Friday, January 14, 2011

Michigan Avenue at Night

Another great postcard from Brian at Paper Sponge. This is a beautiful night-time view of Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  The Water Tower is still there, but if it hadn't served such an important role in stopping great Chicago Fire of 1871, it would probably be long gone. Public outcry thwarted the various attempts to have it demolished in 1906, 1918, and 1948.  At one time, the 154-foot tower dwarfed all the buildings around it.


Here's the same view today.

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And here's the back of the card.
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8 comments:

  1. JanineJanuary 14, 2011 at 9:13 AM

    Das ist eine super Karte. Die einzelnen Gebaüde komme toll zur Geltung, tja da war ja auch noch nicht alles so verbaut wie heute.
    Die Karte erinnert mich an etwas....
    Ja richtig! Man könnte sich vorstellen, das das Batman -Zeichen am Himmel erscheint ;0)
    Liebe Grüße und schönes Wochenende
    Ach ja und Papua Neuguinea ist keine schlechte Idee

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  2. JoyJanuary 14, 2011 at 11:14 AM

    A wonderful and atmospheric night view, the tower does dominate in contrast to today. Hurray that public opinion kept it standing. It would be interesting for an artist to paint again and use a bit of artistic license to put it centre stage.

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  3. PostcardyJanuary 14, 2011 at 11:39 AM

    I'm glad the water tower was preserved. I didn't know about the relationship with the Chicago fire.

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2011 at 6:16 PM

    Great card with the headlights/moonlight combo, almost a movie set, I'm just waiting for gangsters to start shooting out of the cars! Apparently the building on the right (armory?) was of some sentimental/functional value to, as it also remains after all these years.

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  5. LiT Web StudioJanuary 15, 2011 at 12:54 AM

    what a gorgeous linen card...i agree that it really looks so evocative of a film set. love the "then and now" side to this post too! happy PFF!

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  6. Aimee DarsJanuary 15, 2011 at 11:08 AM

    Great postcard. It's amazing to see the change in the skyline.

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  7. L. D. January 15, 2011 at 12:21 PM

    Cool. My son works down there every day taking a 40 minute train ride to get there.

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  8. Brian PaperSpongeJanuary 16, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    Wow! Really like this one. The way the headlights are coming at you, the blue clouds from moonlight, everything. Really classy night shot postcards are hard to come by. Especially city scenes.

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