😎 Summer bucket list

🌞 Welcome to Axios Chicago Sunday.

• It's our leisurely exploration of arts, culture, food, nature, history and other subjects that define the city we live in.

🎶 Sounds like: "I Used to Work in Chicago"

📝 Programming note: Tomorrow we'll bring you a special school-themed newsletter. Check your inbox!

🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Chicago member Pam D.!

Today's newsletter is 961 words — a 3.5-minute read.

It's the unofficial end of summer, which means you have to do everything summery NOW!

Reality check: We still have some warm weather before hibernation begins, but if you've been promising, "We have all summer to do that!" now is the time to make good on your word.

Skip baseball, see soccer

• We love our Sox and Cubs, even when they're terrible, but give some love to the Red Stars and Fire, especially if you want to see some gold medal winners.

Go south

• North Side beaches have some great places to eat and swim, but try the beaches on the South Side, including 31st Street, which has house music on Thursdays.
• South Shore is usually not as crowded, and you can roam its spectacular cultural center.

Climb

• The city has opened a few indoor rock climbing facilities in recent years, but Steelworkers Park is an awesome outdoor wall with great Chicago history. Teach the kids about the steel industry!

Fly

• If you always knew you should join the circus, test your trapeze skills at Foster Beach or watch the professionals at work at Aloft Circus Arts.

Row, row, row your boat

• Rent a kayak on the Chicago River, and then sip a coffee or cocktail at one of the many spots on the Riverwalk.

Biking and shrimpin'

• Bike the Lakefront Trail to Calumet Fisheries, which was out of commission earlier this year after an electrical fire. It's back now with some of the best fried seafood and smoked salmon in the Midwest.

Be young

• Relive the simple delights of your youth and run screaming through a really cold park sprinkler or at Crown Fountain in Millennium Park or Crystal Fountains at Navy Pier.

Go international

• If movies outside are not your thing, the Chicago International Film Festival is hosting free film screenings at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Go high

• Seeing the city's beauty from a rooftop is breathtaking, and that doesn't mean just downtown. There are plenty of interesting neighborhood rooftops, like The Woodlawn and The Robey.

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👋 Hi, it's Justin!

Chicago Public Schools went back this week, joining suburban schools that have been in the classroom for a couple of weeks now.

• Who's got school spirit? Today's quiz is all about our area's learning institutions.

Reality check: Last week's Bad Bears QB quiz was hard. No one got a perfect score.

• No worries though, get a 10/10 this week, and you'll redeem yourself.
• As always, send me a snapshot of your score, and I'll give you a shout-out next week.

Pencils ready? Time to quiz!

A few weeks back, we asked you to play history sleuth with this photo from 120 years ago.

The intrigue: The Getty image caption only said "commercial street" for the location.

State of play: The emails flooded in. Eric A., Julian F., Susan S. and Matt. R. all posited the building in the background was the Chicago Federal Building near Dearborn and Adams.

• Benn W. theorized it could be on the Near West Side by UIC's campus.

Yes, but: Roger B. gives us the a much more specific description.

What he's saying: "Newsboy is at the corner of Clark & Washington. Behind him is old City Hall with the Old Sherman House further on," says Roger B.

• "The fire hydrant in the picture is a clue as to what corner of City Hall he's at."
• "When you look at Robinson's Atlas of the City of Chicago, Vol. 3, Plate 1, it marks the locations of fire hydrants with a small circle around a cross. The picture was taken in the afternoon, based on the sunlight coming in from the southwest. Notice the brick paver street ... Chicago's wood streets all burned in the Great Fire."

The bottom line: This may be a great time to let you all know that we still aren't sure where this was taken, but it's hard to argue with the level of detail Roger put forward.

• Kudos to Roger, who wins an Axios T-shirt! We'll give it out at our next live event.

The renovated Lawson House features furnished micro-apartments for low-income renters.

The impact: The project, with financing largely provided by JPMorganChase, builds on Chicago's efforts to reduce homelessness and on the firm's commitment to expand access to housing.

Learn more.

👋 Hey, Justin again.

This week, I headed to Wisconsin to celebrate my friend Eilee's 40th birthday.

Her family rented out a nice banquet hall, serving Eilee's favorite foods while bringing together people from all over the world to toast her with speeches, memories and even a childhood slideshow.

Yes, but: Eilee wasn't there. She died in a car accident a few months ago.

• Choking back tears, friends recounted the moments Eilee was there for them, the moments she helped them through their hard times.
• It reminded me of why Eilee meant so much to all of us, but it also reminded me of the sadness of not having her around anymore.

Context: Carrie, Monica and I worked with Eilee at WBEZ producing various daily talk shows. The job can be stressful, like climbing a mountain every day. You share in the joy when something goes right, and you wallow in the misery when you miss the mark.

Eilee ultimately left journalism to travel the world, helping folks live out their dreams of climbing real mountains in Peru.

• We never lost touch. When I got a new job, or was laid off from an old one, a random international number would pop up to either cheer me on or cheer me up.
• I returned the favor, helping Eilee when the pandemic robbed her of the travel guide dream job. Right before she died, she got a job working on a daily talk show in Milwaukee. She told me the job felt "amazing and also scary."

The bottom line: I once heard someone liken grief to climbing a mountain. It's a long, difficult, harrowing journey.

• Especially if you don't have someone like Eilee to help you get over it.

Happy 40th.

The Resurrection Project (TRP) uses cost-effective modular construction to boost homeownership opportunities in Pilsen and beyond.

The impact: JPMorganChase is helping TRP and other organizations create 150+ affordable housing units through a $7.2 million philanthropic commitment.

Learn more.

Edited by Lindsey Erdody and copy edited by Rob Reinalda.

🚴🏻 Carrie is hoping to Bike the Drive today. Or at least watch if all her tires are flat!

📚 Monica is spending the day reading two books by authors she's interviewing next weekend at the Printers Row Lit Fest.

💪 Justin is going to get his steps in and go walk by the Haymarket Memorial in observance of Labor Day.