Chicago, Chicago, That Toddlin' Town . . .
Posted: June 15th, 2013, 3:01 pm
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Most of you know by now that although I was born and bred in and around Chicago, I hate the city. However, thanks to a series on PBS Channel 11 recently, I have had my eyes opened to a pretty amazing town. Contrary to my feelings, I still get a little angry when people referred to New York with any variable of 'the greatest city in America'. New York probably is a fine city, but I always felt that Chicago was a 'small New York', especially since it is one solid piece of land, instead of 5 little boroughs. Similarly I resented the Dallas Cowboys calling themselves "America's team" - I felt they had some monstrous egotistical gall considering that there were 15 other teams playing at the time, not to mention that Chicago's George Halas had a huge hand in forming professional football, so if anyone was America's team . . .
Anyway, there is this guy who filmed tours and narrated things like A Walking Tour of the Chicago Loop, a ride down the Chicago River, seeing the North Side of the City, and another called the South and Southwest sides.
I learned a lot from these shows, like Chicago had the first skyscrapers, even before NY and he showed through old photos how the Chicago River was originally a small stream that just stretched from the southwest end to the north in fact, at one point the flow of the river was changed to run in the opposite direction from its normal flow. Most of the loop show was about the great architecture and artists who envisioned the buildings. It showed how the theaters went from live theater to movie houses, and back again. Downtown Chicago has loads of riverwalks all along the Michigan river, with parks for both people and dogs. Commerce has moved from downtown to Michigan Avenue leaving the downtown area (the Loop), as living quarters in high rise buildings which originally were places like Marshall Field, Sears, Lord and Taylor, etc.
There is so much information packed into these programs I can't even start to mention all of it, but here at the start of summer, I am suggesting anyone who will be here in the next few months that it would be to your definite advantage to check out the riverboat tours, and the walking tours which are available. I'm going to do my best to get down there and check them out myself.
Most of you know by now that although I was born and bred in and around Chicago, I hate the city. However, thanks to a series on PBS Channel 11 recently, I have had my eyes opened to a pretty amazing town. Contrary to my feelings, I still get a little angry when people referred to New York with any variable of 'the greatest city in America'. New York probably is a fine city, but I always felt that Chicago was a 'small New York', especially since it is one solid piece of land, instead of 5 little boroughs. Similarly I resented the Dallas Cowboys calling themselves "America's team" - I felt they had some monstrous egotistical gall considering that there were 15 other teams playing at the time, not to mention that Chicago's George Halas had a huge hand in forming professional football, so if anyone was America's team . . .
Anyway, there is this guy who filmed tours and narrated things like A Walking Tour of the Chicago Loop, a ride down the Chicago River, seeing the North Side of the City, and another called the South and Southwest sides.
I learned a lot from these shows, like Chicago had the first skyscrapers, even before NY and he showed through old photos how the Chicago River was originally a small stream that just stretched from the southwest end to the north in fact, at one point the flow of the river was changed to run in the opposite direction from its normal flow. Most of the loop show was about the great architecture and artists who envisioned the buildings. It showed how the theaters went from live theater to movie houses, and back again. Downtown Chicago has loads of riverwalks all along the Michigan river, with parks for both people and dogs. Commerce has moved from downtown to Michigan Avenue leaving the downtown area (the Loop), as living quarters in high rise buildings which originally were places like Marshall Field, Sears, Lord and Taylor, etc.
There is so much information packed into these programs I can't even start to mention all of it, but here at the start of summer, I am suggesting anyone who will be here in the next few months that it would be to your definite advantage to check out the riverboat tours, and the walking tours which are available. I'm going to do my best to get down there and check them out myself.