Crowds

 Back at my computer working on the rewrite of MURDER BY THE HOOK and the Chicago trip is just a memory.  The weather was great.  It was 80 on the day we left.  It was sunny with blue skies the whole time.  The leaves were brilliant colors.  It was all very fallish, 

By chance, I saw there was an event over the last weekend called Open House Chicago.  Buildings all over the city that aren't usually accessible were open to the public.  And it was free.  We skipped the neighborhood buildings and went right to downtown.

We started off with lunch at the Berghoff, which was packed thanks to the draw to come downtown.  It is a very old restaurant that has nicely kept the interior the same.  It's German food and has wonderful side dishes of things red cabbage and spatzle that work for a vegetarian. It was only a short walk from there  My son was excited to be able to the trading floor the Board of Trade which is never open to the public.

It's at the spot where LaSalle Street meets Jackson and I heard was the most photographed block in the city.  I think it has been used a lot for movies.  Normally, it would have been desolate on a Saturday, but it was packed with people.  There were two bridal parties taking photographs in the street who must not have realized there were going to be all these people wandering around.

The line to go through the Board of Trade was a block long though it moved rather quickly. The interior of the Art Deco building was very old school elegant when buildings had all kinds of decorative touches.  First stop was the vault which was huge and then an elevator ride up to the trading floor.  The crowd was very nice and friendly.  The trading floor looked smaller than expected, but my son was fascinated. It was very user friendly.  They had samples of the jackets that people wear on the floor, available to try on and take photos.  There were giveaways of cups and kids' size sun glasses.  

I did sort of write about that area in one of the Writer for Hire books so it was neat to see what the inside of the building was like.

I took a break after that and sat outside while my son went to the money museum and came back with bags of shredded bills.  It was fascinating watching  the crowds of people.  The Chicago loop as it's called used to be a shopping mecca.  I see pictures on Facebook all the time of thick crowds on State Street which was where all the department stores were located.  Between them, were large shoe stores and a giant Woolworthts and weird little stores that always claimed to be going out of business.  All of that is changed.  Only Macy's is left and it's been whittled down.  There are a number of  schools  and more people are living in high rises down there. but the thick crowds are gone--except for that weekend.

There were throngs of people everywhere.  We stopped at one more building before we called it a day.  They had opened a completely empty floor to the public.  There was nothing in it, but great views of the lake, other buildings  and the street if you looked down.

Sunday we hit North Michigan Avenue and the number of  people downtown was staggering.  I hung out in a five story Starbucks while my son did his wandering.  It was mobbed.  I just loved seeing so much life back on the street.  As we drove home, we passed crowds waiting to get into Orchestra Hall and the Auditorium theater which is part of Roosevelt University where I went to school.  People were walking through the park on their way to  Buckingham Fountain and the lakefront. What a great surprise for the weekend.