PUBLIC ART IN CHICAGO # 3 ENTRANCE SCULPTURE

On Saturday, September 27, I combined my bus route tours with the public art list. This one is surely one of the most obscure public art objects I have encountered. Located at 2214 East 69th Street, in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, it was created in 1916 by Alfonso Iannelli for the Kenna Apartments then being constructed, so called because it was a man named Kenna who had them built. This is the very same artist who created the widely known image of the Prudential Rock.



As you can see from the pictures, the man and woman are situated on each side of the rather hidden entrance, and are turned away from each other, which is not, in my humble opinion, in any way "warmly, touchingly domestic", as Alan Artner of The Chicago Tribune says in his on-line listing. How anyone ever found these is a wonder in the first place. The man faces the open side, the air and light, holding something which is not now recognizable. The gardener said they are made of sandstone and very difficult to keep up. Especially as they face south. The woman faces inward, into the corner. The style, I think although I am certainly no expert, is Art Noveau. They are indeed beautiful, but so lost way down here in this very obscure corner of the city.
And I could not help but put up a few pictures of the building itself. In the last picture, if you look close at the very bottom left, you can see the entrance and a bit of the sculpture. The other picture shows detail of the brick work, and highly ornate window frames, black iron, I think.

If you are at all interested in architecture, this building is on Chicago"s Landmark Buildings list.

CHICAGO PUBLIC ART - #2 - BISON 1909

It is difficult to see in this picture, but the bison, by Edward Kemeys, the very same sculptor who did the famous lions
flanking the Chicago Art Institute, are at the extreme ends of the photo. Those lions were created in 1894; these in 1909, and I much prefer these.















They are in Humboldt Park, closer to the Division Street end. Hence the ice cream vendor taking a break, who didn't seem to mind me snapping away.
A very cursory first glance would lead you to believe that they are the same. Not so. Not so at all. This picture, the bison on the south end of this little garden, is most definitely male, totally anatomically correct. His face is much broader and his stance ready to charge.




























Above left, the female bison, preferred by the vendor. In a prim lady-like stance. Legs together. Her face is much narrower than the male's.




























The left photo above is the male; his eyes are bulging out, but if you look closely at the female face, her eyes are turned inward. Interesting. They are bronze, and the noses, I suspect, have been rubbed by many generations.

But I can't help but think that the female has a rather sad expression, as if she sees that she can never produce enough to keep up with man's slaughter of her kind.

If you want to see real bison on the hoof, go to Fermi Lab in Batavia. They have an honest-to-god herd in pasture out there.

It turned out to be quite the excursion, as my partner in crime wanted to take all buses. We left home at 11:15 am and finally walked back in the door at 4:30, a trip that would not have taken 2 1/2 hours by car. But it was fun. And I never would have ever thought to go to Humboldt Park. There are many other fine sculptures there as well, all important people. So thanks Alan Artner. I look forward to #3.

X3 KING DRIVE EXPRESS

This one involved quite the maneuvering. Because in the morning it only goes north; in the evening only south. Only weekdays. And even though it covers the exact same route as the plain ole #3, I thought a different time and day, even over the same ground, might provide a different experience.

In the evening, which is when I planned to start, it leaves the same ole place right by that Panera, from 3:30pm to 5:55 pm. So I boarded the bus at 4:10. It is nice when you board at the jumping off place, because you have your choice of seats. This was on Monday, Sept. 15th.

This time, for the first time, I noticed an emergency exit, clearly marked, in the roof of the bus right over the ticket stand. I have not seen that on any of the myriad other buses I have been taking. Once again, I was able to take in the beauty of Michigan Avenue with all the flower-filled planters, but, alas, the windows of this bus were fairly dirty, so I did not take many pictures. And express it was, as it just barreled down Boul Mich, scary sometimes, we were so close to other cars and buses.
But let me say right here how much I have come to admire these drivers, their skill in navigating horrendous traffic, and taxis, a bane unto themselves, and always being helpful and courteous. I am sure they answer the same questions over and over, yet they are always patient and polite.

