2160 N. Ashland- Hayes Mechanical

Every day I take the Metra Union Pacific North line from Rogers Park to Ogilvie Station and back.  It's the best commute I've ever had.  Twenty minutes each way.  I can read, or doze, or stare out the window.  The view from the train can't be found anywhere else.  You go right through the city's backyard, including some very interesting industrial areas.  I've always regretted that the windows have a heavy green tint.  But last week I made an interesting discovery.  If you take a photo and run it through an auto adjust filter the green disappears and (except for reflections) you've got a fairly decent reference photo.

So I thought I would put together a series of views from my commute.  And maybe even from some other Metra lines. 

The factory complex above was built in 1945, and was most recently part of Hayes Mechanical.  Their website doesn't give this address, so maybe they've relocated.  And there are never any cars in the parking lot. 

At first I couldn't figure out why it was so appealing.   But looking a bit closer it approximates an urban plaza.  There are a variety of textures and materials and a pleasing sense of enclosure.  It probably helps that it's paved with old gravel with grass growing up through it.  But I keep imagining it with awnings and cafe tables.  As if Chicago needs more of those.

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.

View from Rogers Park Metra Platform

This is a view from the Rogers Park Metra platform (Ravenswood, between Lunt and Greenleaf), where I wait for my train every morning.  I'm interested in these rooftop views, which are exaggerated by the narrow format.  Typically you can see old structures at the rear of the lot and pick up hints about the development of the street.  What you're seeing above are some buildings on Lunt and Clark.  And in the distance you can see the New Field School on Morse.

Downtown vertical strip

Still working my way through some of these composite strips of the city.  This image includes the L tracks in the Loop, one of the lighting standards, an 1870s landmark in the background shadowed by a more modern building above.  It's diffcult to show foreground, middle-ground and background in this 1" x 10" format.  The nice thing about the format is that I can work on 5 or 6 images on the same sheet of illustration board.

Infrastructure/Street Furniture

I thought I would take a closer look at the stuff that I pass by on the way to work,  leaving buildings aside for a change.  These are basically control nodes, which tie into much larger systems stretching through the city.  I had a idea for a project which explores the utlities of Chicago with huge illustrated sections extending up into the buildings and down into the sub-systems.  I haven't given up on that, but I've realized how much work it would require. And it can wait until I can track down some good documentation of those systems. 

The mysterious-looking thing on top of the electrical box below is a coffee cup someone left behind.  I may try to rework that drawing and leave the coffee cup out, since it confuses things and doesn't add anything.  Besides atmosphere, of course.

Infrastructure #7

This is the entrance to the tunnel under Ogilvie Station on Washington Street.  Those things that look like monster eyes (sorry) are actually sodium lamps illuminating the tunnel.  A fairly amazing train station was demolished in order to make room for a big turquois and black skyskraper on Madison.  The section you see above is the part of the building that remained to accomodate the train platforms.  Metra has begun to renovate the areas underneath the train tracks north of Washington into retail stores and markets.  One of their more brilliant ideas. 

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.]

Infrastructure #6

This is part of the Washington Street Bridge, which I cross twice a day to get to and from my train at Ogilvie Station.  In the background you can see part of the Daily News Building.  This morning the Chicago River was as smooth as glass.  For some reason I kept expecting half a cow carcass to float to the surface.

The Village North Theater (or The New 400)

Again, you'll need to click on this to see it full-size.

Rogers Park's architectural appeal is subtle.  Which is perfect for me, since I'm typically drawn to buildings which are overlooked. 

Let's take the 1905 Village North Theater at Sheridan and Columbia.  Formerly known as "The 400" it's now under new ownership.  Here we have the last remaining neighborhood theater in Rogers Park.  The Grenada is long gone.  The Adelphi is recently gone, along with several smaller theaters on Clark that I've only seen on old Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  The Ridgeland Theater on Devon near Clark is now a part of Devon Hardware.  The Howard Theater was converted into condos. The Village North survived by multiplexing and charging as little as possible.  This was reflected in the condition of the building, which began to leak and shed terra cotta. 

But the new owners received some assistance to renovate the building and repair the facade.  Unfortunately they used reinforced concrete replacement units which don't really match the cream-colored terra cotta.  They're kind of a sickly yellow. 
But at least this ornament on the corner of the building was in good shape.  I can't imagine their budget would have allowed for this to be replicated.  The figure is probably a muse and those ropes of leaves and fruits are festoons, symbols of plenty.  There was similar ornament inside the theater, but most of it has been covered up.  Or possibly removed outright.

