Askew

Symmetry V

Belmont CTA Station

Danger Danger

I always thought this went without saying but I guess you do have to say it.

Workin' on the Railroad

They've been working on the Railroad

All the live long day

(at least it felt that way because the train has to go through the work area verrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy slowly.)

Wired

I just liked the geometric shapes formed by the wires. The odd reflections (including the word Loop) are the result of taking the photo through the window on the Brown Line.

Harrison Haiku

I've mentioned before that most of the CTA el stations have some type of public art installation. At the Harrison Stop on the Red Line, this art is in the form of haikus written by students in Columbia College's Creative Writing Poetry program and students from the nearby Jones College Prep School.

This particular haiku seems to indicate that the Cubs vs. Sox is not the only North Side/South Side rivalry in Chicago. (The Clark and Lake stop is on the North Side; the Harrison stop is on the South Side.)

Moving

Guess you can only cross your fingers and snap the shutter when you're in a moving car and capturing a moving train.

Train Tracks

I'd never noticed that the door pulls on the Kimball station of the Brown Line have little train tracks on them. It appears that they kept these unique door pulls even after they renovated the rest of the station.

A Real Green House

This is the Ashland stop on the Green (and Pink) CTA lines. It's one of the oldest stations in the CTA system and certainly a unique one. It seems that there were four stations built in a Queen Anne style. Only two remain, this one (in its original location) and the station at the Garfield Park Conservatory/Central Park el stop (which was relocated from the Homan Avenue stop).

That Banner

I've always wondered about this big banner that hangs on a building in the Near North Side neighborhood. It is a list of names (I now know there are 69 names and a blank line).

There were some patterns:

• American Presidents (Lincoln, Washington, Kennedy, Jefferson)
• Religious Figures (Jesus Christ, Dalai Llama, Buddha, Mother Theresa)
• World Politics (Chavez, Mandela, Gorbachev, Biko)
• Historical Women (Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman)
• Creative Types (John Lennon, Ayn Rand, Maya Angelou, Mozart)
• Smart People (Einstein, Socrates, Galileo)

But I could never come up with any real theme. And to make things more confusing, there were some names that I wouldn't necessarily expect to see on the same banner. Jack Kervorkian and Geronimo? Frank Zappa and Henry Thoreau? Rush Limbaugh and Robert Mapplethorpe? And did that blank line mean someone got kicked off the list?

It took a bit of creative Googling but I now know it is The Freedom Wall. It was created by a Chicago artist named Adam Brooks. His goal in creating the banner was to "represent the idea of freedom in all its potential interpretations". He developed the list by getting votes from responses to e-mails, polling surveys, and letters. People with the most "mentions" in the responses got on the banner, which is shown in order of votes/mentions. The blank line isn't someone who was deleted but represents the idea that no one person represents "freedom".

To Boldly Go ...

This is the artsy installation at the Fullerton CTA Station. No sign to help identify the piece or the artist. I thought it looked a little like the Starship Enterprise but, after looking up the link, I think it is safer to say it looks like a UFO.

Up on the House Tops

It's hard to take photos from the el. You have to get a window seat (and preferably one of the single seats so your neighboring passenger doesn't wonder about you too much). You have to be on a car that doesn't have those translucent advertising signs over the windows. You have to be on the correct side of the train (constantly changing your seat location just draws attention). But it is a fun challenge. These were taken from the Brown Line. The top one is near Montrose. The bottom one, with the blur is while the train was heading toward the Damen Stop.

Absolute Bus Stop

Knowing that we'll get a lot of visitors downtown during the holiday season, Chicago is pulling out the stops and rolling out the red carpet. Or at least the red chairs. This is the bus stop at State and Madison (also notable as being 0 North/South and 0 East/West, the starting point of our city's grid system). Actually, the chairs are part of a certain vodka company's ad campaign.

One of These Days

I've been meaning to take a photo of this escalator for awhile. It is the escalator at the North and Clybourn stop on the CTA Red Line. I swear it is the narrowest escalator in the CTA system. It's barely 24 inches wide. With a bulky winter coat and any packages, you have to stand sideways. You also have to stand single file on it so you feel trapped when there are a lot of people riding the escalator. On the other hand, it's a good motivator for taking the stairs.

The North and Clybourn station is the one right by the new Apple Store in Chicago. So, I'm betting it gets a full makeover, complete with a wider escalator, soon.

Sepia Line

The Armitage Stop on the Brown Line. Since it was the Brown Line, I did it in sepia-tone ;)

Standing in Line

The artistic touches at the Wellington stop on the CTA Brown Line.

Remind Me!

As the CTA remodels the stations, especially on the Brown Line, it is adding artsy touches to each one. This seems to be the soon-to-be-unveiled art installation at the Diversey El stop. I'll have to remind myself to come back in a few weeks to see it in its full glory. I'm wondering if there is lighting that will better show the shades of red and purple that you can just see in the afternoon sunlight.

Under the El

Don't some of the patterns, created by the sun shining through the el tracks at the Wellington El Stop, look a little like those critters in the old Space Invaders game? I thought so.

Urbs in Horto

You actually have to be at the Brown Line's Library stop to see these decorative sculptures of Ceres and corn that line the walls of the Harold Washington Library. If you look closely at the ribbon under Ceres' face, you can make out the City of Chicago's motto: Urbs in Horto (City in a Garden).

Wish on a ... CTA Card?

This is the little reflecting pool in the Harold Washington Library. I guess people think of it as a wishing well, too, because there is always a large number of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters in it. Somebody apparently wished that the CTA would run on time forever and felt that tossing a CTA fare card in would ensure that the wish came true. (The CTA card is directly left of the drain.)

Oh, it looks like it is a 3 day CTA pass -- guess they only needed on-time service for the weekend.