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A social services agency for the Chicago Japanese community with occasional exhibits of interest, such as a collection of photos and art relating to internment camps during World War II. Festivals and cultural events also pop up from time to time.
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Jazz and lots of it at this Uptown landmark, famously an old hangout of Al Capone (who's not, though, around as much as he used to be). Go on a Sunday evening for the weekly poetry slam. There are a few excellent resident jazz ensembles.
Built in 1926 with an interior that is meant to recreate a Spanish palace courtyard, the Aragon cost more than two million dollars at the time, and the well-preserved interior still has the otherworldly brilliance. It shifted from big-band sensation to prizefight arena and swinging mod disco, but it's been in good hands for more than thirty years now, as promoters for Latin dances and rock shows split nights of the week.
For a distinctly non-seedy music experience, try the kids-friendly classical and world music concerts at this community-based not-for-profit music school.
From 1907-17, Hollywood was in Uptown. A dizzy list of silent movie giants shot films here, Charlie Chaplin and local girl Gloria Swanson among them, and the city's awful winters played a part in shifting production to California for part of the year. When Chaplin left, the studio collapsed, and California started seeming more attractive year-round. The building is now a protected landmark, and houses the bi-lingual http://www.staugustine.edu/ St Augustine College]. No tours are available, but check out the grand name above the doorway.
Not a tourist sight, necessarily, but a center for the local South-east Asian community, young and old. Ten languages (besides English) are spoken by the staff. Volunteer opportunities like English teaching and elderly care abound.
Andersonville — and the second floor of the Nelson Funeral Home, to be precise — was the home of the long-running late-night show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind and its ever-changing menu of the funny, the profound, and the occasional tongue bath for a 20th century European ethos, intended to be accomplished within the confines of thirty plays in sixty minutes. Arrive early — people are turned away almost every week.