along state st chicago

love the first one! great stuff...

strangely enough, the towers from that angle look like the petronas towers down here in kuala lumpur! beautiful pictures though.. :)

What is the first one? A building?

I love the first one too. It reminds me of the cover of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot cd.

Aah, my fair city! Those buildings on top are parking decks, right next to (or on top of?) the House of Blues. That's a lot of cars.

Rion, State St. is my favorite street in all of Chicago. The Marshall Field's is beautiful inside...mosaic ceilings in some places. Also, the Carson Pirie Scott building (the really ornate one, with the peacock doors) has some of the nouveau-deco-style from Louis Sullivan. Nice.

lay-c! correct on all counts, of course! photo one is the marina city 1 and 2. they are right next to (or part of) the house of blues, where i was staying.

Marina City II was featured in Steve McQueen's last movie, The Hunter: in one scene the hero chases a criminal 15 levels up the spiral parking ramp until the villain loses control of his Grand Prix and drives off the garage into the river.

i loved the carson pirie scott building as well, but it was a different building from the peacocks, was it not? (or is there more than one?) ...i had a lot of amazing photos from the CPS, but there was a lot of scaffolding on it and it threw my light/focus off. amazing ornamentation...

more chicago on rion.nu.

The moment we were waiting for: shots of home. And they're great shots. I especially like the fourth one down -- you make an ordinary spot that I see everyday look beautiful & majestic on rion.nu.

Agreed with Mojan :)

You are right about the peacock doors, Rion..it's all down there in that same area. Looooove State street and adjacent blocks; so many beautiful facades! Let me know when you come back and we'll go to the Chicago Cultural Center downtown to take pictures. That place is UNbelieveable.

Hi to everyone admiring Marina City! I hope you're all reading this, 10 weeks later. I have a friend who owns a couple condos in Marina Towers (the two 61-story buildings), and I've stayed many a night in this great location. I've also spent many an hour helping clean the condos for new tenants!

A couple comments: Yes, great observation: Cesar Pelli had to have been thinking of the Marina Towers when he designed the Petronas Towers. Pelli did his graduate work at the U of I and has a stylish office building 8 blocks SW of Marina City.

That is in fact the Marina Towers on the cover of the Wilco CD.

The Marina Towers aren't just a big parking deck! Floors 1-20 of each are a big spiral parking ramp. 21 is laundry and storage. 22-60 are condos. 61 is a great rooftop!

In =The Hunter= Steve McQueen is chasing this bad guy on a southbound el train, which then goes underground. They both get off by the river and "borrow" cars to chase up the Marina Towers' West Tower's parking spiral. Actually, McQueen jumps in a tow truck. It's hilarious seeing his apologetic expressions as he tries to squeeze by a Caddy. Well, the bad guy gets all the way to the top of the spiral, then has to come back down--where he swerves to avoid McQueen and goes flying off the 18th level into the Chicago River. Great, long chase!

Anyway, enjoy a walk along the river next time you're in Chicago--great views all up and down both sides. And Marina City is still about the coolest-looking thing there. It's beyond the Emerald City--more like =The Jetsons=!