A gravestone marked “He gave us laughter” rings true for the star of SNL, Animal House, and our city’s beloved Blues Brothers.

Urbandictioanry wrote our excerpt for us. They define Bill Murray as “Best F****** guy ever” and Chicago agrees.

Operating for over 50 years, Miegs Filed was an integral part of Chicago history and the most scenic landing strip in the United States.

For part two of Chicago Record Labels, I look to span the gamut between independent success stories, the unfortunately-short-lived-but-loved, and totally-unheard-of-but-making-waves-in-certain-crowds.

Before there was Target or Wal-Mart, even before clearance items or sales racks, there was Maxwell Street Market. A bargainer’s haven, the little thoroughfare on the near west side is open every Sunday.

Local rock station Q101 may be just a memory, but the amazing music that poured out of the city in the ’90s still sounds great. Here’s 5 kickass albums by Chicago bands from the 1990s. Enjoy!

Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun lassos several issues including gender relations, abortion, racial integration, identity politics, and class tensions.

The definitive introduction to Nelson Algren’s work is his essay / love song / poetic anthropomorphization of the city he once loved.

Before boasting the big red Macy’s star, Marshall Field’s was a Chicago shopping staple. Check out the history of this famed department store.

The only allusions to this building’s history as an American film hot bed are the golden letters spelling “Essanay” above one entrance. But for one decade in the early 1900s, Essanay Studios was the hub of the silent film industry, “the MGM of the silents.”

The rise and fall (and rise again) of Chicago’s very own Smashing Pumpkins. An epic love story by Gene Wagendorf.

Walter Loomis Newberry is one of those famous Chicagoans we sure owe a lot to. He helped spur Chicagoan’s interest in the literary arts and open one of Chicago’s first libraries.

A uniquely Illinois holiday, Pulaski Day not only celebrates the man behind the name, but all of Chicago’s dense Polish heritage.

It may be hard to believe for those familiar with the story’s South Side setting of Jackson Park and 63^rd, but at one time the former was an illustrious and seemingly impossible fairground for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition; at the latter was an infamous killing house.