Als #1 Italian Beef, 601 W. Adams (Westbound Route 66), Chicago
Als #1 Italian Beef at night
For more information on Al’s Italian Beef, check out their website at www.alsbeef.com
Archive for the ‘Chicago’ Category
Al’s #1 Beef opens on Route 66
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010Restored Tower Revealed!
Monday, May 10th, 2010
International Tailoring Company Building, circa 2003 when the clock tower was still sheathed in ugly corrugated metal.
The gleaming enameled terra cotta now shines again, and the four clock faces show the current time in all directions just as they did when the building first opened in 1916.
The restored International Tailoring Building as it looks today.
The building was built in 1916 from designs by the architectural firm of Mundie & Jensen, formerly Jenney, Mundie & Jensen. This firm was established originally by William LeBaron Jenney, the architect and engineer responsible for building the Home Insurance Building in 1885, the world’s first skyscraper to use steel beams in its structural skeleton. The firm also designed the downtown building used for a Sears Store at the southeast corner of Van Buren and State (currently Robert Morris University), and the Union League Club at 65 W. Jackson.
Ron Warnick posted about the International Tailoring Building on Route 66 News when the building was first placed on the National Register in 2008. There is also a Wikipedia entry concerning the building. It is great to see a grand old building on Route 66 lovingly restored and revived for a great new purpose.
Route 66 Walking Tour Special — 66%!
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Many of our Walking Tours meet next to the Lions at the Art Institute of Chicago
- A walking tour that traveled from the Tribune Tower to Millennium Park highlighting the Burnham Plan of Chicago
- An architecture tour of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Chicago’s Loop
- A driving tour of vintage Chicago movie theaters and studios, from the location of the old Essanay Studios, to the Biograph and Chicago Theaters.
All of the tours, whether focusing on Route 66 or a custom topic or theme, generally include some discussion of Chicago’s history, transportation, culture, and architecture.
A brochure describing my tour offerings is available by clicking here
The cost for a 2-hour walking tour is usually $15 per person. However, in light of the ongoing economic woes, I have decided to offer a special price for a limited time. For parties of four or more, you will be able to take a walk on Chicago’s Route 66 for just 66% of the normal price–that is just $10 per person!
Anyone who would like to take advantage of this special price can contact me via email:
or by telephone at 312-432-1284. All tours are by appointment, so write or call to get your kicks on Chicago’s 66 for 66%!
Jackson Blvd Viaduct Re-opened
Sunday, April 25th, 2010The Jackson Boulevard (eastbound Route 66) viaduct over the Union Station Railroad tracks in Chicago re-opened to traffic last week. It had been closed since June 2009. The old failing structure was demolished and completely replaced.
I posted up about the closure last year. The viaduct is located between Canal Street and the Jackson Bridge over the Chicago River. The closure had required detours, but did give pedestrians a rare 10-month chance to walk in the middle of the bridge without getting run over by traffic.
There are now no detours along Historic 66 in Cook County that I am aware of. In fact, portions of the highway alignment are being used for traffic detoured off the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290). Major repair work is in progress on the Congress Parkway bridges over the river as well as along the entire length of the expressway. Commuters have been advised to find alternate routes, and Jackson Boulevard, Ogden Avenue, and Adams Street have all been marked as I-290 detours.
Old Route 66 come to the rescue again!
Postcards from the Ledge
Monday, April 5th, 2010
Click above to see a larger image of the cover of the Spring 2010 issue of Route 66 Magazine
The article is titled “Postcards from the Ledge,” and it discusses the
Click above for larger view down on Route 66 from the Ledge
Route 66 Magazine continues to publish excellent articles and information about the road culture of this country. Get yourself a copy of the magazine (or subscribe) and enjoy!
Vintage Chicago Route 66 Filling Station Saved
Monday, August 24th, 2009
The Castle in its derelict stage
There is good news indeed along Route 66 in Chicago! The John J. Murphy Filling Station at 3801 W. Ogden Avenue, is currently being spruced up and adapted for reuse as a restaurant. The castle-styled station was built in 1925, and Mr. Murphy operated it for over 45 years. It changed names a few times in the 1970s, likely due to Mr. Murphy’s retirement or sale of the business. Its last use was as the Castle Car Wash. It was in this last, likely failed attempt at commercial use that the lettering was painted onto the stone facade.
