Thursday, July 20, 2006

Some Chicago Landmarks

Last time we took the Gangland tour of Chicago. This visit, we were more cultured, attending a performance of three late Shostakovitch string quartets, performed by the Emerson Quartet at the Ravinia summer music festival; taking an architectural boat tour of historic buildings in 90 degree plus weather (melting...); seeing Frank Gehry's bandstand in Millenium Park next to the Chicago Art Institute; visiting the new Harold Washington Public Library; lunching at the University of Chicago's Newbold Club after touring Frank Lloyd Wrignt's Robie House; and driving north and south on Lake Shore Drive, watching the bathers swimming in the shade of the skyscrapers. What a city...Powell's Bookstore in Hyde Park--the original shop opened by Michael Powell, who went on to found Portland Oregon's Powell's books.
A 16-foot high Assyrian monument from Khorasand, at the Oriental Institute, now in the headlines over a lawsuit concerning Iranian treasures claimed as damages for terrorist attacks.
Nelson Algren's apartment, where he wrote the Man with the Golden Arm, is on the top floor of this building on Evergreen Avenue.
Louis Sullivan's 1910 Russian Orthodox Church in Wicker Park was dedicated and consecrated by Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow.
View of Chicago from the Wicker Park station.
Marshall Field's famous clock, topped by a chef's toque--to go with the display windows that displayed recipes instead of clothes. This is the end of the line for Chicago's landmark department store--Federated will be changing it to Macy's...