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Metra, the Chicago area's commuter rail system, antagonizes expressway drivers with its self-rightous billboards that boast, "We're On Time. Are You?" It's their job to be on time, and not their business whether mine is. Otherwise, from my one experience riding one of their trains, I think they do fine. But if especially irritated, one might be tempted to pose a similarly accusatory question like, "I Don't Present Myself as a Pile of Standard Lumber Scraps Nailed Together Haphazardly. Do You?"
I have admired its ramshackled crudeness from the CTA bus many times, but it seems like people are getting pretty sick of it. It is certainly absurd that neither the public, the city, or Metra's own dignity have demanded its replacement. The Tribune article offers explanations about budget delays, and other predictable set-backs. But with the shiny new condos going up around it, I imagine something's going to have to happen soon.
The 1908 Chicago and Northwestern Railway Bascule Bridge south of Kinzie Street has been added to TAKOTRON BRIDGES. The site is now up to date and complete, at least until another wave of research and accompanying field trip takes place.
TAKOTRON BRIDGES is now up and ready for your consumption. The site contains information I have compiled and photos I have taken of some of Chicago's moveable railroad bridges. Chicago was the home of various modern engineering marvels, including the elevator and skyscraper, and the marriage of such innovation with the city's place as America's railroad hub yielded some incredible new bridge designs. Most notable is the Strauss trunnion bascule bridge, designed by Joseph Buermann Strauss, better known for the Golden Gate Bridge. Other methods for accomodating both the railroad and an open waterway were developed as well, including this unique vertical lift solution in which a 1500-ton span is elevated 130 feet above the Chicago River.
The other night I took Miss Keipop to the Bridgeport institution, Schaller's Pump, for dinner and a drink. Schaller's is a family owned pub that's been around since 1881, a staple of the working-class neighborhood that has served as the epicenter of Chicago politics and Sox-pride (on the walls are posters of the owner, Jack Schaller, holding the 2005 World Series trophy).
When I first passed by the Chicago Board of Trade, I thought I recognized its logo from somewhere. Upon reflection, I realized it is extremely similar to that of Omni Consumer Products (OCP), the sinister corporation that runs Detroit in the 1987 film Robocop. One or two friends confirmed this similarity, so I thought I would investigate. 
The website RoboCop Archive has a whole page dedicated to logos used in the films from which the rightmost image was extracted (and modified). As you can see, both logos are octagonal, divided into 3 rings with a center, with the outer 2 rings broken by an extension radiating from the inner ring that is the width of that ring's side. Coincidence or influence?
IIT M.Arch Program 3 Year 1 has ended, and I am back on earth, reemerging into society for the summer. It is high time I resume my duty of sharing with the world my discoveries in the complex folds of our contemporary urbanscape. 
But if you find yourself on the far north side in the middle of the night, heavily intoxicated and in need of processed meat, pancakes, and/or onion rings, you absolutely must go to Deluxe Diner on Clark and Devon. Their food, accompanied by off-brand soft drinks (left), is a cut above the late-night expectations, and, in my experience, there is almost always an interesting incident. For instance, once a couple got in an argument and the woman threw her plate, smashing it against the wall. Another time there was an African-American man in a Hasidic get-up who kept wandering in and out of the restaurant, twitching and mumbling to himself. That same night a group of extremely drunk college seniors(?) arrived. The boys were all dressed identically in nice jeans and untucked, vertically-striped dress-shirts. One girl kept falling out of her chair and making loud, amorous phone-calls. Another eventually vomited all over the table and left a trail across the floor and out the door. Unfortunately, it also seems the Deluxe Diner was once host to a much less funny, more extreme incident. But don't let that discourage you. The servers are patient and friendly, and the food is tasty at all hours.
Another installmant of observations and highlights from London, after a brief hiatus--we've been holed up in our busy workshop.
