Chicago In 1971

Back when I lived in Chicago, I used to enjoy heading downtown and taking photographs of the lakefront and the Loop. Sometimes I would drive down to Grant Park, park the car, and then bike north along Lake Michigan until I reached Sheridan Road, where the park ends. I took the photograph on the left of the skyline and Monroe Harbor from a walkway near the Shedd Aquarium, back during the summer of 1971. I know that there have been quite a few additions to the skyline since then, including the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the St. Regis Hotel and Residences, and that weird looking building with the diamond shaped roof, but I still have a fondness for the Prudential Building, the John Hancock Center, and Lake Point Tower, two of which can be seen in that photo.

Back in 1971, the Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Company Building - designed by Louis Sullivan and seen in the photograph on the right - was still an upscale department store. Now it is called the Sullivan Center, and houses offices, and if I can believe the internet (always a risky proposition), has a Target store on the ground floor. How the mighty have fallen. At least it isn't a dollar store. And although the Checker Cab Company still exists, they no longer use Checker automobiles such as the two seen in the photo. How disappointing is that?

I'm not really sure what State Street looks like these days. Back in 1971, it was a thriving retail district. In 1979, two years before I moved to Denver, it was converted into a pedestrian only mall. I suspect that did not work out too well, since by the time I went back to visit Chicago in 2010, it was once again open to traffic. And yes, when I took the photograph on the left, Shaft was playing at the Roosevelt Theater. In point of fact, I haven't seen that film yet - I wonder if it is still in the theaters?