest Cocktail Comeback
On the corner of Belmont and Kimball, where Chicago’s Northwest Side still hums with ghost stories and factory echoes, something long dormant is breathing again. Belmont Tavern is back. Set inside a 135-year-old building in Avondale, the bar returns after a 25-year slumber—not as a polished...
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Justin Townes Earle’s Chicago Legacy Lives On at Old Town School of Folk Music Tribute Night
There’s something haunting about the way Justin Townes Earle still lingers in the DNA of American roots music—like a half-finished lyric scribbled on a bar napkin in a dimly lit Chicago dive. On April 16, that spirit returns to center stage at the Old Town School of Folk Music, where musicians,...
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Easy Honey Talks ‘Plaid,’ DIY Chaos, and Indie Rock Alchemy Ahead of Chicago’s Schubas Show
There’s something gloriously unpolished about Easy Honey—and that’s exactly the point. In a scene oversaturated with algorithm-chasing sameness, the Charleston-bred indie rock band is carving out a lane that feels lived-in, sunburnt, and just a little reckless. In this interview, frontman Selby...
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Drag Race Experience Chicago - An Immersive RuPaul’s Drag Race Turns Logan Square Into A Runway
Chicago’s fall lineup just got a whole lot louder, prouder, and unapologetically extra. The Emmy-winning World of Wonder is bringing its first-ever immersive fan activation, Drag Race: The Experience, to the city—transforming a stretch of Logan Square into a living, breathing episode of RuPaul’s...
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Free Pizza in Chicago With March Madness Giveaway at Tortorice’s | Pizza Boy Billy Goes Big
There’s a certain kind of confidence you need to remix a Chicago staple. Not arrogance—something closer to instinct. The kind that tells you a pastrami-topped pizza might actually work, especially if you grew up eating both sides of that equation. Billy Litsogiannis—better known around West Town…
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How Night of the Living Dead Shaped a Life: Daniel Kraus on Trauma, Horror, and the Art of Survival
There are films we admire, films we revisit—and then there are films that rearrange us. For Daniel Kraus, Night of the Living Dead was never just a movie. It was a language, a mirror, and, at times, a lifeline. In his haunting and deeply introspective new book, Partially Devoured: How Night of…
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David Davis: The Power Broker Who Helped Make Abraham Lincoln President
History tends to spotlight giants. But every so often, you find the figure just outside the frame—the one making things happen. That’s David Davis. In conversation with Chicago writer Tom Barnas, author Raymond J. McKoski brings Davis into focus in his biography, David Davis, Abraham Lincoln’s...
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Manny’s Deli Chicago Serves Up St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef and Passover Traditions — A Taste of Two Celebrations
In Chicago, few food institutions carry the weight of tradition quite like Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen. Since 1942, the West Loop deli has served as both a neighborhood gathering place and a culinary landmark — where towering sandwiches, steaming trays of comfort food, and generations of…
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Inside Chicago’s Strangest Little Variety Shop: Journey Through Ecclection’s Cabinet of Curiosities
A Hidden Cabinet of Curiosities in Portage ParkTucked along West Irving Park Road in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood, Ecclection feels less like a store and more like a carefully staged fever dream of found objects. The small storefront at 6059 W. Irving Park Road hums with personality, a…
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Behind-the-Scenes Tour, Free Illinois Resident Days, and Winter’s Most Immersive Family Experience
Chicago winters can feel endless. Gray skies. Frozen sidewalks. Lake Michigan whispering in ice. But inside the glowing walls of the Shedd Aquarium, entire ecosystems pulse with color, motion, and life. This season, the aquarium is giving Illinois residents even more reasons to step inside with...
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Hotel Chocolat Turns National Hot Chocolate Day Into a Tasting Flight Worth Lingering Over
National Hot Chocolate Day gets a decidedly elevated upgrade this year at Hotel Chocolat’s Southport location, where the beloved chocolate brand is transforming a childhood comfort into a curated tasting experience worth slowing down for. From January 24 through January 30, Hotel Chocolat is...
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Rock ’n’ Roll Revival, Million Dollar Quartet, and Turning a YouTube Moment Into a Vegas Stage
In this intimate, wide-ranging conversation, Jacob Tolliver sits down with Tom Barnas to trace a career that feels less like a straight line and more like a series of fortunate collisions, each one louder and more electric than the last. Tolliver reflects on his formative years in Chicago, a city...
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Chicago, Off the Rails: How Train Lines Lead to Forests, Dunes, and the City’s Best-Kept Natural Secrets
Chicago has always sold itself in steel and glass. The skyline rises, the river bends, the trains rattle on. But just beyond the clatter of the L and the low hum of Metra platforms, something softer begins to take shape: dunes that roll like quiet punctuation marks, wetlands breathing between...
