Today I want to talk about the different ideas architects and developers have for rebuilding Haiti, but first a change to Chicago Elevated: I’m going to post on the blog on Mondays and Thursdays from here on out. A Million Times will still happen, but just once a month on the last Thursday of the month. Oh yes, it’s very confusing but honestly, I need and want to spend more time on my actual business. Writing this blog is a joy for me but I’m finding that I need to give more mind space to the actual tours right now, especially with spring coming up and new tours….anyway, so Mondays and Thursdays you will see posts from me, I hope you’ll come and check them out! Yes! Okay, so:
I’m finding that I’m quite interested in people’s ideas for rebuilding in Haiti. I think it’s partly because of how Chicago was rebuilt after the Fire, partly possible by balloon frame housing. And I like all the different thoughts and hearing about people’s crazy ideas for getting these people some shelter. Hurricane Season starts for them on June 1st. So it is imperative that Haiti moves quickly to get it’s citizens in some kind of housing.
Andre Duany, who helped design the Katrina Cottage, has an idea. He wants to build a Haitian House. It’s a small bunker that could sleep 8 and is water-proof, fire-proof and mold-proof. Seems Duany needs to think more on bathrooms and the slope of the ground – his own words.
The Clemson School of Architecture is getting some press with their SEED Shipping Containers. It’s pretty crazy. And still, this is no help with bathrooms and sewers and all that noise.
This Live Architecture Network is having a whole workshop weekend on creating sustainable structure for Haiti. That looks neat. If I were a different person, I would totally go to that.
This modular house can withstand strong winds and at least goes a step further than a storage unit, but says nothing about bathrooms, etc.
Seems like no one I can find has a real answer, especially to the bathroom question. They should make it a huge design competition and get the worlds greatest architects on this, time is running out.
Last night I went to karaoke at Holiday Club. I love karaoke. I sang Faith by George Michael and MAN, if you ever want to really see my Trixie (that sounded dirty) come see me do the karaoke. I sing like Cameron Diaz and dance like Molly Ringwald. But heck, I enjoy it.
But before the festivities began my intelligent group of friends started discussing the word “meta.” We were trying to explain how some improv groups go meta…that basically they’re making fun of the art, poking holes in the rules and breaking 4th walls…how some improv groups show the structure of their art.
And my mind starts to churn – why, that’s just like post-modernism really – poking fun at the seriousness of the art. That Chicago improv comedy and architecture really have a lot in common.
And that my friends, is where my metaphor begins.
The original cast members of the Second City were “The Chicago School.” In the 1950’s these men, including Paul Sills, Severn Darden and Howard Alk, began a new way of doing comedy. They took the foundation people had been working on for years and expanded it. They created a set of rules for their art, a structure, a shared idea.
The architects of the Chicago School – Holabird & Roche, Burnham, Sullivan – they all did the same thing. They took what we already had and completely reshaped it. Sullivan gave it a structure and they all worked on writing new rules for a new way of building. Skyscrapers.
But then see, one guy, he gets it into his head that there is a more philosophical art to be found; a deeper passage to go down. He wants to exploit the pure truth of his art without all the bells and whistles.
For architecture, this man is Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe.
For comedy, this man is Del Close.
Now, I like to think at some weird party somewhere in the 1960’s Del and Mies smoked one hell of a doobie together. But that’s just me.
Del wanted to go another way with comedy, a way Second City didn’t really see working for them. They thought that improv is a tool for writing comedy, Del believed improv was an art. He set to work teaching thousands of students at Improv Olympic, some called him a guru, some called him an asshole.
Mies is similar, a guru teaching thousands of students how to design like he did. He wasn’t interested in all the things that make your building pretty, he was interested in it’s truth, it’s simplicity, don’t muck it up with dirty words and dumb bits. Oh wait…sorry, that was Del…
Now, the young improvisers of today, they’re your classic post-modernists. To them, Del is outdated and commonplace. They don’t want to follow serious philosophical rules for comedy. They want to add back all the fun, they want to make dick jokes and get on Saturday Night Live. They want to be on TV. Some of them are funny or have some promise and are honestly taking their comedy in a whole different direction, but some of them are just out there slipping on banana peels.
