Chicago_Bob

When I first moved to Chicago I was excited to use the El Train because there's nothing like it where I come from (Milwaukee). I use the El every time I go to a Cubs game to avoid traffic and parking nightmares. But the El train has its own nightmares as Bob and Short find out in this exciting new animation!

When was involved with the Second City I would cross a bridge on North Avenue and see the Mars Wrigley Building across the Chicago River. I had no idea the building was actually an island, Goose Island, created by brick-makers in the mid 1800s. I explored the island once and it was boring. It was like a suburban industrial park, and I couldn't even find a place to get a Goose Island beer!

Chicago has a lot of public art: the Buckingham Fountain, Calder's Flamingo, and the bewilderingly popular Cloud Gate (aka "the Bean"). My favorite piece of public art is an un-named statue in Daley Plaza. Most people call it "the Picasso" because the artist behind it was, you guessed it, Pablo Picasso, the great 20th Century Cubist artist. Some think it's ugly, and maybe they're right, but I think it's super cool having a prominent piece of free public art created by a famous artist.

For such a funny movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles had a really sad ending. In this special edition of Chicago Bob, Shrog and I recreate the ending using all of the movie’s Chicagoland filming locations. The El Track, the train station, and the mansion are all used for this not-so-sad ending to a classic comedy.

Have you ever walked around Downtown Chicago and stumble across a giant orange spider web and said “oh that’s BEAUTIFUL”? Neither has anyone else. Nevertheless, Calder’s Flamingo is a recognizable statue that can at least alert pedestrians and motorists where they are in the city. It even had an appearance in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in the parade scene. Shrog and Bob stumble across the statue with hilarious results.

Trump Tower stands out as the glitzy skyscraper on the Chicago River. It's the second tallest building in Chicago (second to the Sears Tower, of course) and its prominent name reminds Chicago residents and tourists that President Donald J. Trump exists. This realization causes some people to insanely flip off the building, but this is becoming less and less frequent. Maybe it's because people are either growing up or because ofJoe Biden's unpopularity. Either way, the building can't be ignored and has become as much a part of the Chicago skyline as The Wrigley Building.

Cubs fans are devoted to their team. They have to be because they only win the World Series every 108 years or so. They're SO devoted that if someone jeopardizes their success, his life will be ruined, like poor Steve Bartman. In 2003 the Cubs finally made it to the National League Championship against the Miami Marlins. In the 8th inning of game 6 (the Cubs let the series 3-2), Bartman tried to catch a foul ball that might have been playable. A few other guys tried catching the ball too, but Bartman is the one who deflected it, leading the umpire to declare fan interference. Fans threw pizza at him and poured beer on him, and he had to be dressed as an usher an escorted out of Wrigley Field for his safety. If Bartman didn't interfere, it would have only been the second out, so he didn't directly cost the Cubs the game. What cost the Cubs the game was that they gave up 8 runs after the incident and lost game 7.

In 1915 the SS Eastland tipped over in the Chicago River, killing 844 people who just boarded to go to a picnic in Michigan City. Shrog and Bob stumble upon the plaque on Wacker Drive with hilarious results, even though there was nothing hilarious about the Eastland Disaster.

Streeterville is a hoity-toity neighborhood in Chicago's Near North Side. It's where you'll find the eastern half of the Miracle Mile, Navy Pier, and the John Hancock Tower which is not called 875 N Michigan Avenue by.....nobody. It's hoity-toity because it's on Chicago's lakefront. But its history isn't so hoity-toity. It was build on rubble and named after a con-artist that spent time in prison.

North Park is a Chicago's Community Area #13 and it's located at the Northern boundary of the city. It's quiet, tree-shaded, and has the only waterfall in Chicago. It's the perfect place for middle-income families that want to live in Chicago but not be a part of its noise and chaos. It as also deemed the perfect place for rest and recovery for Tuberculosis patients in the early 1900s because the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium was built there in 1915.

Chicago folks are funny about hot dogs. How to make a proper hot dog is a topic that has divided families here for years. It's generally agreed upon that there are nine ingredients and one of them is NOT ketchup! Shrog and Bob discuss this phenomena with hilarious and violet results.

Bob Newhart is from Chicago and his originally named sitcom, "The Bob Newhart Show" took place in Chicago (I recreated the opening of that show: https://youtu.be/odDcJb8N-k0?si=1nH2UB5cgI2Af_3O ). Any way, this statue was commissioned by TV land and unveiled in Chicago in July 2004 in its Plaza of the Americas, next to his fictional office building on Michigan Avenue. In November 2004 it was moved to Navy Pier, because that seems like the right place to put stuff Chicago doesn't really know what to do with. Newhart's statue is one of eleven. The other then are 1) Jackie Gleason, "The Honeymooners", Midtown Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York, NY. 2) Mary Tyler Moore, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN. 3) Lucille Ball, "I Love Lucy", Celoron, NY, 4) Lucille Ball, "I Love Lucy", near the Art Museum in Palm Springs, CA. 5) Henry Winkler, "Happy Days", Riverwalk Milwaukee, WI. 6) Andy Griffith and Ron Howard, "The Andy Griffith Show", Pullen Park, Raleigh, NC. 7) Peter Falk, "Columbo", Falk Miksa Street, Budapest, Hungary. 8) James Garner, "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files", near the Sooner Theater in Norman, OK. 9) Elizabeth Montgomery, "Bewitched", Lappin Park, Salem, MA. 10) Leonard Nimoy, "Start Trek", Vulcan, Alberta Canada.

