Emperor1956
Posts: 2370
Joined: 11/7/2005 Status: offline
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Hmmmm. What should you see? Well, I love this town. And I've written architectural tours, been a tour guide, and am a freak for all sorts of things. Besides what's been posted, here's what I show friends: In no particular order: The actual spot where: -the Chicago fire began (its now a CFD training school...no joke!) -the first controlled nuclear reaction took place (in the middle of the U of Chicago Campus) -John Dillinger was captured....and shot....and died (3 long steps outside the Biograph Theater on the North Side) - the Untouchables famous "stairway and baby buggy" scene was filmed - Anything Al Capone. -The largest public waterworks project in history was created (reversing the flow of the Chicago river) ... and on St. Paddy's day, we dye it green. -a colony of tropical parrots that have adapted and flourished from a mating pair let loose in the 1960s -- they survive the Chicago winter...tough birds. -The Haymarket Bombing took place - The 1968 Democratic convention riots took place, including where Claes Oldenburg got hit with a baseball bat, and Mayor Daley (the First) gave the "shoot to kill" order. - The Nation of Islam was born - The 56 to 61 (actual number unknown) circus performers and workers were buried after the great Hagenbeck-Wallace circus train wreck of 1918, marked by five stone elephants. -The tootsie roll was invented....and the tinker toy - That "car spike" featured in Wayne's World sits (its coming down soon!) - The Eastland turned over in the Chicago river one lovely summer day in 1915, just a few feet from the shore, horribly overloaded with 2500 people, resulting in the deaths of over 800 people, and the complete extinction of 22 families. - Frank Lloyd Wright worked and built the largest collection of his residences (about 1 block from my house). - more pork bellies are traded than anywhere else in the world (The largest commodities market in the world --the trading floors are a real trip, but since 9/11 you need clearance to get there...I got it) - The Iroquois Theater burned down, killing more than 600 people and creating the drive to mandate modern fire and safety codes - The spot where a careless construction accident pierced the wall of the river, and caused the entire downtown to flood UNDER the surface of the city, knocking out most of the city's business services for 5 days...in an invisible flood So let me know when y'all are coming. E.
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"When you wake up, Pooh," said Piglet, "what's the first thing you say?" "What's for breakfast? What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.
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