Chicago in 1948

This was really cool to watch - James Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks visits Chicago in 1948. As might be imagined, things have changed in the last 52 years. The scene that looked most different to me was the old water tower on north Michigan Avenue. It looked so lonely standing there all by itself.



Be sure to have your volume on and I highly recommend setting the picture to full screen. The video quality is pretty good and you will get much more detail.

If you're interested in more of Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks, more can be found here on YouTube.

Thanks to Christopher for sending the link!

The Transparent City

These photos of Chicago by Michael Wolf are stunning - from his series The Transparent City

Lincoln Park Zoo

We took advantage of a nice day last week to walk up to Lincoln Park Zoo. Things were pretty quiet until the big guy up there let out a monster roar and starting chuffing.

I've seen the Travel Channel, I know that the lion's roar is supposed to be one of the loudest animal noises on Earth. I didn't really believe it until last week.

Of course, his girlfriend wasn't too thrilled - it seems he woke her up from a perfectly good nap in the sun...

Chicago's French Market - meh

Remember how excited I was for the opening of the French Market at the Ogilvy / Northwestern train station last year?

Well, it really hurts me to say this because I really wanted to be a big supporter, but I've been there 3 times now and I have to say that I am very disappointed.

Not in the selection of vendors - they have a wonderful variety of high quality purveyors of produce, flowers, pastries, cheese, deli and prepared foods. What they don't have is an environment that makes anyone but the harried commuter with no other option want to shop there.As you can see from these photos, although clean and well lit, the space is cold and sterile. I understand the difficulty of making a warehouse space feel intimate, but maybe the use of overhead florescent lighting that you find in hospital corridors wasn't the best idea.
Even the eating area looks and feels like a bus station.

Compare our market to the one in New York at Grand Central Terminal - the lighting makes a huge difference.

And a little bit of wood goes a long way - note how the wooden shelving at the back of most vendor booths offsets the cold box feel of the standard display cases?

Or take LA's Grand Central Market - yes, part of the ceiling is skylight but it's also a huge warehouse space that they have somehow managed to make inviting.This market has been here since 1917, yet still meets all modern food handling and storage code requirements without turning into a sterile environment.

This is the only vendor space in the entire Chicago market that doesn't make me feel like I'm in a meat locker.Although I'm sure that this is an upgrade implemented by Pastoral, it's a shame that the developers couldn't figure out how to provide more than bare bones space throughout the market.

I truly wish the French Market well and hope that the captive commuter crowd is enough to keep it going. I'll even continue to walk through and pick up the occasional needed item when I'm in the area. But I probably won't be making any special trips.
Si triste.

Culture Day

Yesterday was 'culture day' at the White House. Mr. Blogger and I took advantage of the balmy 35 degree sunny day to walk down to the Art Institute.

Did you know that every day in February is free general admission? We didn't stop in the Modern Wing this trip - I can only handle modern art once in any 12 month period...but we did see the Caravaggio exhibit and some really interesting photos from the Chicago Columbian Exhibition.

And while I enjoyed this latest trip to the Museum, I have to admit that the 20 minutes we spent waiting for it to open were almost as entertaining.

Across the street in the Railway Exchange building at Monroe & Michigan is the Chicago Model City. This exhibit, sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation is pretty amazing.

A 320-square-foot model of downtown that depicts every street, building and structure in the city - it even shows the excavated hole where the Chicago Spire might some day actually be built.

The exhibit also includes some history on the building of the city's elevated train system, an exploration of the 1909 Burnham Plan of Chicago and a digital visualization of the tear down and rebuilding of the city's South side. About the only thing it doesn't include is the White House. For some reason, the model stops, literally, across the street from us...


The exhibit is free and open to the public 7 days a week from 9am-6:30pm

Photos from Kate Gardiner's FLICKR stream

Classic Post: Chicago 2009

TW: Choosing a Chicago post is challenging as there is so much good about Chicago that limiting it to one is tough. So I headed in a bit of a different direction. This post is not as relevant as some to the general public, but I can attest Ms. Blogger was thrilled with the new water taxi service which initiated this year from a dock a block from our place. Hence in her honor we go with this classic post from August of last year...


I went in to the office on Wednesday. Although this is unusual in itself because I only work on a project basis and don't go in to the office all that often, the truly unusual aspect of this event is that I commuted by water taxi!