The South Shore Cultural Center is located in Chicago’s South Shore Community area on, you guessed it, the south side of Chicago. It was originally a Country Club and, like a lot of country clubs, it was really WASPy. Blacks and Jews were not allowed to be members, but I’m sure a lot of blacks and Jews said to themselves “why the f*ck would I pay all that money to play golf with a bunch of as*holes?”

The Civic Opera House, aka the Lyric Opera House, opened in 1929. It's home to the Lyric Opera that's been performing operas there for over 70 years. It is a 45-story, Art Deco skyscraper that's over a million square feet! Why in the hell would any opera house need so much space?! My wife and I went to see "The Daughter of the Regiment" there in November 2023. Opera's not not as fun as a Cub's game because you're not allowed to form a beer snake or throw baseballs on the opera stage, but there's enough demand for opera in Chicago because the auditorium seats over 3500 people.

Stockyards because of a work-related injury, had to work in the fertilizer department to support his family, which he lost any way after his wife died during childbirth. SPOILER ALERT The book ends with Jurgis doing sh*t work for some Socialist egghead. Jurgis becomes a socialist and it ends with a boring socialist manifesto, making me wish it had a happier ending.

Legend has it that Resurrection Cemetery (located in Justice, IL) is home to Chicago's most famous ghost by the name of Resurrection Mary. For almost a hundred years several drivers claimed this ghost appeared as a hitchhiker on Archer Avenue and disappeared by Resurrection Cemetery. In this episode of Chicago Bob, Bob and Shrog visit Resurrection Cemetery to see if this urban legend is true or fake.

HH Holmes is the most notorious serial killer in the history of...serial killing. Most people think of Jeffrey Dahmer when they think of serial killers, but he killed 17 victims where as Holmes confessed to killing 27, and some people think he killed as many as 200. If you you judge a serial killer by the numbers, Holme's has Dahmer beat hands-down. Any way, he built a three-story building that some call the "Murder Castle" because it supposedly had trap doors, gas chambers, and torture chambers (as reported in Eric Larson's "Devil in the White City"), but is that true or exaggerated Chicago bulls*t like Catherine O'Leary and Steve Bartman. I've talked enough. You're going to have to watch the video to find out the rest of the story.

Cafeteria-style delis were once common in Chicago. Maybe because America is more health conscious (more, not completely), places that serve a ton of meat are becoming endangered species. Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen has survived the health scare of recent times. Their "My Four Kinder" sandwich, which I loved, consists of four different meats! It's kind of pricey, but it could feed three people or one of me.

The Field Museum is one of those things you "have to do" if you're spending a week in Chicago. It's arguably the most stunning building on Museum Campus which is saying a lot because the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium are there too. Solider Field is nearby, but it's not that interesting because the Chicago Bears haven't been playing good football the last few decades. Any way, I'm not into science, so I tend to get bored there. But if you're really, really into natural history, this place is your Mecca because it's full of artifacts, some almost as old as the last time the Chicago Bears won a Super Bowl.

Chicago folks are funny about hot dogs. How to make a proper hot dog is a topic that has divided families here for years. It's generally agreed upon that there are nine ingredients and one of them is NOT ketchup! Shrog and Bob discuss this phenomena with hilarious and violet results.

I'm from Milwaukee and never realized I had a Wisconsin accent until someone told me I said the word "bag" funny. I said it like "bay-g" and I discovered I said all "a-g" words like that. Flag, rag, tag, antagonist, dragon, etc. Shrog notices my Wisconsin accent as we exit Walmart and it turns into a big song and dance number...literally.

The Civic Opera House, aka the Lyric Opera House, opened in 1929. It's home to the Lyric Opera that's been performing operas there for over 70 years. It is a 45-story, Art Deco skyscraper that's over a million square feet! Why in the hell would any opera house need so much space?! My wife and I went to see "The Daughter of the Regiment" there in November 2023. Opera's not not as fun as a Cub's game because you're not allowed to form a beer snake or throw baseballs on the opera stage, but there's enough demand for opera in Chicago because the auditorium seats over 3500 people.

Cafeteria-style delis were once common in Chicago. Maybe because America is more health conscious (more, not completely), places that serve a ton of meat are becoming endangered species. Manny's Cafeteria & Delicatessen has survived the health scare of recent times. Their "My Four Kinder" sandwich, which I loved, consists of four different meats! It's kind of pricey, but it could feed three people or one of me.

I'm from Milwaukee and never realized I had a Wisconsin accent until someone told me I said the word "bag" funny. I said it like "bay-g" and I discovered I said all "a-g" words like that. Flag, rag, tag, antagonist, dragon, etc. Shrog notices my Wisconsin accent as we exit Walmart and it turns into a big song and dance number...literally.

Cabrini-Green was a low-income housing project that was built between 1942 and 1962. It was named after St Frances Cabrini, the first American canonized a Saint by the Catholic Church (quite an accomplishment considering she was from a city that doesn't produce many saints) and William Green, a labor leader. The city started neglecting Cabrini-Green and the neighborhood started getting really, really scary. SO scary that a 1992 horror film, "Candyman," was filmed there. Despite Norman Lear's attempt to make Cabrini-Green funny with his sitcom "Good Times", the project is synonymous with crime and government failure.