May 2009

Welcome to the South Loop Neighbors newsletter. The month of May promises two especially exciting events for SLN, each detailed below. These are both not-to-be-missed events, so mark your calendars now and invite your neighbors.

He Built This City
Burnham's Plan of Chicago, Centennial

The Magnificent Mile shopping district, the Beaux Arts-style Michigan Avenue Bridge, the double-decked Wacker Drive, the relocated river, the creation of an unbroken string of lakefront parks - these iconic sites all owe their origins to architect Daniel Burnham's famous (but often misunderstood) 1909 Plan of Chicago, widely regarded as the Rosetta Stone of modern city planning. This year Chicago honors Burnham's grand metropolitan blueprint with a yearlong series of exhibits and events befitting the man who famously called for "no little plans."

South Loop Neighbors is proud to have our own expert on the subject - Chicago geographer and historian Dennis McClendon, who happens to be our organization's board President. Dennis is generously offering a free lecture as the program for the SLN bi-monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 13, at Grace Place, 637 S. Dearborn St., at 7 p.m. As part of his lively presentation, Dennis will show pictures of the Chicago that faced the planners a century ago, the grand visions they had for the city, and what actually resulted from the Plan of Chicago, with a particular focus on the South Loop. Get a jump start on the city's Centennial celebration by attending this SLN event, which is open to the public and free to all.

The city's official summer Centennial celebration will begin in June, with the opening of two temporary pavilions in Millennium Park designed by renowned architects Zaha Hadid and Ben van Berkel. The pavilions, designed to emphasize the importance of boldly imagining a better future for all, will open to the public on June 19, 2009 and close October 31. For more info, visit http://burnhamplan100.uchicago.edu

Also, the Chicago Architecture Foundation is offering a series of tours centered around the Burnham Plan Centennial. For more info, visit http://burnhamplan100.uchicago.edu

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South Loop Writers Showcase
South Loop Reconnects with its Literary History

As most South Loop residents know, Printer's Row boasts a long history in Chicago. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area was home to Chicago's vibrant printing and publishing industry and was named for these origins. Today, buildings are still known by their original publishing house names and many even have the original signage. Dearborn Station, located at the southern end of Printer's Row, was the city's main passenger train hub and remains a landmark of the neighborhood.

In the 1970s, old printing plants were converted to loft housing and the original residents of Printers Row were artists, photographers, and writers, for the most part. Today, even though the area has grown and developed, the neighborhood still is home to a literary community that includes many writers, several old-fashioned bookstores, and even a contemporary publishing house.

This month, South Loop Neighbors is connecting with its literary history by showcasing its current literary community. At a special event on Wednesday, May 20th, at 7 p.m., a sampling of South Loop writers will read from their work and discuss their relationship with the neighborhood. The selected writers include two Chicago historians, a memoirist, an art and culture essayist, a poet, and a writer of Western-theme novels. (For a list of these writers and their bios, click the link at the bottom of this online newsletter.)

Sandmeyer's Bookstore, a Printer's Row institution for more than 20 years, will sell books by the participating writers, and the writers will be available for book signing and chat. Plus, Sharon Woodhouse, founder of Lake Claremont Press (www.lakeclaremont.com), will speak about her work at the South Loop's contemporary publishing house. All this will take place at Jazz Showcase in historic Dearborn Station.

Admission to the South Loop Writers Showcase is $10 for the general public and free to South Loop Neighbor members. You may join SLN at the door or online in advance of the event ($35 for individuals; $55 for households). To join online, click Join at the far right side of the menu bar above.

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Development Update
by Dennis McClendon, SLN President

Look for construction fencing to go up next week (finally) for Printer's Square Park, and for groundbreaking to begin shortly thereafter. The project should be completed approximately 120 days later.

The park, planned for the block between Federal and South Dearborn Streets, just outside Printer's Square and south of the Transportation Building at 600 S. Dearborn, has been a long time coming. The space is about a quarter of an acre and will combine what is currently a vacant parking lot and a small park area with a fountain, along with two access roads that connect Dearborn and Federal. A proposed design is shown at the end of this online newsletter.

Also below, an early rendering shows some of the ideas to be incorporated, including benches that resemble the movable printers' type that was used in the heyday of Printer's Row. Fragments of type will allude to the forgotten street names of the area, including Pacific Avenue, Edina Street, and Hubbard Place.

**UPDATE AS OF 5/13: Ald Fioretti has decided to postpone the start of this project until during the Lit Fest in the first weekend of June when there will be a groundbreaking ceremony.

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Ald. Fioretti has announced several resurfacing projects using money from the new state capital program. Streets to be repaved include the following: State from Congress to 18th; Cermak from King Dr. to Clark; and Indiana from 16th to Cermak.

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Got a question about development in the South Loop? Submit your inquiry and Dennis McClendon will investigate and report his findings in the next newsletter. Click here to Ask Dennis.

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Library Architecture and History Tour
by Bonnie McGrath, SLN board member

We didn't see a lot of books at the South Loop Neighbors tour of the Harold Washington Library on Saturday, April 25th. But we sure saw a lot of everything else - nooks, crannies, lots of art (the library has a superb collection of pieces that adorn the walls on every floor), exhibits, special rooms, interesting views, outside architecture, interior design and lots of marble.

Twenty SLN members - the maximum number of people the library would allow on the tour - strolled around under the tutelage of Mark Andersen, Chief of the Business-Science-Technology Division. One minute we were looking out of the enormous skylights of the Winter Garden on the top floor to see an interesting view of the Sears Tower, and another minute we were looking at some of the architectural quirks of the Children's Room on the second floor of the building. And in between we walked through library byways none of us knew even existed.

Afterwards, several tour goers settled in at S.R.O. for some great sandwiches as we watched the rain through the open doors, which allowed fresh breezes. And the most important part of our meal? We got to use our SLN member discount (10% off at SR0!), after we showed our membership cards, of course.

Didn't make it on the tour this time? There was so much interest in the tour (we had an extensive waiting list), and it was such a fun-fact-filled success, that SLN will soon be announcing an encore tour - probably in June. Look for more info to come.

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Networking & Referrals
Link Correction

Many readers clicked the link in the SLN April Newsletter article titled "Networking with Neighbors," only to be disappointed. The link didn't work. Apologies. To re-read the article about the SLN Networking and Referral Night and also view the contact list for that event - complete with info on all who made presentations as well as those who were referred by others - please go to the SLN website and in the Recent Articles box on the home page, click the link for "Networking With Neighbors." Scroll to the bottom of the article to view the contact list.

NOTE: The article mentioned may no longer appear in the Recent Articles box on the home page, but you can find it on the Neighborhood page of this website.

South Loop Writers Showcase: Writer and Speaker Bios

Printer's Square Park Design

Printers Square Park Rendering