El Chorrito, 6404 N. Clark

OK, I feel like I need to focus on this entire building, not just the old neon sign hanging above.  The storefront windows have been painted with strangely abstract brick arches and stones.  There are so many menu items on the windows that I had to eliminate most of them just to maintain my sanity.  And the color combinations are pretty amazing.  I don't really do detailed individual building portraits as much as I used to, but in this case I wanted to try out these great new fine-line color pens I recently picked up.  Turns out that fine-line pens are not the best for coloring large fields.  I think I used to know this. 

Note:  Since posting this originally (3/10) the Hamburger Chili sign has been removed.  Very sad.

More signs on Clark...in color!

Sometimes I like to rework my black and white images with color.  It doesn't always provide much more information, but here are the color versions of the signs I posted a few week back. 

It's interesting, but the Hamburger Chili sign would have benefited from showing the mortar joints of the brick.  In the black and white version it works much better without them. Maybe I'll try adding them in white pencil, if I'm feeling motivated.








[Since this was posted the Hamburger-Chili sign was removed.  I assumed it was gone forever, but it has returned.  It's been relocated from non-trendy Rogers Park to increasingly trendy Ukrainian Village/Wicker Park.  Look for it on the north side of Division, west of Damen.  I liked it better in Rogers Park.  Even so, the neon has been repaired and the sign repainted.]

Some Signage on Clark

6404 N. Clark

This old sign now hangs above a taqueria, which I think is a good symbol for the demographics of my neighborhood.  I'm pretty sure you can't get chili or hamburgers there.  Why don't they take it down?  First of all, it's massive.  It's probably been attached directly to the structure of the buildling.  Those little chains you can see just keep it from swaying in the wind.  Also, I'm not sure zoning will allow a sign like this anymore.  It projects maybe six feet into the public right-of-way.  The owner may have decided that they can repair and reface it more easily than apply for a new sign.  Unfortunately, most of the old neon has cracked off.

6701 N. Clark

This storefront used to be Dennis' Place for Games, a video arcade. Now it's a liquor and convenience store.  I can't say I'm a big fan of the internally illuminated cabinet sign, but the amount of lighting on this one approachs theater marquee status. 

We have an amazingly open weekend. Felix has his swim class at the YMCA on Saturday, but as far as I know there are no other commitments.  That's a very nice feeling after the last few weekends. Maybe we'll go to the Shedd Aquarium, or something.