Hayward

It's time for a Navy Pier Renovation and expansion! I stop on by once and awhile to buy a gyro that maybe costs twice as much, and check on things....lookin a bit 90's up in that place. in the time I've visited the pier since it opened to tourists, it's been added onto so many times, to the point it's looking a bit disorganized. Maybe the messy atmosphere is a good thing, but it's a bit stressful at the same time. Anyway, here's a good article: Pier Review: How the historic pier morphed into a crowded, overpriced mess http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/248049/pier-review

A story was posted about a gantry sign that is repeated for several miles on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago that is wrong, and has been for many years. I noticed it awhile back, but figured there was something maybe I didn't know or misunderstood...but no...it's just wrong and probably never will be fixed. It probably shouldn't even be changed to Cermak, but something more recognizable like Chinatown, I-55, or LSD Connector. The Dan Ryan needs a signage overhaul in general to remove some of control cities and states that are misleading. http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/unknown-chicago/2011/03/big-lies-on-the-dan-ryan.html Has this happened in Ohio? I know in Michigan there was a misspelling once, but they fixed that pretty quick.

Yeah I'm happy they are keeping it. I was worried it would get torn down, but it's definitely part of Oldtown's history. Hopefully nearby residents don't complain about the height of the buildings, since the area along Wells doesn't really get taller than 7 stories.

Wow chill, I rode my bike like 20 feet on the sidewalk along the curb. That's like 0.3% of my entire journey. Unless you are complaining about the gangway, which is private property and really under no restrictions. Riding a bike on the sidewalks is not recommended when pedestrians are present, but it's only illegal where signs are posted. The one-way thing is my own risk I choose to take. It's permitted in this city, and I highly doubt after 2 years of commuting people will stick to walking their bike those couple of blocks, especially when it's in front of where you live. The only person breaking a law was the taxi driver that ran the red light. Regardless, I don't regularly ride on sidewalks, just occasionally to get around something and when people aren't present. It's not my purpose to make people feel uncomfortable or annoyed.

Anyone know a good bike ipod attachment? This is unacceptable (attached to my coat) I wanna make some good videos. The ones people have of Chicago on youtube look like terrible 90's family videos. Crappy vid I made leaving for work http://flickr.com/gp/ifmuth/j801os

Seeing that kind of makes me miss architecture school. Staying up late in studio, building models and stuff. The deadlines almost seem so meaningless back then. Thanks for resurrecting this thread, I enjoyed seeing my post back in 2008.

$500,000 house in Chicago to $200,000 in just 3 years. Foreclosed property. I'm sure MTS would enjoy this fixer upper, where is he Actually maybe I'll take a look at it tomorrow.

Wow rob, happy to hear you made it. What a scary thing it would be to know your options are limited. But here you are back at it in life. Thanks for the responses guys. It hasn't quite set in yet. I never got to see my grandmother much. I was lucky if maybe twice a year. She lived up in Calumet, MI, and moved to Minneapolis only a year ago. The time it took to get to Calumet from Ann Arbor, MI was far longer than driving to New York City. So the gaps in geography made it very hard to visit. It's difficult to think, "wow, she's gone." I've been going to work, and going out after if nothing's even happened. When we have a family reunion this summer, I'm sure that's moment it will all sink in. Anyway, sorry to dim the tone a bit in this thread.

That's very interesting about the double wall and it makes a ton of practical sense. Exploring these places would be awesome

Word. My grandmother just died yesterday of cancer. No idea she had it until a checkup a couple weeks ago. During then she was going about life healthy and normal.

I love that basically everywhere in downtown Chicago there is free and fast wireless Internet. The people here in this doctors waiting room look really bored.

LOL. I called it Marshall Fields for awhile as well, but then it wore off. It's just quicker to say Macy's. Some native Chicagoan's complain to me about that, but I don't care. Marshall Field swallowed up Hudson's which was an excellent department store chain. How can I have any sympathy? Anyways, I like the food court on the 7th floor. The noodle place is good. That rice and pork dish was actually quite filling.

My girlfriend and I took it easy valentines day. We aren't fancy. We just sat down at Argo Coffee and Tea and I helped her study for the bar exam. Everyone around us was dressed up all fancy going to pricey restaurants. So yeah we were both moderately annoyed. Though we both work, we figured there's no sense in spending a ton of money of Valentines

Messing around with the itouch at lunch this past Thursday Lunch at Macy's on State

^ Totally agree. I just wish the streets weren't wet here. I don't have a fender so I'd get covered in nasty water. The planning commission approved the Navy Pier Flyover today, unfortunately construction won't begin for another year.

