Morton Salt- 1325-1359 N. Elston

You can't miss the Morton Salt factory.  Something about it... Oh right, the 3-story tall letters.  This is one of the landmarks I always look for when I fly into Chicago.

Morton Salt has a long history in Chicago. The company which eventually became Morton Salt began here in 1848.  In 1889 a controlling interest was sold to Joy Morton, who changed the name to Joy Morton and Co.  In 1910 it became the Morton Salt Co.  You might recognize the name Morton from their philanthropic additions to the city.  Notably, the Morton wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Probably the Morton Arboretum too, now that I think about it.

Visit the Morton Salt website and see the different versions of the girl with the umbrella.

Chicago Tribune Printing and Distribution Center- 651-735 W. Chicago

This is the Chicago Tribune printing and distribution center near the intersection of Chicago and Halsted.  Enormous only begins to describe it.  I have to admit that I'm fascinated by the strange decorative touches, including the half-round windows intended to suggest an arcade.  And the strange wall above the loading docks which resembles a garage door.  I expect the entire thing to roll up and down, although I'm sure there are offices behind those windows.  Apparently you can take a tour of this place.  I imagine the most exciting time would be really early in the morning, when the presses are in full motion.

I thought it might be interesting to have a bit more context for this sketches.  In the lower left corner you can see my train line.  The tracks to the right are for newspaper distrubution. I think. (Thanks Google Maps)

And this is roughly the same area shown in a Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from 1905.  Interesting to see the change in scale, as well as the enormous reduction in train lines.  There was also a north-south street called Putnam (later Union) which was eliminated at some point. Perhaps it was sold to the Tribune.

The Golden Nugget Pancake House- 1765 W. Lawrence

There are seven Golden Nuggets in Chicago, and they kind of typify the unreconstructed diner for me.  They're not trendy.  The waitresses don't flirt.  And if you're going to drink coffee for 3 hours you better keep ordering some other stuff. 

1400-1430 N. Elston- A.L.L Masonry Construction

A.L.L. Masonry Construction has been operating in Chicago and surrounding areas for over 50 years.  I was surprised to find more than 150 project photos on their website, including some of the more interesting schools and public buildings that have gone up in the last 15 years.  This includes the new gorilla house at Lincoln Park Zoo, which is pretty sharp.  Their material yard is on the other side of this building. 

This view actually caught my eye because of the trains.  No idea why they're there.  Union Pacific must own this little stretch of track and use it for storage.  Or maybe these are abandoned train cars dropped off in the middle of the night.

1720 N. Elston, Sipi Metals Corporation

Sipi Metals has been in business since 1905, and has facilities all over the country.  They seem to specialize in precious metals reclamation, such as from circuit boards, cell phones and laboratory equipment.  The Sanborn Fire Insurance map of 1914 indicates that this used to be the Johnson and Jennings Foundry, which makes sense.  In 1950 it was the Silverstein and Pinsof Smelting Co.  It has a certain Old Chicago look, although it must be very high-tech on the inside. 

When I first moved to Chicago I started to draw the city because I didn't feel very rooted.  Drawing forced me to slow down and take a closer look at things.  Nice to know this still works, even with my daily commute.

2301 N. Pulaski

The other week I took a different Metra line out to Northbrook for Passover with family.  I could make a hobby of traveling all of the Metra lines and developing odd sketches.  But the problem with traveling an unfamiliar line means that I couldn't exactly remember where the photo was taken.  Thanks to Google Maps I was able to track it down.

This is at the intersection of Pulaski and Belden, which is apparently in Logan Square.  This looks to be apartments above a shuttered commercial space attached to a light industry building. I couldn't find a construction date.

4011 N. Ravenswood

This is an interesting stretch of Ravenswood.  Many of the industrial buildings have been converted into loft spaces, yoga studios, art centers, etc.  Chicago has lost quite a bit of its industry in this way, at least in the more popular neighborhoods. 

Anyway, I would see this strange quarter round greenhouse-like structure from the train and wonder what the heck it was.  Only recently did I discover that it's now part of the Ravenswood Event Center.  Need a dramatic wedding locale for 200 of your closest friends?  This would be pretty cool.  It also has a narrow outdoor area with a trellis, which extends for a good 30 feet (you can see part of it to the right of the roof).

Originally this building was owned by a printing company, and they used this space to make huge billboards, which were created by painters and artists who needed the 45' high ceiling and natural light.  With the improvement of printing technology it became obsolete.  According to the website all of the window frames are original.

1228-1230 W. Augusta

This is one of the most interesting areas my train passes.  To the west is the highway, to the north and east there's industry, but this residential pocket seems likely to stay.  Half of the lots are vacant, but the ones that aren't are divided between decaying older housing and new condos.  The house on the left is an 1880s Italianate which lost its decorative cornice and gable window altered.  The one on the right looks like it's been reconstructed.

Personal anecdote: It was my first day working at the new job downtown.  I was headed back to Rogers Park and as we passed the home on the left someone on the second floor mooned the entire train.  They had their behind so far out the window that a slight misstep would have led to a very embarrassing tragedy.

Also, is anything as ugly as the back of one of those massive billboard signs?  But I suppose if you overlook the Metra tracks you can get used to anything.

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.