Ron Gordon's Photography

I first stumbled across Ron Gordon's photography at the Printer's Row Book fair not long ago. He has taken some photographs of downtown Chicago back when Printer's Row was more of a skid row than the trendy neighborhood it is now. One of his books, Selected Photographs, has scenes of buildings now long gone. Some are time series shots, showing the buildings on the block being torn down, one at a time. If you are into photography and the history of Chicago, his work will be very interesting to you. I see that there is a limited supply of this book that can be obtained directly from the artist: Selected Photographs

He has two other books that are available in bookstores in Chicago, Forgotten Chicago and Printers Row Chicago. I've got links to them at Amazon.com if you are looking for them. Great history and photography! If you're going to be in Chicago, however, I can't think of a better place to find these books than Sandmeyer's Books. They are located in the Rowe Building, one of the historic landmark Printer's Row buildings. Afterwords, have a pint across the street at Kasey's Tavern, or walk around the corner and grab breakfast or a burger at Blackie's. Kasey's has been around for over 100 years. "Be nice or be gone" is their motto. Blackie's started in 1939, and has been in the same family for four generations.