Book Review: Chicago Scavenger: The Ultimate Search for Chicago’s Hidden Treasure

Chicago Scavenger: The Ultimate Search for Chicago’s Hidden Treasures. Jessica Mlinaric, Reedy Press, 15 March 2022, Paperback and eBook, 192 pages.

Reviewed by Caroline L. Huftalen.

Jessica Mlinaric is no stranger to a good scavenger hunt. Her childhood homemade maps behind her grandmother’s house led her to explore Chicago much differently than simply finding the closest grocery when she first moved here. Mlinariic has spent over a decade wandering the city’s streets and sidewalks and has shared her findings on her blog urbnexplorer.com. Her first book, Secret Chicago: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, was released by Reedy Press in 2018. The latest release, Chicago Scavenger: The Ultimate Search for Chicago’s Hidden Treasures, is less focused on the strange to give readers more insight into the city’s diverse culture, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Chicago Scavenger takes readers from the northernmost neighborhood of Rogers Park down to Pullman, with many stops in between. Each neighborhood or community is separated by section, and each has 19 or more clues to explore.

While many other scavenger hunt books focus on the answer only, whether it be filling in a blank or decoding a message, Mlinaric’s book is less about the answer and more about the journey. The things you walk by everyday will hold new meaning. A neighborhood you have never ventured to could now hold new intrigue after flipping through the riddles and images.

I first explored my own neighborhood. Many of the clues I knew by sight, but the riddles themselves revealed histories I would have never known. Restaurants that never stood out, now were places to pop into to try for the fun of the hunt.

Before you embark into a new section, Mlinaric gives readers a brief look into what makes that neighborhood or community special and includes ways to arrive by transit at a suggested starting point for the hunt. The personality of each neighborhood is revealed riddle after riddle, clue by clue.

Mlinaric suggests taking a day for each section, and I recommend the same. A day to explore a new place will give you time to learn about each answer, take in the views, taste something new, and maybe even find your own hidden treasure. With a mix of sights, businesses, and places to eat or drink, you’ll want to make sure you take the time after writing down the answer to really immerse yourself in the adventure.

Each clue is a riddle and photo. Some of the clues include street names or location identifiers, but many don’t. Beyond the map that shows where each neighborhood section is, there are no hints as to where to head next or what direction. Readers will not be able to rely solely on the book to find each destination. You will either need a phone handy to Google or a hearty dose of confidence to ask as many strangers on the street as possible to help.

The suggested starting point via transit doesn’t always add up to being close to the first clue either. For instance, in Rogers Park, Mlinaric suggests taking the red line to Loyola Station, and while many of the other riddles in the section are around that stop, the first riddle is (spoiler!) up on Juneway Terrace, closer to the Howard stop.

And maybe that’s just the point. Mlinaric took an interest, a hobby, and made it into a career by simply enjoying the adventure of a walkabout. By getting a little lost, walking a few extra blocks, readers will be able to see more of their city or one they are visiting. Mlinaric’s book gives readers a boots on the ground look at not only today’s Chicago, but the many paths that led us here.

In the words of Mlinaric, embark.