Day 179: 2 Cups in 4 Years-Championship Week (Bonus) Day 7

     Well folks, it looks like my stated goal of inaugurating Championship week to produce some playoff mojo for the Blackhawks didn't just work, but it worked astoundingly well.(To give some perspective, after I started this, the Hawks didn't lose another game.)  But the point of this post isn't to pat myself on the back as a good luck charm, but instead to chronicle the win-and the celebration.  So lets get started.

     While last time the cup-winner came in an overtime period, this time the winning goal was somehow even more dramatic(as if that was even possible[oh wait, it was])  The Boston Bruins had gone up 2-1 on the Hawks in the final 2 minutes of Game 6, and everybody assembled was packing it in and expecting a Game 7 in Chicago on Wednesday night.  Bryan Bickell took one look at that and said "nope".  With 1:26 left in the game, he slid a shot in past Tuukka Rask and tied up the game at 2 apiece, seemingly setting up the game for yet another overtime period.  Apparently Dave Bolland had plans after the game that couldn't be interrupted for another banal overtime period, because 17 seconds later, he slapped in the game-winner.  What do you suppose happened after that?  Well, I'll just let Jack Buck fill you in.  Okay, back now?  Great.  After the game clock officially wound down, the Hawks went crazy, the city went crazy, and sometimes it damn near felt that the whole world went crazy that night(okay, not really).

     One of the more interesting incidents that went down during the hometown celebration was on Clark Street, where the local population of liquored-up twentysomethings was out and about at several local establishments.  Once the Cup was won, the fans crowded into the streets(in fact, the crowd reaction was about the same as this video, just with all Blackhawks gear instead of Cubs gear.)  Long story short, the police moved in, pacified the crowd, and ended up arresting 23 people.  And that was all before the Hawks made it back to the city.  At 4 AM on June 25, the Chicago Blackhawks touched down at O'Hare Airport, greeted the fans who were assembled to greet them, and high-tailed it to the Harry Caray's location in Rosemont to begin their 2013 Cup Crawl.  The next few days saw them going to such places as the Scout Bar, Rockit Bar, as well as other establishments throughout the city.

     The party didn't stop that night, in fact it went all the way up until that Friday, the 28th, when the city turned out in force to honor the champions with a parade and rally(which I'm pretty sure attracted more than 2 Million people yet again, Ozzie Guillen can take a hike at his own convenience).  The route was modified this year, whereas in 2010 the parade started out at the United Center and then went right down Michigan Avenue to end with a rally held at Michigan and Wacker, this time the parade wound right into the heart of Grant Park(and it wasn't nearly as much of a disaster as the Bears one was), past the Buckingham Fountain, and ended up in Hutchinson Field, which was able to hold 100,000 spectators.  I went to the rally, and let me tell you I saw some pretty interesting things while I was waiting for more than 2 and a half hours for the team to show up.  Initially, the place smelled of cigarettes and cheap beer(in other words, just like a frat party).  After the 2 hour mark, the crowd started to get rather antsy(nothing approaching a riot or anything, but just what you naturally get when you put tens of thousands of liquored-up twentysomethings in a confined area for hours on end.)  Finally, the team showed up and the rally commenced.  To kick things off, some dignitaries gave some speeches(including one by Governor Pat Quinn that got a rousing response.  Then it was on to some videos, and then the team actually spoke.  The three highlights of that:

• Patrick Sharp's insinuation of a repeat.
• Patrick Kane's speech, that he was most likely intoxicated for,
• and of course, Corey Crawford's profanity-laden acceptance speech that could possibly even make Lee Elia blush(but it probably wouldn't).

     Overall, the 2013 Stanley Cup celebration in Chicago was even bigger and better than the one that came in 2010.  Let's see how many more we can get.  I mean, just think about it this way.  We're already a third of the way to another repeat of the Bulls dynasty.  Of course, as with all things, only time will tell.