Some post-modernist buildings are awesome and whimsical and have a sense of humor. Some of them are just stupid, garish, silly buildings that are all flash.
If our future in architecture is the Supertall, then I’m not really sure what the new improviser is – someone who is going to take the art in a whole new direction, if I knew what fantastic direction that was, well then I’d be doing that instead of pondering the similarities between architecture and Chicago comedy.
A Million Times doesn’t necessarily have to focus on the egg and dart, piloti or joists. Sometimes we walk (or ride) by all kinds of things A Million Times and never really take a closer look.
So today’s A Million Times is that crazy wall with all the names on it in River North. You know this wall, you’ve seen it on the brownline between the Chicago stop and the Merchandise Mart. It’s the big wall of names, seemingly unrelated. Once you take a closer look (like when the train is stuck for fifteen minutes even though you’re already fifteen minutes late for work) I think the meaning of the work starts to pop out.
The Freedom Wall – it’s official name - was designed by artist Adam Brooks. Brooks often uses words in his art and during the 1992 Presidential Campaign he began to wonder about the word “freedom.” He sent out 600 emails and messages to people asking which person best represents freedom. The most popular answer was Martin Luther King so King jumps to the top of the list. The other names are in order by their vote tally.
There are some weird ones on there, like Rush Limbaugh (I’m sure he must represent freedom to someone…) and Dr. Kevorkian. If you look at it closely you’ll notice there is a blank spot, that’s for the people who answered that no one person could embody freedom.
Chicagoist did a podcast with Adam Brooks and asked him all kinds of cool things about the wall, you can find that here.
I’m part Trixie. I grew up on the North Shore. I went to a nice college. I wear my hair in ponytails and have been known to get a blond highlight or two. I wear black tops, jeans and black boots more often than not and think a pink tank top with a little Cubs bear on it is the cutest thing ever. I’ve lived exclusively on the North Side and maybe…just maybe, in my long distant past..I have gone tanning…
I know I know, I could lose serious readers this way.
But I have a point.
I follow the Trixies when it comes to fashion. I’m usually a few years behind when I finally catch on, but when I do it’s because I’ve been looking at what other girls like me are wearing.
One could definitely posit that I’m not a very “fashionable” person. I think that’s why Chicago suits me. We all generally wear the same thing around these parts – jeans, sneakers, t shirts – regardless of race, creed or color, Chicagoans basically wear the same thing but in different degrees of monetary value and hue.
But see, the Trixies are great at getting the word out. Once the thing for this year is decided on, it spreads like wildfire until even a blind person can see the trend. The Ugg boot for example, certainly Chicago is not the only city where the Ugg boot is popular but the sheer volume of bandwagoning must be unparalleled. Every Trixie from here to Winnetka had a pair. I tried, I did. I finally caved to an imagined peer pressure and purchased some fake ones. I couldn’t do it – they got wet and sloppy and I couldn’t walk in them. Alas…
This year there is a new trend and now that I have purchased mine, I see every other woman in Chicago has too. Again I have come in on the over-saturation point with my fashion purchases. But I don’t care! Because I have been looking for a cute hat and it just so happens that the hat I think is cute is currently the same style of hat being worn by 70% of Chicago’s North Side female population. So be it. Behold: My contribution to the 2010 Women of Chicago Conductor’s Cap Club:
First off, remember my tours! I am now giving the Pedway tour three times a week with a different part of the Pedway each day! Check out the “tours” tab up there and come see me! Cool.
Now, on a freezing cold day such as this one, it is a relief to get what I need from businesses that are within one or two blocks from where I live. I’m not one for making things hard on myself, so I like to visit these businesses, not only because they’re neat, but because I’m too freaking cold to go anywhere else. If you have a business by you, add it in the comments or on my facebook fan page.
