(photo by Lee Bey)
Is there is a Chicago-area building better sited than the Baha'i House of Worship?
Ice cream, prescriptions, modernism: Old pharmacy has avant garde side
Aug. 3, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
The former R.V. Kunka pharmacy hasn't filled a prescription since February 2009; a nearby CVS takes care of that now. But look at what's been left behind: a totally modern and streamlined 1930s storefront--relatively rare in Chicago, especially in this good of a condition-- composed of metal panels, a unique color scheme and a typeface cool enough to grace the opening credits of an RKO Pictures movie. The storefront is the ground floor of an occupied, circa 1900 apartment building on a six-corner intersection at Archer, Loomis and Fuller in the 11th ward. Here's a photo I took of the facade about four years ago when the pharmacy was still in business.
A Chicago Sunrise: In photos
Jul. 27, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
One of my favorite spots in the Vocalo galaxy of entertainment is the daily feature of someone photographing the sunrise at Navy Pier.
The real "Mad Men"? The cops, robbers (and mid-century design) of "Crime Story"
Jul. 23, 2010
AMC’s “Mad Men” premieres this weekend. For three seasons now, the popular, dark, set-in-the-early 1960 drama about New York City advertising executives and their enigmatic leader, Don Draper, has made us reexamine the dress, style, mores–and design–of mid-century America. And it all seems so cool now.
But 24 years ago, an NBC took on the same time period with “Crime Story," a show about the really mad men of the Chicago Police Major Crimes Unit, led by Lt. Mike Torello (former real life Chicago cop Dennis Farina) as they track hood-on-the-rise Ray Luca, a Tony Spilotro-like mobster played by Anthony Denison. The show was never as popular as “Mad Men”; the set-in-Chicago drama premiered in 1986 and was cancelled after two seasons.
Created by Chicago-born director Michael Mann on the heels of “Miami Vice,” “Crime Story” was a tough, gritty show–especially its remarkable first season. But it was “Mad Men” ‘s equal, or better, when it came to the use of mid-century clothes, manner and architecture.
Abandoned Will County drive-in theater gets its close-up
Jul. 20, 2010
(photo by Krista Malanowski)
Earlier this month, we examined the abandoned Hill Top Outdoor Theater, a drive-in near Joliet in unincorporated Will County.
Turns out I wasn't the only one pointing a camera at the old drive-in.
A new look at the late architect Harry Weese
Jul. 19, 2010
(photo by Lee Bey)
I thought about architect Harry Weese last week while strolling into a meeting last week at the former Time Life Building, the modernist bronze skyscraper at 541 N. Fairbanks Court.