Day 178: Dancing the Summer Away

     First off, time for a little refresher.  Remember way back 6 months ago when we talked about the Spirit of Music garden, and I ended the entry by saying that "[in a] few months we will be revisiting this location"?  Well guess what?  After 6 months, we're coming back to the Spirit of Music garden.

     For the past 16 years, there has been a dance party going on in Grant Park known as Chicago SummerDance.  The basic format of it is that there is a introductory dance lesson led by an instructor, and then there are 2 hours of dancing under the stars in the heart of the city.  The genres of music offered can vary greatly, with nights featuring acts as eclectic as Swing, Salsa, Greek Folk Music, Gypsy Brass, Appalachian, and even Cajun.  The dance floor itself has been modified over the years, and its current dimensions are 4,800 square feet, plus a stage area.  If you ever get tired of dancing, there are always concessions off to the side of the dance floor, which offer an assortment of beer, wine, and food items available for purchase. Of course, let's not just take my word for it, so here are some samples from Yelp reviews of the festival.

    "When cold, chilly winter gets me down, I look at my Marilyn Monroe dress and dream of SummerDance.  I'm counting down till June 14 - SummerDance 2007.  It starts with a free hour of dance lessons, then once they've given you a chance for a cool drink, you get two hours of live dance music."

     "A large chunk of the nights feature Latin dances and swing, but you'll see anything from Transylvanian folk to bhangra to square dancing. After the lesson there's live music, and the floor fills with newly empowered masses who now know how to get down to this. The little snack shop on the premises has decent offerings, including glasses of wine for $6, larger glasses of sangria for $7, veggie burgers, meat hot dogs, and pita w/hummus."

     "So I have been to three of these dance events this summer and it really can be a hit or miss. I absolutely loved the bellydancing lessons and found the instructor to be really good at teaching a huge crowd of novices how to bellydance, which is no easy feat. To top it off, she made it fun for the crowd, she threw in a couple of jokes and had a fun, positive attitude."

     As all of these Yelp reviewers will attest, SummerDance is clearly one of the premiere summertime attractions that can be enjoyed in the city of Chicago.  As for this summer, SummerDance runs every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through September 15.  The complete schedule can be found here

Day 177: The Neighborhood Station

     While the earliest elevated lines in Chicago opened up in time for the Columbian Exposition(such as Roosevelt), some of the other lines didn't open up until the latter part of the next decade.  Such was the case with the Northwestern Elevated, which inaugurated its service aboard the Ravenswood Branch on May 18, 1907.  One of the stations to originally open with the rest of line was located right over Irving Park road, a major thoroughfare on the North side of the city.

     When it was first erected, the station was befitted with a head house measuring 25 square feet, which was meant to symbolize the modesty of being placed in the middle of a neighborhood.  The way that the exit was designed was based off of prior experiences with crowding in that this exit allowed for more streamlined passenger egress than before.  The interior construction of the station also emulated the modest, down home feel of the neighborhood with its subdued design.  The walls were coated in basic brick and were paved in the same manner as well.  There was originally a ticket agent booth, but that was removed in the 1990s when the transition was made to electronic fare media.  Once riders got up to the platforms, they were faced with decorative grille work, canopies, and roof arches that served to illuminate the charms of the station. One other key element of the platforms was the presence of a dividing gate down the middle of the platform that served to separate the northbound from the southbound boarding areas.  Later on, there was an area added to the unpaid portion of the station that included a concession stand.

     By the beginning of the 21st Century, the Brown Line faced ballooning ridership figures which led to overcrowding at stations and on trains, owing to the fact that almost all of the Brown Line stations(including Irving Park) could only accommodate six-car trains, which hampered the ability for longer trains to use the platforms.  In order to fix this problem, the CTA embarked on an ambitious project to extend the platforms of all Brown Line stations to fit 8-car trains, as well as renovating several stations to bring them up to code.  This project included demolishing the original 1907 station house and replacing it with a new 74 by 50 foot model.  Additionally, the elevator shafts and stairways are prominent parts of the station's architecture, which is a unique feature, as many other stations have the stairways tucked away within the interior structure.  The station itself is located to the south of the Ravenswood community, and features many small shops, restaurants, and bars within the immediate vicinity of the station.

