Chicago’s Next Tourist Attraction: A Glass Tube Under the River
In an effort to build on 2018’s record-setting year for tourism, the City of Chicago has announced plans for a new attraction: A glass-enclosed pedestrian tube running underneath the Chicago River. Speaking to reporters at his Ravenswood estate Sunday, outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans for The Deep Six, a transparent tube running down the center of the Chicago River’s main channel from the Michigan Avenue Bridge...
Stick a Skyline in Someone’s Stocking
When looking for Christmas gifts for the architecture enthusiast in your life, Legos have been a go-to staple for decades. Now there’s a new reason to risk stepping on the little bricklets while walking around the house barefoot in the middle of the night. The company that makes the best thing to come out of Denmark since diminutive sea brides has announced that it’s putting out a new Lego set about Chicago....
Slice of Life: This is How We Fish in Chicago
It seems that wherever there’s water, there’s someone with a stick and a string angling for dinner. We’ve seen lots of urban fishermen in Chicago, sometimes in unlikely places. From the edge of Navy Pier to the lagoon behind the Museum of Science and Industry to the stagnant ick near Bubbly Creek where the Illinois and Michigan Canal used to hook up to the Chicago River. But this is the first time we’ve seen...
How the Michigan Avenue Bridge Made Chicago What it is Today
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles about Chicago’s bridges from noted author and historian Patrick McBriarty. We welcome him to the Chicago Architecture Blog as a regular contributor. Michigan Avenue runs north and south, crossing the main branch of the Chicago River a half-mile west of the mouth of the river at Lake Michigan. The Michigan Avenue Bridge is the most revered and celebrated bridge in...
NATO Flags Displace American Flags on Michigan Avenue Bridge
As the city of Chicago gets all ready for its appointment with the global spotlight, we’ve noticed a number of changes around town. In addition to the usual barricades being stockpiled in strategic locations, and the disappearance of our Big Mouth solar trash compactors, and the significant increase in the number of police officers downtown, the flag display on the Michigan Avenue Bridge has been changed. It used to alternate...
Slice of Life: Michigan Avenue Watercolors
Our Gold Coast spy was a little out of her zone when she took this photo and sent it to us. It shows a man on East Upper Wacker Drive, painting the Michigan Avenue bridge, the Wrigley Building (400 North Michigan Avenue), and its neighbors. Hopefully he’s using oils and not watercolors, because at the time this photo was taken, it was pouring...
