My Kinda Town

Summer is just around the corner, and I can't wait to rediscover this beautiful city of mine...I've lived here for 5 years, and I still haven't gone up to the top of the Sears Tower, or the John Hancock Building, for that matter. And I work there.


On the brightest day, you can see for miles from atop the building, all the way across the lake to Michigan. Why would I want to look at Michigan..hahaha..just kidding.

One of my favorite spots in the city is The Crown Fountain in Millenium Park, designed by Jaume Plensa... a sculpture which is basically two giant fountains with video images of Chicago citizens, flanking a shallow reflecting pool.. I love to sit on a bench nearby and watch kids running around in the water, just being kids. Great place to be on a hot summer day.




Hahaha...this is the best part, when every 15 minutes the video images would open their mouths and water would spout out...kids would go wild....


I love this photo of the Art Institute lion...Go Bears!!! (Not Go Lions!). That reminds me...I have to go to the Art Institute more often this summer..I miss lurking around the Miniature Rooms...how do they build all that teeny tiny furniture...That sets my imagination off..of tiny people living in those scaled-down spaces, only coming out at night when the place is deserted..hahaha I'm crazy...




The picture above is of an English Drawing Room at The Thorne Rooms (aka miniature rooms), the scale is 1 inch = 1 foot...I am not kidding...amazing workmanship, down to the smallest details..

I live in a neighborhood called Pilsen...a mostly Mexican neighborhood, but it's being crowded out by the encroaching gentrification..condos galore, springing up like wild mushrooms after the rain. It's a nice enough neighborhood, cheap rent, good restaurants, a first-class Mexican Art Museum is located here, art galleries galore, and thrift stores....we could do without the gangs though. It's cheap enough that students and struggling artists could afford to live here, but for how much longer...

A view from the corner of 18th Street and Blue Island..check out the giant that is the Sears Tower. I catch the bus here to get downtown..and from there I take the train everywhere in the city, it just costs $2.00. Or $20 for a weekly pass. No driving in this city, eh...too expensive. The CTA is the way to go.

This is a photo of an Orange Line train going towards downtown Chicago...that's the Sears Tower on the right and the slightly shorter building on the left is the John Hancock Tower (where I work).

A shot of my street...Mexican restaurants, Mexican grocery stores, the odd cafe, art galleries, corner stores, florist, just perfect. Except for the old drunks lurking outside at all hours of the day leering at young girls, gangbangers and hookers. Cop cars cruise this street every night...


This is a park close to Navy Pier, really beautiful in the summertime. Someone said that Oprah lives in that curvy building (you can't mention Chicago without mentioning Oprah... uh huh). But she doesn't live there.

But of course, there's more to Chicago than Oprah. There's this documentary on PBS that I really love where the host goes on a tour of Chicago by boat and describes the history and stories of the most amazing architectural elements of this amazing town. Chicago has it all, the best restaurants, world-class museums, beautiful parks, THE LAKEFRONT, thriving nightlife, those great water towers that are now abandoned but still look beautiful against the skyline, diverse people, everything you'd want in a city. I don't think I'd want to live anywhere else...Good ol' Chicago.




Next time I'll post this amazing shot of the skyline at night seen from the lake...just takes your breath away...But for now, I bid you adieu...


PS: Photos by JABrooks.