News Trend Chicago: The Gorilla And The Flamingo|Actual

What started out asa week's visit to my second-born in Columbus, Ohio,

somehow turned into a road trip to Chicago.

Not only did we squeeze an amazing amount of sightseeing into forty-eight hours,

but we stayed a mere block away from my former office and retraced

the streets and sights of my life in Chicago

all those many years ago.

The Gorilla doubles as a jungle gym and kids are often found climbing up and sliding down the statue's... Arms? Legs? Whatever they might be.

^ I've gone on record saying that if I had only one hour to spend in Chicago, I would spend it at the Bean

But if I had only five minutes, I would go see the Gorilla.

Picasso's Gorilla.

Now let me set the record straight. This amazing steel sculpture is fifty feet tall and a gift from the genius Pablo Picasso himself, but it is officially untitled.

Many people refer to it as "the Picassodanquot;, but to me, it's always the Gorilla.

^ As a senior in college, I interviewed across the street from the gorilla in this building on the left, known as 69 West Washington and home of my future employer, Arthur Andersen & Co. I was sold on that job before I even flew into town, but during my interview, as I looked out the windows facing Daley Plaza and met eyes with the Cubist creature that seemed all but alive, I knew this was exactly where I was meant to be.

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Between me and my daughter, we took several billion shots of the pretty bird.

^ Just a few blocks south on Dearborn stands Alexander Calder's Flamingo, and this is where I would spend my second five minutes.

Another steel beast by another breath-takingly influential artist, this elegant bird comes in just a few feet taller than my gorilla. Her name is official and she is the big sister to another Calder closer to my  current home, and near and dear to my heart.

That signature Calder red is what sets this scene on fire for me and I can't get enough of the fluid, flamboyant shape of Flamingo framed by the rigid black steel lines of the buildings around her.

^Oftentimes as I was walking between my office and a client's location, I would plot my route so I could walk past Flamingo. Even on the coldest winter days, a peek at this beauty would warm me up. And sometimes I would stop here at this modestly, strikingly elegant low-rise building which is none other than a post office.

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Now maybe my obsession with these two creatures can be written off as nostalgia or warped memories from the eighties. I wouldn't necessarily argue that. But my daughter quickly fell in love with them too, and we visited them both several times during our short stay in Chicago.

The Gorilla and the Flamingo. They are worth my first five minutes and so much more.

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Read more stories about my long overdue reunion with the city with big shoulders:

The Bean

Italian Village

The Gorilla And The Flamingo

Doughnut Vault

Wells Street Bridge

The Rookery

Flamingo Again

Wabash Arts Corridor

The Berghoff

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