affiliations
WikiProject Chicago WP:CHICAGO
Director
(2006–present)
Four Award WP:FOUR
Director
(2009–2014)
(disputed, 2013–2014)
W Awards WP:WAWARD
Director
(2010–present)
WALRUS committee M:WALRUS
Committee
(2011–2013)
(2016–present)
Online Ambassadors WP:Ambassadors
(2011–2012)
2010 WP:CUP
2nd place
Most WP:DYKs in a round



Tony The Tiger interpretation: Freedom of expression does not exist unless freedom of expression is protected when and where the audience exists.



FA date TFA date TFA views Net views 3 day Net views TFA blurb
2009-07-14 2010-02-09 121,715 121,715 19,021
Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park within the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture and AT&T Plaza are located on top of Park Grill, between the Chase Promenade and McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its legume-like shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It is 33 feet by 66 feet by 42 feet (10 m × 20 m × 13 m), and weighs 110 short tons (99.8 t; 98.2 long tons). Kapoor's design was inspired by liquid mercury and the sculpture's surface reflects and distorts the city's skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate's 12-foot (3.7 m) high arch. On the underside is the omphalos, a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds on many of Kapoor's artistic themes, and is popular with tourists as a photo-taking opportunity for its unique reflective properties.
2012-12-24 2013-02-21 74,822 74,822 8,909 Look Mickey is a 1961 oil on canvas painting by Roy Lichtenstein. Based on an illustration showing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck during a fishing mishap, it is widely regarded as the bridge between his abstract expressionism and pop art works. It is notable for its ironic humor and aesthetic value as well as being the first example of the artist's employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery as a source for a painting. Building on his late 1950s drawings of comic strips characters, Look Mickey marks Lichtenstein's first full employment of painterly techniques to reproduce almost faithful representations of pop culture and so satirize and comment upon the then developing process of mass production of visual imagery. In this, Lichtenstein pioneered a motif that became influential not only in 1960s Pop art but continuing to the work of artists today. The work dates from Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition, and is regarded by art critics as revolutionary both as a progression of pop art and as a work of modern art in general. It was later shown hanging prominently in Lichtenstein's studio in his 1973 painting, Artist's Studio—Look Mickey.
2009-05-12 2010-09-01 56,919 56,699 20,732
The Fountain of Time in 1920
Fountain of Time is a sculpture by Lorado Taft, measuring 126 feet 10 inches (38.66 m) in length, at the western edge of the Midway Plaisance within Washington Park in Chicago's South Side. Inspired by Henry Austin Dobson's "Paradox of Time" and with its 100 figures passing before Father Time, Time is a monument to the first 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain, resulting from the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. The fountain began running in 1920 and was dedicated in 1922. It contributes to the National Register of Historic Places Washington Park Historic District. Part of a larger beautification plan for the Midway Plaisance, Time was constructed from a new type of molded, steel-reinforced concrete that was claimed to be more durable and cheaper than alternatives, making it the first of any kind of finished works of art made of concrete. Before Millennium Park, it was considered the most important installation in the Chicago Park District. Time is one of several Chicago works funded by Benjamin Ferguson's trust fund. During the late 1990s and early 21st century it underwent repairs that corrected many of the problems caused by earlier restorations.
2010-01-10 2011-01-30 51,107 50,270 19,918
Trump International Hotel and Tower and the Chicago River
The Trump International Hotel and Tower is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago. The building, named after real estate developer Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease built the 92-story structure, which reached a height of 1,389 feet (423 m) including its spire, its roof topping out at 1,170 feet (360 m). The building received publicity when the winner of the first season of The Apprentice television show, Bill Rancic, chose to manage the tower's construction. It is the tenth-tallest building in the world and second-tallest building in the United States after Chicago's Willis Tower. Trump Tower surpassed Chicago's John Hancock Center as the building with the world's highest residence above ground-level and held this title until the completion of the Burj Khalifa. The building includes, from the ground up, retail space, a parking garage, a hotel, and condominiums. The 339-room hotel opened for business with limited accommodations and services on January 30, 2008. April 28, 2009, was the full accommodation and service grand opening. A restaurant on the 16th floor, named Sixteen, opened in early 2008 to favorable reviews. The building topped out in late 2008 and construction was completed in 2009.