When we first moved into our place in Ravenswood, we did the classic “get dinner from out and eat it in the middle of the floor because the furniture is turned upside down and loaded on top of each other” dinner. We wandered over to Byron’s and knew we were home! Byron’s is delicious. And, it’s fresh. They have all their toppings sitting right behind the glass and you can see how fresh the tomatoes and cucumbers are, all colorful and healthy looking back there. The people could not be nicer (and damn efficient) and the burgers…oh the burgers. They are so good and substantial too, not little gray meat on stale buns. No no. These are juicy burgers with fresh toppings and good bread. Byron’s is one of the best fast food joints out there and I highly recommend it. Oh, and…we get miles at Byron’s. If you’re part of American Airlines or the United Miles dining program, you get 3 miles for every dollar spent. Beat that McDonalds!
Now granted, part of my purpose with TATPIMN posts is that we highlight privately owned businesses and help out the people we live near, HOWEVER, this particular Sears is so odd and strange and so beloved, it feels as if it’s a part of our neighborhood. This Sears opened in 1925 and was built in the common style for department stores. It’s two stories with lots of windows for light and ventilation – granted, most of these windows are covered over now, but you can imagine what it used to look like. The clock tower – which I read somewhere is going to be restored – was common to all Sears buildings at the time. The Sears feels like a neighborhood store when you walk in, there are all different colors and sizes of people and the employees who work there are so nice. There aren’t very many large stores in our neighborhood and sometimes, sometimes you just need some vacuum cleaner bags and you’re just so happy there’s a Sears there. And it’s not a big scary Sears, it’s a quiet, easy to navigate Sears.
What are some businesses in your neighborhood that you love? Hmmm?
I don’t win things: contests, raffles, children’s party games…but at an event the other night, my luck was with me and I won a free night at the Intercontinental Hotel. Yay me! Certainly I’ve heard about the pool and like most Chicagoans, I am more than familiar with the top of the building. When I was a tour guide on the river, every person wanted to know what this building was. So…today’s building is the Intercontinental Hotel located at 505 N. Michigan Ave:
It was designed by Walter Ahlschlager, who we have talked about before on Chicago Elevated. He designed one of the other Million Times buildings – The Broadway Building. Originally the building was the Medinah Athletic Club and was finished in 1928. People thought it was too extravagant at the time – that weird time period between the boom of tall art-deco buildings and the stock market crash of 1929.
The most notable feature of the building is its dome. Gold and moorish revival in design, it’s original use was for docking dirigibles. That was it’s purpose yet no dirigible ever did land there. In the building was a shooting range and babbling brooks and a miniature golf course…all kinds of cool stuff.
On the 8th floor there are bas relief (sculptures in stone) of Wisdom, Consecration and Contribution. Faces of former memebers can be seen in the exterior as well.
It is rumored to have one of the best pools ever. It’s located on the 14th floor and was one of the highest indoor pools on the world at the the time. It’s tiled and beautiful and Johnny Weismuller trained in this pool. There’s a big statue of Neptune in there to watch over you as you swim. I am damn looking forward to swimming in this pool.
The building became a hotel in 1944 and then was passed around from chain to chain until The Intercontinental Hotels people bought it in 1988 and it opened after major renovation in 1990. When they were doing the renovation, one of the former members brought in a book of photographs from the 1930s and these pictures were used extensively to bring former rooms back to their original grandeur.
There are all kinds of crazy rooms and ballrooms inside. I probably should have saved this until we got back so I could take a bunch of pictures, but we can always revisit, right? Right.
Over the weekend I watched Unsolved History – The Chicago Fire. It’s kind of like a Mythbusters but with history questions instead. I’m not interested in fire recreation necessarily, but I learned some neat things about the fire.
Poor Mrs. O’Leary.