The castle stood vacant and deteriorating for many years, but it caught the eye of many a traveler with an eye for fine roadside architecture. Earlier this year, Landmarks Illinois placed the castle on their Chicagoland Watch List. Every time I drove down Ogden, I worried that I would look over and see the old castle demolished.
The Castle Turret as it looks now
I will be meeting the man behind the refurbished castle soon. Stay tuned for more information!
Two New Presentations from Windy City Road Warrior
Friday, August 21st, 2009For the last two years, I have enjoyed meeting people at libraries, museums, social meetings, and senior centers while presenting my programs on Route 66, the Plan of Chicago, and the Roads that Lead to Lincoln. Now, I have added two more PowerPoint presentations to our portfolio:
The Architects of Chicago’s Route 66 presentation is based upon an award-winning series of articles that has appeared in the Federation News, the quarterly publication of the National Historic Route 66 Federation, since 2007. The structures along the Route 66 corridor in Chicago, where Route 66 began its western journey, were the face that the city presented to visitors and travelers. Architects whose work graced the Chicago Loop thoroughfares that carried Route 66 traffic (Jackson Boulevard, Michigan Avenue, and Adams Street) include W. W. Boyington, William Le Baron Jenney, Daniel Burnham, John Root, William Holabird, Martin Roche, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe. This program will look at the reasons why this corridor became a haven for travelers and visitors. It will also explore the evolution and changes of the built environment over the course of the highway’s commissioned life from the perspective of the architectural styles of the designers that shaped it.
The Illinois & Michigan Canal: Past and Present will take a look at the long prelude to the building of the canal. Starting with the first exploration of the future canal corridor by French-Canadians Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, through the protection of the area by the U.S. Fort Dearborn, and then the succession of treaties with the Native Americans that ceded control of the area to the Federal government. The promise of the canal, which would create an unbroken navigable highway of water from the Great Lakes to the vast Mississippi River system, led to such decisions as where to draw the border between the new state of Illinois in 1818 and the Wisconsin Territory to the north.
It was the building of the canal that created a need for a municipality on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan–Chicago. Through this planned city, platted on paper before it ever existed on the swampy tall-grass prairie, it was expected that the goods and commerce transferred between large lake vessels and canal barges would bring wealth to Illinois and create a gateway between the settled east and frontier west.
The presentation’s final section will be a virtual tour of the Illinois & Michigan Canal corridor as it looks today, and it will showcase many of the places of historical and recreational interest that travelers can visit now. These sites include preserved sections of the canal and its limestone and wood structure in Lemont, Lockport, Morris, and LaSalle, and a look at the marvelous exhibits about early explorations and canal building at Will County’s Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville and the Joliet Area Historical Museum.
We are also continuing all four of our current presentations, and I am eager to bring them to any venue with an interest. For more information on any of the presentations, please check out the Presentations page on this blog.
Join me at the Printers Row Lit Fest
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
For the second year in a row, I will be selling and signing my books and related items at the Printers Row Lit Fest, billed by the event’s sponsor, the Chicago Tribune, as the Midwest’s largest literary event! The Fest will be held June 6-7 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. I will be at the tent of the Illinois Womens Press Association (IWPA), where I will be offering my three books: Exploring Route 66 in Chicagoland, Images of America: Route 66 in Chicago, and The Roads that Lead to Lincoln. More information about the Lit Fest, including a downloadable map of the event, is available here:
Printers Row Lit Fest — chicagotribune.com
The IWPA tent will be located on Dearborn Street, just a little bit north of Polk Street. Please stop by! If you already own a copy of one or more of my books, feel free to bring them with you so I can sign them. Here’s hoping I see many of you this coming weekend in Chicago!
