Day Fri Aug 29
From Indiana, I continued with a big day of sightseeing, all driven to, but I was able to find parking most of the time.
ILLINOIS NORTHEAST (Chicago, Naperville, Aurora)
CHICAGO
The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library features a glass-domed reading room, situated above high-density closed bookstacks that can be accessed through an automated storage and retrieval system. The physical retrieval is carried out by multiple robotic cranes, averaging about three minutes per retrieval. This allows the university to maintain the vast majority of its library holdings on campus in a centrally located facility,
The height of the dome is 35 feet. Length: 240 feet, width: 120 feet, Storage capacity: 3.5 million volumes
McCormick Tribune Campus Center. A long, low building with glass (yellow above on the west side) surrounding some eateries.
Pilsen, located in the Lower West Side area, is among the few neighbourhoods with buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In the late 19th century, Pilsen was inhabited by Czech immigrants who named the district after Plzeň (German: Pilsen), and it also included Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Austrians, Poles, and Lithuanians. In 1934, the majority of Czechs, Croats, Poles, and Slovaks resided in Pilsen, making it an ethnically diverse working-class neighbourhood. Since the early 60s, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans moved in and became the majority in 1970 (in 2003, Pilsen was 93% Mexican-American. Pilsen is home to Chicago’s largest migrant shelter.
Pilsen is a mecca of restaurants and nightlife. Urban Legends:
Hawthorne Works Museum, Cicero, was a large factory complex of the Western Electric Company that operated from 1905 to 1983, producing primarily telephone equipment, as well as a wide variety of consumer products.
The term “Hawthorne effect” refers to the phenomenon where individuals modify an aspect of their behaviour in response to being aware of being observed. The museum tells the story of the Hawthorne Works facility, its products, and its employees, including Western Electric’s products (telephones, communications, and electronics equipment), inventions by Bell Laboratories, the contributions of local immigrant workers, and the local history.
The Berghoff Restaurant. 1898. What a gorgeous interior, all oak, with old-fashioned lights, banners, and paintings.
The Rookery Building is a historic office building, and at twelve stories tall, it is considered the oldest standing high-rise in Chicago. It features exterior load-bearing walls and an interior steel frame, providing a seamless transition between traditional and modern building techniques. Inside is a two-story light court and ornamental stairs. The lobby was remodelled between 1905 and 1907 by Frank Lloyd Wright. It has Moorish, Byzantine, Venetian and Romanesque motifs. The marble, granite, terracotta, and brick facade is tinted in a reddish-brown hue.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Money Museum. I hate money museums, but this one was free. Showcases how the US money system works and features a large amount of currency.
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a bandshell in Millennium Park named after Jay Pritzker, whose family is known for owning Hyatt Hotels. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, it was opened in 2004. It is the centrepiece of Millennium Park and home to the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, hosting a wide range of music series and annual performing arts events. (I could see only a small bit of the pavilion because the Chicago Jazz Festival was starting, and they wouldn’t allow me to walk 50 yards in). It has a capacity of 11,000,
Jay Pritzker, a prominent Chicago businessman, died in 1999; his family own several businesses, including Hyatt Hotels. Jay and Cindy Pritzker founded the Pritzker Prize in architecture in 1979, and the Pritzker family’s Hyatt Foundation continues to award it annually. Architect Frank Gehry received the Pritzker Prize in 1989.
It cost $60 million, has 4,000 fixed seats and a Great Lawn that can accommodate an additional 7,000 people. The bandshell’s brushed stainless steel headdress frames the 120-foot proscenium theatre; the main stage can accommodate a full orchestra and a chorus of 150 members. The bandshell is connected to a trellis of interlocking, crisscrossing steel pipes that support the innovative sound system, which mimics the acoustics of an indoor concert hall. Millennium Park is situated atop a large underground parking garage.
The south side of the orchestra shell space is enclosed by the glass doors of the proscenium, which are approximately 50 ft tall and 100 ft wide, functioning like aircraft hangar doors made of glass. They were the largest doors that Glass Solutions of Elmhurst, Illinois, ever produced. The pavilion’s ribbons, described as “stainless steel panels that appear to be peeling back from the central opening, ” have 697 panels made from aluminum with a stainless steel outer layer. The trellis for the sound system, measuring 600 by 300 ft (183 by 91 m), produces an even quality of sound throughout the entire venue and replicates the acoustics of a concert hall.
The Green Door Tavern. 1872. Initially a grocery store, it was converted into a restaurant in 1921. In the 1930s, the bar earned the nickname “The Green Door.” It has a lean. It is a tiny, darling place with wooden decor.
Shit Fountain. Sitting on a round column (covered initially with small tiles is a square basin (with SHIT FOUNTAIN on all four sides), is a black curling stool. It was designed by Jerzy Skenar in 2005. I walked by it and had to return to find it tucked obscurely in front of a small apartment building. Bizzarium.
Loyola University Museum of Art. What a disappointment. It was not apparent that the permanent exhibition was closed (she called it a “gallery” that I didn’t understand). Then she mentioned that the only thing open, an exhibit by Richard Hunt (1935-2023), was “included”. What awful art – abstract metal confabulations with gross, rough welding. I requested a refund, but they denied it. $15, $12 reduced
Lincoln Park Conservatory. Thousands of plants in a magnificent 1890 glasshouse, plus gardens and fountains. Donation
Illinois Holocaust Museum. This features videos with testimonials from Holocaust survivors in a 360-degree theatre: $ 10, no reduction.
North Shore Congregation, Glencoe. This synagogue was under “lockdown” and couldn’t be entered. From the outside, it appears to be a round brick structure.
Chicago Botanical Garden. After seeing the horrendous prices (parking was $15 for cars, $45 for vans, and $65 for larger vehicles), and entry was $24.95 with no reduction, I turned around after the gate and left.
GO TO WISCONSIN