2009-06-16 2010-05-22 46,744 46,639 20,993
The BP Pedestrian Bridge
The BP Pedestrian Bridge is a girder footbridge in the Loop community area of Chicago. It spans Columbus Drive to connect Daley Bicentennial Plaza with Millennium Park, both parts of the larger Grant Park. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, it opened along with the rest of Millennium Park on July 16, 2004. Gehry had been courted by the city to design the bridge and the neighboring Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and eventually agreed to do so after the Pritzker family funded the Pavilion. Named for energy firm BP, which donated $5 million toward its construction, it is the first Gehry-designed bridge to have been completed. BP Bridge is described as snakelike because of its curving form. Designed to bear a heavy load without structural problems caused by its own weight, it has won awards for its use of sheet metal. The pedestrian bridge serves as a noise barrier for traffic sounds from Columbus Drive. It is designed without handrails, using stainless steel parapets instead. The total length is 935 feet (285 m), with a five percent slope on its inclined surfaces that makes it barrier free and accessible to all. Although the bridge closes in winter because ice cannot be safely removed from its wooden walkway, it has received favorable reviews for its design and aesthetics.
2013-09-09 2013-09-27 41,057 40,798 8,311
Some of the lettering used in Whaam!

Whaam! is a 1963 diptych painting by American artist Roy Lichtenstein. The painting's title (pictured) is displayed in the large onomatopoeia in the right panel. One of the best-known works of pop art, it is among Lichtenstein's most important paintings. Whaam! was first exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City in 1963, and purchased by the Tate Gallery, London, in 1966. It has been on permanent display at Tate Modern since 2006. The left-hand panel of Whaam! shows a fighter plane firing a missile. The right-hand panel depicts the missile hitting its target, a second plane, which explodes into flames. Lichtenstein based the image on elements taken from several comic-book panels. He transformed his primary prototype, a panel from a 1962 war comic book, by dividing the composition into two panels and altering the relationship of the graphical and narrative elements. Whaam! is regarded for the temporal, spatial and psychological integration of its two panels, which Lichtenstein conceived as a contrasting pair. Lichtenstein, who served in the United States Army during World War II, depicted aerial combat in several works.

2013-07-23 2015-06-13 40,045 39,877 8,777
Roy Lichtenstein

Drowning Girl is a 1963 pop art painting with oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas by Roy Lichtenstein (pictured). Utilizing the conventions of comic book art, a thought bubble conveys the thoughts of the figure, while Ben-Day dots echo the effect of the mechanized printing process. Part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection since 1971, the painting is considered among Lichtenstein's most significant works, perhaps on a par with Whaam!, his acclaimed 1963 diptych. Drowning Girl has been described as a "masterpiece of melodrama", and is one of the artist's earliest images depicting women in tragic situations, a theme to which he often returned in the mid-1960s. The painting shows a teary-eyed woman on a turbulent sea, declaring that she would rather sink in the ocean than call Brad. (Several Lichtenstein works contain text referring to an absent "Brad".) The narrative element highlights the clichéd melodrama, while its graphics reiterate Lichtenstein's theme of painterly work depicting mechanized reproduction. The work is derived from a 1962 DC Comics panel, while also borrowing from Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa and from works by modernist artists Jean Arp and Joan Miró.

2014-08-23 2014-11-27 34,155 33,037 5,779
Norman Rockwell
Freedom from Want is the third of the Four Freedoms series of four oil paintings by American artist Norman Rockwell (1894–1978, pictured in his twenties). The works were inspired by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address, known as Four Freedoms. Until then, freedom from want was not a commonly understood or accepted universal freedom. The painting was published in the March 6, 1943, issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It depicts a group of people gathered around a dinner table for a holiday meal, all of whom were friends and family of Rockwell; they were photographed individually and painted into the scene. The painting has become an iconic representation of the Thanksgiving holiday and family holiday gatherings in general and has had a wide array of adaptations, parodies, and other uses. Popular then and now in the U.S., it caused resentment in Europe where the masses were enduring wartime hardship. Artistically, the work is highly regarded as an example of mastery of the challenges of white-on-white painting and as one of Rockwell's most famous works. (Full article...)

Part of the Four Freedoms featured topic.

