13-07-2005, 05:46 | #21 |
King
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Chicago.
Posts: 2,388
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Here's a big map of Chicago and some suburbs. The dots to the left are the suburb next to Chicago called Oak Park. Notice how it gets a little greener there. My hometown is known for a few things.
Yellow is about where architect Frank Lloyd Wright had his studio and many of the homes he built. Red is where I grew up. Green is the area where Ernest Hemingway grew up. Pink is Montrose Harbor where my boat resides. There is a bird sanctuary there because that point is the furthest east in Chicago so a lot of birds go there before they head south. Teal is where I live in the city. 97.07*KB This is more of a closeup of downtown Chicago. Starting from the right. Navy Pier was where WW II pilots learned how to fly onto a flight deck (including the 1st George Bush). Now there are stores, an atrium and lots of tourists. The locks from the Chicago River are interesting because the Army Corps of Engineers reversed the flow of the river so it didn't dump into the lake. The river was quite polluted at one point so this was a good thing. The river is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day. Another good thing is city planner Daniel Burnham (he was quite a prominent figure in Chicago history and is discussed quite a bit in the book "Devil in the White City")built lots of forests and parks all around Chicago. Where Buckingham Fountain and 16 inch softball fields are is Grant Park . 16 inch softball is a very unusual game even for Americans. I play on Thursdays and we are pretty solid for a bunch of old farts. The blue dots represent the "Mag Mile". It's where all the best shops in Chicago are. The green dot is where I live. The teal dot is the Merchandise Mart. The building is the largest commercial space of any building in the world. It was originally built by retailer Marshall Field who built it for his retail operation but had to sell it during the depression to Joe Kennedy (who was short stocks)and was held by the Kennedy's up until the 90's I believe. The pink dot is where I work. The yellow is the Lyric Opera which has an intersting story. Many buildings at the time were built for multi purpose use so the building looks like a chair. The opera house on the bottom and office space above. What is interesting about the building is it was built by a Chicago industrialist whose daughter was a singer. A not so good singer who had failed to make the Metropolitan Opera in New York so he built her an opera house. What's intersting is the chair is facing west putting its back to New York. The red is Sears Tower. 121.92*KB There are other things I could mention but I've run on already.
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13-07-2005, 10:07 | #22 |
Emperor
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: HAWK!.
Posts: 4,365
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