Feature Image: East side (detail), Marc Chagall, Four Seasons, 1972, Chase Tower Plaza, Chicago. May 2014. 7.44 mb 92%. Author’s photograph.
Composed of thousands of inlaid chips in over 250 colors, The Four Seasons (1972) mosaic in Chase Tower Plaza, Chicago, by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) portrays scenes of Chicago. It features Chagall’s modernist art informed by this Russian-Jewish artist’s heritage and images found in his paintings, including birds, fish, flowers, suns and human figures. Chagall observed that “the seasons represent human life, both physical and spiritual, at its different ages.”
May 2014. East side (detail). 5.19 mb. Author’s photograph. December 2017. East side (detail). 1.35 mb. Author’s photograph. December 2015. West side. 4.16mb DSC_0967 (2). Author’s photograph.
In U.S. cities and states with a large population of Polish and Polish Americans, mainly in the Midwest and Northeast – including Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia/Scranton, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut – pączki (pronounced “punch-key”) are rich, sweet traditional Polish doughnuts whose tradition stretches back to the Middle Ages. These sweet treats are fried dough filled with flavored creams and fruit jellies and preserves and slathered on top with icings, glazes, or powdered sugar. Pączki are a festive and delicious pre-Lenten indulgence that are notably eaten on Pączki Day which aligns with Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”), the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, a 40-day period of Christian fasting before Holy Week. Pączki Day is celebrated annually by immigrants and locals alike. In Chicago, with its sizeable Polish population (the largest outside Poland), pączki are eaten in the pre-Lenten season and on both Fat Thursday (the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday) and on Fat Tuesday.
Exploremores are the Girl Scouts’ newest cookie introduced in 2026. Exploremores are cookies with the Rocky Road ice cream-inspired flavors of chocolate, marshmallow, and toasted almond crème. Thin Mints are a classic Girl Scout cookie. They have been selling a version of this cookie for 88 years – since “Cooky-Mints” in 1938. Firmly established as a popular brand by 1951, it was officially named “Thin Mints” in 1959. The oldest, continuously sold, and original style of Girl Scout cookie, is the Shortbread (or Trefoils), introduced in 1934!
Four days after recording Heartbreak Hotel in January 1956 for RCA records in Nashville, Tennessee, 21-year-old Elvis Presley went out and bought a brand-new red-and-white 1956 Harley Davidson KH. Elvis was not yet famous but had already developed a signature style for which this motor bike formed a part. Having affinities with the 1952 KRTT Road Racer OHV V-Twin owned by famed H-D racer Brad Andres, Elvis’ H-D KH had plenty of style.
Within two months, in mid-March 1956, Heartbreak Hotel, a song co-written by Presley, was climbing the charts and Elvis was on his way to becoming one of rock ‘n’ roll’s first superstars. For the rest of his life and career, Presley remained a Harley-Davidson enthusiast as he helped forge that connection between motorcycles and rock ‘n roll which seemed to be instinctive and permanent.
6/20187/2015Warrenville, IL. 7/2018 Milwaukee, WI. 1932 Model G Servi-Car Side-Valve V-Twin. Harley-Davidson Museum. 6/2018
The 1932 Model G Servi-Car Side-Valve V-Twin ran for 41 years and offered high crown fenders and a cargo hold that packed 500 pounds.
