Two Views of Michigan Avenue at Night (Chicago, IL)

I took these photos towards the end of my trip, when I was walking down Michigan Avenue and soaking up the Christmas shopping energy. With their lights of red and green, both the John Hancock Center (above and below) and the Bloomingdale building (below) are decked out in seasonal glory. Growing up in Chicago, I used to love walking down Michigan Avenue during the Christmas season, with the chilled air brushing my face, sometimes bringing snow flurries to the city, and the holiday shoppers migrating from one vertical shopping mall to another.  To this day, nothing says Christmas to me like a visit to Chicago, and a walk down Michigan Avenue. After all, the holiday season is about coming home, is it not? 

In Passing

Just a classic view of the John Hancock Center while the taxi makes a dash down LSD to Lincoln Park for my meeting with friends.

Moving On

Nature boardwalk, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL

How do you encapsulate a city? How do you encapsulate a life spent in a city? How can you fully capture all of the unique and nuanced ways you have experienced living in your hometown? You can't. You simply take what photos you can, communicate what you can, and move on, trusting in your own good memory. You move on, trusting that what you lived for so long will continue to live in your heart, even after you have moved on. And it's all about moving on, it's all about movement.

Above is the southern stretch of Lincoln Park, near the Farm in the Zoo. Back in the day, during my years completing my undergraduate studies, when I rented my first apartment, I used to take long walks from the area of Clark Street and Belden through Lincoln Park and down this path along the pond, heading towards the Gold Coast area and downtown Chicago. Many times, Michigan Avenue would serve as the main artery for my walks, and so I would take it south into the Loop and then back north to Lincoln Park, where I would eventually head home. Back then, these walks served to reacquaint me with downtown Chicago, as I didn't go there often during my teenage years, and appreciate the beauty of my hometown and its wealth of retail, cultural, and nightlife options. As you can imagine, completing a college degree gets stressful, and so I took many such walks to explore my city. I think it was the first time that I truly fell in love with my hometown. Back then, this path along the pond was simple concrete pavement; today, it is a nature boardwalk, made to showcase the reintroduction of prairie plants to the park. Things change and life moves on.

How do you encapsulate a life spent in a city? You can't. You continue to move on, keeping what you can, such as photographs, and trusting in your good memory. I am excited about moving back to the Southwest, and I look forward to enjoying desert beauty again, and I also look forward to the addition of new content to this blog, but part of me will always love Chicago. Part of me will always be taking this walk through Lincoln Park, with the John Hancock Center looming high in the sky in the distance, down Michigan Avenue and around the Loop. Part of me will always be walking back north on Michigan Avenue, greeted by the white-clad Wrigley Building, heading back to Lincoln Park. Part of me will always be on a meandering path, and heading home.

Looking north on Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL

One More Look at Downtown Chicago

Well, this is it. Yesterday morning, after taking those photos at Lake Michigan, I took the #147 bus downtown for my last Chicago photography excursion. Initially, I had intended to take the architectural boat tour, but before the first tour I took the #66 west on Chicago Avenue and headed to Ukrainian Village. As I have said, I am a Jew who loves the beauty of church architecture, and there were several Eastern Christian churches there that I had wanted to see for the last time, one of them being Sullivan's historic Russian Orthodox church built over a century ago and modeled after a church in Russia. I took photos, but I went too early for the churches themselves to be open, and so I couldn't go in. While the architectural designs of the church exteriors are beautiful, the main attraction, at least for me, are the gilded interiors that are a trademark of Eastern Christian, especially Orthodox, churches, which seek to bring divine inspiration to their congregants by appealing to their senses.

If ever you get the chance, then definitely visit Ukrainian Village. There is a nice selection of cultural venues there, including Ukrainian restaurants, a Ukrainian/European deli and bakery, a store featuring traditional Ukrainian arts and crafts, and a museum focusing on contemporary Ukrainian art. I've been in many of these places in the past, just as I have been inside several of the area's Eastern Christian churches. In fact, a few times I joined a friend for vespers service at the historic Sullivan Orthodox church (Holy Trinity). The interiors of all of these Eastern Christian churches, particularly the Sullivan church, possess a mystical atmosphere, aided significantly by gilded mosaics and the scent of beautiful incense during church service.

After that detour, I returned to Michigan Avenue, but I felt too antsy to commit to a boat tour. Besides, so much of my life in Chicago has been about walking down its streets and visiting its neighborhoods on foot. I thought, Why break that tradition now? And so, here is the result from that walk. The first photo, of the John Hancock Center, is one I actually took earlier that morning, before heading to Ukrainian Village, but the rest are part of the same walk. I decided to take the Chicago Riverwalk, which you can catch at the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Then, I headed deeper into the Loop, before getting some lunch and heading home. Enjoy!

John Hancock Center, Chicago, IL

Wrigley Building, Intercontinental Hotel, and Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL

Yes, I have a love affair with this trio of buildings. They are always beautiful, especially under a deep blue sky cluttered with a few white clouds.

The city from the Chicago Riverwalk, Chicago, IL

Simply stunning! What else is there to say?

Marina City, Chicago, IL

They still look like honeycombs or two cobs of corn!

The Reid Murdoch Building, Chicago, IL

The Reid Murdoch Building now houses the headquarters for the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL

The art deco Merchandise Mart opened in 1930 and was considered at the time to be the largest building in the world with 4,000,000 square feet (or so says Wikipedia). I guess at one time it even had its own zip code. I confess that I haven't been inside in years, but I have always enjoyed the sight of it when taking the Brown Line "L" train (seen on its tracks below the Merchandise Mart) into the Loop.

