Doctor Q in Chicago

[szark]

Looks like you had a great time, Q! The photos are fantastic.

i live here and haven't done all of those things yet.

Isn't that always the case? You always think about going to see the sights, but you never actually get there until you're showing visitors around.

My family lived in Chicagoland for 21 years, including one apartment in Oak Park, and I still haven't seen all of those sights.

 

[Doctor Q]

We saw two famous paintings we went to see:

1. Grant Wood's American Gothic. Everyone knows this painting, but seeing it up close let us see the detail in the the farmer's daughter's cameo, which has a lady with flowing hair, in contrast to the starkness of her own repressed style.

2. Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It's huge! This one should be seen both from a distance and up close, to see the difference. That's the idea of this style, called pointillism.

We also wanted to see Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, but that painting was on the road (in Boston). Meanwhile, René Magritte's Time Transfixed followed us from Los Angeles, because we just saw it at home in a touring Magritte show, and here it was again in Chicago! I guess trains that pass through fireplaces can go anywhere they like!

By the way, here's a nice image of the original Picasso, before I "fixed" it by turning the circle into a Q.

 

[iRachel]

Wow, thanks for those detailed reviews of the tours! I think I'm putting that tour of the Auditorium Theater on my list! I've seen many shows there, but the tour sounds cool!

 

[Doctor Q]

I found a great site for studying Chicago skyscrapers.

It's called Emporis.

 

[Doctor Q]

I went to Medici because you guys recommended it. You were right - it's a good place for a pizza lunch.

But they really ought to keep a closer watch on their patrons - they write all over the restaurant walls!

It wouldn't be polite not to observe their traditions, so I left a letter "Q" hiding behind the bottom right corner of this Matisse print. Maybe one of you will check for it the next time you are there.

 

[Doctor Q]

Photos from my trip

1. We were in Chicago to see skyscrapers, and we weren't disappointed. They have quite a few to choose from!

2. The Auditorium Theater, designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. President Grover Cleveland laid the cornerstone on October 5, 1887.

3. Inside the theater.

4. The Monadnock Building. The right-hand side, completed in 1891, is one of the tallest masonry load-bearing structures in the world. The left-hand side, completed two years later, used a new technology: steel frame construction. This one building shows the transition between construction techniques!

5. The Reliance Building, finished in 1895. It doesn't look like much, but when it was built people were impressed with the way the windows seemed to defy gravity. It's a direct ancestor of today's glass-and-steel skyscrapers.

 

[Doctor Q]

1. The Lakeshore Apartments at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive. You won't find them on many tourist maps, but these two towers designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the 1920s and built in 1949-1951 were the first skyscrapers with steel skeletons draped in glass. When you see these types of buildings all over the world, remember that these were the originals.

2. The "prairie style" Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1909.

3. The University of Illinois Graduate School of Business building, across the street, with a style reflecting its famous neighbor.

4. The Nathan Moore House in Oak Park, another Frank Lloyd Wright design. It was built in 1895 and rebuilt in 1923 after it burned. It has many hallmarks of Wright's style, including his use of cantilevers to give it a half-indoor-half-outdoor area. I think it has a few too many competing styles, like he threw in every design element he could think of. In the detailwork I could see the influence of Wright's visits to Japan, which began in 1905.

 

[Doctor Q]

As we all know, the most famous and important building of all in Chicago is The Michigan Avenue Apple Store.

1. Outside.
2. Inside.
3. Me horsing around.
4. Apple Store "geniuses" mobbing me for advice. Or maybe they just liked my "Chicago skyline" shirt.

 

[absolut_mac]

What shouldn't I miss?

I used to go to Chicago for the summer CES (and Vegas for the larger winter one). My recommendation is not to miss some of their fantastic restaurants.

It's been almost 20 years since I was last there, so I can't give you any specific names, but I do remember the incredible Greek restaurants. Great food, excellent atmosphere and just a whole lot of fun.

Have a great trip.

 

[nickster9224]

We are definitely going to Oak Park. That neighborhood may be our last stop; is there a good way to go from that area back up to Ohare?

hah you're funny there is no good way to get to ohare.

 

[Doctor Q]

The trip is now over. Rather than try to get to the airport straight from Oak Park, we left our luggage at the hotel downtown, took the train to Oak Park, had our adventures there, went back to downtown, picked up our luggage, then took the train from there to the airport. That solved the transportation problem and kept us from having to lug a suitcase around all day.

Sometimes the best path isn't the one that the crow flies!

 

[Doctor Q]

I went to Medici because you guys recommended it. You were right - it's a good place for a pizza lunch.

But they really ought to keep a closer watch on their patrons - they write all over the restaurant walls!

It wouldn't be polite not to observe their traditions, so I left a letter "Q" hiding behind the bottom right corner of this Matisse print. Maybe one of you will check for it the next time you are there.

While sorting receipts last week, I ran into the receipt for this meal at Medici.

It turns out that my server/waitperson was named "Kati Q".