The landscape is former-industrial, with some remaining oil tanks, dumps, and emptied wastelands. Popping up all over are expensive new condos, which seem an odd fit. The Richard Rogers-designed Millenium Dome, the world's largest dome, sits on the Thames, a budget blowout temporarily abandoned. The Greenwich Meridian you set your watch to runs across it. 
A new, more austere portal to the works of TAKOTRON has been envisioned, engineered, and uploaded. With a white background, of all things. Visit this sexy new thing here:
Yesterday's entry got a little weighty so we're going to lighten things up a bit with some good old fashioned consumption advice. London has a reputation for being expensive, but once you get your mindset converted to pounds and start thinking of things relative to one another it doesn't seem bad. Just don't mentally convert everything to dollars, or you'll bum yourself out. 
But travel brings new opportunities to unleash the thrill of the hunt. And London's got some great offerings. First up, there are some places up on Portobello Road, North of Notting Hill. Intoxica has a decent selection for every genre, and lots of obscure/novelty vinyl. A couple blocks North is Honest Johns, which is crammed full with crates of Hip Hop and Reggae. I was on a Dub mission and had huge luck finding some classics there--King Tubby, Scratch Perry, Yabby Yu, and Scientist. The owners also do distribution for some local Dub artists, putting out some interesting small production run stuff. It's a genre that didn't really take off in the States, and next to Kingston, London is the place to find it. Way up and out of the way is the supposedly legendary Rough Trade, the alleged "quintessential model of all independent record shops." Well, it was a bitch getting there and totally not worth it--super hipster, small selection, lots of American stuff. Not up my alley, but if you're a big indie/emo hair-tufts-combed-over-your-ears type and want to have the Wicker Park experience a few thousand miles away, then check this place out. 
I had much better luck down on Berwyck street in Soho. Do yourself a big favor and get off at Bond Street and walk up to The Golden Hind at 73 Marlybone Lane W1U 2PN, where I had a transcendental fish and chips experience (and mushy peas). An unpretentious, friendly place. Then walk it off down Oxford Street to Berwyck (near the Oxford Circus tube). Take Berwyck south, where it gets sleazy, and you'll find a cluster of record shops. Sister Ray was amazing--in my opinion, the best record shop in London. They bought Selectadisc's store and moved into it (they used to be a few blocks farther south), and have a gigantic selection of used CDs and LPs, all very reasonably priced. Farther along is Reckless Records, which happens to be owned by the same people as the Chicago stores. It's not a big place, but the basement is full of good vinyl finds, well organized and priced. 
Around here is a Music and Video Exchange, one of many. They are pretty grimy, rocking the consignment shop atmosphere. Another place is Cheapo Cheapo Records, again, a longshot place where you might stumble upon some diamonds in the rough. As backup, near the Oxford Circus tube is a huge HMV store. I haven't seen them in the States, but I know they're all over Japan. It's a bigass corporate chain, a la Tower and Virgin, but they are well stocked, inexpensive, and seem to do a good job hiring competent, knowledgable people. They often have staff recommendation corners that make them seem a little more intimate compared to their shinier, more sterile competitors, if that makes sense.
Last week featured TAKOTRON in London, where with my studio we toured fresh new urban landscapes. One highlight was a meeting with the London-based architecture firm, Future Systems. A couple of their completed projects can be found around town. In east London's Docklands is a pedestrian pontoon bridge--a floating lime-green slab that connects India Quay with Canary Wharf (completed in 1996). On the other side of the city they designed a new media center at Lord's Cricket Grounds. Inspired by the form of an SLR camera, the center is a semi-monocoque aluminum pod, offering a panoramic, unobstructed view of the field through it's glass facade (completed in 1999). 
Future System's office is housed in a single-story brick building behind a parking lot, rather nondescript save for the neon-orange door. Once inside we found ourselves faced with a secretary who sat behind a gleaming white, curved, fiberglass desk. The huge open space around us was brightly lit, the busy staff shuffling around the fuchsia carpet in their socks. 