Yep, the Erie / Larrabee stop of the Shoreline Water Taxi commuter route opened this week. Aside from being a MONSTER bargain ($1 in the morning, $3 in the afternoon), it was also a delightful way to make my way in to the loop.

click to enlarge.

The route couldn’t be more perfect for my commuting needs – one dock is 2 blocks from my house, the other is 1 block from my office. Almost makes me wish I was working full time again…

Photos from my ride - taken with a pretty low tech cell phone so not all that high def

Things I Like - Chicago

This is BIG - today is the grand opening of a new bookstore in Chicago, Open Books.

Yes, the fact that a bookstore is opening and not closing is good to hear, but the big news is that this used bookstore is also a non-profit entity that promotes literacy.

Open Books, located at 213 W. Institute Place,

… will look and operate like any other except that proceeds will fund literacy programs for children and adults in the same building. It's the next step for the organization founded three years ago to run programs aimed at improving reading and writing skills.

Through viral marketing, word-of-mouth and savvy salesmanship, Keaty, 31, and Ratner, 37 -- two business professionals with a shared background in corporate marketing and small-business entrepreneurship -- quickly amassed a volunteer list totaling 4,000, a small staff, corporate grants and thousands of books donated from Itasca to Iraq.

Their model is already bringing queries from literacy advocates in other cities who hope to raise awareness -- and funds -- in their communities.
~ Chicago Tribune

So check out the new store, check out the website, buy some books and help support literacy in Chicago.

Things I Like - Chicago

The new Trump Tower at Wabash and Kinzie got lots of press before during and after its development.

It’s ok as a tower goes but the only thing all that exciting about it is the size – the footprint is massive and it's 1,170 ft high -

(1,262 when you add in the wimpy spire).

I prefer the Aqua Tower. Like Trump Tower, it’s meant to be a multi-use building with hotel rooms, apartments and condos. But this tower, located at 430 East Waterside Drive at Columbus Drive, is a thing of slim beauty with curved edge balconies of different length that create an undulating or wave effect on the outside of the building.

And at 819 ft (82 floors), it’s a true skyscraper that adds to the city’s skyline.

It looks like the Calatrava Spire might not happen but architecture in Chicago is alive and well.

Flickr photo sources:

Top - katie killary
Middle - chascarper
Bottom - gshowman

Things I Like - Chicago

Remember the Highline Park in NYC? I just learned that Chicago has something similar in the works – the Bloomingdale Line. This abandoned elevated rail line runs west along Bloomingdale (between Armitage & North Ave) from Ashland Avenue for 2 ¾ miles out to Ridgeway Avenue. It runs through parts of Bucktown, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park and Logan Square. The difference between this and the Highline? The Bloomingdale Line would be more than just an elevated park…from Inhabitat:

Co-designed by Gensler and 4240 Architecture, the proposal for revamping the Bloomingdale Rail Line centers around making the disused section into something more useful for the entire city and nearby Chicago schools. They’re proposing the HYDROGENerator, which would use the old aqueduct below to generate hydrogen. This hydrogen would then be used to power nearby schools, and the extra hydrogen would be sold to alternative fuel vehicles at depots throughout the line. A supply of cheaper fuel for the public schools, plus revenue from the sale of hydrogen to the public would help the school system offset rising utility bills and reverse its budget shortfall.

On top of the rail line, a greenhouse would be built to grow organic produce for local sale. This 10 acre urban farm could produce food year round, which could then be sold in markets located adjacent to the rail line. Other benefits of the project would be a fresh supply of oxygen generated while producing hydrogen, which could then pumped back into the air improving local air quality.
~ Inhabitat

What a great idea – the only drawback is timing. Per the City, we are just entering Phase I of design and there is no timetable yet for construction. Maybe someone should tell the Mayor that he can sell naming rights to stretches of the park…

Learn more about the proposed plan at Bloomingdale Trail and The Trust for Public Land.

Things I Like - Chicago

Last week Saturday was a big day for Chicago – city officials dedicated a bronze bust honoring Jean Baptiste DuSable, the first non-native permanent settler of the area we now call Chicago. The bust is at the north side of the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue, a location already designated a national landmark representing DuSable’s settlement and the beginning of our city.

You may have noticed that I didn’t call DuSable the city’s founder. Or even the first non-native Chicagoan. That’s because no one can agree on much about DuSable other than he built and lived at the first permanent non-indigenous settlement in the area.

