April Fools Comes Late to the Sloop?

April Fools Comes Late to the Sloop?

There's more about this at Curbed Chicago. It seems this was a hoax by a group with an agenda and they took aim at a company that owns a power plant that already operates in the city. A clean power ordinance was stalled recently in the Chicago City Council that would've forced this company to switch from coal to natural gas.

One way I suppose to at the very least bring attention to a subject. Although to be honest I know very little about whether or not coal or natural gas is much cleaner fuel.

Rehabber wants to grow grapes, make wine in sweet home Chicago

 

[VIDEO] This is a fascinating idea. Turning an abandoned, boarded-up landmark home into an urban vineyard to grow grapes and make wine. In addition to teaching people how to make wine. I'm giving great credit to the young man well he's not so young any more who wants to make that a reality.

BTW, here's more about this historic landmark referred to as the Raber House located at 5760 S. Lafayette Ave.

Bill Lavicka's renovations have always been unusual. The veteran rehabber and owner of Historic Boulevard Services has trucked four buildings intact from one site to another, converted small churches into homes, remade entire Near West Side blocks and showcased his quirky aesthetic by topping spires and balusters with bowling balls.

But the next remodel he has his heart set on raises the bar on unusual. Lavicka wants to turn a boarded-up Washington Park mansion, one of the city's last surviving examples of a multiacre country estate, into a winery.

And he doesn't want to import the grapes.

He wants to plant about 5,000 vines in the yard — what's now three or so bombed-out-looking blocks along the Dan Ryan Expressway just south of Garfield Boulevard.

Complicating matters, the vacant land and long-neglected mansion are owned by the city of Chicago. For nearly two years, Lavicka, 66, has been trying to persuade the city to sell 40 to 50 lots that were once part of the John Raber estate to him for $1 each, plus commit to streetscape and road improvements, and subsidize part of the renovation in some way.

Ald. Willie Cochran said Wednesday that he is "confident this deal will get closed," saying the winery would be approved along with an adjacent urban farm and new park with a baseball field. But details remain to be ironed out, and those will have to wait for the new mayor's input, he said.

The project, Lavicka said, has taken longer to plan than it would take to remodel.

"I probably like the buildings more than wisdom would allow, or should allow," Lavicka said as tears began to fill his eyes. "I can take an old building and fix it up, and everybody else goes by for years and years saying knock it down."

I hope this can happen. I'm all for finding creative ways to revitalize urban areas. Just another plan for an urban farm in an area with land that well real estate developers haven't discovered yet.

Via Bill Baar!

YouTube Blog: Mashups, parodies and lip dubs: Ask a legal expert...

YouTube Blog talks about Fair Use and how YouTubers are able to take clips from other media sources without being sued for copyright infringement.

Another "original" YouTube cited fair use in one of his videos. I used "original" to say that he posted videos people watched starting a short 8 years ago. Man it's unbelieveable how long ago that was.

Lee Bey took pictures in Detroit

Photo by Lee Bey

Blogger and architecture "geek" Lee Bey takes a brief trip to Detroit and takes pictures of the architecture of that Great American city:

I was in Detroit last weekend participating in Art X Detroit, a five-day festival of art, music, dance and discussion.

Fortunately, I squeezed-in a Saturday morning photo stroll of the city's downtown, taking stock of the wealth of buildings that remain despite Detroit's well-recorded decades of decay, demolition and disinvestment. The city has a fine collection of vintage downtown architecture, much of which can hold its own against any Chicago or New York has to offer. And while many sit vacant, scores are being reused, bringing life and vitality to the city's core. The above six-story building, completed in 1891, is a former conservatory of music and is among the first generation of tall buildings on Woodward Avenue. And it's still impressive after 120 years.

You should go there and see the other building he took pics of in Detroit. Some of these buildings are impressive. Hopefully something to rebuild a city around.

The pic about from Lee Bey is of a former conservatory building on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Well actually is coincidental that the pic I posted here is exactly what Bey was talking about in that quote I provided.

VIDEO: Marc Sims drives around Roseland

[VIDEO] Marc Sims, a cable access personality was driving around in the Roseland Neighborhood. One minute he's driving on Michigan Avenue the next he's on 111th driving near Alex Haley Academy, then he's on State St. then he's on 115th, then he near Fenger High School, then he's on Halsted, then he's at Julian High School on 103rd then back to Vincennes.

Just note that while you're hearing sights and sounds of this part of the far south side, you will also hear him babble for over 17 minutes.

YouTube Blog: YouTube is going LIVE

YouTube Blog: YouTube is going LIVE: "With over 2 billion views a day, it's easy to think about YouTube as a place to watch videos recorded in the past. But you’ve told us you w..."

The third Batman movie may not be filming in Chicago...

But at least Chicago will be the real world stand-in for Metropolis:

The Dark Knight Rises" will film in Pittsburgh starting this summer. Chicago will not be featured in the third installment in director Chris Nolan's franchise.

Chicago starred as Gotham City in 2005's "Batman Begins" and 2008's "The Dark Knight." The films brought an estimated economic boost of more than $50 million to the city.

Maybe the Man of Steel scared off the Dark Knight?

Nolan is producing "Superman: Man of Steel" about the same time as the new Batman movie.

Richard Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, told the Chicago Tribune it would have been "challenging" for the filmmakers and the city to handle both films.

I look forward to seeing how Chicago will turn into Metropolis. In The Dark Knight the city looked less like Gotham and more like...Chicago. At least in Batman Begins, Chicago looked like Gotham City.

Pilgrim Baptist Church to be reborn from ashes of 2006 fire

Pilgrim Baptist Church to be reborn from ashes of 2006 fire - Chicago Sun-Times

Since this historic church went down in flames in early 2006, I've written a lot about this building. In addition the church were involved with scandals involving none other than our Ousted governor who pledged money to Pilgrim only for the money to not be accounted for. It was in fact sent to a school that leased space in the building. In fact, there were concerned about whether or not a government in this country could directly give money to a religious institution.

Well it looks like a new effort is beginning to bring this church to light, and they're not waiting for gov't funds to rebuild. Certainly good news for a building that was designed by the famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Let's hope this succeeds.

Related

• Fire rages at Pilgrim Baptist Church...
• Pilgrim Baptist Church to get a grant...
• Did gov break vow to help church?