A pair of cranes working on the new Children's Memorial Hospital (225 East Chicago Avenue) take a snuggle break in the middle of the day. Awwwwww.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Slice of Life: When Cranes Snuggle
A pair of cranes working on the new Children's Memorial Hospital (225 East Chicago Avenue) take a snuggle break in the middle of the day. Awwwwww.
Aftermath of a Skyscraper Fire
Here's what it looks like at The Plaza on Dewitt (260 East Chestnut Street) a couple of days after a fire on the 36th floor of the 43-story building killed an elderly German woman.
If you click to enlarge the photo, you can see the windows have been boarded up on some of the units on the 36th and 37th floors. Meanwhile, the streets below are clogged with an army of carpet cleaning and other disaster repair service vans.
If you click to enlarge the photo, you can see the windows have been boarded up on some of the units on the 36th and 37th floors. Meanwhile, the streets below are clogged with an army of carpet cleaning and other disaster repair service vans.
The last I read, the fire was caused by a kitchen appliance and is being called accidental.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Old Barneys New York Space Gets Its First Tenant
One of our eagle-eyed readers snapped this photo of a new Little Miss Matched boutique taking space in what used to be the Chelsea Passage portion of the old Barneys New York building (25 East Oak Street) before it moved across the street to its new building (15 East Oak Street).Little Miss Matched is a girl's and cute young woman's clothing, bedding, and accessories store with a theme of encouraging mismatched patterns and colors. Think "Kate Spade" before Kate took the money and ran and her brand became yet another division of Liz Claiborne.
I, for one, welcome our new mismatched overlords. As someone who tweaked the authorities in my Catholic school by wearing florescent colored mismatched socks because the dress code didn't address socks, I consider myself a pioneer in the field of asynchronous fashion.
Whether the LMM boutique will stick around remains to be seen. There is no mention of the Oak Street location on the company's web site or in any recent press releases, so it's possible that it's just a temporary pop-up store for the Christmas shopping season.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Slice of Life: Worst. Parking. Evar.
Remember those films from the 50's and 60's showing hordes of Chinese people flowing through their cities on armies if bicycles? Based on this photograph of the parking situation at Northwestern University, that must be what it looks like just before classes start each morning.
At least the guy who found a convenient spot in the tree used his kickstand to keep the rest of his bike from marring the bark.
Remarkably, this wasn't the only place we saw this on our recent meander around the campus.
At least the guy who found a convenient spot in the tree used his kickstand to keep the rest of his bike from marring the bark.
Remarkably, this wasn't the only place we saw this on our recent meander around the campus.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Elysian Chicago Officially Opens
One of the Gold Coast's most anticipated buildings is officially open.
The hotel portion of the Elysian Chicago (11 East Walton Street) opened Wednesday (December 9, 2009). We've been invited to a lot of building openings lately, but somehow were left off the guest list of this one.
Nevertheless, here is a video that the Elysian PR folk put out. For some reason it has no sound.
The hotel portion of the Elysian Chicago (11 East Walton Street) opened Wednesday (December 9, 2009). We've been invited to a lot of building openings lately, but somehow were left off the guest list of this one.
Nevertheless, here is a video that the Elysian PR folk put out. For some reason it has no sound.
Second Skyscraper Fire This Month Kills A Woman
By now you've heard about the fire that broke out at the Plaza on Dewitt (260 East Chestnut Street). Here's a picture of the aftermath from the outside:
According to the Chicago Tribune, the fire on the 36th floor of the 43-story tower killed an elderly woman who lived in the condominium where the fire broke out after midnight. About a dozen people were hurt.
The Trib quotes people at the Chicago Fire Department as saying the flames went out the 36th floor window and up and into the unit on the 37th floor. You can see in the photos how that might happen, especially considering how windy it was last night.
Coincidentally, a few hours before the fire, the Chicago Fire Department conducted a fire evacuation drill at another residential skyscraper just two blocks away.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the fire on the 36th floor of the 43-story tower killed an elderly woman who lived in the condominium where the fire broke out after midnight. About a dozen people were hurt.
The Trib quotes people at the Chicago Fire Department as saying the flames went out the 36th floor window and up and into the unit on the 37th floor. You can see in the photos how that might happen, especially considering how windy it was last night.
Coincidentally, a few hours before the fire, the Chicago Fire Department conducted a fire evacuation drill at another residential skyscraper just two blocks away.
