{"product_id":"wilmette-9781531663476","title":"Wilmette","description":"Wilmette is best known for its tree-lined, brick-paved streets, nice homes, and lovely lakefront. Yet a peek beneath this placid suburban surface reveals a surprisingly lively history, ranging from the early years of hardscrabble farms carved out of dense forest to decades of conflict with German-speaking tavern owners in the culturally distinctive village of Gross Point. \"No Man's Land\" along Sheridan Road once sported a dazzling movie palace and a Jazz Age nightclub, along with hot dog stands, beach clubs, and speakeasies that defied Wilmette's buttoned-down reputation. The huge engineering effort to reverse the flow of the Chicago River bestowed on the village a cozy harbor and a busy lakefront park, both soon dominated by the massively incongruous but serenely beautiful Baha'i Temple. Hometown to such diverse figures as Charlton Heston, Ann-Margret, Bill Murray, Pete Wentz, and Rahm Emanuel, Wilmette has long been a fine place to grow up, as well as a bustling, civic-minded community with more than its share of surprises.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Arcadia Publishing Library Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50918112657682,"sku":"9781531663476","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9677fe22-86c2-45ba-81ba-5ac631938e69.jpg?v=1738876960","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/wilmette-9781531663476","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}