2009-09-27 2011-10-17 32,835 32,673 6,727
Crown Fountain is an interactive work of public art and video sculpture featured in Chicago's Millennium Park. Designed by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa and executed by Krueck and Sexton Architects, it opened in July 2004. The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet (15.2 m) tall, and they use light-emitting diodes to display digital videos on their inward faces. Weather permitting, the water operates from May to October, intermittently cascading down the two towers and spouting through a nozzle on each tower's front face. The fountain highlights Plensa's themes of dualism, light, and water, extending the use of video technology from his prior works. Crown Fountain has been the most controversial of all the Millennium Park features. Before it was even built, some were concerned that the sculpture's height violated the aesthetic tradition of the park. The fountain has survived its somewhat contentious beginnings to find its way into Chicago pop culture. It is a popular subject for photographers and a common gathering place. The fountain is a public play area and offers people an escape from summer heat, allowing children to frolic in the fountain's water.
2010-09-25 2010-12-10 31,952 31,952 11,231
The Northwest Exelon Pavilion, which serves as Millennium Park's Welcome Center
The Exelon Pavilions are four structures which generate electricity from solar energy and provide access to underground parking in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US. The pavilions provide sufficient energy to power the equivalent of 14 Energy Star-rated energy-efficient houses in Chicago. The four pavilions, which cost $7 million, were designed in January 2001; construction began in January 2004. The South Pavilions were completed and opened in July 2004, while the North Pavilions were completed in November 2004, with a grand opening on April 30, 2005. In addition to producing energy, three of the four pavilions provide access to the parking garages below the park, while the fourth serves as the park's welcome center and office. Exelon, a company that generates the electricity transmitted by its subsidiary Commonwealth Edison, donated $5.5 million for the pavilions. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin praised the South Pavilions as "minor modernist jewels", but criticized the North Pavilions as "nearly all black and impenetrable". The North Pavilions have received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver rating from the United States Green Building Council, as well as an award from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
2007-08-06 2008-06-18 31,679 31,326 8,189
The Chicago Board of Trade Building
The Chicago Board of Trade Building
The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. It stands at 141 W. Jackson Boulevard at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon, in the Loop community area in Cook County, Illinois, United States. First designated a Chicago Landmark on May 4, 1977, the building was listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 16 1978. Originally built for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it is now the primary trading venue for the CME Group, formed in 2007 by the merger of the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The 141 W. Jackson address hosted the former tallest building in Chicago designed by William W. Boyington before the current Holabird & Root structure, which held the same title for over 35 years. The current structure is known for its art deco architecture, sculptures and large-scale stone carving, as well as large trading floors. A three-story art deco statue of Ceres, goddess of grain, caps the building. The building is a popular sightseeing attraction and location for shooting movies, and its owners and management have won awards for efforts to preserve the building and for office management.
2014-03-28 2014-06-01 26,274 25,997 12,285
Norman Rockwell
The Four Freedoms is a series of four 1943 oil paintings by the American artist Norman Rockwell (1894–1978). The paintings—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear—refer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's January 1941 Four Freedoms State of the Union address in which he identified essential human rights that should be universally protected, a theme which became part of the charter of the United Nations. The paintings were reproduced in The Saturday Evening Post alongside essays by prominent thinkers of the day. They became the highlight of a year-long touring exhibition to promote the sale of war bonds in support of the American war effort, which raised over $132 million. Rockwell (pictured in his twenties) was the most widely known and popular commercial artist of the mid 20th century, but failed to achieve critical acclaim. The four paintings, which are now in the Norman Rockwell Museum, are his best-known works, but critical review has not been entirely positive. However, Rockwell created a niche in the enduring social fabric with Freedom from Want, emblematic of what is now known as the "Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving".
2010-08-31 2011-05-01 26,251 25,834 9,316
Millennium Park, as seen from the Aon Center
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a 24.5-acre (9.9 ha) section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously occupied by parkland, Illinois Central rail yards and parking lots. The park, which is bounded by Michigan Avenue, Randolph Street, Columbus Drive and East Monroe Drive, features a variety of public art. As of 2009, Millennium Park trailed only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction. Planning of the park began in October 1997. Construction began in October 1998, and Millennium Park was opened in a ceremony on July 16, 2004, four years behind schedule. The three-day opening celebrations were attended by some 300,000 people and included an inaugural concert by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. The park has received awards for its accessibility and green design. Millennium Park has free admission, and features the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain, the Lurie Garden and other attractions. The park is connected by the BP Pedestrian Bridge and the Nichols Bridgeway to other parts of Grant Park. Millennium Park is considered to be the city's most important project since the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and it far exceeded its originally proposed budget of $150 million.
