Wednesday, August 28, 2019
PHOTO - CHICAGO - RANDOLPH STREET STATION - PRUDENTIAL BUILDING IN BACKGROUND - CHICAGO SOUTH SHORE AND SOUTH BEND COMMUTER TRAIN WAITING AT PLATFORM - NOTE: THE RAIL LINE IS OFTEN CALLED "THE SOUTH SHORE LINE" AND ITS OPENING DATES BACK TO 1908 - SOME EARLY COMMUTER LINES SERVING CHICAGO WERE QUITE ADVANCED IN BEING ELECTRIFIED (1926 FOR THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL ("THE IC"), SOMETHING STILL NOT TRUE TODAY FOR SOME INTERURBAN COMMUTER SYSTEMS - 1969 - EDITED FROM UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER
Thursday, August 22, 2019
PHOTO - CHICAGO - (REPOSTED) - STATE STREET - CHRISTMAS SEASON - CHICAGO THEATER AND SURROUNDINGS - BOB ELFMAN SANDWICH SHOP - THE DOG HOUSE - PULLMAN STREETCAR IN FRONT - ELEVATED VIEW LOOKING SE - NOTE THAT THEY STILL HAD STAGE SHOWS WITH A MOVIE AT THIS TIME - HERE IT'S DUKE ELLINGTON AND SARAH VAUGHN (WOW!) - NOTE TELENEWS THEATER (ONLY NEWSREELS) ON RIGHT EDGE - THIS BECAME THE LOOP MOVIE THEATER - 1951 - EDITED FROM A HAROLD BEACH IMAGE
PHOTO - CHICAGO - AERIAL PANORAMA OF PART OF WICKER PARK NEIGHBORHOOD WITH RAPID TRANSIT TRAIN ON ELEVATED STRUCTURE OVER UNKNOWN SHOPPING STREET - DOWNTOWN SKYLINE IN DISTANCE - EARLY EVENING - I DO NOT KNOW WICKER PARK FOR EXACT LOCATION - JUST A WONDERFUL URBAN IMAGE - 2012 - EDITED FROM AN UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER - HELPFUL READER COMMENT SAYS THIS IS NORTH AVE LOOKING TOWARDS MILWAUKEE
PHOTO - CHICAGO - STATE STREET AT WASHINGTON - SLIGHTLY ELEVATED VIEW - VERY BIG CROWD - LOOKS LIKE CHRISTMAS SEASON BUT THE DECORATIONS ON THE TOP OF POLE LEFT OF CENTER ARE RATHER SUBDUED - MARSHALL FIELD'S ON LEFT - DOUBLE-DECKER BUS CHICAGO MOTOR COACH COMPANY ON RIGHT - WALGREENS DRUGSTORE IN DISTANCE - 1940s - EDITED FROM AN UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER
CHICAGO - PHOTO - CHICAGO - COMMERCIAL BUILDING ON SE CORNER OF 71ST STREET AND BENNETT AVE SOUTH SHORE NEIGHBORHOOD - AN ELABORATE PEDIMENT STRUCTURE WITH THE BUILDING'S DATE FROM THE HEYDAY OF CHICAGO'S BRICK AND TERRA COTTA TRIM BUILDINGS - NOTE: BRICK AND TERRACOTTA CONSTRUCTION FEATURED IN A GREAT MANY OF THE CITY'S NEIGHBORHOOD APARTMENT BUILDINGS AND SHOPPING STREET STORES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND MOVIE THEATERS OF THE 1920s - THERE IS ALSO A SMALLER BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTO YOU CAN FIND ON THE SITE SHOWING THE ENTIRE BUILDING - EDITED FROM AN IMAGE BY DEBBIE MERCER - IMAGE DATE UNKNOWN
PHOTO - CHICAGO - JEFFERY THEATER - 1952 E 71 ST SOUTH SHORE NEIGHBORHOOD - AUDITORIUM INTERIOR - A WONDERFUL FIND - WE ALREADY HAVE A LOBBY PHOTO OF THE JEFFERY ON THE SITE - NOTE: THE AVALON WAS MY FAVORITE OF OUR LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD "MOVIE PALACES" BUT THE JEFFERY WAS A CLOSE SECOND - JUST A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE GOING TO ONE OF THESE PLACES FOR A DOUBLE FEATURE AND GETTING A BIG CONTAINER OF FRESHLY-POPPED BUTTERED POPCORN (THE BUTTER MELTED, THE REAL STUFF, DRIZZLED ON AND IF YOU WANTED MORE YOU ONLY HAD TO ASK) - THE THEATER LOBBIES ALWAYS HAD BIG POPPING MACHINES ATTENDED AT THE CANDY COUNTER AND YOU COULD HEAR IT AND SMELL IT AS NEW BATCHES WERE PERIODICALLY MADE - MAYBE YOU WOULD ALSO HAVE A CANDY BAR OF WHICH THERE WAS A HUGE CHOICE IN THOSE DAYS - THE ATMOSPHERE WITH HIGHLY THEATRICAL LIGHTING AND ROMANTIC ARCHITECTURE WAS SO EXCITING AND MYSTERIOUS MAKING "GOING TO THE MOVIES" A SPECIAL EVENT - THE CITY HAD A LARGE NUMBER OF SUCH THEATERS (PLUS MANY MORE MODEST ONES) BOTH DOWNTOWN AND IN NEIGHBORHOODS SO IT WAS POSSIBLE TO HAVE QUITE A CHOICE OF THE "SHOW" YOU WERE GOING TO SEE AT ANY TIME - TRULY LIKE NOTHING AROUND TODAY - THE MOVIE MULTIPLEXES TODAY ARE PRETTY STERILE-LOOKING BY COMPARISON WITH NO ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERE OR LIGHTING AND GENERALLY HAVE A SINGLE MOVIE PLUS TONS OF ADS (THERE WERE NONE TO SPEAK OF IN THE 1950s AND 1960s EXCEPT A PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK'S SHOW) - THE POPCORN ISN'T EVEN FRESHLY-POPPED NOW (GENERALLY PRE-POPPED IN BAGS, OFTEN RATHER DRY AND STALE) - ARCHITECTURAL PHOTO LIKELY DATES TO OPENING AS A VAUDEVILLE THEATER IN 1924
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