Griffin MSI Breaks Ground on Its Historic South Entrance — Plus, Lee Bey Talks South Side Architecture Today and the Hyde Park Community Players Bring 'Horror and Suspense' This Weekend
By Socialhood News · Hyde Park ·
Hyde Park neighbors, this is shaping up to be one of the more milestone-dense stretches of October the neighborhood has seen in a while — and today, Wednesday, October 21, is right in the middle of it. From a major groundbreaking at one of the South Side's most iconic lakefront institutions to a free lecture happening this afternoon and a theatrical tradition returning this weekend, there is a lot worth paying attention to right now.
The biggest structural news of the past week came on Monday, October 13, when the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry broke ground on a project to reopen its historic south entrance. The south entrance has long been dormant, and the groundbreaking marks the formal start of a rehabilitation effort that will restore one of the museum's most architecturally significant original access points. The Griffin MSI, perched at the edge of Jackson Park, is one of the most visited cultural institutions in the Midwest, and the reopening of its south entrance represents more than a construction milestone — it is a meaningful restoration of how the building was designed to meet the lakefront and the park. For Hyde Park residents who walk the Jackson Park paths regularly, the project promises to change how the museum relates to the surrounding landscape once the work is complete. Watch the museum's official channels for construction updates and a projected completion timeline.
For those who want to go deeper on the built environment of the South Side — including the history and future of landmarks like the MSI — there is a genuinely well-timed free event happening this afternoon: journalist, author, and photographer Lee Bey is giving a talk titled "Architecture on the South Side" today, Wednesday, October 21, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. at Augustana Lutheran Church, 5500 S. Woodlawn Avenue. The event is listed on the Welcome to Hyde Park events calendar as free to attend. Bey is one of the most respected voices on Chicago architecture, with a particular focus on the South Side's underappreciated building stock, and a talk from him in the neighborhood he has spent years documenting is the kind of afternoon program that rewards showing up. No ticket appears to be required — just walk in.
Looking ahead to this weekend, Hyde Park's own theater community steps into the spotlight. The Hyde Park Community Players present "An Evening of Horror and Suspense 2026," the 17th staging of this beloved neighborhood tradition, on Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, both nights from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The venue is the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, Breasted Hall, at 1155 E. 58th Street. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $15. The Hyde Park Herald's events calendar lists both nights, and more information is available at hydeparkcommunityplayers.org. Seventeen years in, "An Evening of Horror and Suspense" has become one of the most reliably fun late-October traditions on the South Side — a neighborhood theater company doing what neighborhood theater does best: bringing a community together in a room to share something a little eerie, a little funny, and entirely homegrown.
Also on the immediate horizon: the Hyde Park Art Center at 5020 S. Cornell Avenue hosts a free community dinner and conversation with artists Pooja Pittie and Soumya Netrabile tomorrow, Thursday, October 22, at 6:00 p.m. The event is listed on the Art Center's calendar and on allevents.in as free to attend. The Art Center has been one of Hyde Park's most generative cultural anchors all year, and a free evening that pairs live conversation with community dinner is exactly the kind of programming that makes the space feel like a genuine neighborhood living room.
Taken together, this week's lineup — a historic groundbreaking at the MSI, a free architecture lecture this afternoon, a 17-year-old theatrical Halloween tradition this weekend, and a community dinner at the Art Center tomorrow — captures the particular rhythm of late October in Hyde Park: serious, layered, and built around institutions and neighbors who show up for each other.
Hyde Park neighbors: Are you heading to Lee Bey's talk this afternoon at Augustana Lutheran Church? Will you be at Breasted Hall for "An Evening of Horror and Suspense" this Friday or Saturday? And are you watching the Griffin MSI's south entrance project as it gets underway? Share your plans and reactions in the comments on Socialhood.
Sources:
1. https://abc7chicago.com/place/hyde-park/
2. https://welcometohydepark.com/events/
3. https://www.hpherald.com/site/events_calendar.html
4. https://allevents.in/chicago/hyde%20park