It most likely was not her fault, the story of leaving her lantern in the shed and the cow kicking it over is an unlikely story and the Unsolved History crew did everything in their power to prove that so. They set up a barn just like the O’Learys, they recreated the wind gusts, the drought conditions…all kinds of things. But the real proof came right at the end of the episode with a little aside no one seemed to think much about, but this one historian says “that night was very dark, there was a waning moon, there were no streetlights or lamps – so the theory of Mrs. O’Leary leaving the lantern in the shed makes little sense, she could never see her way back to the house without it.”
There was a neighbor, Mr. Sullivan, a smarmy man with only one leg. He kept a cow in the O’Leary’s barn and it’s entirely possible he was in the barn and sparked the fire. He told the firemen later that he had seen the fire from his place; ran over and tried to save the animals. He escaped with a cow (his cow) but by then the blaze was too great to save any more.
The Unsolved History guys surmised by their re-enactment that the fire grew so quickly that if Peg Leg Sullivan were really coming from his house, by the time he got there the fire would have been way too big to run in and get his cow; he must have been inside when it started.
And you know, poor Mrs. O’Leary was harassed for the rest of her life in Chicago, a pariah who was blamed for burning down an entire city, the ultimate scapegoat.
But I can’t help thinking about Mr. O’Leary. This poor sap. No one ever mentions him, at home sleeping while his wife goes to do a late night milking. Ooooh, can you imagine that argument the next day? Yeesh.
Here’s a fun video from the movie In Old Chicago. You have to slog through the first 4 minutes or so but then you get a really great fire scene.
This blog isn’t related only to Chicago, it’s also about being a tour guide and keeping up with the whirlwind of tour guide news (there is no whirlwind, there’s barely even a breeze, but I gotta keep it interesting for myself) and the new hulabaloo is the LA Gang Tours.
I couldn’t find how long the tours are, my guess is 2 hours, but it’s a bus tour through some gang related areas and you also go to the LA County Jail and historically violent sections of town. Your tour guide is someone in the know about these areas; the tour costs $65.00 and the money will go back into the community.
Each person has to sign a waiver releasing the tour company if anything bad should happen.
I think it’s a great idea! Some are calling it “ghettotainment” but as a privileged girl from the North Shore can tell you, I think it sounds fascinating. Apparently some officials in the city are none too pleased, only helping the cause by saying” “It’s a terrible idea. Is it worth that thrill for 65 bucks? You can go to a [gang] movie for a lot less and not put yourself at risk.” – Dennis Zine, city councilman.
Wow, I think that statement is way more dangerous than any tour…go to a gang movie instead? Um..not quite the same thing. I think a “gang movie” is way more “ghettotainment” than a tour. Hurumph.
The LA Gang Tours say on their website that there has been a cease fire agreement so that the tours can go through these sections of town. Now again, I don’t know what I’m talking about here, but don’t you think that this cease fire and the waiver are also some marketing ploys? You don’t want to take a gang tour that is going to be roses and chocolate covered peanuts do you? No, you want an element of danger, like you’re going to see things you never would see otherwise.
In any case, I think it’s fantastic. It’s way less ghettotainment than going to the “gang movie” god that makes me mad. And you will learn something, you’re giving money to a good cause and hell…it’s just a great idea for a tour.
I feel like Chicago did something like this a few years ago, but I couldn’t find anything. Anyone remember that?
I like it when a building holds emotional connections for me. The building I chose for today is close to my heart. Yet, I passed by this building my whole life without really seeing it, it’s a prime building for:
A Million Times – The Montgomery
photo courtesy of thechicago77.com
If you’ve ridden the brownline into the Loop, you’ve seen the Montgomery. Standing in River North, the Montgomery is a signal that you’re about to enter into the land of skyscrapers. It’s like a gatekeeper to the Loop, making sure no one may enter without clear eyes and full hearts.
The Montgomery was originally the corporate office for Montgomery Wards. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect of the World Trade Center. The building was finished in 1972. Now it’s a luxury condo high-rise. It’s a beautiful Modern (no ornament, mostly glass, no context) building, light and airy – the color of the sky. The corners are travertine marble and eliminate corner offices, this pleased Montgomery Ward. The strong, structural corners also free up the inside from interior columns, making for great office – or now, living – space.