In front of Tiffany's

A note to Tommy Helfinger - whatever made you think that those men's underwear ads in the Michigan Avenue bus shelters were a good idea? They are tasteless at best. Perhaps in a magazine spread, OK, but looming larger than life at the end of the shelter? noooooooooooo

It was a grey, cloudy, threatening evening, and the air was on in the bus. I was cold the whole way. The day after our record-setting rains.

For this express, there were actually less people than on the Sunday afternoon #3. Which did surprise me, this being rush hour and all. I got another chance to gawk at all the nifty benches at the bus stops south of 33rd Street. These must have been some sort of Chicago public art project, as they line both sides of the street for four or five blocks south. (See pictures for the #3 blog)

And if I could only take a running video of all those great mansions lining the boulevard part on Martine Luther King Drive. I never tire of seeing them. Imagining the world they came from. The fancy dresses, the carriages, servants, balls, a world so long gone, For better or worse. You can see the difference in bus windows here. One clean, one dirty.

I noticed this time that at 47th, there are four sculptures, one on each corner, representing jazz music. A sax player, a trumpet player, a guitar player, and a jazz singer with a mike. Worth going to see. And that man on a horse at 51st is definitely George Washington.

Way further down, almost to the end, a very nicely dressed woman got on the bus, sat almost opposite me, with what looked like a file case or CD case on her lap. Black cloth. And proceeded to read out loud the names off of whatever was in this case, mostly I thought current movie titles. Quite out loud. At first I looked for an ear piece for a phone, but no, her hair was short and I could have easily seen one. Bizarre. She only rode for six blocks, tops. Talking all the while. Another woman had on a really cool black leather jacket emblazoned with Betty Boop.

I got to thinking on this ride of how different the world is at Erie and Fairbanks from the world at 95th and MLK Drive. Different color people, different looking buildings (homes rather than high-rises), different buildings (Walgreen's and Popeye's rather than Panera, and all sorts of expensive restaurants). Narrow crowded streets versus a wide intersection. Clean versus littered, the trash can at the bus stop at MLK Drive going north sorely needs some person to empty it. You can't fault the citizens, they do use it, but then the city needs to empty it. All this difference in one bus ride.Houses way down south on MLK Drive.

We arrived at the end of the route at 5:15, which was only 10 minutes shorter than the Sunday ride on the regular #3. I'm not sure I think 10 minutes worthy of being called an "eXpress".

Now here's the kicker. I cannot take an express #3 back, because the north bound ones don't run in the evening. So I took a regular #3 back to 67th, and went east to those relatives to spend the nite, so I can get up ridiculously early get back to MLK Drive, go south to 95th, so I can get an express bus back up north. Silly, huh?
But's that exactly what I did. At the first bus stop before 8. And boarded the #3 express from 95th and MLK Drive at 8:27 am. I stuck my pass in the wrong slot at first, and the very nice driver (didn't I say how nice they all are?) said, "That's OK, they keep moving those things all over the place, so I understand. Don't worry about it." He's right; they do. Sometimes you put it in on the left, sometimes on the right. Why isn't it all the same in every bus?

It was an absolutely breathtaking morning; I was glad I had gotten up and out, although it has been an age since I've been out the door that early. Up yes, dressed and out, probably years. But because it was slightly chilly, the bus had the heat on, and didn't I just sit down right next to the hot heater? Later on, around Michigan Avenue, the air conditioning came on, and I was cold. Go figure.
The bus came so quick, I couldn't get a picture. Sorry. At 79th, at 8:37, the drivers changed. And I noticed for the first time that the driver has a seat belt. Why don't we? A sudden stop, and we're all hurled forward.
This bus was more crowded than yesterday's, but that didn't prevent a woman with a rather large baby buggy getting on and then parking it right in the aisle, almost blocking the entrance on other riders. They had to squeeze past this buggy to get on and off. Surely there is a better way to accomodate these things. They seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days. People were not as nicely dressed as on Sunday, either. Workaday clothes.