Day 176: From Knuckles to Deadmau5-the story of House Music

     After Steve Dahl won his one-man war against Disco music(but not before a certain radio station played Donna Summer's " Last Dance" on a 24-hour loop),  disco started to fall into decline as a presence on the playlists of local clubs. Some clubs, however, continued to play the music, and in fact several of the city's more accomplished DJs would edit together cuts of themselves mixing together various older disco songs onto vinyl or cassette tapes. By 1984, one DJ named Jesse Saunders  was running his own smaller record label which he used to release his mixes. At one point, he released a mix titled "On and On", which was a mash up of several different disco records from the Seventies. This served as Saunders' signature track, as all of the other DJs in the city either didn't have it or didn't play it. The composition of the track incorporated heavy electronic influence, and by 1985, "On and On" was considered a fundamental piece of House Music.

     But just where did the term House come from? For this origin story, we have to go back even further, to 1977. In that year, a new entry was made into the Chicago nightclub scene when The Warehouse opened up. Large amounts of Black and Latino men patronized the club to hear the mixes that were being spun by resident DJ Frankie Knuckles. Alas, the music couldn't go on forever, and The Warehouse closed its doors for good in 1983.  Being that you can't keep a good DJ down, Knuckles soon started spinning records at a new club named The Power House. Soon thereafter, he was driving around with friends when he saw a sign in the window of a bar proclaiming "we play house music". One of his friends insinuated that the proclamation was rooted in the fact that this music was based off of the club music that had been spun by Knuckles at The Warehouse. A rival claim alleges that another local DJ put a sign in front of his bar advertising the playing of house music, so named because it was the type of music one would play in the comfort of their own home.

     One final theory corroborates the Knuckles story. According to several record store owners, the name came from the way that records were labeled, which had several of Knuckles' tracks labeled "As heard at The Warehouse". This was later shortened to just "House".  Today the legacy of House music lives on in some of the most popular Top 40 artists out there, such as David Guetta, Calvin Harris, and Deadmau5.  But even with all of those big names and starry resumes, remember one thing.  It all started in Chicago.

Day 175: Moore's Sundial

     We've already looked at a fair amount of sculpture on the Museum Campus in this blog(Kosciuszko, Kelpies, Another Thought, Man with Fish, and Copernicus, to name a few), but one of the most practical pieces is one that we are just talking about today.  In 1967, British sculptor Henry Moore made the trek to Chicago to dedicate his work Nuclear Energy, which (in addition to marking the former home field to the U of Chicago's football team) memorialized the first self-contained nuclear reaction.  Some 13 years later, Moore made another contribution to the city's cultural scene when he erected a fully-functional sundial outside of the Adler Planetarium.

     This sculpture, known as Man Enters the Cosmos, can actually be used to tell the time of day, as long as you don't mind figuring in Daylight Savings Time(as the sundial is not adjusted to account for that)  At the base of the sculpture are two plaques. One of them is a dedication plaque detailing the story of how the work of art came to be.  Right next to it is a plaque instructing viewers how to use the sundial to tell time, with instructions and a conversion chart(along with the admonishment to figure in Daylight Savings Time).

     Upon its erection in 1980, the sculpture stood directly in front of the museum.  However, when the Adler added on the Sky Pavilion in 1997, the sculpture was moved to a point slightly north of the museum.  Nowadays, the sundial is located just outside of the planetarium's food court, and still brings wonder to Chicagoans and tourists alike 33 years after its installation.

Day 174: Lionizing the Champs-Championship Week Day 6

     In this blog we've already referenced the Art Institute as being one of the few buildings still standing from the 1893 World's Fair.  But another tidbit of note is something that happens whenever a team from Chicago makes it to the playoffs(normally the final round) of whatever sport it is playing in.  On those occasions, the Museum decks out the lions on the front steps in a helmet corresponding to the sports team in the finals.