The Sign-Eating Tree
Charlie Brown had an ongoing battle with a particular kite-eating tree. Well, ol' Chuck better stay away from the Astor Street District. There, the trees eat signs.
My memory is a little foggy about where this tree is, but I suspect it's just north of the Ambassador East Hotel (1301 North State Parkway).
This isn't the first tree revenge we've posted here. Last month we showed you a tree attacking a manhole, and another one just getting started.
Status Update: Children's Memorial Hospital
This is probably the six zillionth status update we've done for the new Children's Memorial Hospital (225 East Chicago Avenue). But I happened to be in a hospital and managed to snap this picture of the back side of the new building. Looks pretty good so far. You can see the area on the left setback where the green roof and play area will be, and how the building cantilevers over its right side at the same point.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Construction Sites Vie For Luxury Supremacy
There's an interesting things that the developers of luxury buildings do in Chicago (and likely elsewhere): They try to out-do each other's scaffolding.
Now that the foundation work appears mostly done at the Ritz-Carlton Residences (664 North Michigan Avenue), there is proper scaffolding over the temporary sidewalk that pedestrians use on the west side of Michigan Avenue.
But the Ritz has trumped the other lux developers by including a two-story illuminated rendering of its building on the outside of the walkway. The effect is best seen at night, though this CrappyCameraPhone™ picture simply doesn't do it justice.
This bests the previous best effort, which was at the Elysian Chicago (11 East Walton Street) where the tasteful black scaffolds featured 24-hour piped in classical music.
I can't wait to see what's next.
(In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that I have recently begun blogging for the Ritz-Carlton. However, I stumbled across the subject of this article before that agreement was reached.)
Slice of Life: Pools and Rivers
On this damp day (back in October), no one was interested in swimming in the East Bank Club's rooftop pools (500 North Kingsbury). And no one in their right mind would think about swimming in the North Branch of the Chicago River just next door. But the Hudson River is now clean enough for people to swim around Manhattan. Maybe in our lifetimes, we'll see a beach in downtown Chicago like the one in Paris. Maybe at Wolf Point? I wonder what it would take to make that happen.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Status Update: Wacker Plaza
The Amish Are Coming! The Amish Are Coming!
Summer's farmers markets are over in Chicago, but it turns out there is still a place where you can get a taste of the rural life in the Loop.
The shuttered Wolf Camera shop at 42 South Clark Street has reopened as the "Rise 'n Roll Amish Market" -- a store selling Amish goods from Shipshewana, Indiana.
The store was closed when I went past on a recent morning, so I don't know if this is a pop-up shop just for the Christmas shopping season, or if it's going to stick around. I did, however, find that on November 20, 2009 a business license was issued for another location at Two Illinois Center (233 North Michigan Avenue).
The shuttered Wolf Camera shop at 42 South Clark Street has reopened as the "Rise 'n Roll Amish Market" -- a store selling Amish goods from Shipshewana, Indiana.
The store was closed when I went past on a recent morning, so I don't know if this is a pop-up shop just for the Christmas shopping season, or if it's going to stick around. I did, however, find that on November 20, 2009 a business license was issued for another location at Two Illinois Center (233 North Michigan Avenue).
Monday, December 7, 2009
Slice of Life: Motorcycle Dog
Living on Michigan Avenue, I see a lot of small dogs traveling in bags. Sometimes it's a proper Louis Vuitton dog case. Sometimes it's a crazy homeless lady's dirty duffle bag. And then there's this.
It's a little hard to see in this CrappyCameraPhone™ picture, but there's a little brown dog inside the black backpack, hanging on the motorcyclist going down state street.
It's like the antidote for those people who treat their pets like fashion accessories.
It's a little hard to see in this CrappyCameraPhone™ picture, but there's a little brown dog inside the black backpack, hanging on the motorcyclist going down state street.
It's like the antidote for those people who treat their pets like fashion accessories.
New Children's Hospital is Hanging Out
In what may be the first of many "Look ma! No hands!" moments around the new Children's Memorial Hospital, the building has begun its horizontal expansion over the alley to its east.
We've done a number of status updates on the hospital at 225 East Chicago Avenue (here, here, here, here, here, and here), but with this horizontal movement, the facade being attached and even some glass going up, it's actually starting to something like its rendering.
TweetEcho: November 24-December 6, 2009
For those of you who don't subscribe to our Twitter feed, here are the items we tweeted in the last week or so:
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