2010-02-20 2013-01-20 25,393 21,643 45,242
Barack Obama taking his Oath of Office
Barack Obama taking the oath of office

The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2009. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice President. "A New Birth of Freedom", a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, served as the inaugural theme to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth year of Abraham Lincoln. In his speeches to the crowds, Obama referred to ideals expressed by Lincoln about renewal, continuity and national unity. The presidential oath as administered to Obama during the ceremony strayed slightly from the form prescribed in the constitution, which led to its re‑administration the next evening. In addition to a larger than usual celebrity attendance at the inauguration, the Presidential Inaugural Committee increased its outreach to ordinary citizens to encourage greater participation in inaugural events compared with participation in recent past inaugurations. Events included a first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball with free or affordable tickets for ordinary citizens.
2009-02-28 2009-03-06 23,865 23,623 8,500
William B. Saxbe
The Saxbe fix is a mechanism by which the President of the United States, in appointing to a civil office a Member of the Congress whose elected term has not yet expired, seeks to avoid the restriction of the Constitution's Ineligibility Clause. That clause prohibits the president from appointing a current or former member of Congress to a position that was created, or to a position for which the pay and/or benefits (collectively "emoluments") were increased, during the term for which that member was elected until the term has expired. The rollback, implemented by an Act of Congress in 1909, reverts the emoluments of the office to the amount they were when that member began his or her elected term. Historically, the restriction has been met with various responses: choosing another nominee, allowing the desired nominee's elected term of office to expire, ignoring the clause entirely, or using a "Saxbe fix" to reduce the offending emoluments. Although the latter mechanism was passed by Congress in 1909, it is named for William Saxbe, who was confirmed as Attorney General in 1973 after Congress reduced the office's salary to the level it had been before his term in the Senate commenced. Since the late 1970s, the use of the "Saxbe fix" has been common. The Saxbe fix has subsequently become relevant as a successful—though not universally accepted—solution for appointments of sitting members of the Congress to the Cabinet.
2010-01-25 2010-04-03 22,142 21,936 12,737
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the south side of Randolph Street and east of the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. The pavilion was named after Jay Pritzker of the Pritzker family, known for owning Hyatt Hotels. The building was designed by architect Frank Gehry, who accepted the design commission in April 1999; the pavilion was constructed between June 1999 and July 2004, opening officially on July 16, 2004. Pritzker Pavilion serves as the centerpiece for Millennium Park and is the new home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Grant Park Music Festival, the nation's only remaining free outdoor classical music series. It also hosts a wide range of music series and annual performing arts events. Performers ranging from mainstream rock bands to classical musicians and opera singers have appeared at the pavilion, which even hosts physical fitness activities such as yoga. All rehearsals at the pavilion are open to the public. The construction of the pavilion created a legal controversy, given that there are historic limitations on the height of buildings in Grant Park. To avoid these legal restrictions, the city classifies the bandshell as a work of art rather than a building. With several design and assembly problems, the construction plans were revised over time, with features eliminated and others added as successful fundraising allowed the budget to grow. In the end, the performance venue was designed with a large fixed seating area, a Great Lawn, a trellis network to support the sound system and a signature Gehry stainless steel headdress.
2007-11-26 2012-08-11 20,757 20,420 12,488
Regents Park in Chicago's South Side
The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago. Regions of the city, referred to as sides, are divided by the Chicago River and its branches. The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the main branch of the Chicago River, but it now excludes the Loop. The South Side has a varied ethnic composition, and it has great disparity in income and other demographic measures. The South Side covers 60% of the city's land area, with a higher ratio of single-family homes and larger sections zoned for industry than the rest of the city. Neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, and Pullman tend to be composed of more blue collar residents, while Hyde Park, the Jackson Park Highlands District, Kenwood, and Beverly tend to have middle, upper-middle class, and affluent residents. The South Side boasts a broad array of cultural and social offerings, such as professional sports teams, landmark buildings, nationally renowned museums, elite educational institutions, world class medical institutions, and major parts of the city's elaborate parks system.
