NSSC Hosts PBS WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer Ready to Share Great Stories

Geoffrey Baer, a fixture on Chicago’s PBS station WTTW for 30 years, will headline the 25th Annual Joan Golder Distinguished Senior Lecture Series on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at North Shore Senior Center (NSSC), 161 Northfield Road, Northfield.

To purchase tickets, click here or call 847.784.6030. Tickets cost $14.00 for NSSC members and $19.00 for non-members.

In his talk, Baer will share some of his favorite stories and little-known facts about the history of the North Shore and Chicago. He’ll show how his work has evolved over more than a quarter century to paint a fuller picture of things those earlier histories ‘swept under the rug,’ and why it’s important to tell the whole story.

He will also include some fun trivia for those in attendance can test their own knowledge of Chicago’s rich history. An Evanston resident, Baer has a special connection with the North Shore community, having grown up in Highland Park and Deerfield.

About Geoffrey Baer

When Geoffrey Baer was growing up in Deerfield, he and his friends would often venture into the small forest half a block from his house where there was a real Native American Trail Tree. Indigenous people bent the tree when it was a sapling and tied it down to mark a route through the woods. More than a century later it was easily four feet in diameter, with an improbable s-curve in its trunk.

Marveling at this tree brought the realization that something had existed on the North Shore before Strike ‘n Spare bowling lanes, Hackneyburgers, and the Edens Theatre, and may well have inspired Geoffrey’s future career as the premier storyteller of Chicago history on television station WTTW (PBS).

Today, Geoffrey Baer is an eight-time Emmy award-winning public television writer, producer, and program host. He has been a fixture on Chicago's PBS station WTTW for 30 years and is best known as the host and writer of the popular Chicago "tours" specials about the architecture and history of Chicago and its suburban areas. Through Geoffrey's lens, viewers are exposed to the history, culture, architecture, and people that make up our treasured communities.

Baer appears regularly on WTTW’s flagship nightly public affairs program Chicago Tonight answering viewers’ questions about Chicago architecture and history in a segment called “Ask Geoffrey.” Nationally he hosted the PBS primetime series 10 that Changed America about the built environment across the country.

He hosted and co-wrote the PBS primetime special Weekend in Havana. Geoffrey has been a docent for the Chicago Architecture Center since 1987.

In addition to his Emmy Awards, he has been honored by the American Institute of Architects Chicago, the Society of Architectural Historians, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Chicago Headline Club.

About North Shore Senior Center

Headquartered in Northfield, North Shore Senior Center (NSSC) is a nationally accredited 501(c)(3) organization that serves older adults from the most independent to those needing more support. NSSC serves and engages more than 24,000 older adults and their families each year throughout Chicago’s northern suburbs.

NSSC offers a comprehensive suite of services including a wide array of social services, specialized care for people living with dementia, counseling and personal money management, educational and wellness programs, and volunteer opportunities. Visit: www.nssc.org