The Sullivan Center

Sorry, I'll still call it 'Carson's'! I shot these last Sunday.

Louis H. Sullivan's initials are prominent!

The scaffolding has been removed on Madison, to reveal the Carson, Pirie, Scott original canopy.

Canopy detail, primed and ready to be painted gloss black!

A little bit of history:

The Sullivan Center (formerly known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building or Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Store)[4] is a commercial building at 1 South State Street in Chicago, Illinois. A Chicago Landmark, the building was designed by Louis Sullivan, built in 1899 for the retail firm Schlesinger & Mayer, and expanded and sold to Carson Pirie Scott in 1904. The building was part of the Loop Retail Historic District. It was used for retail purposes from 1899 until 2007.

The building is remarkable for its steel structure, which allowed a dramatic increase in window area, which in turn allowed more daylight into the building interiors, and provided larger displays of merchandise to outside pedestrian traffic. The lavish cast-iron ornamental work above the rounded tower was also meant to be functional. Sullivan designed the corner entry to be seen from both State and Madison, and that the ornamentation, situated above the entrance, would be literally attractive. The building is one of the classic structures of the Chicago school.

The ornate decorative panels on the lowest stories of the building are now generally credited to George Grant Elmslie who was Sullivan's chief draftsman after Frank Lloyd Wright left the firm. When Elmslie left the firm himself the same distinct intricate scrollwork panels left with him and appear in his own designs; and Sullivan's style proceeds elsewhere.

The Carson Pirie Scott building was briefly featured in the 1988 horror film Child's Play, as the place where Andy Barclay's mother works. Carson's signage can be found during the scene where Karen Barclay buys the Good Guy doll from the homeless peddler.

In August 2006, the parent company of Carson Pirie Scott (Bon-Ton Stores Inc.) announced that after the Christmas 2006 season, the department store business in the building would be closed. There were no immediate announcements as to what new use the building will be converted to. Carson's closed the building in February 2007.

The 600,000-square-foot (56,000 m2) building, now renamed the Sullivan Center, is currently in the midst of a redevelopment by Joseph Freed & Associates, a real estate developer based in Palatine, Illinois.

A 2001 report put the budget at $68.9 million.

Current tenants include School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Gensler.

Circa 1909: The Carson, Pirie, Scott building, decorated for the 100th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln.

Think anyone will do that on August 4, 2061?

Just askin'!

A Death on Howard Street

Poor bird!

We need clean water...

...Barry!

I shot this today in Evanston, Illinois, on Davis Street. I have no idea if this water is being recycled and aerated, but I can tell you, I certainly would not drink it!

The Obamas were too distracted last evening giving homage to Paul McCartney to pay any attention to what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico.

Just last week, we saw Barry playing with tar balls on the beach in Louisiana. He said he wouldn't rest until this spill is taken care of, didn't he?

Well, folks, HE LIED AGAIN...while crooning in Michelle's ear.

Barry Soetoro seems to really like distractions; perhaps that is one of the many reasons he gave when he resorted to drug use (go read his supposed autobiography!).

We need clean drinking water, and we need our surrounding waters to be clean. Period.

Apparently Barry, and the over-dressed, under-fashionable Michelle think water comes from BOTTLES!

IDIOTS!

Really? Wish I had the interest on that for the past 10 years!

In case you cannot read it...

$11,298

Average annual savings for a Chicagoan who chooses transit over car ownership.

With all that dough, you could buy four bleacher seats for every home game this season!

Source: American Public Transportation Association: "Transit Savings Report"

(seen travelling north on the Purple Line to Evanston this afternoon)

Little, tiny spiders...

...want to take over my window this year!

Shangri-la

www.hulu.com has posted the original 1937 version of 'Lost Horizon'. The visual parts missing from the film are replaced with still photos; the 1:32 audio is completely there.

Ronald Coleman and Jane Wyatt in 'Lost Horizon'

A great quote from the character Chang:

"Age is the limit we impose upon ourselves".

A great film...watch it when you are able.

I would especially recommend this film to Barry and Michelle. After all, it is a decent part of the history of the world, which I am certain neither of them has ever read.

Do they read at all?

Promises, promises...and nothing to show UPDATED!

UPDATE: Bill Morton has removed www.rp1000.blogspot.com AND www.49thward.blogspot.com from the internet!

The following was posted on http://www.rp1000.blogspot.com/, Bill Morton's blog, on Memorial Day evening. My comments are in colored italics:

Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day

I spent much of Memorial Day weekend away from Rogers Park to attend celebrations.

Memorial Day was not intended to be a 'celebration'. It is a Day of Remembrance.

I experienced BBQ, bonfires, a nature retreat, and time with my family. What is really on my mind though is, where I travelled to, over 100 miles away, I experienced a Memorial to the Veterans and those who did not make it back from wartime alive.

Bill, himself, is a veteran--of the mail clerk's office in the US Navy. Though his discharge was honorable, there were questionable circumstances leading up to it.

There were veterans in uniforms, a 21 gun salute and Taps. Rogers Park did not have any memorial services, to my knowledge... and nothing as moving as what I experienced.

The more I travel away from Rogers Park and return, the more aware I become of how static and bland our neighborhood often is. Where are the street parades on Independence Day? Where are our live performances in the park of major recording artists and new touring acts? I haven't seen a 5k benefit run along the Lake for anything in Rogers Park. No large tree for the Holidays. No Day of the Dead Celebration.

This is where I take exception with Bill Morton's whine. He is president of Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce, which I financed as a viable chamber. Now he finds Rogers Park to be "static and bland"--a self-description, perhaps?

He goes on to whine about how Rogers Park has no Independence Day parade. Well, Bill, wouldn't it be nice if you got up off your dead butt and had Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce sponsor a parade? Is there no creative thinking on your part or the part of your Board of Directors since I resigned as Secretary/Treasurer almost seven months ago?

Could the chamber not sponsor a 5K run? Or a 'large tree for the Holidays'?

He continues: Forget calling a street, " the Heart of Rogers Park", where is Rogers Park's Heart?
I have no idea which 'street' he whines about. Let's, for the sake of brevity in argument, call it either Morse Avenue, where the former DevCorpNorth resides, or Greenview and Jarvis Avenues, where Ald. Joe Moore (D-Regressives) resides.

Bill Morton wanted to establish Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce in order to retaliate against both the above-mentioned. Now he whines that Rogers Park is not doing anything to distinguish itself.

Had I remained with the chamber, events like these would have come to fruition. Due to Bill Morton's own negligence and disregard for ethics,, that will never occur.

I have heard from a mutual acquaintance that he is no longer speaking to me.
Another mutual acquaintance knows of my personal loan to Bill Morton of $1,425 last year and has advised him to repay me. Bill Morton has not contacted me since Christmas Eve, 2009, when he attempted to get me to accept what I can only assume was a 'personal' check for partial repayment. I requested a Cashier's Check, or in the least a Money Order, and I have not heard a word from him since.

It is now past 18 months since I first lent him $700 to save him from eviction at 1205 W. Sherwin Avenue here in Rogers Park.

And, coming up, it will be a year since I lent him another $725 to avoid eviction.


I think it's time to take him to court, don't you?