     This tradition dates to the 80s, when the lions first donned Cubs helmets to commemorate the 1984 postseason run(interestingly enough, this was also the last time that the lions would wear Cubs gear, even though the team has been back in the playoffs 5 times since then).  The next team honored were the 1985 Bears, whose helmets were made by the same people that make the Weber grills.  Strangely, the lions didn't wear any Bulls gear during their dynasty.  In 2005, the White Sox made the World Series, and the lions donned Sox helmets.  In 2010, the lions wore Blackhawks helmets to honor their Stanley Cup run, and then once again wearing a helmet to honor the Bears when they played for the 2010 NFC Title.

     Since then, the lions have donned helmets once more.  In fact, they are likely still wearing them now.  I am of course talking about the Blackhawks' current winning of Lord Stanley's Cup.  The dressing up of the lions is a long and proud tradition, one that ought to go for many more years.

Day 173: 2 in a row, so long ago-Championship Week Day 5

     In 1906, the Chicago Cubs won 116 games and stormed into the World Series as the obvious and heavy favorite.  However, they ran into the 1906 White Sox, a team so ineffectual at the plate that they were dubbed the "Hitless Wonders", which led to their first ever (and so far only) crosstown matchup in the World Series.  Once the Series started, the White Sox stunned the Cubs and the rest of baseball.by taking the Series.  The next two seasons the Cubs went on to face the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, winning on both of those occasions.

     In 1907, the Chicago Tribune organized a group of fans to watch the deciding game of the Series at a local venue.  When they won it, fans poured out onto the streets in celebration and blocked up traffic for a considerable time(though, even with that, the celebration was probably much more tame than the postgame for the 2013 Stanley Cup).  After that exuberance, the team came back to town and played a celebratory baseball game at West Side Park, before wrapping up the celebrations with a special breakfast with the fans.

     The 1908 Season saw the Cubs return to the championship round(abetted by what is possibly the single most controversial officiating decision of all time) where they once again came up against the Detroit Tigers.  The Series started out with some intrigue as authorities took in two fans who were suspected of wagering on the game.  Later on in the Series, the Chicago Tribune held a gathering for fans where they could hear electronic dispatches from the game being played.  This event attracted over 4,000 people, and the proceeds were used to assist local hospitals.  Upon their victory in the Series, the Tribune published yet another article genuflecting about the Cubs becoming the first team to ever win back to back World Series titles, and informing the fans that these Cubs were here to stay and that a long run of titles was just around the corner.  Funny, 105 years doesn't seem very close around that corner...

Day 172: When Best Laid Plans go Awry-Championship Week Day 4

     On January 26, 1986, the Chicago Bears finished off the New England Patriots in the Big Easy.  The very next day, there was supposed to be a parade downtown to celebrate the accomplishments of the team.  As it was stated, the plan was to have the parade wind its way downtown north on LaSalle St., and then eventually make its way back to Daley Plaza.  However, two variables that had not been accounted for reared their ugly heads at the parade.  First off, the organizers didn't in their wildest dreams think that the parade would attract even 250,000 people.  Guess what? They were right.  It actually drew well over 300,000(but even that figure looks puny compared to the 2 Million that came to the Blackhawks' parade in 2010).  The simple mass of people meant that some of the spectators were jammed up against other patrons, barricades, and even a bus, for the entire parade.  The aftermath was such a mess that one of the organizers declared that she "would never do another parade on LaSalle [Street]" 

     Another unaccounted for variable was the temperature.  This figured its way into affairs in two ways.  Firstly, it made organizers edit their guesses for attendees down, which contributed to the unexpected flood of people.  Secondly , the cold ended up damaging the instruments of a local marching band that was to perform in the parade.  The school ended up having to pay several thousand dollars to have the instruments repaired.  However, when you look at the grand scheme of things, it's not the worst thing that could happen.  I mean, its not like underestimating the weather led to people actually dying or anything like that?

     Unfortunately, the very next day in Florida(1/28), it did.  Believe it or not, this actually had an impact on the Bears.  After the disaster, President Reagan was much too busy comforting the nation to celebrate with a football team.  After the immediacy died down, the team was just kind of forgotten.  That is until 2011, when President Obama finally invited them to the White House to celebrate their title(albeit 25 years late). Since 1985, the Bears have not won another Super Bowl, and have had fluctuating fortunes as the years go by.  Just like with the Bulls, we'll see what happens in the future.

Day 171: The Jordanic Dynasty-Championship Week Day 3

    If there is one basketball team that UNQUESTIONABLY owned the NBA during the 1990s, the obvious answer to that category would be the Chicago Bulls.  With 6 titles in 10 years, the Bulls were without a doubt the team to (try but fail to) beat during that period of time.  But before you build a dynasty, you have to start with the first title, which the Bulls captured in triumphant fashion on June 12, 1991. The next day, the team made its way home, and the fans were there to greet them(against the official advice of the city, but since when did that count for anything?) On Friday the 14th, the team was treated to a championship parade.  But much like as happened when the Blackhawks won it in 2010, there were a number of different things going on in the city that day, as the annual Philippine Independence Day parade was slated to step off on the same day, as well as the beginning of Blues Fest in Grant Park(which was the location of the rally).  Needless to say, the Bulls stole all of the attention from the other events going on in the city that day.

     The next year saw the bulls come back and win yet another title, one that was nothing short of inevitable.  Needless to say, a parade was inevitable as well.  In 1993, the Bulls were up for a 3-peat, and while the outside aspects of the team might have led some to believe that the dream ride was over(such as bickering, occasional acrimony amongst some of the team members, and some unexpected losses) the team ultimately persevered and delivered their 3rd championship.  A few short months after that title, Michael Jordan's father was murdered.  it was this, along with some other concerns that led him to retire from basketball on the eve of the '93-'94 season at the age of 30.  The next two seasons, Jordan spent his "retirement" trying to make it in the sport of Baseball.  He didn't do so well, and came back to the Bulls at the tail end of the '94-'95 season.  The '95-96 season saw the Bulls stampede through the NBA with the best record EVER for a basketball team. The next season was another repeat, albeit one capitalized by Jordan powering through a hellish case of the flu to win one of the games in the Finals.

     Then we get to '97-'98.  All year it had been rumored that this was the last year for Scottie Pippen, Phil Jackson, and even(gasp) Michael Jordan.  At the end of it, the Bulls were NBA Champions for the 6th time, had pulled off the 2nd 3-peat, and were at the end of the road.  At the victory rally in Grant Park(moved there because according to some conspiracy theorists the powers that be in the city didn't want the common folk milling about the Loop), Phil Jackson cryptically said that very same thing and confirmed the suspicions of fans everywhere.  In the end, the Bulls dynasty came to a crashing end in 1998, and they have not won a title since.  Who knows what the future might hold...

Day 170: Don't Stop Believin'-Championship Week Day 2

     When the Houston Astros went down swinging in Game 4 of the 2005 World Series, it broke a championship dry spell even more long-lasting than the one that would be broken by the Blackhawks 5 years later. The Chicago White Sox had not won a World Series since 1917, and they were ready to celebrate.  And what an achievement they had to celebrate, having just reeled off a nearly-perfect postseason record of 11-1, a mark that has only ever been equaled once by the Yankees.

     Their day of celebration started off much as the Blackhawks had started off theirs(except with a lot less bar-hopping), with a parade that started out at U.S. Cellular Field, and then wound its way downtown before stopping at Wacker for a special rally. At that point, various dignitaries took the stage, most notably Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has always been a lifelong White Sox fan(as indicated by his Irish roots).  After Daley's bit, Paul Konerko came up on stage and presented team owner Jerry Reinsdorf with the ball that he caught in order to end the series.  After that, Steve Perry came onstage and proceeded to sing the lines to the Sox's rallying song of 2005, Don't Stop Believin'

     The parade and rally were very highly attended, and in 2010 Ozzie Guillen would look back and claim that the White Sox actually drew more crowds than the estimated 2 Million that attended the Blackhawks' parade.(I think not)  Regardless, the 2005 season will always go down in history as a special time for the Chicago White Sox(for half of the city anyway)

Day 169: Bars, Cups, and Blackhawks-Championship Week Day 1

     The date: June 9, 2010. The place: Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Patrick Kane has just done what no Chicago hockey player had done since before the birth of Barack Obama. The Stanley Cup was wheeled onto the ice, the league made its remarks, and then Jonathan Toews hoisted the cup and kicked off the wildest party in recent Chicago memory.  In the immediate aftermath, the biggest controversy proved to be a mystery as to the location of the puck that Kane drilled into the net in order to secure the OT victory.  While it was initially alleged that Chris Pronger(a player for the Flyers who can really pull off a dress) had grabbed it, it was apparently grabbed by one of the officials, who then did something with it.  Whatever happened, the puck is still missing to this day, even though there has been a bounty placed on it by the ownership of Harry Caray's restaurant(don't forget, they've always been one for a publicity stunt).

     Irrespective of the game-winning puck being completely out of possession of anyone, the onus was on to celebrate.  While the Hawks did not win the Cup on home ice, there were a small contingent of Blackhawks fans who had made the trip to Philly.  Not just that, but there were throngs of people back in Chicago watching and celebrating.  After some more on-ice celebrations in Philly, the Hawks took a red-eye flight back to Chicago and rolled into town at about 4 in the morning on Thursday the 10th.  Over the course of its existence, the Cup has had its share of crazy stories, from being drop-kicked into a lake, to being defecated in, even to being used as a pyre.  But it was in 2010 when Lord Stanley's Cup really learned how to party.  Once the Hawks touched down, they did what any group of hyped-up sleep-deprived twenty-somethings would do.  They went out and PARTIED.  Over the course of the next 24 hours, the Cup went on a Bar Crawl like no other, going from bar to bar, being posed with by various patrons and what not.

     But then came Friday, and the parade.  The team started out from the United Center in  buses and then wound their way downtown for the rally that took place not too far away from Pioneer Court(over by Jack Brickhouse, Tribune Tower, and the former home of Marilyn).  Meanwhile, up on the North Side, the Cubs were starting off a tilt with the White Sox in their first crosstown matchup since the contest was renamed the BP Cup(in yet another display of terrible timing) This was the scene of the city on that joyous day, and with any luck, we will soon be in the promised land again.

Day 168: UIC/Halsted

     In 1895, the Metropolitan West Side El erected a station at Halsted Street in Greektown. However, the station was demolished in the 1950s to allow for the construction of the Congress Superhighway(aka the Eisenhower Expressway), which had first been announced at the 1950 Chicago Auto Show. This building project allowed the CTA to embark upon an ambitious new plan: putting a grade-level track in the median of a highway. One facet of the planning that came into contention was the spacing of the stations along the line. The aldermen wanted more stations along the line, while CTA planners wanted more spaced out stations with bus service to augment the difference. Ultimately, a compromise was reached.

     In February of 1965, the University of Illinois opened up a campus in Chicago(which we know of today as UIC), which changed the mission of the station dramatically. To accommodate for the fact that the station now served more students than any other group, an alternate entrance was constructed at Peoria Street. Through the 90s, not much changed, and Peoria was still a part-time entrance. However, in 1995, the station's entrance hours ere expanded as part of a pilot program that wound up being quite successful. In 2000, the station was adopted by the local community and received several new murals painted by Gallery 37 students.

     In April of 2000, the entrance off of Morgan Street was closed for five months in order to make the station more handicapped accessible. The result of this renovation was a much better facility for those with accessible needs and a ramp that was up to standards, as well as new ticket vending machines for the entrance. Over the course of the next year, the same process was repeated on the other two entrances so that they were all accessible. At the same time, renovations were going on at the Peoria entrance. At the end of it, Peoria had new signs and everything. Another quirk of the Peoria entrance is that it features one of the few head houses where commuters  wait inside for the trains.  Later on, the station changed yet again when it received new and updated indicator signs.

