Corncobs

No, I'm not talking about my dinner, I am talking about two buildings in downtown Chicago called Marina City... or to the locals, the Corncob Buildings. These 65 story buildings were built in 1964. At completion, they were the tallest residential buildings in the world! These two buildings contain identical floor plans with the bottom 19 floors forming a spiral parking ramp operated by valet only. Yes that is right, if you live here, you are not allowed to park your own car! The Corncobs have been featured in a countless number of films, most notably "The Hunter" when they drove a car off one of the buildings into the Chicago River.

The floor plans are very unique - they all form pizza slice wedges instead of your typical square room floor plan. Every bedroom and living room contains a balcony. The famous House of Blues is located between the two and underneath the buildings you can find a marina... hence the name Marina and the city part comes from the fact that you never have to leave the apartment buildings if you don't want to - there is a grocery store, dry cleaning, bowling alley, movie theater, etc. So there is your Chicago history lesson of the day!

You know you are staying too late at work when...

You are the only one on the bus.

Amazing Night Views

I obviously can't get enough of this museum campus location. It's so beautiful, I could spend hours here just chilling.

Jellies and More!

Still playing catch up with my posts (hence multiple Shedd Aquarium posts).

Jazzin' at the Shedd is more than a patio with amazing city views and some beluga whales, they also had their main attraction open - the Jellies exhibit! We had a ton of fun walking around, checking out these mysterious creatures and more. I'm not even that much of an animal/sealife type person, yet I can't recommend this place enough. It is a lot of fun for all ages.

The Sun Sets on the City

I finally went to Jazzin' at the Shedd last Wednesday night with some of my former co-workers. More shots to come, but here are a few taken on their patio with a beautiful view of the sun setting on the skyline.

Just hangin' with the Beluga Whales

Shedd Aquarium = awesome. So far, it is BY FAR my favorite museum in Chicago (but I haven't been to the Field Museum quite yet).

More information on Beluga Whales.

Where are all the murals?

After visiting a couple of larger cities in the past year or two - San Fran, Minneapolis, Portland, and Orlando, I have noticed how prevalent murals are in urban areas... except Chicago. I know that Chicago has a history of being really tough on graffiti vandalism, but I find it interesting that there aren't more murals around the city or "street-art." San Francisco is covered in graffiti art, but it is absolutely amazing. Eric and I think that the businesses actually hire artists to graffiti art on their buildings so it's not a blank canvas for a juvenile with a spray can and too much time on his hands.

After doing a little research on the always reliable wikipedia, the former (and beloved) Chicago mayor, Richard Daley enacted an anti-graffiti initiative in 1993 called "Graffiti Busters" with the sole purpose of "eliminating graffiti, street art and gang-related vandalism in Chicago." Oh yah, and it costs on average $4 million a year (9 million in 2010). So apparently we do have graffiti murals here... they are just covered up within 24 hours...

But what about the murals that are truly pieces of art? Can't those be allowed? Or is it a slippery slope to head down? This is one of the only murals in the city and it's a huge! This is on the side of the MDA Chicago Apartment building - very cool apartments (hip, fun colors, bamboo floors and environmentally friendly).

But this is absolutely nothing compared to San Francisco. Here are some of my of favorite murals/street art from around the city. I tried to narrow it down to three images, but I just couldn't do it. There were too many I wanted to share. These were all taken in June of 2011.

So what are your thoughts? You like Chicago's clean up to appear clean cut approach or do you appreciate San Francisco's artistic community showing their skills everywhere you turn? I definitely see positives and negatives to each strategy, but I think I am going to have to side with San Fran on this one. Even if there ends up being a couple vandalized areas, I think the good outweighs the bad. Who knows, maybe I will think a little differently when I get older, but for now, I respect the time and talent it takes to make these murals happen.

Agora

So I realize my last photo was pretty lame, so I'll try to step it up a notch or two here.

This series of photos is of one of my favorite pieces of art in Chicago. Agora is the name of a group of 106 headless and armless iron sculptures in Chicago's south loop. (It's sounds a little creepy, but it's really not). These guys are located in the south end of Grant Park and not even three blocks from our place. I have always been fascinated with them, especially after I found out that each pair of legs is supposedly facing a different direction. All 106 of them! The statues are on a permanent loan from the Polish Ministry of Culture. A fun fact about Chicago is that there is a HUGE Polish population. Something crazy like the largest Polish population other than Poland.

It has also been reported that actor Robin Williams contributed over $700,000 to bring these statues to Chicago. The figures are approximately 9 feet tall and made from hollow pieces of iron that has been allowed to rust.

This work has inspired just as many negative interpretations as positive ones. The general idea is that all these pairs of legs are apart of a group, yet they are all still individuals doing their own thing. So are they brainless followers acting on command or are they all independent individuals with the ability to be a leader? I'll let you decide. (And why don't they have arms or heads?)

This piece of art has had very mixed reviews in Chicago, but it gets a big two thumbs up from this girl. They are a tricky group to take photos of, because you have to account for the different lighting. However, I had a lot of fun trying out some different angles. I may or may not have been laying down on the ground for the last two shots - but check out the framing! My high school photography teacher would be proud. :)

Dog Days

This sneaky cell phone photo does not do this dog justice, but its quite possible that this dog weighed twice as much as its owner.

View from Fullerton

Does this photo look familiar? It should! It was taken from the same spot as last weeks Skyline Reflection - just during the daylight this time. This is definetely one of the best spots for photo taking in the city and its one that doesn't seem to get noticed quite as much, but its absolutely beautiful - day or night.

Grant Park Statues during the Blue Hour

One of the best times to take photographs outdoors is during the blue hour. The blue hour is the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. The quality of light during this time period is outstanding and the sky always looks amazing. This statue is located in Grant Park and is being lit by nearby streetlights. I love the colors - the sky, the leaves, and the statue.Have you taken any photos during the Blue Hour? The next time you are out taking photos, aim to take a few during this precious time of day, you will love how they turn out.