Route 66 Detour in Chicago Starting June 1, 2009
Sunday, May 31st, 2009The warning signs of an impending closure of Jackson Boulevard (eastbound Route 66) have been up for several weeks now, and it will become a reality tomorrow morning after rush hour:
Jackson Blvd. stretch to close Monday A.M. – Chicago Breaking News
Quoting from the Tribune article:
Jackson Boulevard between Canal Street and Wacker Drive is scheduled to close after Monday morning’s rush period for major bridge repairs.
Traffic will be affected as work begins to rebuild the Jackson viaduct spanning Union Station’s south passenger platforms and 16 tracks, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.
On the website for the Chicago Transit Authority, it is noted that the work on Jackson is expected to last until April 2010. Although only one block of Jackson is being rebuilt, it is a tricky section because it is a viaduct that rises from ground level at Clinton Street to pass above the railroad tracks of Union Station. East of the construction zone is the Jackson double bascule bridge over the Chicago River.
What does this mean to the Route 66 traveler? Well, if you drive into Chicago on Route 66 eastbound, you will be unaffected all the way to the block that contains Lou Mitchell’s restaurant. You will then need to detour, either by turning south at Clinton Street or north at Canal Street. I would suggest that the best detour would likely be south on Clinton one block to Van Buren, east (left) on Van Buren across the river to Wacker Drive, north (left) on Wacker back to Jackson, then east (right) on Jackson the rest of the way to the end of 66 at Lake Shore Drive. Westbound Route 66 will not be affected, since it travels on Adams Street.
David G. Clark Wins Communications Awards
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
David Clark won 3 IWPA Awards in 2008, and 2 in 2009
In the Special Series category, Clark won the first place award for three of his articles that appeared in the Federation News, the quarterly publication of the National Historic Route 66 Federation. The series, titled “Architects of Chicago’s Route 66,” discussed the careers and buildings of architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. The contest judges commented that the series exhibited “reporting that bridges the gap between history and the current community” and contained “meticulous research.” The articles were published in the Spring, Summer, and Autumn 2008 editions of the Federation News.
In the Special History Articles category, Clark won first place for “Filling the Skies with Commerce” parts 1 and 2, published in the Spring and Summer 2008 editions of Route 66 Magazine. These articles recounted some events of aviation history that occurred along the Route 66 corridor in the Chicago area. The contest judges wrote in comment, “Documenting the early aviators of Chicago and the city’s fascinating history with flying was a great subject. Clark’s river (ocean?) of facts is almost overwhelming. Reading Clark is like taking a drink from a fire hose.”
In all, 36 members of the IWPA won 110 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention awards in the Communications Contest. As stated by the IWPA, “This competition recognizes excellence in communications and covers a wide range of categories in print and electronic media, books, photography, advertising, and public relations.” The first place winners are automatically entered into the contest of the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). Winners of the national awards will be announced at the September 10-12 NFPW conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The Silver Feather Award, given to the contest participant with the highest score for all submissions, was won by Suzanne Hanney, editor-in-chief of Chicago’s Streetwise, a weekly publication sold by homeless vendors. The contest also honored 69 students for their winning entries in the High School Communications division.
The NFPW and the IWPA are organizations “of professional women and men pursuing communications careers in journalism, public relations, advertising, graphic design, new media, marketing, photography, book publishing, education, and more. The organization[s]…[are]…dedicated to professional excellence and the right and responsibilities of the First Amendment.”
David G. Clark also won awards last year from the IWPA Communications Contest. In 2008, Clark took top honors in the Non-Fiction History Book category for Images of America: Route 66 in Chicago and in the Special History Articles category for “Architects of Chicago’s Route 66: John Root and D.H. Burnham,” published in the Route 66 Federation News. From the same “Architects of Chicago’s Route 66” series, Clark’s article on William LeBaron Jenney garnered a second place honor.
In June 2008, Clark received the Founder’s Award from the Route 66 Preservation Foundation for his role as “ambassador” to people visiting the eastern end of the historic highway in Chicago. In addition to his writings, Clark gives guided tours of Chicago’s history, transportation, and architecture, and presents PowerPoint programs at local libraries and social organizations.
