I just loved the 1130 South Michigan Building in Chicago where my sister Susan and brother-in-law George had 40th floor studio apartments, and later a large two bedroom 24th floor unit looking south down South Michigan Avenue. I took the above photograph around 1970, showing their living room view. You always knew the time and temperature when you lived in that apartment, and also had a strange tendency to always drink Pepsi. I went back to Chicago a few years ago, and although the building is still there, the view is much different. Gone is the old Illinois Central Railroad Building across the street, as is the Pepsi sign and the building that once supported it. Also gone are the strange mix of industrial and retail buildings on South Michigan, replaced by a yuppie infested "New South Side." Even the Hotel Crillon, also seen in the photo above, offering rooms for $2.50 a night, is gone. A pity since that is where I intended to stay. Another tourist bargain gone forever. I weep.
The sign was originally put up in 1960 in conjunction with WNBQ (Channel 5) / WMAQ 67 AM. The by-this-time unused zipper was a 200 x 20 bulb (= 4,000) strip powered by and controls from Chicago's own Naxon Telesign. A picture taken in 1964 after Channel 5's calls were changed to WMAQ-TV showed, as the sun was setting, the lights flashing 'NBC 5', to cover for that call-letters change. I also had a soft spot for the time/temperature displays of this ilk, here shown in a 7 x 11 numeral matrix (as did a Coca-Cola sign up to around the time you took this pic, located on North Michigan at East Randolph); the majority of those time/temp displays were 6 x 9 numerals. Very few of these type time displays still exist today.
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