Utopia

32 Taps, No Waiting

A Little Hideaway

At a stoplight or two east of the Napping Cat (the last post) is this hanging sculpture. My imagination runs wild and I decide that it marks the entrance to some ultra-secret club for off-duty secret agents and spies. (Yeah, 'cause there are so many secret agents running around the streets of Chicago that they need their own ultra-secret club. Gotta stop watching those James Bond marathons ;) )

A Little Nap

Found this little cat taking a nap on west Grand Avenue.

Twisty Twirly

This sculpture is located at the intersection of Grand and Western Avenues in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago.

It's official name is Episodic and it is by a Chicago artist named Josh Garber. It is made from old street light poles. As you walk around it, the overlapping pipes form frames for the rather industrial area around it - something you don't really get a chance to notice when you drive by it.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Found this mural in the Wicker Park area of the West Town neighborhood. The saying translates to "Nothing But the Best is Good Enough". It is a bright, colorful mural that was fun to see in the midst of a snowstorm. But, I don't quite get the connection between Mike Ditka and the cartoon penguin.

A Few Good Tanks

Just in case one of the suburbs gets any ideas about a land grab, Chicago is prepared. We have a tank. Actually, I think we have a few tanks scattered around the city.

This particular one is in Smith Park in the West Town neighborhood. One of the things I like about doing this blog and researching the pictures is finding little tidbits of fun information. Smith Park, it seems, used to be a quarry. Then it was converted to a city dump. Then it was filled in and turned into Smith Park. (I knew about the tank. Somehow "the tank on Grand" is one of those things you just know about. Although admittedly you don't always know the exact location.)

NAB

The North Avenue Baths building in the Wicker Park neighborhood dates back to the 1920s when, apparently, public baths and steam rooms were the place for big shots to do their wheeling and dealing. The building now houses a seafood-focused restaurant, where, surely, some wheeling and dealing occurs over business dinners. The monogrammed terracotta facade remains as a reminder of its origins.

The NAB monogram for
the North Avenue Baths

More detail of the North Avenue Baths building facade

Looking straight up the building

Hubbard Street Murals

One of the Hubbard Street Murals in Chicago.

Fancy Trimmings

I like older buildings. There's always some fancy trimming, to give it some personality, that you don't see on the new sleek glass and steel structures. And sometimes they have names, too. Someone was so confident that the business was going to be there forever that he/she had the name permanently applied to the building.

This building is in the West Town neighborhood. I couldn't find anything about this particular business using my old standby Google. I did find some sort of archive-type document that made several references to Chicago and also stated that "Mr. M. Houlberg, who is a painter by profession, was elected president" of the Dania Society (which seems to be a Danish fellowship organization) in December, 1900. Perhaps the two were the same.

It is also interesting (possibly ironic, though the correct usage of that word has confused me since the Alanis Morissette song) that the current business in this building is a salon of sorts. So M. Houlberg was right: the building is still in the painting and decorating business.

Urban Sunset

Heading west on Division Street in the West Town neighborhood.
I liked the way the sunset took over the sky and the street with shades of color ranging from apricot to red-orange.

Super Size Me

I'll be interested to see what grows in THIS flower pot, which is located in the Noble Square area of Chicago's West Town neighborhood.