Sweet Highway 41 in Chicago

 

Not a great title, but a great city, and the great Highway 41 runs right along the storied Chicago lakefront.  Now we'll see a place that has a lot of stories to tell (as well as more that I wish I could hear, if the walls could talk).

Around the curve



Speaking of curves:  Oak Street Beach. Back in the '60s and '70s, supposedly Playboy photographers needing a model for a quick shoot could find plenty of attractive Chicago women at Oak Street Beach in the summer. Remember that the original Playboy headquarters building and the Bunny Beacon (actually named the Lindbergh Beacon) was located in Chicago, along with the original Playboy mansion. Chicagoan Playmate and Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy was quoted once about being on Oak Street Beach and looking up at the Playboy building. 

There's a main reason Oak Street Beach may have been a model search area for the Playboy photogs -- the Playboy building overlooks it. In this StreetView, panning around will show you the big black X-marked quadrilateral of what was once called the John Hancock Building. It's either the John Hancock Center or just 875 N. Michigan Avenue now. Anyway, the light beige building in front of it, with the tower on top, is the former Playboy Building. The building was once called the Palmolive Building (before Playboy), and has been renamed the Palmolive Building. Whether or not Playboy is involved, the Art Deco building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.



Here's a view (there's a lot of them) actually on the beach. This one's from March, so it was nearly empty.



Sunnier day:



Now, we zipped past one landmark that can't be skipped past -- Chicago's Water Tower, which is a couple blocks down the street from the aforementioned John Hancock Building. So we'll go off-highway for this view.



And now, back to the highway and the drive.

The beige building directly across the street here has a penthouse apartment with a lawn. If you don't believe me, look at the satellite view.  

It was featured in a CBS "Sunday Morning" feature about lawn care during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has a round fountain in the middle.



Next stop, Lincoln Park (which has a zoo).