Recently had a couple of hours to pass in Chicago while my wife was at a trade show (I was her ride). Beyond the excitement of driving on Wabash under the "L" (the scene of the famous Blues Brothers high speed chase scene), stumbled across a couple of things that were cool.
The first was the "End" (or the beginning) of Historic Route 66 marked by a pretty darn non-descript sign. Couldn't help but start mumbling to myself "It winds from Chicago to L.A. ..." In heavy traffic, managed to snap a picture, but clearly had to keep moving on.
What was perhaps even cooler was the discovery of Motor Row on south Michigan Avenue, just west of the new McCormick Place. The area was once home to many car dealers which made there home in beautiful storefronts along the street. Chevrolet, Pierce, Premiere, Hudson, and Cadillac are just of few of the many. Only Joyce Ford remains (See: http://chicago-architecture-jyoti.blogspot.com/2009/09/ford-showrrom-and-dealership-in-motor.html ), and I had the pleasure of having a smoke with one of the salesmen on the sidewalk on the street. He was a wealth of information about the old street, the neighborhood, and the boarded up Club across the street from the dealership.
Seemed like an odd place for car dealerships especially with the narrow storefronts. He noted that most of the buildings still had the car lifts that moved new vehicles to the floors above the showroom. The neighborhood was once to home to famous Chicagoans, Montgomery Ward for one lived a few blocks away on Prarie Street to the east. It was also home to Chess Records (on 22nd & Michigan), the label of many a famous Blues musician. Cars were big status symbols in the day, and many of Chicago's richest shopped the showrooms along the stretch.
The neighborhood was also home to the exclusive Illinois Automobile Club--now boarded up and directly across the street from Joyce. In addition to office space, the Club had an olympic sized indoor pool and large ballroom. Apparently, it was THE place. The weathervane on the Club is still there, and, of course, it has an automobile on it. To learn more about the Motor Row check out this great Blog with lots of great pictures: http://chicago-architecture-jyoti.blogspot.com/2009/09/motor-roiw-historic-district-ii.html