Here’s some of what the various sources* I read agree on:

1. DuSable was Haitian having arrived here via migration through New Orleans
2. He married a Potawatomie woman and had two children
3. He built and lived in the city’s first permanent settlement located at the mouth of the Chicago river
4. He was briefly incarcerated by the British during the revolutionary war because of his French connections and on suspicion of being a US spy
5. He was a prosperous trader and lived at the settlement for at least "two decades"
6. He sold his settlement to an associate of John Kinzie in 1800
7. He had a farm and lived in Peoria
8. He lived in St. Charles Missouri where he died in 1818

Here’s what they don’t know or don’t agree on:

1. His date of birth – somewhere between 1730 and 1745. That’s a 15 year range.
2. When he lived in Peoria – some indicate he was there in the mid 1770’s, others say he went in 1800 after selling the settlement. So when did he spend 20 years in Chicago??
3. When he spent 3 ½ years managing a woodlands area in southern Michigan for a British officers – it’s either before, during or after the War. I guess it's hard to keep track of things during a war.
4. And the big one, the year that he established the settlement – one source says 1779, another says 1781 and the DuSable Heritage Association doesn’t actually say although admits that there is evidence suggesting that DuSable was living in Chicago prior to 1779.

I’m sure that record keeping wasn’t as important in the late 1700’s as say, surviving, in what was basically the wilderness. But isn’t the year that DuSable built his settlement kind of an important date? Maybe if he had known that 230 years (give or take) after building the settlement, there would be a bust erected in his honor, Mr. DuSable would have kept a diary.

Btw, one of the other things no one is sure about is what DuSable actually looked like, there’s no known portrait of the guy. So that bust they just dedicated? It might or might not look like Jean Baptiste DuSable.

*Sources
Wikipedia
Chicago Historical Society – Encyclopedia of Chicago
DuSable Heritage Association
A View on Cities

Things I Like - Chicago

Mr. Blogger posted the IU fight song clip earlier this week. I don't even remember Marquette's fight song (if we even had one) but I always liked Bear Down, Chicago Bears...


Performed by the Chicago Symphony


This one by Lyric Opera's Bryan Griffin totally cracks me up - he's in makeup for his role as Ivan in Die Fledermaus. I really miss my opera subscription...

Things I Like - Chicago

Here's an example of a business enterprise where everybody wins – Groupon. This Chicago based marketing company, started in November last year by Andrew Mason, works with local businesses to offer discounts on goods and services to the community. The business model takes advantage of “crowdsourcing” which harnesses the power of the masses on the internet.

Groupon sends out daily e-mails with a deal that offers a product or service at a discounted price. The business relies on the collective purchasing power of a group of interested consumers, hence the name Groupon. Participating merchants pay a commission, making Groupon profitable at a time when so much Internet content lacks an income stream.

For the deal of the day to work, a minimum number of people have to buy it. That crowdsourcing encourages subscribers to tell their friends, family and co-workers. As word spreads, the selected business gains exposure.
~ Chicago Tribune

The ‘daily deal’ on Saturday last week was a $75 Groupon for $35 at one of my favorite restaurants, Crofton on Wells (ie - you purchase a $35 Groupon worth $75 of food and drink). When I first went to the site that morning, 340 Groupons had been purchased. 17 more were bought in the 5 minutes I was looking around. I went back 10 minutes later to check something and the total had gone to 405. Andrew Mason has clearly tapped into something here.

Groupons are offered for sporting and cultural events, activities (Segway tours, sky diving) and area services (teeth whitening, manicures). Recent deals in Chicago included:

• $50 Groupon for $25 at The Grocery Bistro
• $40 for an annual membership at the Art Institute – regularly $110
• $60 for two 1-hour massages at Chiropractical Solutions and Massage ($140 value)

Check it out. Groupon.

Things I Like - Chicago

Art by Bruce Cascia - remember the RiverBank Lofts Gallery?

Big News - Chicago Hot Dog Favorite Bests NYC Hot Dog Upstart!!

It was a dog fight.

In one corner was Chicago's venerable Superdawg, the 60-year-old wiener stand at Devon and Milwaukee on the Northwest Side.

In the other corner was Superdog, a New York eatery that opened this year.