2013-03-31 2013-05-18 19,623 18,734 5,660
Juwan Howard
Juwan Howard (born 1973) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He signed for the Heat (his eighth NBA team) in 2010, reaching the playoffs for the sixth time and making his first career NBA Finals appearance. Howard won his first NBA championship with Miami the following year. A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward, he began his NBA career as the fifth overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets. Before he was drafted, he starred as an All-American on the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. At Michigan he was part of the Fab Five recruiting class of 1991 that twice reached the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Division I Basketball Championship. During his rookie year with the Bullets, he became the first player to graduate on time with his class after leaving college early to play in the NBA. After one season as an All-Rookie player and a second as an All-Star and an All-NBA performer, he became the first NBA player to sign a $100 million contract. He has developed a reputation as a humanitarian for his civic commitment.
2008-03-12 2008-10-04 19,331 19,227 11,431 Tyrone Wheatley (born 1972) is a former professional American football player and current assistant coach who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and was one of the most successful high school and collegiate athletes in Metropolitan Detroit history. He earned All-America track honors in both high school and college. Following his graduation from high school as one of Michigan's best athletes, he attended the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship and earned first-team All-Big Ten Conference honors on Big Ten Champion football and track teams. Following his graduation from the University of Michigan, Wheatley was selected by the New York Giants of the National Football League in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft. As a running back for the Giants, he was the team's all-purpose yards leader in 1996 and their leading ballcarrier in 1997. Despite his success on the field, he developed a reputation as a tardy dawdler. He was traded to the Miami Dolphins, but cut before the 1998 season began. He signed with the Oakland Raiders and flourished, leading the team in rushing three times and twice finishing among the NFL's top ten players by rushing touchdowns. With Wheatley, the Raiders went to the playoffs three years in a row, including one Super Bowl appearance. As of August 2008, Wheatley is the assistant coach for Ohio Northern University's football team.
2008-12-21 2009-01-02 16,481 16,398 5,119
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray (born 1959) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who has served as the State Treasurer of Ohio. In November 2008, he was elected to serve as Ohio Attorney General starting January 8, 2009, for the remainder of the unexpired term ending January 2011. Prior to his election as State Treasurer, Cordray served as the Treasurer of Franklin County, Ohio. He has previously served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1991–1993) and as the first Ohio State Solicitor (1993–1994). Cordray was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, 1981–83. Later, he was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review, and subsequently served as a law clerk for the United States Supreme Court. In 1987 he became an undefeated five-time Jeopardy! champion. In 1993 he was appointed by the office of the Ohio Attorney General as the first Ohio State Solicitor; in this capacity, he argued six cases before the Supreme Court. In 1994, Cordray left his appointed position to pursue private law practice before becoming Franklin County Treasurer in 2002. Cordray won re-election as Franklin County Treasurer before being elected State Treasurer in 2006. Throughout most of his career he has continued to teach at law schools.
2014-07-12 2016-01-06 15,987 15,928 4,026
Freedom of Worship
Freedom of Worship is the second of the Four Freedoms oil paintings produced by the American artist Norman Rockwell. They represent the freedoms outlined by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address on January 6, 1941, including the "freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world." Freedom of Worship shows the profiles of eight people of different faiths in a moment of prayer. Rockwell considered this painting and Freedom of Speech more successful than the other two paintings in the series, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. Freedom of Worship appeared on February 27, 1943, in The Saturday Evening Post alongside an essay on religious freedom by philosopher Will Durant. All four images were widely distributed on posters in support of the War Bond drive. Text supporting the four freedoms was later incorporated into the Allies' World War II policy statement, the Atlantic Charter, and the charter of the United Nations.
2008-01-27 2009-12-27 14,797 14,750 7,452
The National Historic Landmark John J. Glessner House at 1800 South Prairie
Prairie Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th Street in the Near South Side community area of Chicago to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail for horseback riders and carriages. During the last three decades of the 19th century, a six-block section of the street served as the residence of many of Chicago’s elite families and an additional four-block section was also known for grand homes. The upper six-block section includes the historic Prairie Avenue District, which was declared a Chicago Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places. Several of Chicago's most important historical figures have lived on the street, especially after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when many of the most important families in the city moved to the street. Preservation battles regarding properties on the street have been notable with one having been chronicled on the front page of The New York Times. As of 2009, the street is being redeveloped. Redevelopment has extended the street north to accommodate new high-rise condominiums, such as One Museum Park, along Roosevelt Road (12th Street) and bordering Grant Park.