And if I thought the bus barreled along yesterday, "you ain't seen nothin' yet baby". I swear it seemed like we were going 50 mph sometimes, although that couldn't possibly be. (I hope)
I saw coming from the other way a bus that said #3 to 81st Street. Now what the heck is that? Where does it start from? It's not listed in my CTA bus guide. Many people at the #3 bus stops on the way north wondered why this bus did not stop for them; they waved and probably hollered, to no avail. But it doesn't stop at every stop between 79th and 18th, and the signs clearly reflect that, if they had only looked, either at the sign, or at the bus title, or both. It just keeps barreling along.

There was never anyone standing though. Only on that Hyde Park Express in the evening were there standees. At that very same corner of 47th Street, I noticed, not for the first time, but it fits with the sculptures, a club named "Jokes and Notes". Clever. On the east side.

A building I like on the east side somewhere.

There is so much for sale along this route, like everywhere else in the city and suburbs right now, fire sales going on all over. (pigeons on the boulevard.)

Unlike the bus going south the nite before, this bus did do that odd one block detour, going north on Indiana instead of Michigan, and then after one block, at 21st, heading west to Michigan. I did look around to see if there was anything in that one block, but nada, no obstruction or construction of any kind. Still odd.
At 1723 South Michigan there is one of the famous Chicago Cows, of which I have a personal picture of each and every one, taken in 1999, their year. This is the construction one, with the hard hat on.
View from inside the bus looking north up Michigan.
Heading up Michigan, in the right hand lane, is truly an experience in terms of jolting and jarring. The poor bus! And winter hasn't even started yet.
Past the Bean, the bandshell that reminds me of nothing so much as a bunch of garbage can lids in the sky. Sorry Gehry. And past an interesting window in the Tribune's McCormick Freedom Museum (I think), big poster that read "When should the needs of many infringe on the rights of one?". "The discussion starts inside." (I never noticed the great lamp poles along Michigan before.
Arrived at the end of the route at 9:30, considerably shorter, but not at the place where the guide says it should end, that is, at Fairbanks and Huron. No, the driver at Michigan and Delaware says this is the end. What? Way north of Huron. But I got off without questioning him. I should have. Walking back to Panera to get some breakfast (I simply cannot eat until a few hours have elapsed after getting up), I distinctly noticed the bus signs on the west side of Fairbanks with #3 express on them. Has something changed? Because the bus would have turned east at Erie to enter a parking garage which allows it to go south for a block, and turn around to head back north. A mystery not to be solved, I fear.

Fourth one down.

Public Art in Chicago # 1 - Another In-Order Adventure

On July 25th, The Trib's Alan Artner, their art critic, published a list on the 10 best outdoor sculptures in our fair city, plus another 10 online. As you know, I love lists, so here is another project, to view all these artworks in chronological order. Some are very familiar, some I never heard of.

First one - Abraham Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1887

This is directly behind The Chicago History Museum at 1601 North Clark Street, just a tad north of North Avenue. There is a really super fountain at the northeast corner, where there is a bus staging. (place where buses start and end their routes) But the statue is down a short walk, around the museum to the back. And it is truly superb, best I've ever seen outside The Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Grand and imposing, with wonderful Art Deco ends to the surrounding stone bench. According to Artner, "A portrait statue so admired internationally that in 1918 the British government approved a copy to stand outside Westminster Abbey"! And gorgeous gardens to boot. Beautiful, all.

CTA BUS ROUTE #3 - KING DRIVE

A friend and I did this on Sunday, September 7. A day kissed by the gods, made you glad to be walking this earth. A leisurely day, not having to catch any rush hour bus, or make any particular connections. I took forty great pictures, mostly from inside the bus, which tells you how clean the windows are, and having to triage them was hard.