Museum Focus Week: The Field Museum

     As the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition was winding down, the State of Illinois created the Columbian Museum of Chicago, which was incorporated to further the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science and history".  But the state had a problem.  Just where would they put this magnificent new museum?  As the fair was winding down, the former buildings were being opened up for usage.  Most of the structures were built to be temporary and started to fall apart.  Others were initially recommended for preservation but were destroyed by a fire in 1894.(this is of course, in addition to the 1896 fire that destroyed the original Republic statue)  However, the Fair's Palace of Fine Arts was a more permanently built structure, so the nascent museum moved in.  In 1894, the museum's name was changed to the Field Columbian Museum in recognition of Marshall Field, who supported the institution through earnings from his trail-blazing department store.  By 1905 the name had been changed once again to the Field Museum of Natural History so as to better define the mission of the institution.

     In 1921 the museum decided to move to a more permanent home, so a new venue was constructed on the south end of Grant Park(somewhat close to where the Illinois Central Railroad had their tracks leading into the city).  When they left the Palace building, the place fell into disuse for several years, before ultimately becoming the home of the Museum of Science and Industry(which exhibits [among other things] the Pioneer Zephyr, the U-505 Submarine, and the largest airplane to ever land at Meigs Field).  But that's another story.  When the Field Museum left the South Side, it was to move into a brand new building built by the architectural firm of Daniel Burnham.  So in 1921, the Field Museum of Natural History opened up its doors at its present location.

     One hallmark of the museums early years was its trailblazing efforts in the field of taxidermy.  This expertise came from the Museum's association with pioneering taxidermist Carl Akeley.  All sorts of artifacts were stuffed, including donated specimens from local institutions, as well as specimens that had been collected in the wild.  The primary person leading these ventures was Akeley.  The premade dioramas that Akeley designed for the Field were some of the first ones ever made for a museum.  As far as the wild specimens go, Akeley took several trips to Africa so that he could personally collect the animals.  Over the course of his travels, Akeley realized that gorillas should be protected, and devoted the rest of his life to the creation of nature preserves so that they would be safe in their natural habitat.  One more item of note on Akeley and his legacy of taxidermy.  When Bushman the Gorilla died at the Lincoln Park Zoo on January 1, 1951, the Zoo decided to send his body down to the Field in order to be preserved and ensure that Bushman's story was told into the 21st Century and beyond.

     Another hallmark of the Museum's early years was its role in the study of Ancient Egypt.  In 1894, Edward Ayer(the first President of the Field) went on a trip to Egypt and purchased an ancient mummy, as well as 250 other artifacts from that mysterious land, and that formed the basis of the Field's relationship with Egyptology.  Fast forward to 1908, and while the Cubs were busy winning their second World Series in a row, the Field purchased a chamber from the tomb of Unis-Ankh, an Egyptian who lived(and died) some 5,000 years ago.  That tomb was eventually incorporated with some fabricated chambers of a more recent vintage into the main museum as part of a larger exhibit on Egypt.  Another note on Egyptology at the Field: In 1951, scientists were perfecting the art of Carbon-14 dating, which was at that time a new method to ascertain how old objects are.  One of the many Egyptian artifacts in the Field's collection was a piece of wood that experts knew to be from 1850 BC, so if the C-14 dated it to that time frame, the test would be proven accurate.  The test proved to be correct, and Carbon dating is a method that is still used in the field of archaeology to this day.  And of course, this section would be incomplete without pausing to mention the 3 times that the artifacts of King Tut came to the museum(in 1962, 1977, and 2006)  These 3 visits will be explored more in-depth in a later entry.