This is a good example of a building with limited local significance.  But in Rogers Park, which has limited opportunities for non-alcohol related recreation, it's extremely important.  Too bad the old Atomic Cafe (which adjoined the theater) is long gone.  But there's a Starbucks there now, which is better than nothing.

Infrastructure #5

Unfortunately, this graphic really didn't work as a 1" x 10" strip.  It's impossible to interpret what you're looking at without some prior knowledge.  But purely as a work it art it's actually kinda interesting.  I especially like the jagged texture of the razor wire. 

But I didn't want to give up on the subject, so I reframed it:

 

Then it became too figurative, and I felt the need to embellish it for no good reason:

To make it even crazier I printed the outline drawing six times and worked on different shading treatments for each one.  I won't inflict those on on any readers just yet.

Anyway, there are a number of these silos near downtown Chicago.  Difficult to tell if they're still operable.  Most of these are now surrounded by residential conversions.

Infrastructure #3

I find myself noticing sign armatures more and more.  Especially in this case, where the signs have long since been removed but the steel supports remain.  These are especially apparent on the 1-story commercial buildings in my neighborhood.  I think there are 3 generations of sign supports in the graphic above.  Since roof signs are now prohibited by the zoning code (with some exceptions) these things no longer serve any purpose whatsoever.  Still, easier to leave them.  At least until they rust away and crash to the sidewalk.

Infrastructure #2

As R. Crumb once said, you can't make up stuff like this.

Every day we're surrounded by the craziest looking structures. Because they’re everywhere they become invisible. I like waiting for trains on the L platform, since it gives you an almost leisurely opportunity to observe stuff like this. There’s a certain artistry even in these step-down transformers.

Infrastructure is not sexy. And generally it's not profitable. That's why government gets saddled with building and maintaining much of it (roads, bridges,  etc). As new technologies require new types of infrastructure the old needs and support systems don't just disappear. That’s what this next set of drawings should illustrate.

Infrastructure #1

Last year I contributed an illustrated article to AREA Chicago, which is a free local newspaper that publishes a variety of articles with a strong activist bent.  Each issue has a particular theme.  The upcoming issue is "Infrastructure."  I'm sure many of the articles will focus on social and political infrastructure, but I hope they won't overlook good old-fashioned built environment, which is my special interest.  So I'm putting together a series of graphics which I'm going to offer for their use. 

For previous issues I submitted drawings I thought would showcase my work.  But a newspaper really isn't the best format for complex graphics.  What works are high contrast images which can be used to break up the text and illustrate broad themes.  So I'm trying to do that. Not my best work, but my best work suited to the medium.  Unfortunately this 1" x 10" format is not at all suited to Blogger.

The image above is taken from Lake Avenue west of the Loop. It's one of those streets that makes me hum the opening to "Taxi," with the elevated tracks overhead. I believe the equipment on the rooftop is for creating concrete mixes. But I may be wrong.

Brief Interlude in France

The other week I was off on Friday for Lincoln's Birthday.  Which actually isn't so unusual in Illinois.  It was a good opportunity to find a Valentine's Day gift for Angela.  In keeping with the "less is more" philosophy, I found an old blank postcard for $1 at an antique store on Broadway, south of Devon.  I picked something that looked kinda romantic and architectural.  I wrote my note on the back and packaged it with a huge bar of chocolate.  That was about as elaborate as I could manage. 

To my surprise, Angela decided to look up the intersection on Google.  And darned if she didn't find it! 

Admittedly, there are some fantastic buildings in Europe.  But there are also fantastic buildings which have been really mucked up.  Could this really have gone from a rusticated limestone facade to a cement parge painted orange?  Any why was the mansard roof eliminated?  Did that really provide a significant amount of space on the third floor?  And look at those aluminum windows replacing the elegant casements...

Thanks, Google Maps.  It's nice to know these things happen all over. 

The Fish Keg, 2233 W.Howard

Here's a sign that I actually remember from my childhood visits to Chicago.  I can't help but wonder, when did fish served from a keg invoke a feeling of fresh deliciousness?  But this place is always busy, so they must be doing something right.  The building was built in 1953, and I suspect the sign didn't come too much later.  Could this business have been there for 50 years under the same name?  Worth checking out...