We arrived at Fairbanks and Huron, the starting point for #3, and looking at maybe a two to three hour ride, we stopped in the handy Panera right there. I love Panera, never had a bad thing there. (and no, I don't own Panera stock)
I don't know if you can see, but this is a picture of the honorary street name, Siskel and Ebert Way. Peculiarly wonderful, since I am an avid film goer.

We left on the #3 at 1:10 pm, and arrived at 95th and Martin Luther King Drive at 2:25. Not bad especially since the bus was always full of passengers, getting on or off. And we didn't wait five minutes for the northbound bus.

THE ROUTE - north on Huron to Chicago - West on Chicago, past the Museum of Contemporary Art - south on Michigan Avenue, past The Hard Rock Hotel, the Cultural Center, Millenium Park, The Art Institute, all the neat stuff. (And I should note here that the driver was drinking something from a carry-out cup while driving.) The bus turns east on Roosevelt past the Agora torsos, south on Indiana, west on 16th, and south on Michigan again. I cannot explain this odd one-block detour, as the bus followed the exact same pattern going north. What was the point? Is there some obstruction on that one block of Michigan that I can't see from the bus? So, south on Michigan, east on Cermak (22nd Street), then rounding McCormick Place and heading south on Martin Luther King Drive. What a huge complex McCormick place is! And rather ugly if you ask me, which you didn't.

We go past Dunbar Vocational High School and a raft of gorgeous old turn-of-the century homes. Past Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, Corpus Christi Church, fabulous buildings. It being Sunday, lots of cute children boarded the bus in their Sunday finery.

Isn't this building wall fun?

But sadly, many vacant lots too, and littered sidewalks and yards. Please, people, pick up the litter, even if it isn't yours. I do, because I live on a park that is very frequented, and sometimes it looks like a third world country out there. It doesn't cost anything to pick up trash, and you might even get in some stretching and bending.
Around 70th the street turns definitely residential and lovely. Tree-lined, with nice brick bungalows. And all along MLK Drive, lots and lots and lots of churches, all kinds and creeds, but Christian for the most part. Around 85th it takes on the appearance of a suburb, and my friend said it was called Chatham. Lovely. We passed a big park where people were hanging out, playing games, barbequeing, (how do you spell that word?) Sunday afternoon stuff.
End of the line - at Chicago State University

And I remember one guy, sitting on the bus stop bench, but not getting on when we arrived, which was odd, because there was no other bus coming, but I so remember him because of his beautiful light filled eyes. Coming back, on the other side a little ways up, there he was again, sitting in the opposite side bench. Odd.
Same route returning, but now we're on the east side of the bus, and can see just how enormous Washington Park is, stretching from 60th all the way up to 52nd. And now starts the boulevard again and the wonderful brick and stone houses. I noticed only one Jewel on the whole length of this ride, at 33rd Street. We also passed Michael Reese Hospital. Back at Huron and Fairbanks at 3:45 pm.

Another fun wall painted ever so bright!

It was rather uneventful, but delightful. On the north-bound bus, when we reached Chicago, the bus about to turn right, the driver leaned over and said to us (although I didn't know there was nobody behind us, and did not at first realize she was talking to us), "Do you know where you're going?" Because we had gotten on all the way down at 95th and MLK Drive, and stood out like the proverbial sore thumb there. How nice of her. My friend thought she must have noticed that I had been snapping away out the window, and thought maybe we were hopelessly lost tourists. But I told her "Yes, to the end of the line."

Going north - from right across the bus - who is that man on a horse? Later, I found out it's George Washington
Across from MLK Cultural Center, this fabulous sculpture of a sax player.

And on the north and south sides, in an area that I unfortunately didn't mark, there were all these neat benches, quite a few on either side. Funky, huh?

Perceptions - you know, when white suburbanites like myself think about venturing south of 22nd street, we get trepidatious. And how utterly wrong that turned out to be. What wonderful sights I saw, how all the preconceived notions just were plain wrong. We get brain-washed, I think, in all kinds of areas, and must just go and see for ourselves. For there is nothing like first-hand, directly experienced knowledge. Period. Sure, some areas definitely need a helping hand, and local business could go a long way toward that, and new businesses taking a chance, but people are people everywhere, all the same, and how easily we forget that. My soapbox again. Sorry.



My apologies to the mime, for not being able to get off the bus and drop something in the hat.

Third one down.

Addendum - January 26,2009

According to the CTA's web site, as of December 28, this route and the express do not do that odd one-block detour anymore.

#2 HYDE PARK EXPRESS

This one is another rush hour run; how I hate those! I have to get up early. It runs from Navy Pier south to 60th and Cottage Grove and back - kind've. There is a trick to this one that I didn't see until I had already gotten down to the route's end at the Fountain of Time sculpture by Lorenzo Taft which is at the very west end of the Midway at The University of Chicago. And if you have never seen this, DO! It is just as interesting on the other side. But to begin:

On Thursday, August 28th, I had to rise at an ungodly hour because in order to get to Navy Pier and hop on the very last bus leaving there at 9:10am , I had to get up to Navy Pier in the first place. Again, as this bus takes me even closer to those relatives in Woodlawn, I had planned to spend another day with them and return on the evening rush hour bus. I sweated bullets on the #124 from the train station, fearing I wouldn't make it in time.

Well, I did make it, but as I took out my camera to shoot the front of this bus, it just wouldn't work - something about "power off" showing in the monitor. Well, shoot! I tried again, and again, no luck. Then I remembered a tip about computers, reboot. So I take out the chip, put it back in, and lo and behold! all is right with the world (and the camera).

Bus route -morning - From Navy Pier, it goes west on Grand, north on Fairbanks, west on Ontario, south on Michigan, west on Wacker, south on State all the way to Balbo which takes a considerable amount of time, east on Balbo, south on Columbus, and then it is an express from Roosevelt on down Lake Shore Drive, exiting at 57th, passing The Museum of Science and Industry to Stony Island, where it turns south to 60th, west on 60th to Cottage Grove, where there is that turnaround by the Fountain of Time. And it is anything but an express, taking from 40 to 60 minutes, one way.

One thing I wish to observe here - buses that stop where other buses do loose time because they have no way of knowing whether the people there want that bus or are waiting for some other bus. They pull in, nobody is interested, and then they have to try and maneuver back out in traffic. This seems to me horribly inefficient. Could there not be some system of flags or lights? Something?

On Balbo, this bus passes right between the Blackstone Hotel and the Hilton, and passes the Merle Ruskin Theater, now owned by DePaul, and used for student productions. It also passes Hyde Park Hospital on Stony Island.
One neat thing: a family got on somewhere on State Street and exited by the Museum of Science and Industry. And when I returned home on the 3:45, there they were, ready to head back. The very same family.

As I have a friend who works on Navy Pier, this seemed the perfect opportunity to have dinner with him when I returned from the Woodlawn people, planning on taking the last bus at 6. But it slowly dawned on me as I was riding south, that that would not do at all, because in the morning it exits the Drive at 57th, and in the evening it enters the drive at 57th to head back north, but in the morning, from the sculpture, it returns up Cottage Grove to 51st (Hyde Park Boulevard) east to Lake Park, and enters the Drive on 47th. And does this same thing in the evening from Navy Pier. It exits the Drive at 47th, and repeats the morning route. This makes perfect sense, as there are a lot of high rises and apartment buildings along Lake Park and 51st, so the commuters get on in the morning and off at night, in most cases, right in front of where they live.

