A Full Day Downtown

Loving Chicago is like loving a woman with a broken nose.

-Nelson Algren

Skyscrapers tripping over each other on the way to the lake

Erin and I started out the day in the city with Bella and Derek at the Art Institute of Chicago. We met our good friend Terri and her son, Ryan, there and spent the next five hours oogling over the Institute's magnificent collection. To me, there is almost nothing as thrilling as stepping into a room and being confronted by an iconic work of art, such as Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, Toulouse-Lautrec's Night at the Moulin Rouge or Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. It's just not the same thing as seeing these pictures in a picture book. Why is this? It's like the difference between holding a lover in your arms and looking at their picture. Okay, a picture is nice and all, but it's just not the same as sharing the same space together. People who regularly go to theater probably know what I'm trying to say -- there's a feedback loop in theater that doesn't exist in the movies and so it is -- I believe -- with visual art.

Did I mention Grant Wood's American Gothic?

Next, we walked down the crowded city sidewalks to Willis Tower, or the Sears Tower as it is still known to Chicagoans. It was just after 5:00 PM and, as I remember from another lifetime a few decades ago when I worked downtown myself, the buildings flush their daytime inhabitants onto the city streets below all at once and everybody -- practically jogging shoulder to shoulder and toes to heels -- is in a hurry to get somewhere: a bus, a cab, a commuter train, an el train, their car in a garage or to meet a friend at a downtown watering hole. Eventually, the four of us got to the tower:

The Sears Tower is the tallest building in this picture

We went up to the Skydeck at the top of the building (where I took the picture on the top of this post). One of the more interesting features in the Skydeck is the Ledge, which is a glass room that hangs out the side of the building. Here's a picture of the four of us (Erin, Derek, Bella and I) looking down almost a quarter of a mile below us:

The view 1,350 feet down to the streets of Chicago

Derek . . . the bottom part of Bella & Derek . . . and me

Then we met my step-mom, Pam, at her law office a few blocks away. Pam is a very successful attorney downtown and her Power Office is filled with tasteful art, playful memorabilia and even a prayer flag with a handwritten prayer by Thich Naht Hahn from when she met him some years back. We then met Bill at Mastro's, an elegant downtown steakhouse. Pam had promised to treat Derek to the best steak in Chicago and she delivered. The sirloin I had there will haunt my dreams for some time to come (and many thanks Bill for the recommendation of the Lobster Mac-&-Cheese). The entire experience was exceedingly dramatic: shrimp served on a smoking dried-ice platter, steaks served on 400-degree plates (no, that's not a typo), and glasses of wine the size of fishbowls. This, when combined with dim lighting that practically required a flashlight to read the menu and loud Chicago jazz music that amped the conversation up to a near shout, made it a tremendously memorable night for a (now) small town guy. Aw shucks! Unfortunately it was too dark inside to take pictures (and way too cool). We all appreciate the treat, Pam! On our walk back to the car I took a few more pictures:

City lights viewed from the Chicago River just below Trump Tower

Metropolitan Tower

A Quick Chicago Post

It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago – she outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time.

-Mark Twain "Life On The Mississippi," 1883

Another picture of the Second City skyline

It seems I've been called out by a regular reader of this blog (possibly the only reader, I must concede), who shall remain nameless. He contends that Chicago has some serious competition from San Francisco. I don't want to start a war between the Great Plains and the West Coast -- mostly because I'm now a resident of the later -- but I have to counter that whereas San Francisco has several perfectly adequate medium-sized buildings situated amidst some spectacular natural endowments, Chicago has done a hell of a lot starting, simply enough, with several miles of swamp and prairie grass running into a large lake. The name of the City itself -- Chicago -- is evidence of its unspectacular origins. It is a rough translation of a Native American word meaning "smelly onion" (it's where the satirical newspaper, "The Onion," gets its name). Perhaps it is because of these humble and vertically-challenged beginnings that Chicago was dubbed "The Second City," second to New York in that original phrase and yet  somehow that second rate feeling remains a pervasive one in the ethos of the city to this day. Perhaps this is what pushed it to its overly grandiose excellence.

So let's not squabble John . . . er, I mean, Anonymous. Both cities have a lot going for them: Chicago has the Sears (or Willis) Tower at 1,451 feet, The Trump Tower at 1,389 feet, The Aon Center at 1,136 feet and the John Hancock at 1,127 feet, as well as 17 other buildings between 700 and 900 feet. San Francisco, no slouch itself, has the Transamerica Building at 835 feet, the Millenium Tower at 645 feet and Coit Tower at 210 feet. Anonymous, you've been served!

And now that I've alienated and quite probably lost my only regular blog reader, here's a few pix from the pool at my brother's apartment complex:

My nephew Noah Ka'ulu La'au in the pool . . .

. . . and drying off

Noah and his mom, my sister, Kristen

My bro' Esteban

Enough for now. I must go to sleep and have sweet dreams of Chicago's greatness. . . .

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . . .