Outer Drive Bridge and MS Chicago Tribune, Chicago
There’s so much here I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll start with...
...the boat?
Blackhawk Restaurant, 139 N. Wabash, Chicago
A post-fire building by Chicago’s first recognized architect, the first national bowling tournament, big band jazz in the 1930s, prime rib and spinning salad restaurant, gutted in a facadectomy that left the shell as a liner for the parking podium of a condo tower.
Broadway, Portland
A staggering number of theaters once packed American cities, and Broadway was the flashy heart of Portland’s entertainment district. Headlined by the Paramount and the Broadway theaters—amongst the seven marquees visible in this 1930s postcard—today Broadway hosts…two.
Buffalo Savings Bank
The Buffalo Savings Bank renamed itself Goldome in an ill-fated 1980s rebrand, but it turns out that its eye-catching gilded dome was originally…copper?
Division Street YMCA/Wendy's, Chicago
Once a community anchor where tens of thousands of people learned to swim, stayed healthy, and found flexible short-term housing. Now, it’s 80% parking lot and 20% fast food drive through—there’s my beef.