Historical Entrances

This is the entrance to the London Guarantee Building which is now called the Crain Communications Building. Since it was built on part of the site of Fort Dearborn (about 64 years afterwards), its entranceway has a bronze relief of the fort.

Riverwalk Murals

Today we're back down to the Chicago Riverwalk. The passage under Lake Shore Drive has 28 large painted tile murals by artist Ellen Lanyon. They present the history and significant events of Chicago.

This one focuses on the Museum Campus and Buckingham Fountain. There are postcard-like illustrations of the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium, which make up the Museum Campus. There is also a short description of the 1909 Burnham Plan, which preserved the lake front for parks, monuments, and museums. If you look very closely, it also has a subtle outline of the original lake front shoreline in the background.

100 and Counting

This is my 100th Daily Chicago Photo post! Thank you to everyone who looks at these posts and thanks for all the great comments that make me feel so artistic!

Enough of that! On to the photo ...

Along the Chicago Riverwalk, below Lake Shore Drive is a tunnel with 28 large painted tile murals by artist Ellen Lanyon that present the history and significant events of Chicago. Each mural is a composite of mini-scenes that are part of Chicago's history. There are so many different references in each that you're bound to notice something new each time you look at a mural.

This one, for example, has the Marshall Field Clock in silhouette, the Art Institute Lions, the River boat traffic, part of the base of the "it-will-always-be-called" Sears Tower, and some peregrine falcons. What I only recently noticed was the mini-blizzard scene in the middle left section.

Not Only the River

It's not just the Chicago River that turns green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Building a Mystery

They're not building a mystery -- they're building a river walk. Or, rather extending the river walk. You could walk/run/bike along the river from the lakefront to Michigan Avenue but then you had to climb stairs, cross Michigan, and descend stairs to continue (and then do that again at Wabash). Now they are working on creating "under-bridges" with the long-term goal to have the river walk run to State Street. To do this, they have to create a walkway. Here, they are filling in the planned path with gravel shipped in on a large barge.

A Different Sign of Spring

A couple of days ago I posted a photo of a city work crew filling potholes. The potholes they filled are holding up but they didn't seem to get to this obstacle course yet. This is on Wacker just after you exit from Lake Shore Drive. Cars have to swerve a little to straddle the caverns.

It's a different kind of sign of Spring.

Follow-up Note: I saw city crews fixing these holes on Saturday morning.

A Losing Battle?

Trying to get ahead of the growing pothole problem, these city workers were out on Wacker Drive filling some small craters. Back in early February, there were about 4,500 still-unfilled potholes in the city's Pothole Information System. But that was before the February Thaw and February Freeze that probably created a "hole" lot more.

Many Paths and Passages

Today is THEME DAY. I've never participated before because (1) there was only one theme day I could have participated in since I started this blog and (2) I didn't know the registration process. CityDailyPhoto has made the registration process easier so here is my first Theme Day picture.

February's Theme is Paths and Passages. I selected this photo because it has so many paths and passages in it. There are the obvious streets, in this case Wells and Wacker, which allow passage through the city. There is also the bridge, which allows passage over the Chicago River. The bridge has a sidewalk, providing people a safe path across the bridge without worrying about getting in the way of the vehicles. The Chicago River is the path between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River (via the Sanitary and Ship Canal, DesPlaines River, and Illinois River). Lastly, there is Lower Wacker Drive, the secret speedy path under the city for intrepid and impatient drivers.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants