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spmarshall
Guest
I'm loving the landscaping and the good tree coverage - there's a lot of money spent of course to keep it up. Brown and Storey are planning something similar for Bloor, and I note here one drawback is how the crowd is almost forced along the store fronts, rather than towards the curb.
Views from the Hancock - the line up was almost non-existent, and no security - a lot less hassle than I expected, but it was a Sunday morning (and the sky was clear without rain clouds or smog, which was why I went then).
The view was amazing. I'm glad I went there and not Sears.
Looking west. Cabrini-Green is visible in the foreground. You can see that outside of downtown and the North Shore, Chicago has few highrises.
The North Shore. The apartments and the lake make driving along LSD (which is a full-fledged freeway here) interesting and beautiful, but it does create a barrier, with a narrow park hemmed in (through the beaches look enticing). A few more pedestrian bridges would do the trick, as at least a lot of people live around there.
Looking towards the "mouth" of the Chicago River and Navy Pier.
I had found Cabrini-Green, and went back to street level.
Cabrini-Green, one of the most notorious housing projects, is largely gone, with most of the remaining buildings boarded up (though the vacant land is empty, like where Robert Taylor Homes was along the Dan Ryan on the south side). It's Chicago's Regent Park, with new condos and loft conversions around. Soon enough, though this land should be redeveloped. Chicago built bigger than anything Toronto did - I saw Robert Taylor from the Rock Island-Joilet Metra train, and it's now blocks and blocks of urban prairie.
Next: The Architecture Cruise, Oak Park, Wrigleyville.