And after months of legal scrapping, the Chicago restaurant came out top dog. On Sept. 10, a federal judge here signed an order requiring Superdog to change its name to Super Hot Dog, resolving a trademark infringement lawsuit that Superdawg brought in June.
~ Chicago Sun Times

Take that New York! Plus, our wiener mascot is so much better than yours:

Things I Like - Chicago

September 22nd is World Car Free Day in Chicago. This movement officially began in Europe in 1996 as an attempt to reduce car dependence in cities by providing an opportunity for people to learn what their communities would be like with fewer (or no) cars.

I’ve mentioned that the White House has been car free since 2002 – looks like we were ahead of Mayor Daley’s ‘green’ city effort.

But better late than never, Chicago is participating in World Car Free Day this year. The Day is sponsored by Active Transportation Alliance, which is partnering with RTA, CTA, Pace and Metra to encourage people to get around by transit, bike or on foot.

And there are incentives… pledge here to go car free on September 22nd and receive a coupon for $1 off a large drink at Caribou Coffee (good through the end of the month). Or stop by the Loyola L stop (sans car, of course) for a free cup of joe.

There are a number of organizations with tie-ins to the day which will be capped off with a “One Million Less Cars” rally scheduled for 5:30 at Daley Plaza. So go get hyped up on caffeine and then join the rest of the world by running, walking, biking or using public transportation all day.

Don't forget, “Car free” is the new black.

Photo from this year’s Bike the Drive at Let’s Go Ride a Bike

Things I Like - Chicago

Beautiful time lapse video of the Chicago river posted by Bruno Pier who appears to be a Brazilian now working in Chicago.



Bruno’s notes: A weekend at the office seemed like a good opportunity to set up the camera over the Chicago River and try a little time lapse while I worked on a new business pitch.

Shot from the 12th floor of the Leo Burnett Building, (35 W Wacker), from 8am on Sunday, August 30th, 2009, to 8am on Monday, August 31st. One hour = 2.5 seconds.

Things I Like - Chicago

The Chicago Jazz Festival is going on this weekend – it’s the 30 year anniversary of this free outdoor music event, the longest running of the Chicago festivals. There are a couple of special sessions lined up this year – an 80th Birthday Party jam with Fred Anderson (long time Chicago tenor sax musician with a swing background), a tribute to Art Tatum (one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time) and a tribute to Benny Goodman. See the full schedule for today and tomorrow here.

Benny Goodman. Did you know he was born (1909) and grew up in Chicago? His family lived in the Maxwell Street neighborhood in the 1920’s when the immigrant population was mostly Eastern European Jews (Goodman’s parents were from what are now Poland and Lithuania). He started music lessons at 10 and was playing in bands soon after – he joined the Ben Pollack Orchestra (a California band led by another Chicagoan) at 16 and recorded his first album under his own name three years later.

In 1929, Goodman moved to New York where he spent five years as a freelance studio musician and orchestra pit leader. His career took off when he landed a job on the national radio program, Let’s Dance where he was responsible for the ‘hot’ dance segment every Saturday night. It was during this period that Goodman hooked up with the musicians and music that would eventually bring him the title the King of Swing.

I’m not going to take you through the life of Benny Goodman (see below for some useful bio links), it’s enough to say that he was a major force in jazz beyond his musical talent.

His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall…is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music." Goodman's bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz, and during an era of segregation, he also led one of the first racially-integrated musical groups.
~ Wikipedia

In honor of the centennial celebration of Goodman’s birth, here’s a video posted by cdbpdx of Sing, Sing, Sing. It’s a 1937 recording but the 1938 recording from Carnegie Hall is apparently too long for YouTube. Notes from the YouTube posting are below.



cdbpdx: This is a special recording of the swing classic Sing, Sing, Sing in 2 parts by Benny Goodman on a 12" 78 rpm record. This number usually closed concerts and was their signature tune. Most recordings of Sing, Sing, Sing are 3 minutes or so to fit on a regular record, but this is a real jam session with almost 9 minutes of music, much like their concert performances, showcasing Benny Goodman, Harry James, and especially Gene Krupa. Enjoy!

Commenter: A milestone in recorded jazz history (and one of the few to be issued on a 12-inch 78, where the "standard" was the 10-inch release), arranged by Jimmy Mundy, and recorded in Hollywood on July 6, 1937. The equally famous rendition recorded live at Goodman's January 16, 1938 Carnegie Hall concert featured more improvised solos...incidentally, this is the "post-war" RCA Victor "Swing Classic" reissue [original releases had a "Victor" label].

