The Eiffel Tower: What Paris Means to Chicago

December 25th, 2009

Let's travel back in time. Not just to 2009... but to 1851. The very first "World's Fair" exhibition of culture and industry was held in Hyde Park, London. An enormous "Crystal Palace" was built to show off England's prowess as a world leader in industry and empire. This became a symbol of the Victorian Age as the industrial era kicked into high gear and began to demonstrate what our species can do with our mastery of combustion, our artistic ability, and our love for the dramatic and grandiose. Inside each of us is a crowd junkie craving to be part of the herd, just hoping to catch a glimpse of our greatest glittering achievements. The Great Exhibition, as it was known, sought to exploit that craving to the fullest.

Across the channel on the continent of Europe, Paris was not going to take this sitting down. The Anglosphere had spoken and it said, "wake up Paris, we know you're in there!!" And so she did... in 1889 Paris threw her very own World's Fair on the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The "Exposition Universelle" featured something even more dramatic and eye-catching than a Crystal Palace. Paris had a tower... the Eiffel Tower. Built as the entrance arch to the fair, the 1,063 foot tall tower was the tallest man-made structure in the world until the Chrysler Building was completed in New York in 1930. Indeed, Paris had shown the world that she was in charge of Europe and she was as relevant as ever in the industrial age.

Chicago was still a dusty outback to Europe, but there would be a challenge - a gauntlet thrown down. Little did most Europeans know at the time, Chicago was a bustling metropolis that was about to throw a massive World's Fair of her own. To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' journey to the America's, Chicago threw the greatest World's Fair yet. Our challenge to the Eiffel Tower was the world's first Ferris Wheel. This demonstrated America's nature to the world: Your tower was great. Our wheel is better! We didn't just do something big, we did something impossible. Suddenly Chicago was on the world stage and she has never turned back - "laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth" - the world is still listening.

Back to that tower, though... since we were talking about my trip to Europe. We came out of the Metro station to find the clouds starting to clear up. The lines were extremely long to get into the tower, but we didn't mind the view from ground level. After taking many photos of the tower, we walked across the river and past the Museum of Man. Around this time I began to recognize Paris. She is not just a pretty tower, some broad boulevards, and a warm baguette. Paris has something... a vibe, a personality, an underlying brilliance that feels exciting and new - despite its 6,200 year history. I fell deeply in love with that personality, that brilliance.

Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights! Lincoln Park Zoo Entrance, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

It was a shock going from summer in Sydney to winter in Chicago, but I had a lot of things to look forward to. Isabelle bought me a new camera as an early holiday gift, a Canon T1i DSLR. This is my first SLR camera since high school and my first DSLR ever! The day after I returned to Chicago, she left for Switzerland to spend December with her parents. I was going to join them later in the month, but for now I had a lonely couple of weeks in Chicago.

I wanted to try out my new camera so I went to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, a favorite place of mine for taking photos. After leaving the conservatory I decided to walk to the zoo, since it's right next door. I stumbled into an event the city hosts called Zoo Lights. Every year they put Christmas lights all over the zoo and play music and have activities for kids. After learning about this, I decided to come back the next week when it was darker and after learning a little more about taking low-light photos without a tripod. Here are some of my favorites!















Clearly, they went all out. I was impressed!

Jazz Age Chicago--Home Page

I just discovered this blog!! It's great, Scott Newman, the author, writes about a lot of the stuff I am interested in.

Jazz Age Chicago--Home Page

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Cloud Gate at Night

Chicago September 4th-5th 102, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

A night photo from Millennium Park, this time of Cloud Gate by artist Anish Kapoor. I like the way the Aon Center and surrounding skyscrapers reflect in the sculpture. For this photo I used my tripod and set the ISO to 64 and the aperture to the max (3.2 in this instance)

The people in the middle of the frame were playing music and having a good time until a well dressed but obnoxious college-age preacher came over and started talking to everybody about God. At first I thought he was a part of the group, but soon everyone was wandering away and the fun times were at an end. I wish someone had stood up and told God boy to save it for people who need saving.