2010-06-12 2010-11-08 14,289 14,199 9,510
Harris Theater (left) and The Heritage at Millennium Park (right) viewed from Randolph Street
The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a 1525-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago. The theater was named for its primary benefactors, Joan and Irving Harris. It serves as the Park's indoor performing venue, a complement to Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which hosts the park's outdoor performances. Constructed in 2002–03, it is the city's premier performance venue for small- and medium-sized music and dance groups. It provides subsidized rental, technical expertise, and marketing support for the companies using it, and turned a profit in its fourth fiscal year. The Harris Theater has hosted notable national and international performers, such as the New York City Ballet's first visit to Chicago in over 25 years (in 2006). Performances have included the San Francisco Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Stephen Sondheim. The theater has been credited as contributing to the performing arts renaissance in Chicago, and has been favorably reviewed for its acoustics, sightlines, proscenium and for providing a home for numerous performing organizations.
2009-10-31 2014-07-19 10,953 10,895 NA
McDonald's Cycle Center
McDonald's Cycle Center is an indoor bike station in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago. The city built the center and opened it July 2004. Since June 2006, it has been sponsored by McDonald's and other partners, including city departments and bicycle advocacy organizations. The bike station, which serves bicycle commuters and utility cyclists, provides lockers, showers, a snack bar with outdoor summer seating, bike repair, bike rental and 300 bicycle parking spaces. The Cycle Center is accessible by membership and day pass. It also accommodates runners and inline skaters, and provides space for a Chicago Police Department Bike Patrol Group. Planning for the Cycle Center was part of the larger "Bike 2010 Plan", in which the city aimed to make itself more accommodating to bicycle commuters. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was an advocate of the plan. Suburban Chicago-based McDonald's controversially claimed that their sponsorship of the Cycle Center fit with their efforts to promote health. Environmentalists, urban planners and cycling enthusiasts around the world have expressed interest in the Cycle Center, and want to match its urban planning and transit-oriented development success story
2010-03-23 2011-12-20 9,885 9,815 3,174
McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink
McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink is a multi-purpose venue within Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, US. On December 20, 2001, it became the first attraction in Millennium Park to open. The $3.2 million plaza was funded by a donation from the McCormick Tribune Foundation. It has served as an ice skating rink, a dining facility and briefly as an open-air exhibition space. The plaza operates as McCormick Tribune Ice Rink, a free public outdoor ice skating rink that is generally open four months a year, from mid-November until mid-March, when it hosts over 100,000 skaters annually. It is known as one of Chicago's better outdoor people-watching locations during the winter months. For the rest of the year, it serves as "Plaza at Park Grill" or "Park Grill Plaza", Chicago's largest outdoor dining facility. The 150-seat park grill hosts various culinary events as well as music during its months of outdoor operation, and it is affiliated with the 300-seat indoor Park Grill restaurant located beneath AT&T Plaza and Cloud Gate. The outdoor restaurant offers scenic views of the park.
2013-06-15 2015-06-06 8,315 8,249 4,207
Amaker just after clinching Harvard's first Ivy League title with the 2010–11 Harvard Crimson
Tommy Amaker (born 1965) is the head coach of the Harvard Crimson men's basketball team, playing in the American NCAA Division I. As point guard for Duke under Mike Krzyzewski, he was an All-American player, earning the first NABC Defensive Player of the Year award. He was a Duke assistant coach for nine seasons (including for the 1990–91 and 1991–92 National Champion teams). He coached Seton Hall to postseason tournaments in each of his four seasons there, and won the 2004 National Invitation Tournament coaching the Michigan Wolverines. As Harvard men's basketball coach, Amaker was the first coach to lead the Crimson to victory over a ranked opponent. The 2010–11 team became the first Harvard team to earn a share of the Ivy League championship, and the 2011–12 team became the first to appear in the Associated Press and Coaches Polls. Amaker's 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 and 2014–15 teams repeated as Ivy League champions. The 2012–13 team gave Harvard its first NCAA tournament victory, and the 2013–14 team posted a record 27 wins.