Btw, the movie Swing Kids (young jazz fans coming of age in Berlin at the beginning of WWII) has some amazing music – and it’s a great movie.

Chicago Jazz Festival
Benny Goodman sources:
Benny Goodman official site
Red Hot Jazz
Solid!

Things I Like - Chicago

Well this is the biggest Chicago food event for the White House since the opening of the Jewel at Kinzie and Milwaukee (sweetly located across from the Blommer’s Chocolate factory).

I’m talking about the long awaited MetraMarket in the Ogilvie Transportation Center (that would be the Northwestern Train Station for you old timers) scheduled to open in October.

The MetraMarket will be in that huge (100,000-square-foot) space just south of the station and bordered by Lake, Canal, Washington and Clinton streets. The exciting news is that the space will contain a French Market which will be managed and operated by the Bensidoun family, the largest market operator in and around Paris. The market currently has the following vendors signed up:

• Albano’s Deli, an Italian specialty store
• Canady Le Chocolatier
• Chicago Organics grocery store
• Completely Nuts
• Flip Crepes
• Fraternite Notre Dame bakery
• Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine
• Sweet Miss Giving’s bakery
• Vanille Patisserie pastry shop
• Wisconsin Cheese Mart

I'm pretty excited about the Italian deli and I know that Mr. White will want to check out the crepe place. Here's hoping they add some flower kiosks - then it will really be a French market.

Things I Like - Chicago

This could be dangerous. Garrett popcorn has opened a location two blocks from the White house in the Merchandise Mart. I haven’t had these addicting popped kernels in years but they used to be a regular snack when I worked in the south Loop. It was hard to walk past the little doorway at Jackson & State without stopping in for a bag – they conveniently kept the door open so the amazing smell would hit you as you walked by. Evil, pure evil.

The other location that used to snag me was the Michigan Ave shop although only if the line out the door was less than 10 people deep. That shop closed last year, greatly reducing the pedestrian traffic jam on weekends, although it sounds like they are reopening in a different spot on the Mag Mile some time soon.

If you have never had this classic Chicago treat, you really should try it, even if you’re not a huge popcorn fan. The popcorn that fills the Garrett bags (and tins) bears no resemblance to the dry, tasteless and often stale stuff you get at the movie theater or even the stuff you may pop at home. Try the cheese and caramel mix but only if you have some serious self-control, one taste and you’ll want to take the 6 gallon tub home. And keep an eye out at O’Hare – they have shops in Terminals 1 and 3 to make your flight more enjoyable.

If you don't happen to live in Chicago and are feeling deprived, don't worry. You can order from the Garret Popcorn website.

Things I Like - Chicago

The air & water show is going on this weekend – the largest free air and water show in America. Head on down to the lakefront to enjoy the day (10:00 – 4:00 both today and tomorrow). The water part of the show can best be seen from North Ave Beach but the air show can be viewed from just about anywhere on the lakefront – we’re about a mile and a half from there but can catch most of the air display from our roof top.

Although there is no set itinerary, scheduled performers include:

• U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds
• U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights
• U.S. Navy Parachute Team Leap Frogs
• Aeroshell Aerobatic Team
• Sean D. Tucker & Team Oracle
• Lime Lima Flight Team
• The Firebirds Delta Team
• Red Bull Helicopter and MIG
• Chicago Fire Department Air/Sea Rescue

They also plan to have some military hardware in attendance – go check out your tax dollars in action! More info on the event here.

Things I Like - Chicago

I went in to the office on Wednesday. Although this is unusual in itself because I only work on a project basis and don't go in to the office all that often, the truly unusual aspect of this event is that I commuted by water taxi!

Yep, the Erie / Larrabee stop of the Shoreline Water Taxi commuter route opened this week. Aside from being a MONSTER bargain ($1 in the morning, $3 in the afternoon), it was also a delightful way to make my way in to the loop.

click to enlarge.

The route couldn’t be more perfect for my commuting needs – one dock is 2 blocks from my house, the other is 1 block from my office. Almost makes me wish I was working full time again…

Photos from my ride - taken with a pretty low tech cell phone so not all that high def