Cubs rookie outfielder Tony Campana slides into first and is called safe as First baseman Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds tries to make a play.
Day 253: We Will Never Forget
Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and people from all across Chicagoland are remembering and honoring those who lost their lives that day.
Flags around the city all flew at half mass as Chicago remembers the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Hanging from the Wrigley Building in downtown Chicago was a large American flag.
At noon Sunday in Chicago, the firefighters at the firehouse on Dearborn and Illinois, Engine 42 and Truck 3, pay a tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11/2001. Fire trucks sounded their sirens for a moment and flashed their lights as firefighters saluted and lowered their heads in a moment of silence to remember their fallen comrades.
We will never forget!
Day 252: Staircase in the Park
Six acres of serenity in the heart of the city, the magnificent park at Lakeshore East is the centerpiece of the community. This virtual botanic garden designed by world-renowned landscape architect James Burnett together with Chicago’s Site Design Group was officially dedicated to the city of Chicago by Mayor Daley and other city officials upon completion in 2005.
A blend of stairway terraces, sidewalks, vast green spaces, interactive and aesthetic cascading water elements, and intimate gardens, this oasis in the heart of downtown is rapidly developing a reputation as the biggest and best front yard in the Chicago metropolitan area. At night the park illumination is a light show highlighting the unique navigational patterns of the design of pathways, the grand staircase and the back lit mystical flowing waters.
Posted in Chicago, Life, Parks
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Day 251: Homeless
A homeless man sleeps on a park bench in Daley Bicentennial Plaza right off of Randolph street.
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Day 250: Leafy Bug Dude
I found this little guy on my balcony the other day and couldn’t resist a photo shoot. The usually rather slender and delicate bugs known as “leafbugs” or “true plant bugs”, having two cells in the wing membrane, belong to this family. More than one thousand species are known, and of these more than two hundred and fifty inhabit the United States. It is undoubtedly the largest group of Heteroptera, and thousands of species are as yet undescribed. Click here for more information on the leaf bug.
Posted in Bugs, Chicago, Life, Nature
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Day 249: The Aqua Building
Started in 2006 and completed in 2010, this building stands at 82 stories high. Architects Jim Lowenberg and Jeanne Gang created a piece of architecture that is more than just a building and is more like a sculpture. The name “Aqua” is in keeping with the nautical theme most of the buildings in the Lakeshore East development have: The Tides, The Shoreham, The Regatta, etc… But while those were conventional skyscrapers, Aqua is special.
At its heart it is the standard glass box we haven’t seen before. But protruding from its surface are undulating concrete balconies resembling ripples or waves. This is an appropriate homage considering the building's location near both Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. But the ripples are not without challenge. Much like each wave in the lake, each floor plate in Aqua is unique, thus construction is unusually complicated. And for homeowners, not all units are equal. While some people may have a balcony up to 12 feet wide, others will be measuring theirs with a ruler rather than a yardstick.
This building was also one of the filming locations of the movie Transformers 3.
For more information on the building, check out this site.
Posted in Architecture, Chicago, Life, Movie locations
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Day 248: Equestrian Indians
The equestrian Indian on the South side of Congress that is poised to shoot his bow and arrow.
These strong muscular figures on horseback that flank the Congress Plaza provide an idealized portrayal of American Indians. To create the bronze pair, trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago’s B.F. Ferguson Fund commissioned Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962), an internationally-acclaimed sculptor from Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Mestrovic came to Chicago in 1926 when the Art Institute presented an exhibition of his work. Mestrovic cast the pieces in Yugoslavia, and said that though the horses represent those from his home more than the American prairie warriors’, they captured the vitality of Chicago. The equestrian figures are poised to shoot an arrow and throw a spear; however, neither holds a weapon. Although there is a long-held belief that the bow and spear were removed and never returned, this is an urban myth. The sculptor quite consciously omitted these items, leaving the weapons to the imagination of the viewers
Posted in Architecture, Chicago
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Day 247: Labor Day
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country
Day 246: BCBS Tower
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower (BCBS) is located on the north end of Grant Park along E. Randolph Street at the NE corner of Randolph and Columbus Drive. The building is located next to the Aon Center and original plans hoped to connect the two buildings via an underground pedway but the plans never came to fruition.
Architect James Goettsch of Goettsch Partners designed the building. The 33-story first phase was completed in 1997 under the firm name of Lohan Associates (now Goettsch Partners). The 24-story second phase started in 2007 and was completed in 2010.
BCBS was originally designed to allow for many more floors to be built later as market conditions warrant and indeed in the center of the building you can see a large open space where more elevators can be inserted into the building to accommodate additional floors.
The building and the large expanse of windows facing Grant Park are often used to spell out words to commemorate or celebrate events and happenings in Chicago.
Posted in Architecture, Chicago, Skyline
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Day 245: Red & Blue
With the addition of the new Roosevelt University Building right near the CNA building, the skyline shines in red and blue as the colors of the two buildings compliment each other.
Posted in Amusement, Chicago, Skyline
Tagged CNA building, Roosevelt University Building
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Showcasing Chicago One Image at a Time 