Chicago Loop at Night

Chicago Loop at Night, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Took this shot using my mini-tripod at night after the Jazz Festival.

I set the ISO-setting on the digital camera to 64 and have the largest aperture possible (2.8) to get this crisp photo of the elevated train tracks in the Loop. I was waiting for a Brown Line train to take me up to Fullerton where I'd switch to a Red Line train to get me uptown.

Lots of people think that Chicago's "loop" neighborhood is named for this "loop" of elevated track that circles the central business district. In fact, it is named for all the streetcars, horse drawn cars, and cable (grip) cars that had to "loop back" to their origin once they reached the city's center.

The Chicago Loop has a population density of just over 10,000 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated zip codes in America. The high density in the loop gives Chicago part of its signature skyline.

Marshall Field and Customer Service

I wrote this blog article for work and decided to post it here as well.

Summer is always an exciting time in Chicago! There are street festivals every weekend, fireworks at the lakefront, and events in the parks almost non-stop. I live in the city of Chicago giving me convenient access to a variety of museums, shopping, and the lakefront. After living in this city for over eight years, I'm still a tourist at heart, taking every opportunity to soak in its sights and sounds.

Most people don't know this, but on the seventh floor of the Macy's department store on State Street in downtown Chicago, there is a museum that is devoted to the legacy of Marshall Field and the history of Chicago. Macy's, from New York, bought Marshall Field and Company department stores in 2005, but they put a number of old Field’s catalogs and artifacts on display to pay tribute to their history.

While walking through the exhibit, it's hard not to make the connection between Marshall Field’s and the success of Chicago. Several factors conspired to make Field the greatest merchant in Chicago, but none more important than customer service. When Marshall Field spoke of customer service, he spoke about going the extra mile, going above and beyond what's required, treating the customer like family. He would give customers anything they wanted and promised money back if they were not satisfied.

"Right or wrong, the customer is always right!" - Marshall Field

During last month’s PFLC, we were able to enjoy lunch with some of our customers. I was fortunate enough to sit with a buyer from Rockwell Automation, but everyone we spoke with echoed the same thing: Newark stands for superior customer service. What we sell is not just electronic components. We sell service that is unparalleled in the industry. In the past, I've had concerns that our prices are not always competitive, but my concerns were laid to rest by heaps of praise for our superior service. Our Rockwell buyer said, "We are happy to pay extra for the customer service we receive."

All of us deal with customers, even if it isn't immediately apparent. In GIS the customer is on the other side of the screen when we deploy new functionality our competitors don’t offer or make the website faster for our customers to quickly find the components they need. These customers deserve the same exceptional service our Rockwell Buyer spoke so highly of, and we aim to provide it. We spend time tracking down performance bottlenecks, constantly striving to improve customer experience around the globe while delivering the latest features to keep ahead of the competition. As long as we are working for the customer, we can never go wrong!

"Good will is the one and only asset that competition cannot undersell or destroy." - Marshall Field

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Lincoln Park along Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline is Chicago's collective "back yard" and also host to a surprising diversity of wildlife. This black-crowned night heron was sitting on a log in North Pond right in front of the North Pond Restaurant. Next to it, on a neighboring log, was a red-eared slider turtle basking in the sun.

North Pond is currently home to over 195 species of bird and it's common to see people with impressive photography gear and binoculars just to view the birds. I'm always grateful to have this great park within walking distance from where I live.

The night heron eats small fish, water insects, mice, and other creatures small enough to fit in its mouth. Seeing a top predator like this is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. I'll return to North Pond soon to get more photos of the wildlife I find there.

Ashland and Belmont

Ashland and Belmont, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Saturday night in Chicago, walking back to Kevin's from Ashland and Belmont after seeing Clutch play at the Kuma's Corner block party.