2010-03-23 2014-04-08 7,471 7,299 4,207
Trey Burke dribbling
The 2012–13 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference (having been co-champions in the previous year's regular season), ended the 2013 NCAA Tournament as National Runner-Up, and reached the top of the AP Poll for the first time in 20 years. Led by head coach John Beilein and playing their home games at the University of Michigan's Crisler Center for the 46th consecutive year, the Wolverines had the best start in school history by winning their first 16 games, and 19 of their first 20. The team ended with a 31–8 win–loss record, its most wins in 20 seasons. The Wolverines had lost 2011–12 captains Zack Novak and Stu Douglass to graduation. The incoming class of Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson III and Nik Stauskas was ranked among the best in the nation. The team was led by national player of the year Trey Burke (pictured) and All-Conference honorees Tim Hardaway Jr., Robinson, and Jordan Morgan. Burke was the second National Player of the Year and fifth first-team consensus All-American in Michigan basketball history. At the 2013 NBA draft, Burke and Hardaway became Michigan's first pair of first-round draft choices since 1994.
2007-03-26 2007-05-10 NA NA NA Campbell's Soup Cans is the title of a work of art produced in 1962 by Andy Warhol (pictured). It consists of thirty-two canvases, each measuring 20 inches in height × 16 inches in width (50.8 × 40.6 cm) and each consisting of a painting of a Campbell's Soup can—one of each of the canned soup varieties the company offered at the time. The individual paintings were produced with a semi-mechanised silkscreen process, using a non-painterly style. Campbell's Soup Cans' reliance on themes from popular culture helped to usher in pop art as a major art movement. For Warhol, a commercial illustrator who became a successful author, painter and film director, the work was his first one-man gallery exhibition as a fine artist. This exhibition marked the West Coast debut of pop art. The combination of the semi-mechanized process, the non-painterly style, and the commercial subject initially caused offense, as the work's blatantly mundane commercialism represented a direct affront to the technique and philosophy of abstract expressionism. The public commotion helped transition Warhol from being an accomplished 1950s commercial illustrator to a notable fine artist, and it helped distinguish him from other rising pop artists.
New pageview counter
2014-05-24 2016-07-30 28,890 28,580 12,462
Orel Hershiser pitching
In 1988, Orel Hershiser set the record in Major League Baseball for consecutive scoreless innings pitched. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher's streak of 59 innings spanned from the sixth inning of an August 30 game against the Montreal Expos to the tenth inning of a September 28 game against the San Diego Padres, not counting eight scoreless innings he pitched to start Game 1 of the 1988 National League Championship Series on October 4. The previous record of 58+23 innings was set by former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale in 1968; as the team's radio announcer, Drysdale called Hershiser's streak as he pursued the new record. Following the regular season, Hershiser was awarded the National League Cy Young Award. In the playoffs, he earned both the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) and the World Series MVP Award. He also secured Sportsman of the Year and Associated Press Athlete of the Year honors. He continued to be an effective pitcher for many seasons, making two additional appearances in the World Series and winning the 1995 American League Championship Series MVP Award.
2011-06-16 2017-05-20 17,005 16,746 10,856
Ray Charles
"Here We Go Again" is a country music standard written by Don Lanier and Red Steagall that first charted as a rhythm and blues single by Ray Charles (pictured) from the 1967 album Ray Charles Invites You to Listen. It was produced by Joe Adams for ABC Records/Tangerine Records, and spent twelve consecutive weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 15. A cover version by Nancy Sinatra charted for five weeks in 1969. Johnny Duncan charted with the song on Billboard's Hot Country Songs for five weeks in 1972, while Roy Clark did so for seven weeks in 1982. Another version sung by Norah Jones and Charles appeared on his 2004 album Genius Loves Company, earning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration at the 47th Grammy Awards (posthumously for Charles, who died in 2004). The song lent its name to Steagall's 2007 album, and has been covered in a wide variety of musical genres. Many of the more recent covers have been sung as duets, including one by Jones and Willie Nelson (with Wynton Marsalis accompanying) released on their 2011 tribute album Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles.