The Magnificent Mile

Last night, in the dense humidity, I strolled the Magnificent Mile with a friend. There are some cool things about the promenade — the wacky giant sculpture of the couple in American Gothic, the splendid, almost Venetian water tower, the flower beds, and, of course, the never ending display of humans.

The strapping lad in white pants, a bright green John Deere t-shirt that was a size too small, flip flops, and at his side, an elegant greyhound. The towering African American woman in equally towering high heels, short shorts, and a blousy tank top, absolutely shaking it, and I mean shaking it down the side walk, insert wolf whistling here. The tiny Indian woman in a Sari sitting in a bright green chair, the muscly street performer in a neon green and leopard spotted body stocking, sunglasses and a helmet doing… uh, what now? Did he just place unstrung racketball rackets over his head to the sounds of Kool and the Gang? What?

Towering over all this live scenery is Chicago’s amazing architecture, bits of Gothic and Deco adorning elaborately carved exteriors, Modern glass inserted here and there, a weird little Bridge of Sighs, an onion dome, lightning rods… Granite corner blocks hold the names of the streets, Ohio, Michigan, Huron.

The show here is all that, the people, the architecture, the art. The rest, oh, you know how I hate to be stuck in a mass of chain stores and shopping mall aesthetics. I wanted to bypass the Starbucks to find an independent or at least unknown coffee house brand, the next one I found was a Starbucks and then, a Starbucks. The Apple store breathed heavy air conditioning out into the street as did the Gap, Crate and Barrel, Eddie Bauer… More restrained stores held their cold inside, the sparkly Tiffany windows lit up shiny jewels, Nine West displayed sandals in a similar manner.

I get it. It’s a shopping mall. It’s an outdoor shopping mall. The Magnificent Mile is a beautifully situated facsimile of any slightly swank suburban temple of commerce. And while the wide sidewalks along the river are empty, The Magnificent Mile is choked with people, it’s a street party, a parade, it’s Friday night in the big city and everyone is there.

I walked back from dinner with three others. When we turned our backs to the shopping, we left everyone behind. After their hotel, I walked another 10 minutes alone. The stair climbs were empty, the bridge abandoned. I wondered, briefly, if I should be concerned for my safety, but there was no one, menacing or otherwise, in the broad spaces that surrounded me on the way back to the apartment. Everyone was back in the glow of shop windows, the reflected spotlights of rain on taxi cab headlights, the flattened backlit plastic light of restaurant signs.  I sang to myself in the silence off the Magnificent Mile.

Me and my shadow, strolling down the avenue.

Stuff to do in Chicago on Uptake.