Looking east from the River, Chicago, IL

What a beautiful city!

Boeing Headquarters, Chicago, IL

Sears Tower, Chicago, IL

I searched high and low for a building called "Willis Tower," but I couldn't find it, and so I decided to take photos of the Sears Tower instead. Enjoy!

Sears Tower, Chicago, IL

Sears Tower, Chicago, IL

Well, that does it for my series of photo excursions around my hometown of Chicago. I have another photo or two to share with you tomorrow, but then it's onward to the Great American Southwest!

Contemplation

Looking up at the John Hancock Center, Chicago, IL

This is the view of the John Hancock Center that I enjoy when leaving Water Tower Plaza to head to the shopping mall, Water Tower Place, part of which is the grayish white building at the bottom. As I have mentioned before, when going downtown, after walking about for a while, I like to get a cup of mint tea or ginger peach iced tea from Argo Tea, and head to the Water Tower Plaza to sit and watch the world go by. Groups of people walk by with each green traffic light giving them a pass, some carrying shopping bags and some, like me on this day, having cameras to take photographs. Taking a seat at Water Tower Plaza is a great way to see Chicago in action and to enjoy the dappled light that streams through the park trees' green leaves.

I have been enjoying the opportunity to take these photos of my hometown. It's more than just a way of saying goodbye, it's a way of honoring Chicago, of paying it my respect. Walking down the city streets, I encounter so many memories. I have had friends ask me if I am sure that I want to move back out West, especially now that taking all of these photographs is highlighting my appreciation for my hometown. I say, "yes," readily. It's not because I don't love my hometown that I am leaving it. I am leaving because I want to encounter something new, something with a more open range of sky, a city that integrates the organicism of nature more deeply into its cityscape.

I miss desert and mountains, and there is so much of the American West that I have yet to see: Yosemite; Joshua Tree National Park; Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; Arches National Park; getting back to the Grand Canyon. And I want to take photographs of all these places when I visit them. Which brings me to one of my great desires: I want to find new subject matter for my photography. I will start that mission in miniature now. I have taken so many photos of famous Chicago landmarks; now I am going to turn some of my attention to capturing life in some of my favorite Chicago neighborhoods, just to paint a fuller portrait of everyday life in this city.

Check it out: Argo Tea

Saying Goodbye to Chicago, Part Eight: A Walk Down Michigan Avenue

Taking a walk down Michigan Avenue is much like taking a trip down Memory Lane. This is very much the iconic upscale commercial artery of the city, and a street that draws tourists from around the world. Some of my fondest holiday memories are of crowds packing the pavements of Michigan Avenue and entering and exiting its many vertical malls. I remember entering stores and hearing classic holiday songs played on stereo systems; I remember walking out and hearing the ringing of the Salvation Army bell. I remember the colorful Christmas lights that would enliven the early dark and illuminate the facade of the historic Water Tower. In other words, Michigan Avenue has been woven into the fabric of my life.

These photos, which I took today, are obviously summer photographs. There are no spruce trees strewn with colored lights or decorated with shining ornaments. Nonetheless, these photographs feature some of the most iconic architecture of Chicago. Michigan Avenue is a street that weaves together a variety of architectural styles built during different historical periods. Such a rich weave of multiple architectural styles is the mark of a great city, one that has grown organically over time and with a vision of itself large enough to encompass great diversity. Such a great city is Chicago.

Without further ado, here are photographs of Michigan Avenue.

Looking up at the John Hancock Center, Chicago, IL

Although I have always been partial to the beauty of the Sears Tower, the John Hancock Center has a simple, subtle modernist elegance. The metal beams that crisscross its facade give a sense of motion to what would otherwise seem to be just a chunky block of steel and glass.

The Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL

Home to the Chicago Tribune, the Tribune Tower has an intricate neo-Gothic design. Construction on the Tribune Tower began in 1923 and the building did not open until 1925.

Left to right: the Wrigley Building, Intercontinental Hotel, and the Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL

Together, this trio create a sense of history to serve as an architectural counterpoint to all of the modern architecture cropping up along Michigan Avenue. Without layers of classic architecture like these specimens, Michigan Avenue's architectural profile--indeed, Chicago's--would be far more simplistic and less interesting. It is this complexity that stirs the interest of so many.

Architectural relief, Intercontinental Hotel, Chicago, IL

I find this architectural relief to be fascinating. It seems to blend a variety of artistic styles, including ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and ancient Greek. Just beautiful to see.

Neo-Gothic detail, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL

Neo-Gothic detail above main entrance, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL

Main entrance, Tribune Tower, Chicago, IL

I have always loved Gothic architecture and its elegant complexity. It always brings an element of the spiritual, even to a major commercial district such as this.

Entrance, Wrigley Building, Chicago, IL

Above entrance, Wrigley Building, Chicago, IL

Facade detail and skyway pedestrian bridge, Wrigley Building, Chicago, IL

So much of the architectural detail here is botanical, like flowers and leaves. Beautiful craftsmanship!

Aqua, Chicago, IL

The tallest building here is Aqua, a beautiful skyscraper that has won various architectural awards. Completed in 2007, Aqua is a mixed-use residential building. If you get closer and look up, those ridges start to look even more like waves, giving you the sense of water in motion.

Classic view of the city from Michigan Avenue Bridge, Chicago, IL

This view is simply beautiful. Old and modern architecture standing together.

Architectural detail, Michigan Avenue Bridge, Chicago, IL

I have used the Michigan Avenue Bridge to cross the Chicago River probably hundreds of times, and it is only recently that I have taken notice of this architectural detail, which numbers four, two placed on each end of the bridge.

Looking north on Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL