Use Any Old Phone For A DIY Architecture Tour

There are any number of applications that will help you explore Chicago with the help of your fancy shmancy smart phone.  Heck, we even have a web app of our own coming out soon (Shhh!  Point your iPhone at Towrs.com).  But you don't need the latest high-tech gadget to take an architectural tour of the Tribune Tower (435 North Michigan Avenue).

The Tribune Company now has a phone number you can call from your regular cell phone to get a tour of its magnificent building.  It's 312/222-TOUR.

WGN Radio talk show host John Williams narrates four different tours of the historic building -- one about the various stones embedded in its facade, one about the building's grotesques (the correct name for its gargoyles), one about the lobby and a fourth that is an overview of the entire building.

It's a clever way to promote the building to tourists and passers-by and since Tribune owns most of the 312-222 prefix, all it costs the company is the price of a fancy answering machine while generating valuable goodwill.

And don't feel like you have to stand around and gawk at the building with all the tourists.  The audio tours are just as interesting listening from the comfort of your office phone.

McCormick Sans Tribune

It's a sign of the times.  The area in front of the Art Institute's new Modern Wing is called "Brooks McCormick Court."

In the six short years I've been in and blogging about Chicago, it's become habit to always write "McCormick" followed by "Tribune."  But with Tribune as a brand teetering on the edge of extinction, it's not surprising to see other alliances made.

Skating at Millennium Park is still in the "McCormick Tribune" rink, but who knows for how long.  The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum is gone.  And although the web address is still http://www.McCormickTribune.org/, I can't help but notice that the official name of the charity is now the "McCormick Foundation" with no trace of Tribunicity.

Whether the Chicago Tribune survives as a newspaper or not, it appears that Tribune, as a brand, is going the way of Marshall Field's, Sears, Frangos, and other Chicago labels that have either disappeared, or been co-opted by bigger organizations.

Full disclosure: I am a former Tribune employee.