Illinois Revisited!
Propelled into a new era, with ultra-modern touches and flair.
The ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM
The Illinois State Museum is still there. And, it remains a museum of Illinois stuff -- Illinois natural history, anthropology, history, and decorative and fine arts. This all-the-museums-in one approach seems kind of quirky, but apparently that's the Illinois way.
I have not been able to positively confirm that it is still air-conditioned, but it seems like a safe bet.
Chicago Natural History Museum
formerly Field Museum of Natural History
The entrance hall looks quite similar, but the elephants now have second billing:
Guests in Stanley Field Hall are greeted by gleaming white marble interiors, sky lit vaulted ceilings, and stately columns—complete with SUE, the largest, most complete, best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil yet discovered.
NORTHERN CHALET
The Northern Chalet no longer exists. Its former site is now one of these.
If you would like to see a zither performance filmed at the Northern Chalet in 1981, you can catch it on YouTube. Really!
THE PANTRY
The Pantry no longer exists. Its building -- renumbered from 718 to 720 -- is now the Park Ridge Nonprofit Center.
If you take the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce's history tour, you'll learn at the first stop that:
This building at 720 Garden which traces its roots back about a hundred years was also a broadcasting location for WLS radio, The Pantry restaurant, Wohlers Insurance, and American Insurance, before finding new life as the Park Ridge Non-Profit Center giving non-profits in town such as the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce, the Community Fund and the Kalo Foundation a place to share resources.
The Lime House
The Lime House, that "authentic reproduction of 18th century English country pub" in the Chicago Knickerbocker Hotel, no longer exists. The Knickerbocker Hotel still exists, mind you. However, it seems that:
In 1970, Hugh Hefner and Playboy Enterprises purchased the Knickerbocker, renaming it the Playboy Towers, and Chicago’s landmark hotel was propelled into a new era, with ultra-modern touches and flair, including the Playmate Bar and Living Room Lounge, a discotheque and Playboy Gift Shop.My friends, you simply can not make this shit up. The hotel was sold back into more conventional management in 1979, but I can't imagine that The Lime House made it very far into the Hefner years. If you want to drink at the Knickerbocker now, it will be considerably less 18th century pubbish:
Ladies and Gentlemen: Illinois!
3 comments:
Oh! Come to think of it, I remember there was a building in downtown Chicago with Playboy bunny ears on it. A corporate logo that, you can imagine, was a big hit with the eight-year-olds. But we never went inside. (Quick research: looks like it was the Palmolive Building, which was home to the magazine offices, and had PLAYBOY spelled out in 9' high letters.)
What?? I love Illinois!! Best wednesday post ever!! Double punctuation marks are also the best, no?!
I thought you''d like it,, Libby!!
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