In the words of actor Gary Busey -

"You only get to see a sunset like this for the first time once."

Sneaky Sound System in Chicago

Sneaky Sound System in Chicago!!! I brought my camera and recorded some of the show. They don't get by here very often. I was a little disappointed that there were so few people there, but I guess the only reason I really know about them is because I've been to Oz a few times. Enjoy the show!

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kansas city

miss connie dancing

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UFO

Bertha Palmer in Sarasota

In a previous blog post, I described the life (and death) of Potter Palmer through a series of news clippings from the turn of the century. Many of Chicago's historical paths lead back to Potter Palmer and his legacy. I'd like to turn some attention to his wife, Bertha Honoré Palmer. After Potter's death, Bertha continued to increase the family fortune through real estate development on the Gulf Coast of Florida. When I learned of her connection to Sarasota, I wanted to see it all for myself and learn as much as I could about this fascinating person.

Potter Palmer married Bertha Matilde Honoré when he was 44 and she was 21, so it should come as no great shock that he died while she was still relatively young. In 1902, the widowed Mrs. Bertha Palmer maintained homes in Chicago, Paris, and London. She spent a considerable amount of time throwing parties in London during the "Belle Époque" (Beautiful Era) of Europe. King Edward VII (the son of Queen Victoria) reigned during this fashionable time but when he died in 1910, most considered the party to be at an end. Powerful forces were afoot in Europe as the chess board was being set for WWI. Four years later, the young Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife were gunned down in Bosnia, detonating a powder keg of turmoil still smoldering almost 100 years later. I digress...

Seeing that the good times were over in Europe, Bertha moved back to Chicago. However, she'd had quite enough of our winters. She invested in 80,000 acres of land in and around Sarasota, Florida where she built a winter home, orchards, gardens, a cattle ranch, and a hunting preserve. She began developing the land and selling property to wealthy friends from the north. By this time, Mrs. Palmer was internationally known for her parties and her extravagant lifestyle. She could spend over $200,000 in a day of shopping. She spent so extravagantly that Potter allegedly left money for Bertha's "future husband" in his will. When people asked him why he would leave money for his replacement he said, "because he will need it!"

Mrs. Palmer called her Sarasota home "The Oaks" ... so that's what I was searching for on maps, on the internet, and all around Sarasota. Well, I never did find The Oaks because the home by that name was torn down. There is now some sort of gated community or country club there by the same name. Instead, the remnants of her private winter estate is named Historic Spanish Point. It was here that I expected to find some interesting history about the area with respect to the Spanish discovery and exploration of Florida. Surprised was I upon bumbling into Bertha Palmer's gardens, guest houses, and a guided tour of the property!!

I parked my car and went into the visitor's center. The park is officially named Historic Spanish Point and there is an admission fee. I paid the fee and got a map of the park and drove to the main trail head. After walking past some open lawn, I encountered a tour group being led by a woman who was very knowledgeable about the property. Our first stop was the Duchene Lawn which features a classic style portal. The lawn was meant to be Mrs. Palmer's front yard, but the mansion was unfortunately never built. The portal was meant to frame a view of the cove and Sarasota Bay, but the land leading from the lawn to the waterfront was never cleared.



After the Duchene Lawn, we walked through a thicket of swamp plants and came out to another large lawn that had once been an attempted lychee orchard. Bertha's grandson Gordon Palmer tried to grow lychee trees here so he could sell the fruit to Americans. Unfortunately the climate in Florida is just a little too cool in the winter for the trees and most of them died. There were a couple left on the far side of the field.



We went past a butterfly garden and a "jungle walk" to arrive at the Guptill House, the original home on the property. The tour took a short break here and then we went inside the house. I took some pictures inside the house before continuing on the tour.



We walked over a footbridge and then spent a few minutes inside an ancient midden. There was a small museum built inside the midden and we could see a cross section of the shell heap. We watched a short video about the property and then moved on to the area of Mrs. Palmer's sunken garden and pergola.





