its many vibrant beaches to the tours and cruises.

It inspires Chicago's beloved lakefront is a defining part of the city's culture and identity.

>> Jeffrey Bears new special touring Chicago's lakefront explores how the iconic shoreline became what it is today.

Take a look.

>> Taste of Chicago.

The Thunder come.

>> Joining us now is the man who gets all the good gigs is the program's host, our very own Jeffrey Bear.

Welcome back.

Jeffrey, you.

I love being here.

So you have been doing these programs 30 years and you've done quite a few lakefront specials, though, in the past.

What's unique about this one?

>> Well, we you know, we have to make these shows again because they become outdated.

We can't rerun them anymore.

our producer, Mike Weston, I really thought this time around, let's do things we've never done before.

So, you know, I go dive a shipwreck.

I'm not a scuba diver, but there's a shipwreck, literally a few 100 yards offshore at 47th Street about in about 8 feet of water.

So you just put on But you know what?

A snorkel mask and you can dive it.

We go to a rodeo at so sure cultural center.

It was my first rodeo You know, just did all kinds of things fishing.

I went fishing for the first time ever in my life.

Fishing is a big thing in Lake Michigan.

So we just decided to do things we've never done before.

Yep, we're gonna come back to some of those first.

What is it that you think makes Chicago's lakefront special so unique?

Well, it I think it truly is unique in the world in the sense that it's been preserved for the people.

Our whole lakefront is a park.

>> And there was a big battle to preserve the lakefront as a park back in the 19th century and in every like literally every other waterfront city.

Think of, you know, at the coastal cities, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, other Great Lakes cities, Milwaukee, Cleveland, the lake front is pretty much given over to industry and our lakefront could have become industrialized as you see in northwest Indiana.

But there were some lawsuits in early days.

We talk about this in the program.

And really we're the only city that I know of in the country, maybe in the world where whole waterfront is public land and its parks.

So as we mentioned, you do a lot of firsts in this program like fishing.

Here's a look at some of >> Well, what do I do?

just got together find my the bottom know if they're there with us for Right here you go real, real, real life >> Why I cannot she's >> I think I got a big >> so many instructions to follow when you're isn't with that fish.

I'm that this is not a fish story like I was the big.

That was the lake trout.

We cut like 12 fish.

>> Have you ever been fishing?

No, no, certainly not.

Unlike Michigan.

No, I have never been fishing.

I said to fishing boat, captain, you I got all these cameras here, you know, in a producer and everything.

>> Are we going to catch the fish?

And he said never come back without a fish.

And we came back with like 12 fish.

It was crazy.

>> So obviously you took them home and like you, you scale took them and all that stuff.

And we we do need them up.

and yeah, I mean, the we looked it up online and the health authorities do say that you that you should limit the amount of fish.

>> That you from Lake Michigan because there are trees, contaminants in the water.

I think.

Certain fish should be one a month.

Certain We want to.

We can you know, so we try to follow those instructions, of course, has more curious about your skills with scaling or do see as the people giving me the advice on the boat?

Do the whole thing?

all the fish while we were on our way back, which was another whole thing to witness.

What was that like, though?

You know, 30 years of doing these and a whole bunch of other lakefront specials.

And this is finally here first time getting to do something like that my head.

A little bit of remorse.

Actually, when I caught the fish, you know, I eat fish.

So I don't have any right to, you know, complain.

But but, you know, the thing was fighting for its life and I'm going let you know, so and the first mate went in the show.

He says, you know, a lot of people feel that way.

But he talks about how it's very sustainable to eat fish that you catch yourself versus fish that are store-bought that, you know, were caught like less sustainable practices.

So there's a good argument for, right?

Yeah, some people might have feelings about that, too, about the different ways that fisheries Exactly.

What are some of the other things that you did in that you've never done before?

You mentioned a few of those visited of Northerly Island.

You know, people will remember that as Meigs field.

you know, Mayor Daley story there, yes, famously, we talk about it in the show.

Famously dug up the runway there.

But middle of the night in the middle of the night, right?

Well, here, we've that this is diving the shipwreck.

So this this this shipwreck was from 1914, was called the silver spray.

All that's left of it is the boiler and the propeller.

There it And look, I'm I'm wearing scuba gear.

And you and here I am at my first rodeo when early as I mentioned So this rodeo is amazing.

This is an African-American guy.

There he is rumored AAC the man with.

>> No first name and he has a 41 away the service and he'd always loved horseback riding and you couldn't do it.

There were no horseback riding opportunities anymore in the city when he came back from the sir and he wants to share this with largely young African-American kids.

should see what you will.

If you watch the show these kids go tearing around the arena at breakneck speeds with these horses and it was really something amazing to That's impressive.

Looking forward to that.

you also you interact with various experts.

Community members important to bring those voices oh, I think, you know, when I first started doing these shows 30 years ago, I was like a tour guide.

And it was just me who talked, you know, and in recent years we've brought all kinds of other voices into the Shawnee.

Just think it makes the show so much richer.

And I love these people.

We met a guy down Calumet Fisheries, which is this a holdover from the days commercial fishing on Lake Michigan's down and the and this sort of under the Skyway and the Calumet River.

And he showed me, you know, they're smokehouse and he gave me a taste of their smoked fish.

There.

This has been there for generations and he does a young guy and he just knows the whole history of the fishing.

So proud of it.

You feel the sort of pride in these people when you interview them and it's wonderful to have them the show.

Definitely worth the trip to kind fish or is if you have been also for those votes.

There's also some debate, though, a lot of debate about how the lakefront should be used if it's being overrun.

>> What did you learn about that?

Yeah, I mean, you know, we talk about Grant Park in particular, which we saw in the very first clip you >> Lollapalooza taste of Chicago and now NASCAR.

And, you know, a lot of people feel that that's really running afoul of Daniel Burnham's and our our our city's vision of the lakefront is forever open, clear and free.

Talk about building a new football stadium on the lakefront.

It's an ongoing debate.

Daniel Burnham himself who who plant, you know, really created the plan of the lakefront in his plan of Chicago 19.

0, 9, The field museum is sitting where Buckingham Fountain is today.

And so he was not as strict in his view of no buildings on the lake front as other lakefront advocates like Montgomery Ward have been over the years.

So there's there's division of opinion on that.

And before run of time, you know, the lakefront also had some turbulent history tells a little bit yelling.

That's another one of the voices we have in the show.

Of course, the not 1919, race riots started at a beach on the lakefront when a rock was thrown by a white racist who who killed an African Americans treat child and it's part of the race riots we don't shy away from talking about those things in the program.

always important part of history.

15 seconds.

What he want folks to take away from the special.

The Lakers are one natural feature we don't have.

A mountain range were built on a swamp, you know.

And and so I would hope that people would see the lake as the precious and fragile treasure treasure.

That is and be inspired to use it but also protect.

All right, Jeffrey Bear, congrats on the new special.

Thank you so much.

>> And you can be sure to check out our website for more information on the lakefront, including a guided bike tour invasive species in the area and an introduction to people who swim in Lake Michigan all year that and much more at Www dot com slash lakefront in