But for me, now, I figured I would have to do the whole route again in the evening, just to get that 47th Street part. So when I got off the bus at 10am I sat on the bench there, poring over the CTA map and eating a banana. And the very nice bus driver did not pull out to go to his garage before pausing and asking me if I needed any help, as I'm sure I looked thoroughly befuddled. I must admit it took me some moments to straighten this all out in my mind.
So at 3:45, I was waiting for the bus to return to Navy Pier via 47th. When I took a picture of the front of the bus, as I plan to do with all, the driver immediately got off and took a picture of me with his cell phone. Pretty smart, I thought. You never know.

I ended up taking four buses in all, one down in the morning, and one up in the evening, then another complete round trip. And I learned that each of these buses immediately returns to its garage after one run; none make a round trip. Odd.
As we came up the Drive around 4, the city was enveloped in haze, pollution, smog, something. Which was too bad, as I think that view of "Sweet Home Chicago", coming north on the drive is one of the best anywhere. Night and day.

When I returned to Navy Pier the first time, I had to get on another bus which left at 4:40. Now, Ontario was almost at a standstill. Lots of people got on going down State this time, including a woman in a wheelchair. I have ridden buses in NYC, and there it is a big production to load a wheelchair on to the bus. The driver gets out of his chair, goes to the rear, unlocks some mechanism, which then gets the chair on the bus, he then locks the mechanism, returns to his chair, and the bus finally pulls out. Here, it's a snap. No fuss at all. NYC could take a lesson from us! Southbound now passes that very same statue of Drexel on 51st that the #1 bus ended with. When it turns south on Cottage Grove, it passes the University of Chicago Hospital complex before that turnaround, one solid hour later. This bus was jam packed, people crammed in the aisles, standing all the way down the Drive.
The driver on the last return trip was very strange, however. I cannot explain it. He absolutely dawdled almost all the way up, sitting for two or three lights twice, once in front of Hyde Park Hospital, and once at Balbo and Wabash. Just sat there. He never got over 35mph either, not even on the Drive, just creeped along. Way weird. But - when he got to Wacker (where I got this nifty shot of Trump Tower), he just took off like a bat out of hell, turning right on a red where none was allowed, barreling his way up Michigan Avenue, and when he turned west onto Ohio - well, he almost mowed down a whole bunch of pedestrians crossing the street. I saw one woman raise her arms and yell something. I know she thought the bus was going to hit her.

And now some observations and thoughts:

Because I was riding up and down State Street four times, I had plenty of opportunity to take in the state (no pun intended) of American dress in public. And I was appalled. ( I will tell you here that I am just as guilty of all the criticisms I am going to lay on us, and am just as overweight too).

But as I watched all these people, I saw that practically none were decently dressed. Flip-flops, t-shirts, men in shorts that looked like Jack's Giant owned them, poor posture, just sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. And I thought how many times have I gone to the grocery store in my filthy gardening clothes. Women on State Street were wearing clothes mostly much too tight, slowing off every bulge and ounce of flab. Even men in khakis and shirts don't look finished somehow. A jacket is needed. And posture? Can't we at least stand up straight? It's bad enough we're all overweight; can't we at least dress decently? Not look as if we just stepped out of the shower? Where is our pride in how we look, how we present ourselves to the world? Yes, I know we should never judge anyone by their appearance - but we do. Let's face it, a first impression is sometimes the lasting one. Shouldn't be, but sometimes is. And you know as well as I do, that the way we are dressed affects the way we act. Who behaves the same in shorts and a "t" as they do in heels and a nice dress? Or sloppy shorts vs. jeans and a jacket? We dress casual, we act casual. I think our manners are deeply affected by our outward appearance and grooming. And I don't think you eat as much when you have on nice clothes. At least, I don't. And let that be a lesson to me.

To sum up: On the #1 bus, coming back to Union Station was a very obese young woman (I do not judge; by most measures, I am morbidly obese myself) wearing a bright green t-shirt that said "I'm full of excuses; which one do you want?"

I came home and shaved my legs and put on make-up.

Second one down.