St Barbara Church

St Barbara Church Front, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

This is the fourth part in a continuing series of exploring the churches of Bridgeport.

St Barbara was founded as a Polish parish in Chicago's Bridgeport neighboorhood. Located on Throop St the imposing Renaissance styled structure was erected between 1912 and 1914. Looking from the south east at 29th and Halsted one cans see just how immense this church is. One of the unusual design decisions was to have the bell tower in the rear of the church.

Lost Chicago

St Bridget Site - Senior Housing, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

Over the years the Archdiocese of Chicago has allowed many historical significant churches be demolished. This is the site of one of those unfortunate occurrences.

This is the site of St Bridget in Chicago's Bridgeport community. The Church was founded by the Irish and they built a fine church along Archer Avenue.

The Archdiocese didn't seem to have a plan for this church and I know that the non-denominational church I was attending at the time inquired about the property but the Archdiocese refused to sell. It was a shame that the building couldn't be saved. The site sat vacant for many years until 2007 when a Senior Housing building was erected on the site.

Ye Olde Bridgeport

Archer Block 2, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

We finally got some good weather to go out and walk around. I decided to take a walk down Archer Avenue from Halsted to Ashland. My legs are sore but I needed the exercise.

This is a picture of a typical block along Archer Avenue. Some really nice 19th century masonry constructed buildings. These buildings, while fully occupied are in danger of being demolished if they don't receive landmark status. In 2004 the Chicago Landmark Commission put these structures on their watch list.

These buildings are located on the north side of Archer, for some reason most of the buildings on the west side of Archer are of frame construction, mainly homes and a few retail with apartments above. The construction of I-55 destroyed a large portion of the buildings on the north side of Archer and today we are left with a short 3 block stretch.

New Friend

After 9 years of faithful service my old microwave died this week. So today I found myself at Target and picked up this new microwave. I bought another Sharp since the last one gave me such great service. I would have preferred a black or a silver one but this white one will due. I'll just have to clean it more.

Coming to a Close

Outside McCormick Place, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

The autoshow ends it run in Chicago today. The weather has been kind of blah so I didn't get a chance to get back to it.

This a picture of the entrance into Mc Cormick Place.

Drive Like it's 1973

Dodge Challenger Silver-Black front, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

The production Challenger has arrived. It really does look good despite being a sedan instead of a hardtop. A lucky 8400 who have 42 grand will be able to walk away with this beauty. The 2009 model year begins in June and will include cheaper models with V-6s.

With the retro mustang in it's third model year, the Challenger arriving now and the new retro Camaro arriving next year it looks like the early seventies have returned. The new Challenger is the closest reproduction of the original and if we had a time machine it wouldn't look out of place in the early seventies.

America's Best Selling Vehicle

2009 Ford F-150 Sideview, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

The Ford F-150 has been America's best selling Vehicle for more than 30 years. On display is the all new 2009 Ford hopes this truck will help lead them out of their current sales slump.

Most people believe that Ford sells more trucks than GM, but that's not true. GM"s pickup trucks are divided between Chevrolet and GM brands. I like the look of the new F-150 and I'm looking forward to see them on the road.

Hello From the Jeep Exhibit

Greetings,

The Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep Exhibits had a cool feature where they would take your picture in front of a concept car and then hand you a card with a code on it. You then have to go to the Chrylser, Dodge or Jeep website and answer some questions and enter the code on the card. You can then email or copy the picture. Here is my result.

Thanks CAFE - This is type of Vehicle everyone will Be driving in 10 years

Chevy Groove, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

On display at the Chevy exhibit are the Groove and Trax Concepts. Last year this was a trio of concepts that included the Beat. Due to overwhelming positive feedback the Beat has been greenlighted for production.

I guess GM still wants to gauge acceptance for these other two. Due to CAFE changes enacted late last year all manufactures must meat an average of 35mpg by 2020. These will be the kind of cars that will be able to meet those tougher standards.

Greetings From the 2008 Chicago Autoshow

100th Chicago Auto Show, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

It's that time of year, the autoshow is in town and the manufactures are showing off their latest production vehicles as well as concepts.

For the last few years the show has flowed between the newer north building as well as the 1971 vintage east building. GM, and it's associated brands are in the east building this year with, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and many others in the north building.

They have made ticket purchasing easy by centrally locating it between buildings. Some quick observations of the show, 1) Despite the economic turndown, lots of people were looking at the vehicles - maybe just dreaming. 2) Not too many freebies on CD, Only Scion had a CD. 3) Lot's of iMac's being used to provide information.

I'll have more to blog over the next several days and more photos to post. I only spent 3 hours at the show but it was becoming too crowded for me. Perhaps I'll go back before it closes.

We Closed for this?

Snow 02-06-08 2, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

So the snow finally arrived it doesn't seem to bad in the city, but around 1:30 this afternoon we got an email from corporate in Arlington Heights that we were closing at 2:00pm. I guess things were bad out west.

So I sit here in my apartment two and a half hours earlier than usual.

Where I'm I?

Looking East down 11th street, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

The weather has been bad the last few days so I haven't had a chance to take any new photos but this is a perfect opportunity to post pictures about warmer times... Like the first day of fall.

I usually take the first week of fall for a week of vacation and I had decided to take a day trip to Michigan City via the Southshore. From this picture the town looked desolate and my impression that day was that Tuesday's are quiet in Michigan City.

Snow Canopies

Snow Canopies, originally uploaded by kendoman26.

We survived through most of January will little snowfall. Then on the afternoon of the 31st it started to snow and didn't stop until midday on February 1st. All told we got over 10 inches officially. Not the biggest by far in Chicago, but a good snow never the less.

These homes and two more to the north have grown snow canopies. I thought this really looked cool. The picture could have been better but I had my ISO set to 400.