The pictures at Randolph and State are the window display in the corner of Macy's, which is housed in the historic Marshall Field's flagship store.
There was a long competition between Macy's (New York) and Marshall Field's (Chicago). There is still a bit of antagonism in the Chicago cultural underground for Macy's not doing more to recognize their vanquished arch-enemy in the course of their takeover. The long-standing duel ran for nearly a hundred years.
I have to say that I personally remember Field's for several wonderful things:
* Christmas dinner in the Walnut Room with their amazing three-story trees, one of which was done up with over 2,000 Waterford Crystal ornaments and had a three-foot tall Waterford Crystal seahorse riding a wave of foam on train tracks around the base.
* Their incredible Christmas window displays in the downtown store, and high-quality holiday decorations in general.
* Field's restaurant, which had an amazing comfort food and salad menu.
* The place where I got my Radko blue Christmas angel, rock-n-roll orange tinsel Christmas tree, Halloween pumpkin candle holder, and lambs' wool muffler...all of which I still have and cherish.
On to the other, grittier topic. The cocoon you see under the bushes next to the glass building at LaSalle and Randolph is a human being. Chronic homelessness is ever-present in beautiful Chicago. They hide in their bundles in plain sight. I saw a couple just on this walk.
Prior to Ronald Reagan, these folk had a place to go to sleep indoors at night.
It's a long and deep subject. My point today is just that I see the human beings there in those raggedy mounds of blanket-and-whatnot.
Dan
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