The whole experience was really exciting for me just because I'm fascinated with the gilded age, the Palmer family, and the whole Chicago link to Sarasota. I always try to see the things that are highlighted by the brown "parks and rec" signs that I see on the sides of the road and this time I was definitely not disappointed.

Chicago Mayfest!

I went to the Chicago Maifest on Saturday and Sunday in Lincoln Square, once known as Germantown Chicago. It's a Germanfest with brats, leberkase, thueringers, saurkraut and potato salad. Oh yeah... and beer! HUGE steins of Hofbrau Munchen! There were also a few bands playing and lots of silly hats and dancing.



You can see the Western Avenue "el" station in the background. The music and "revelry" were so loud, you couldn't hear the train go bye.

Leberkase is my new best friend! It's sort of like spam, if you've never had it you should go look for some at a German butcher near you!

Perspective

Chicago 1871

On a dry October Sunday in 1871 a fire broke out in southwestern Chicago. At first the fire was dismissed by most citizens... perhaps they thought it would be dealt with by the city's fire department. Unfortunately, the fire department was poorly manned and exhausted from fighting a fire the night before. The fire soon became a storm of flame that engulfed the city and reduced 4 square miles to rubble. By the time the fire was extinguished, two days later, the city lay in ruin. Potter Palmer's hotel was gone. His dry goods store reduced to ashes. Hundreds lost their lives. The city land surveys were destroyed. How would they go on?

(Chicago Tribune archive photo)

"If you were standing at the corner of Wabash and Washington Streets in Chicago in 1871, this is what you would see: piles of rubble, with the ruins of the Second Presbyterian Church in the background, just part of the unimaginable devastation from the "Great" Chicago Fire. The fire burned from Sunday October 8 to early Tuesday October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about four square miles in Chicago, Illinois."

We are delivered setbacks, disappointments, and frustrations - but if we don't rise again, we haven't learned a thing.

Lake Michigan Sunrise, April 7 2009

Lake Michigan Sunrise, April 7 2009, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Breaking away from our Sarasota stories for a moment... In the early spring in Chicago, the lake and air temperatures are constantly out of sync. In the early morning on a clear day, a layer of clouds or fog can form over the lake. When the sun rises through these clouds, it creates one of the most fantastic sunrise effects I've ever seen.

After taking Isabelle to work one Saturday morning I drove over the the lakefront to wait for the sunrise. This shot was among the many I took, but I think it's the most spectacular.

A Day at the Adler Planetarium

On Saturday afternoon I went to Chicago's Adler Planetarium. It has the world's oldest operating planetarium, the western hemisphere's first planetarium, and is the world's only museum with two operating planetariums. I got a ticket to the museum and one show, "Nightsky Live" which would basically just show off the planetarium with a view of the night sky over Chicago.



The outside of the old building is adorned with brass plates representing the 12 astrological zodiac symbols. The back of the museum has had a very tasteful addition which hosts a larger museum and solarium.



The Atwood Sphere is actually Chicago's oldest planetarium. It was sold to the Navy and then bought back by the Adler planetarium in the 90s. The phere is a 15ft (5 m) diameter sheet metal sphere with 692 holes in the surface, allowing light to enter to show positions of the brightest stars relative to an Earth viewing point. The sphere slowly rotates around the viewer putting the stars in motion.



In the basement of the planetarium is more exhibit space where many ancient astonomy tools are on display. There were far more than I could photograph, but here are some of the more interesting ones.



I took this picture of the projector inside the planetarium even though I technically wasn't supposed to take photos in there, I think they mean just while the show was going.



Behind the planetarium is a small observatory with a telescope to enable Chicagoans to see the night sky at over 5000x. The observatory is only open to the public on Fridays and during special events like eclipses, but they use it for research regularly.



There are some pictures taken from the observatory at this page:

http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/exhibits/doane.shtml