Why I Oughta...

The window you see above is on the Randolph Street side.  The one below is on the State Street side.  Both of them are currently dark with the message:  Pardon our appearance.  Something magical is in store.  And...being good Chicagoans, we all know what that is:  the big reveal of the Marshall Field's Christmas windows.  The one below shows the 'Santa' theme that they've used in year's past and...unfortunately, doesn't include Uncle Mistletoe.  I posted photos of the windows being prepped last year - just in early November 2016.  Here's the photos .  And here's a photo from the morning of November 9th, 2015 - the very day they opened for public viewing .  Here's photos of the 'coming soon' windows in 2014 .  Let's all hope they don't make the mistake they made back in 2015 when we got NYC's 'sloppy seconds' where they re-used Macy's NYC window display .  Shame .  What else is a shame?  That they don't r

I scored another vintage Marshall Field's Christmas mug at a Garage Sale a week or so ago - this time from 1983.   If you recall, I posted a few years ago about the two Walnut Room/Marshall Field's Christmas mugs that I picked up at the Elmhurst Goodwill .  They were 1980 and 1981 years.  There were four total mugs (two from each year) and my sister Vic has a Marshall Field's collection of sorts, so a pair of them were destined for her collection. If you go back and look at the other post showing the 1980 and 1981 mugs , you'll see that the 1980 version is one of these 'hot toddy' mugs while the 1981 one is a normal mug shape.  The '83 version went back to the taller, 'hot toddy' version.  But, the character is just as interesting. 1980:  A teddy bear, Christmas tree and presents under the tree. 1981:  Contortionist Santa. But, in 1983, they used Uncle Mistletoe.   Don't know who he is?  C heck out this piece about Field's from the

Walking down State Street this week, you'll see that they've gone 'dark' with their windows in preparation for the release of their annual windows featuring Christmas scenes. I covered the same 'coming soon' situation back in 2014 and the day they opened last year here on the blog .  We still take our kids down to the Walnut Room every year just as I did when I was a kid with my mom and sister(s).  (I actually only remember going with Vic, but I'm guessing that Sharon and Linda were there, too??  I dunno.)  Thus, I have a really soft spot in my heart for Marshall Field's at Christmastime and specifically for peering into these windows. Let's hope that the fine folks at Macy's have learned their lesson and won't give us New York City's "hand me downs" like they did last year .  Shame on them for that one.

If you wonder by Marshall Field's errrr  Macy's on State Street today, you'll see some pretty cool windows being displayed that celebrate the Macy's Flower Show that takes place on the 9th floor.  Gotta be honest...if the windows are any indication, the show must be spectacular.   The window above is on the Randolph Street side (right around the corner from State) and focuses on the American Southwest.  Pardon the glare, but if you look closely, you'll see a bunch of cacti and succulents in a wide array of shapes/sizes.  It made me stop in my tracks to peek at. And below is the northern-most window on State Street that highlights 'The City' and features a little rooftop balcony scene with pots and a bunch of tropicals. They've created these 'cards' on their site that show the 8 different areas.  Here are three of them to show you how well they're done.  The Pacific Northwest Wonderland.  The Vast Southwest.  And the Shining Northeast

After reading about the hub-bub over this Macy's mistake over on Rachelle's blog , I had to go see it for myself.  My photo isn't the best angle of this thing, so if you want to see a straight-on-shot, check out this photo to see the full thing for yourself .   What you're seeing there is some iconic Chicago buildings (Hancock, Sears, Crain) all wedged into what is definitely Manhattan Island with the NYC Thanksgiving Parade running right down the middle.   Rachelle Bowden has some close-up photos of this mess here .   To be fair...the windows this year are just flat.out.awesome.  Really beautiful to look at and a really fun story.  But why did they have to put Chicago on an island?!? This is *some* bullshit, right?   This thread on Reddit does a good job of covering the issues .  Just corporate deafness.  Oh, Marshall Fields...what could have been... Chicagoist got a response from Macy's where they are saying that this isn't a hand-me-down fr

This morning, I stopped by the windows of the State Street Marshall Field's Macy's to check out the Christmas windows.  They're going with a space/planets theme this year and they're REALLY cute.  Above is the Venus window - which is the second from the north window. Below is Mercury, which is the most northern window on State Street. Here's a photo from just last week  that shows the decorations going up on the buildings, but not the windows open.

The Marshall Field's Macy's on State Street has jumped on their traditional Christmas decorations with the trumpets installed on the top of the first floor windows.  It also appears that the first few windows down State Street have gone dark in preparation for their annual unveil later this month. I posted a photo about a year ago showing the windows here on the blog . I still get the warm-fuzzies when I think about this place and Christmas.  It played a large role in our family tradition starting from a very young age and we still make an annual visit to the Walnut Room with our kids and cousins. Right after the Macy's transition, this place took a hit in terms of experience and quality.  But, I have to hand it to the Macy's people....they've really tried to improve the place and make it feel 'special'.  The Walnut Room at Christmastime *should* be special.  And they're doing their best to ensure it *is* special for kids like mine who make their

The windows at Macy's Marshall Field's are open!   Just less than a week since I noticed the 'coming soon' signs in the windows , they have them up and open. I only saw two of them on the very northwest corner of the building, so I can't quite figure out the theme...

Took this photo as I walked by this morning.  Even though I refuse to call this place Macy's, I still get excited to see the windows get all decked out for Christmas.  Brings back all sorts of warm/fuzzy childhood feelings... For the past few years, we've taken the girls down to the Walnut room and then spend a bit of time pressing our faces up against the glass to see what they've cooked up.  Even though I refuse to acknowledge Macy's and still call it Marshall Field's, I have to admit they have done a nice job with the windows since the acquisition.  Here's hoping they keep it up!

Doing an entire 'Year in Review' would be daunting, as I can't quite remember what happened 6 weeks ago, let a lone 6 months ago, but what I can do is tell all you--my loyal readers--what I think was/is the biggest story of 2005 in and around Chicago. ....Drum roll please........... The Biggest story in 2005 was the City of Chicago's 'about-face' on live, outdoor music in the City's parks. What? Live music as the biggest story of the year?!? WTF, Parrillo?!? What about the 'Drought of '05', or the White Sox, or Hired Truck, or Marshall Field's closing? Well...those are all good stories. They're all qualified for 'Biggest Story of the Year', but they don't have the same impact to me as the City's Leaders embracing live music. I wrote about it back in July when both Lollapaloza and Intonation were put on to rave reviews, despite the repressive heat. Dunno if you realize what is happening here. We just went from th