Lakefront Anonymous, Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery

Lakefront Anonymous, Chicago’s Unknown Art Gallery
By William Swislow (text and photographs) and Aron Packer (photographs)
Chicago: Interestingideas.com, 2021
Softcover, 160 pages, $40

Reviewed by Joseph Marlin

Who would have thought there would be a book about graffiti and vernacular stone carvings on Chicago’s lakefront? Not I, and I live here! But William Swislow, an SCA board member, has spent three decades photographing and documenting these works typically created by untrained, anonymous carvers.

Neon: A Light History

Neon: A Light History
By Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein
San Francisco: Giant Orange Press, 2021
Softcover, 88 pages, $25

Reviewed by Douglas C. Towne

There’s a new book on neon signs that excels at, in the authors’ words, bringing “the light of the past into the present.” The cleverly titled Neon: A Light History beautifully and meticulously illuminates the evolution of this electrifying advertising medium. But that’s only the start. The text goes a step further and connects neon signs with the larger economic and societal forces that impacted them, placing them in the crux of American history.

Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island

Two Up and a Bag of Chips! George’s Coney Island: Serving the Worcester Community for Over 100 Years
By Kathryn Tsandikos with Holly Robinson
Cambridge, Mass.: TidePool Press, 2021
Softcover, 144 pages, $30

Reviewed by Harold Aurand Jr.

I’ve never been to Worcester, Massachusetts, and so, of course, I’ve never eaten at George’s Coney Island either. As soon as I saw this book, though, I knew I needed to have it in my collection. I have other books on restaurants, but usually, they’re about certain types, like diners, steakhouses, or chains. Books on just one restaurant are rarer, or maybe they’re published and marketed locally and harder to find.