Angela leaves for North Carolina tonight.  It'll just be me and Felix until Saturday.  I found the perfect $2.99 DVD for us at Walgreens- "The Big Plane Show!"  There was also one that featured different kinds of explosions, but I didn't want to go too crazy.

Lorain Sketches

Two or three times a year we drive for 7 hours to visit my parents in my hometown, Lorain, Ohio. I was born in Lorain and lived there until I graduated from college.  I have a lot of fond memories of the place, but it's been a depressed town for decades.

When I'm visiting I'm drawn to buildings that look depressed.  I'm not sure why.  There are plenty of very nice, non-vacant buildings in Lorain.  OK, not an enormous amount of them, but enough. 

Colorado Avenue is a good street to spot vacant buildings.  Some look like they used to accomodate light industry and some look like retail stores fallen on hard times.

Above is the American Legion Post on West Erie Avenue.  This is a complex that's actually grown over the years.  But it doesn't exactly radiate a feeling of prosperity.

This is the old Dairy Queen on East Erie Avenue, now Terry's Dairy.  They didn't bother to remove the old Dairy Queen signage framework. I'm not sure if this is out of business or just closed down for winter.  It looks out of business. DQ used to represent the end-point of our longest family walks in the summer.

And of course, watching over the lakefront is the old Ohio Edison Plant.

I often wonder what my life would be like if I still lived in Lorain.  Someone once told me that no matter where you go you'll only have roots in the place where you were raised.  But can roots outweight a depressed economy and a struggling government?

But I have to admit, I've had a strange Lorain daydream lately.  I dreamed that everyone who left to pursue college degrees, or careers, or families suddenly decided to return.  All of the empty houses suddenly had buyers.  The hardware stores sold-out of ladders and paint.  The doctors and lawyers renovated the vacant storefronts downtown.  An influx of thousands of kids required schools to be repaired and reopened.  It could happen.  Or if it can't, why not?

Michigan Avenue Bridge

Built: 1920

Edward Bennet, architect

Thomas G. Pihlfeldt, engineer

Hugh Young, engineer

Time to revisit the Michigan Avenue Bridge.  Earlier I posted a detail of one of the bridge houses.  I could probably fill up a sketchbook with details from this, sculptural and structural.  Here's the previous post.  This just went through a multi-million dollar renovation, complete with new, historically appropriate, railings.

This bridge required four bond issues for funding, but it's worth it. Thanks, 1920s Chicago! Eventually the Riverwalk below will be lined with restaurants and mimes.  I guess.

I have two holidays coming up.  Lincoln's birthday tomorrow and Washington's birthday on Monday.  We take birthdays seriously around here.  Actually, last year these were holidays.  This year they're unpaid days off.  Yay recession!

State Street Bridge

Built: 1949

W.E. Lofgren, engineer

Stephen Michuda, engineer

This bridge was originally designed in 1930 but was postponed until the State Street subway project began in 1939.  Apparently the subway tunnel beneath the river and the bridge were built simultaneously.  Work stopped at the order of the War Production Board in 1942 and didn't resume until 1947.  You can see a section of the recently extended Riverwalk in the foreground.  And of course the corncobs of Marina City in the background.

Looks like Chicago is finally getting some snow today.  It took long enough.  I thought we might go the whole winter without some decent sledding weather.   Come Sunday you may find us at the hill at Warren Park with our daredevil 4-year old.

Wabash Avenue Bridge

Built: 1930

Donald Becker, engineer

Clarence Rowe, engineer

Paul Schioler, engineer

This bridge was dedicated to longtime Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet in 1986. Apparently it was featured in the opening sequence of "Perfect Strangers."  I haven't had the nerve to try and check this on iTube.  You can see the new Trump Tower (which replaced the Sun-Times building) in the background. 

On Sunday we took Felix to Garfield Park Conservatory.  Always a good way to spend a winter morning.  Later in the day we gritted our teeth and bought a new iMac at Old Orchard. 

Our old Mac was approaching 10 years old, and had been working more and more slowly.  We (okay, I) had put this off for months for no good reason.  If Angela ends up working part-time from home after the new baby we'll need a good computer.  Amazing to see the huge improvement in design and speed after 10 years.  I just hope we get it to work with our printer/scanner.  And our ancient version of Photoshop.  Otherwise it may be a while before I post new drawings. 

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.