Chicago-born author Thomas Dyja will lead a discussion on “The Battle of the Mecca” about the Mecca Flats at 12:15 pm on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at the Sidney R. Yates Gallery in the Chicago Cultural Center located at 78 E. Washington Street.

Dyja will discuss the history of Mecca Flats and how it eventually became the site of S.R. Crown Hall. The discussion will touch on issues including race, urban planning, politics, poetry and architecture.

The lecture is free. View for more information on the event. Dyja’s book, The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream, was named one of the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of the Year.  

Note: The exhibit, Mecca Flat Blues, is on display in the Yates Gallery through May 25, 2014.