Most of those were done by nofunk, who is a member here on urbanohio. He is working on a model of Carew Tower as well

The building has seen minimal repairs to at least keep it stabilized. It also helped that most doors had steel plates welded over top to keep intruders out.

I stopped playing SimCity 4 in 2004. But I continued making models for the game to learn 3D Studio Max. Unfortunately I never finished most of them. I lent the game to someone eventually but forgot to ask for it back. I then bought the combined package at Best Buy last spring, but never cracked the package open. Left it at work in my desk, and now I can't find it. BAH! Here's a building I made for the game, but never got around to texturing. I should really finish it. It's JL Hudsons in Detroit (now demolished)

I've heard it more as a way for a city to avoid liabilities. Cities don't want to be responsible for someone else's actions. It's one of those cases where if a person gets hit by a cyclist because they were riding on the sidewalk, someone at least needs to get a ticket for being reckless. Otherwise without the ordinance, people will get off free while the person is laying injured on the sidewalk. Despite that I see people skateboard around on Chicago's sidewalks all the time (which is permitted), I find that highly inconvenient, and stick to longboarding in the streets....though Longboarding and skateboarding on Michigan Ave driving lanes isn't allowed because of traffic congestion.

A recent link was posted on another site of some urban explorer photos in Chicago's Uptown Theater. The 4,381 seat theater is about 7 miles North of the Chicago Loop. As of this day, the theater has been abandoned for 30 years. It was recently purchased by a company with experience in renovating and restoring theaters into successful venues, and owners are in the process of securing financing for the $40 million it will take to restore it. In the meantime, portions of the historic facade were put into storage to prevent damage and will be returned when restoration work begins. http://www.undercity.org/Chicago_UptownTheater_GALLERY/index.html

I was expecting a comment on Church's chicken or something. He ALMOST got it in one of the photos.

Okay I need to check out Fort Wayne

Nice. I haven't been in the DIA forever. I need to go back and check it out. There's days I really miss Detroit, this is one of them.

My commute is about get alot easier. Chicago is getting closer to building a new elevated bike and pedestrian trail. It gives me hope for cities looking to build more advanced recreational trails beyond some asphalt and a stripe of paint. Image Source ChicagoJournal.com Project Name: Navy Pier Flyover Length: 2,500 linear feet (self measured) Cost: $40,000,000.00 Fair-Weather usage: 30,000 people a day Access: Pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles Approvals: Requires Planning Commission Approval to begin construction Funding: Funding goals met and received Description: This project will replace a section of the lakefront trail known as the Navy Pier Bypass. The Navy Pier Bypass is an alternative route to a loop of the trail that extends out towards the pier, but then reunites just a block later. The result is a mingling of tourists, cyclists, joggers, and walkers that has created congestion, confusion, and often time accidents. Additionally, the existing route follows a modified sidewalk that is well over capacity and has narrow clearances. Support columns carrying the upper deck of Lakeshore Drive create obstructions on the trail below and require clever navigation for cyclists. While many cyclists have become accustomed to passing people and bridge columns with just a couple inches of breathing room, many pedestrians feel uncomfortable passing through the area. This stretch is also responsible for many bicycle traffic backups on warmer weather days. Since the lakefront trail must provide detours during construction, a vehicular traffic lane must be shut down during maintenance which requires barricades to be brought in. The new project would add additional lanes and provide wider clearances. An elevated merge point would eliminate T-intersections and provide more visibility where the Navy Pier extension reunites. Since most pedestrian traffic to Navy Pier is at street level, it will provide a nice grade-separated thru-way to cyclists and joggers without having to mingle within crowds of tourists. The route will tunnel through the existing LSD bridge towers which are no longer in service, to accommodate the additional lanes. It would hopefully reduce the number of injuries. From personal experience I can say the existing trail is very dangerous. My bike tire hit a wet spot navigating around one of the columns and I broke my head open, and now have a nasty permanent scar to show for it. That said, I hope this project can begin construction soon. Photo of route closure detour by Steven Vance / flickr Other parts of the route are seeing substatnial upgrades. The older and narrower asphalt Southside leg meets the upgraded, wider, concrete downtown section. Photo source: me The crosswalks were eliminated and replaced with an underpass beneath solidarity drive Photo source: reallyboring / flickr

Me with glazed look And at work