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Still on the Air: Nick Digilio, Radio’s Last True Movie Believer
Radio legends have become an endangered species, their voices fading beneath algorithms and playlists. But every so often, if you know where to listen, you still hear one. In Chicago, that voice belongs to Nick Digilio. For more than four decades, Digilio has been a constant on the city’s…
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Audrey Wilson and The Ever End: How a Chicago Writer Is Redefining Psychological Horror
Audrey Wilson didn’t abandon screenwriting when she turned to novels. She simply widened the frame. A Chicago-based writer with deep roots in both film and fiction, Wilson has built a career exploring what unsettles people long after the lights come up. Her latest novel, The Ever End, marks a...
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Chicago's First All-Women's Sports Bar
Babe’s Sports Bar is calling, and it’s answering with volume, visibility, and victory laps for women’s sports. Tucked into Logan Square at 3017 W. Armitage Ave., Babe’s is Chicago’s newest love letter to women athletes and the fans who show up for them. With eight TVs capable of running four...
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Inside Adalina Prime: Fulton Market’s New Steakhouse Power Move
We’re getting an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at Adalina Prime, the buzziest new steakhouse to hit Chicago’s Fulton Market, and it’s clear from the moment you walk in that this isn’t your grandfather’s steakhouse. Chef and partner Soo Ahn leads the way through the restaurant’s striking…
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Riding the Electric Sleigh: How One Chicago Photographer Turned the Holiday Train Into a Five-Year Love Letter to the City
Daniel Moreno didn’t go looking for a winter tradition to chase. It found him instead, hissing into a frozen platform like some neon comet stitched together from peppermint stripes and CTA steel. For five years, he followed Chicago’s Holiday Train through the city’s arteries, letting its glow…
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Smash Studios and The Music Building Launch Chicago’s New Premier Music Hub in the West Loop
Chicago’s creative pulse just got a jolt worthy of a stadium encore. Two giants of the independent music world, The Music Building and Smash Studios, have officially joined forces to launch a new era for artists in the Midwest. It’s a collision of legacy, grit, and future-forward ambition that...
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John Mulaney, Pilot Project, and the Rise of Years: How a Midwestern NA Beer Is Rewriting Drinking Culture
Pilot Project has always operated less like a brewery and more like a recording studio. Ideas come in raw. Styles get workshopped. Founders collaborate, experiment, and polish until something distinctive is ready for the world. It’s a model that’s helped turn Chicago and Milwaukee into unlikely...
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The T-Shirt Deli Turns Custom Apparel Into a Chicago Institution
In Bucktown, where creativity has always thrived between record stores, coffee counters, and back-room art studios, The T-Shirt Deli has spent the last 22 years quietly redefining what custom apparel can be. Founded in November 2003, the shop is part print studio, part neighborhood institution…
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Lingering Inland: How Midwest Stories, Memory, and Place Shape the American Soul
The Midwest has always been misunderstood. Reduced to flyover shorthand or nostalgic caricature, it’s often treated as a blank space between coasts. But in Lingering Inland, editor Andy Oler and a chorus of contemporary writers prove that the heartland is anything but empty. It’s crowded with...
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Billy Branch Rewrites the Story of Chicago Blues With The Blues Is My Biography
Billy Branch has spent five decades shaping the sound of modern Chicago blues — now he’s finally telling the story in his own voice. With The Blues Is My Biography, the highly anticipated new album dropping November 7th via Rosa’s Lounge Records, the legendary harmonica master delivers a raw,...
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Galloping Ghost Arcade: Doc Mack’s Mission to Resurrect the Soul of Gaming
In the shadow of Chicago, tucked inside an unassuming building on Ogden Avenue, beats the neon heart of the world’s largest arcade. With over 900 restored cabinets, a flat $25 entry fee, and a no-token, no-BS approach to classic gaming, Galloping Ghost Arcade is nothing short of a digital…
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From Corporate Cubicles to Haunted Streets: How Cynthia Pelayo Became Chicago’s Queen of Horror
Cynthia Pelayo doesn’t just write horror — she lives it. From the flicker of streetlights on a foggy Chicago night to the ghosts that whisper through the city’s alleys, Pelayo turns the soul of her hometown into stories that linger long after you’ve turned the last page. Before the awards, before...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Historically, Chicago is made up of 77 neighborhoods with their own stories to tell. Only separated by blocks, woven in the microcosm that gives Chicago its unique taste, its people are the epitome of true grit. Each neighborhood, held together with blood, sweat, and tears that are now traditions, giving us this amazing collection of stories from each neighborhood. That is true Chicago.Chicago's newest neighborhood is being developed right now. It's called 78. Chicago, as in the 78th Chicago neighborhood. There you have it, this site is dedicated to all the stories in the 78 neighborhoods.
HOSTED BY
Tom Barnas
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The 78 have?
The 78 currently has 111 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The 78 about?
Historically, Chicago is made up of 77 neighborhoods with their own stories to tell. Only separated by blocks, woven in the microcosm that gives Chicago its unique taste, its people are the epitome of true grit. Each neighborhood, held together with blood, sweat, and tears that are now traditions,...
How often does The 78 release new episodes?
The 78 publishes regularly with 111 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The 78?
You can listen to The 78 on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The 78?
The 78 is created and hosted by Tom Barnas.
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