More Chicago Nostalgia

I received the April Chicago Magazine the other day (have you received yours yet?) and must say it was a particularly interesting issue.  I especially like the ads, which tell me almost as much about the city's trendiest new neighborhoods as the articles.  As soon as you open the magazine this month, there is a two page ad (the photo from which can be seen above) for NEMA, a recently completed 76 story luxury apartment building on the corner of 12th and Indiana (I actually thought NEMA was some sinister psychiatric hospital in an old Disney movie, but I could be wrong).  In any case, the ad brought back a lot of memories, because the photograph in the magazine shows 1130 South Michigan (the triangular building 4th from the right of the tallest in the photo, which is NEMA).  And 1130 South Michigan is where my sister Susan and brother-in-law George lived for a number of years, and just loved it.

Susan had a studio apartment on the 40th floor, and George had a studio there, too.  That is where they met. When they got married, they moved into a one bedroom with a view of South Michigan Avenue and the lakefront.  I took the photograph on the right around 1970 during one of our visits to that apartment.  From left to right it shows my mother Mary, brother-in-law George, sister Susan, and father Nelson.  From the looks in the photograph, I would say my mother and sister were having issues that evening, but who knows after this long? I brought the magazine up to Fort Collins the other day to show Susan, and she was very surprised at how small 1130 South Michigan looks in the photograph.

Susan thought she was living on top of the world on the 40th floor, but NEMA dwarfs it these days.  I checked out rental rates there, and found you could rent a studio (I am going with the upper range since I assume they are on the highest floors) for $2,000 and a one bedroom for $2,600.  As for a two bedroom unit, don't even go there.   I took the photograph on the left out the window of Susan and George's apartment probably the same time I took the previous photograph.  The neighborhood has obviously change a LOT since then. No more giant Pepsi sign that gives you the time and temperature 24/7.  And I suspect the Hotel Crillon (seen on the right in the photograph on South Michigan Avenue) is no longer there renting rooms for $2.25 a night.  Just a hunch.