     Some of Field's other highlights include a display of rare stones and minerals, many more preserved specimens, a gallery donated by the Rice Family, and the Evolving Planet exhibit.  This exhibit started out its life known as Life over Time.  The exhibit contained numerous galleries detailing the evolution of life on the planet earth, culminating in the centerpiece of the exhibit, a large hall of dinosaurs, which displays all sorts of dinos from their genesis to their extinction.  The exhibit then goes on to tell the story of life after dinosaurs all the way to the present day.  Several years ago, the exhibit was renovated and renamed Evolving Planet, though the main gist of the exhibit was still maintained.  One of the biggest changes in the museum's history cam in 1998, with the addition of the Museum Campus.  Now the Field was part of a large park directly on the lakefront, putting it within walking distance of both the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium(and its Man with Fish statue) as well as Another Thought and Kelpies(to give two examples)

     Other than that, the biggest draw that the museum has is Sue.  Sue is the largest intact T-Rex fossil ever discovered, coming in at almost 90 Percent complete.  In 2011, the Field's lower-level bathroom won an award for "Best Bathroom"(I am being completely serious.)  Recent times have seen the Museum falling on some hard times economically, due to mismanagement of the museum's funds and outspending their budget to fund additions and special exhibits.  Regardless of their current troubles though, the Field Museum still endures as the preeminent natural history museum in Chicago, and looks to educate us all for generations to come.

Day 107: Pink and Painted-The 18th St. Station

     When the city's first rail lines were put into use in the late 19th Century, the elevated system stretched pretty much  as far as it does now, and that included a stop at 18th Street west of the city.  When the stop was first built, it featured a rectangular head house with ticketing utilities and the like, and then the actual platform was located above the house, as with most other El stations.  The station's architecture existed as an early blend of Craftsman and Prairie School styles, what with the dark brick and stone bases/corners.  This fusion of styles was oddly ahead of its time, as it would be at least another five years before these designs would start to pop up in the designs of other transit stations.  Beyond the exterior, the station was filled out with turnstiles, a booth, and walls most likely made of plaster amid decorative wooden moldings.  Once you left the head house, you went up a spiral staircase to a mid-level mezzanine, where you could at that point choose to either head north or south on the train.  As was the head house, the railings also had numerous decorative touches to them that helped to liven things up.  The platforms were pretty much the same as any other platform you'd see: wooden floors, enclosed waiting areas, and lights up above for when it got dark.

     For the next century, the station stayed that way pretty much, with not too many changes.  Then in the early 1990s, the station was torn apart and replaced with a new steel and concrete facility, typical of the El style prevalent throughout the '80s and '90s.  The interior was transformed into a steel/metal hybrid that was geared towards efficiency, with an entire row of turnstiles, plus fare card machines and a booth for a ticket agent.  The platform was completely redone with much more space for both waiting for and boarding trains, as well as better protection from the elements. All of these renovations were done by 1993, and the station was dedicated on May 10, 1993.

     But without a doubt the most unique thing about this station is the fact that it has artwork featured all throughout its walls.  Very soon after the station reopened in 1993, there was a mosaic mural installed on the exterior of the east entrance to the station which celebrates the role of women in Mexican history.  Local artist Francisco Mendoza assisted 20 youths from the Mexican Fine Arts Center's youth program in assembling the mural. Five years later, Mendoza was called upon once again to create some art, this time with assistance from Gallery 37(the city-run youth art program). Their directive this time was simple: to take any solid surface that they could find, and paint it. They painted the stairwells, the steps, the lower panels on the side walls, EVERYTHING.  What they were left with at the end of it was a tableau of art depicting the history of the community, and the contributions of Mexican roots to that community.

     Speaking of community, a little blurb on that for a second.  The 18th Street station finds itself in Chicago's Pilsen community.  Now originally, it attracted a large Bohemian contingent in the aftermath of the Chicago Fire. This is where the name Pilsen comes from, as it was the largest city in Bohemia(roughly where the Czech Republic is on today's maps) at the time. Over the years, demographics have changed, and now Pilsen is the largest Hispanic community in the city, with the 18th Station serving to always pay tribute to those roots.