I used to work for the company – Centrum Properties – who renovated this building (they laid me off, oh real estate development, you silly little bugger) but I think they did a really beautiful job. Check out how the building used to look before the renovation:
photo courtesy of Emporis.com
Blech! Patooey! Man is that a 70’s building or what? I love you Yamasaki, I do, but I’m glad this building could receive a second birth. I wish we all had the chance for a Skidmore overhaul.
SOM and Pappageorge/Haymes did the renovation and thank goodness they did. They took this heavy, dark building and changed it from an ugly duckling to a sophisticated swan. The dark bronze curtain wall was replaced with aluminum and glass, giving it a makeover even Oprah would be jealous of.
Centrum Properties developed the other Montgomery Wards buildings that sit next to this one – The Catalog Building and The Administration Building. I could say all kinds of bad things about my former employer, what could they do now? Fire me again? However, I will not. I believe their renovations for the Montgomery Ward campus were really well done. They were executed with loving care and a respect for the man and his buildings. I actually wrote a book about Centrum’s renovation of these buildings with a tag-along story about Montgomery Ward, but it never saw the light of day.
But I studied these buildings inside and out and I can say honestly, that these buildings are better off having been developed by Centrum.
ESPECIALLY The Montgomery which would surely have come down at some point. You know how it is, the ugly buildings stick to the wall in the ballroom of architecture, never even asked to dance.
This building has a full dance card now me thinks.
When I decided to start my own tour company, I knew I wanted to do something different.
But the time and place of my decision to strike out on my own required that I flex a winter muscle. I needed a tour that could start in January and get me through to big tour time in the spring.
I didn’t know much about the Pedway when I came up with the idea. I had used it maybe once or twice when I was working in a legal office, but that was it. It was a scary, weird place to me that didn’t seem worth my time. Yes, it was inside, but could it really connect where I needed to go and wouldn’t it just be faster to go outside and do it, rather than spend hours getting lost underground?
I started learning about the Pedway for this tour. I would take lunch hours from my crappy job and just start walking. As long as I could get under there I didn’t mind taking the time to see where it would go. I was surprised to find it went past Daley Center. Certainly, that seems to be it’s home and it’s power, but it was fascinating to turn corners and have to go back where I came, or find a weird little hallway that took me straight to another architectural find. I found the Pedway to be quite handy and it really has its own personality down there, now I really dig it…at least….parts of it.
The name Pedway Tour might be a bit misleading. I’m not doing a tour OF the Pedway, I’m doing a tour BY the Pedway. I’m giving a pretty standard architectural tour, it’s just that we never need to go outside.
I really want Chicago people to get up on this. So I made it a lunchtime tour, every tour starts at noon and they’re all 45 minutes and each tour ends at a food court, so you can go get your lunch and head back to your office, all in your lunch hour.
Since the Pedway is so extensive, I’m doing 3 different tours. So, if you like the tour you took on Monday and it’s snowing and crappy out Friday, you can come on Friday and see something completely different.
Monday’s tour is excellent with Daley Plaza, City Hall and the Illinois Center. I show you all the buildings from other building lobbies, then we come up into each one and see it from the inside, very cool.
Wednesdays we’ll do Macy’s, the Cultural Center, some Millennium Park, some Block 37.
Friday is the Aon Building, Prudential Plaza and Pru 2 and we talk about The Cliff Wall and Gehry and The Chicago School and all kinds of cool stuff.
All tours are 5$. FIVE BUCKS. To come learn something on your lunch, laugh with me, teach me what you know and you never have to get cold. If you want start locations please go up to the “Tour” tab and that will give you all the specifics you need.
I think it’s a great idea, I think it’s a great tour and I’m really looking forward to starting on Wednesday the 20th. So won’t you come join me? Bring a friend? Learn something this week? I promise, we’ll have an excellent time and I’ll protect you from the ghosts in the Pedway…ooooooohhhhhhhhhh
O'Hare Arpt., IL