From the Back Cover
Strange But True: Chicago brings together the city's most bizarre news items, almost-believable urban myths, incredibly antiquated laws, curious little-known facts, and neighborhood eccentric oddballs and weirdos into one compulsively readable guide. Whether you're a native Chicagoan or just passing through, Strange But True: Chicago is your guide to the Windy City's wackiest, most offbeat, mostly totally true tales, trivia, and events.
* Learn the grisly method used by gangsters to dispose of their victims . . . Sausage anyone?
* Meet the eel who is at the cutting edge of biotechnological development and the world's grossest nature museum exhibits
* Cheer Bertha Palmer' revenge over the Infanta of Spain five years after the rude royal refused to socialize with an "inkeeper's wife"
* Discover the crooked mayor who received campaign funds from Al Capone, threatened to punch King George V, staged a rodeo in the Chicago City Council, and served the world's largest martini
* Uncover never-repealed laws that forbid "unsightly or disgusting" people from showing their faces in public, the carrying of hatpins, or offering a whiskey or a cigar to your dog
* And much more!
Only in Chicago . . .
is it illegal to take a French poodle to the opera
is there a tradition of drag queen galas stretching back to 1907
can British visitors be arrested for not speaking the American language correctly
* Learn the grisly method used by gangsters to dispose of their victims . . . Sausage anyone?
* Meet the eel who is at the cutting edge of biotechnological development and the world's grossest nature museum exhibits
* Cheer Bertha Palmer' revenge over the Infanta of Spain five years after the rude royal refused to socialize with an "inkeeper's wife"
* Discover the crooked mayor who received campaign funds from Al Capone, threatened to punch King George V, staged a rodeo in the Chicago City Council, and served the world's largest martini
* Uncover never-repealed laws that forbid "unsightly or disgusting" people from showing their faces in public, the carrying of hatpins, or offering a whiskey or a cigar to your dog
* And much more!
Only in Chicago . . .
is it illegal to take a French poodle to the opera
is there a tradition of drag queen galas stretching back to 1907
can British visitors be arrested for not speaking the American language correctly
About the Author
Thomas J. O'Gorman is a writer, scholar-in-residence at the Newberry Library of Chicago, historian-in-residence of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago, a contributor to Town & Country magazine, a political speech writer at Chicago's City Hall, and former managing editor of World of Hibernia magazine. Among other titles, he has authored Architecture in Detail: Chicago; One Hundred Years: A History of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago; Park Life: the Summer of 1977 at Comiskey Park; and Frank Lloyd Wright Chicago.
Lisa Montanarelli, has written for numerous publications, including Art and Antiques Magazine, Publishers Weekly, and Playboy Magazine. She is also author of Strange But True: San Francisco.
Lisa Montanarelli, has written for numerous publications, including Art and Antiques Magazine, Publishers Weekly, and Playboy Magazine. She is also author of Strange But True: San Francisco.
