Wednesday, February 29, 2012

a look back at Leap Day 2008

I'm committed to posting at least once a month in 2012 (unfortunately that's all it's been so far) and to posting on every February 29 because it's Leap Day (and because it's my half-birthday; yes, I know that's not nearly as exciting as a Leap Day birthday). Early 2008 was when my Flickr and blog were starting to go somewhere, so I checked to see what I'd posted on 2/29/2008 and was surprised it was only two photos on the KofC account. One is one of my most popular, a photo of the now-demolished Cabrini-Green highrise...but I knew I had more, and finally after searching my badly labeled 2008 archives on an external drive, I found the following. I present with minimal editing and almost in chronological order, what I did in Chicago on our last February 29:









  



 




The above includes a construction shot from somewhere (Halsted between North and Division?); the now-completely-gone Cabrini-Green public housing, scenes from Wicker Park on Division, including a visit to the short-lived coffeeshop Blend, a recipe on a Treasure Island window, the vacant-but-now-rehabbed Cedar Hotel, construction next to the Chicago Theatre, and the aftermath of the late 2007 car crash into ABC 7 studios on State Street. So, a mix of long gone, recently gone, and still there. Unfortunately I didn't find these till late in the evening, or I'd have reshot them today (I took a few photos closer to home, while the weather was still an amazing 55-60F, before it plummeted 25-30 degrees and kept me in for the night).