Professional Courtesy: Chicago River Bridges Rise to let the Baby Float By

Saturday, was the first bridge lift of the season. It's one of Chicago's great rituals, the great bascule bridges over the Chicago river rising up like awakened giants to the sound of unseen motors revving and giant gears straining, and of the bells . . . 

Of the bells, bells, bells, 
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells -

Poe would have had a field day on a morning like this, standing on the side of the river, composing another stanza to his famous poem as the infernal, relentless clanging bore a hole into his cranium. 

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There used to be a guy from CDOT, a short and corpulent Napoleon of the bridge lifts, who would break up the monotony by screaming insults at pedestrians who weren't clearing the walkways fast enough for him.  I haven't seen him for a while.  This morning, the only relief from the frenetic ding-ding-ding came from the honking of a pair of displeased geese.

The inaugural armada passing through the spans today was, truth to tell, rather pathetic in number, but it was upstaged by a spectacular centerpiece, a couple of tugs guiding down the river a giant barge containing the replacement northern span for the Wells Street Bridge, next to which it will remain docked until April 26th, when work crews will begin disconnecting the old current span, and floating it out the way.  Then the barge with the new segment will be moved into place, and the workers will begin connecting it in place, with the job scheduled to finish by May 6th.

Read:
The Bridge On Beside the River Chicago - Reconstructing Wells Street
All Quiet on the Wells Street Front

Halloween attacks Chicago architecture - Giant Spider on Rush, Poe at Glessner, PC at Cobb's dungeon

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No, your eyes were not deceiving you.  That was a giant, scabby spider you saw climbing up the side of the 1883, oh so stately and sober Nickerson Mansion on Rush.  If his huge rhinestone eyes are bulging with anger, it's because he just found out the Nickerson Driehaus Museum is closed on Monday's, and he's grown way too big to scamper through a crack in the window.

If you want to move inside, there a number of Halloween events coming up.

Tuesday, October 26th, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Preservation Chicago is offering up Paranormal Preservation at the Excalibur  nightclub on Dearborn.

Eat, Drink and Be Spooked! Join us at this haunted historic landmark for a Halloween celebration and be possessed by one of the scariest of places in Chicago, the Dome Room. Sean Parnell author of Historic Bars of Chicago will be giving a brief talk in the haunted history of the Dome Room and will be signing books.

The building that is now Excalibur, of course, was built in 1892 as the home of the Chicago Historical Society, done up in architect Henry Ives Cobb's best fortress dungeon style.  One little known fact about the structure is its basement crypt were Laeddis was kept shackled before he was shuffled off to Shutter Island

The $30.00 tariff for Preservation Chicago's event includes 2 drink tickets, appetizer buffer, a one year membership for new members to PC, and a real shock if you choose to investigate that last stall in the washroom with its door half open.  Information and reservations here.

Unfortunately, Unity Temple has already suffered a repugnant "trick"  when 58 of the 72 tarnished bronze letters spelling out "For the worship of God and the service of man" were stolen from the sides of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece. 

Fortunately, on Thursday the 28th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., there will be a more positive event, Wine, Chocolate & Architecture: A Haunting Halloween Trio that will take place in a candlelit Unity Temple. The event will also feature clothing, jewelry and accessories "in hues of wine and chocolate" (makes it so much easier when you spill some of it on yourself) from Oak Park's Takara boutique.  $30.00 in advance, $35.00 at the door, 50% tax deductible. Get information about the event and how to purchase tickets here.

Finally, the Glessner House Museum will be offering actors from Lifeline Theatre presenting staged readings of Edgar Allen Poe's "terrifying stories and poetry. A holiday tradition!" (nevermore,  schmevermore), Saturday, October 30 at 5:00 and 8:00 p.m.  And, by the way, if you catch sight a huge ghostly figure, hooded in a monk's black cloak, remember it's bad manners, even on Halloween, to remind him that if he had just eaten more sensibly he would have had time to make a lot more buildings.  The event is $25.00, $20.00 for museum members, pre-paid reservations required.  On Saturday and Sunday, October 30 and 31, the Glesnner is also offering Haunted Tours of Prairie Avenue at 7:00 and 8:00 p.m., "Tales of strange sounds, unexplained sightings, and untimely endings as your explore Prairie Avenue after dark." $10.00 per person, $8.00 for members. Information about the events and how to order tickets here.

What?  You say we still haven't come up with anything that really scares you?

Ok.

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