FEATURE Image: August 2024. Oakbrook, IL. 5.83 mb 7758 (1).
“Morning bread delivery waiting outside Berto’s, the storefront still closed but already in motion for the day.”
“Press crews converge as the speaker briefs the cameras, the choreography of local news unfolding in real time.”
“Billboard light spills over the crosswalk as the pair cuts through the frame, a flash of blue shoes and city rhythm.”
FEATURE Image: November 2017. Michigan-based Saints basketball team visiting in downtown Chicago.
The Logan Theatre at 2646 N. Milwaukee in Chicago opened in November 1915 as The Paramount Theatre. It was operated by Lubliner & Trinz that started operating movie theaters in Chicago around 1914. At their peak, Lubliner & Trinz operated about nineteen theaters and leased or built about 36 theaters until 1934. The Paramount had seating for 988 in orchestra level and was equipped with a Weickhardt organ, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was renamed the Logan Theatre in 1929 when it was taken over by Essaness, a Chicago-based movie theater chain. The company owned and operated 33 theaters in the Chicago area, including the Pantheon and Biograph theaters. see – Lubliner & Trinz Theater History – The Clark Theater ; Logan Theatre in Chicago, IL – Cinema Treasures – retrieved January 18, 2026.
The Chicago Athletic Association (CAA) was a historic men’s club and athletic team based in Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1890 and closed in 2007. The 1893 building was designed by prolific architect Henry Ives Cobb (1859-1931). Transformed into the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, it opened as a boutique hotel, welcoming the public and preserving its rich history.
Van Buren Street Station is a commuter rail station in downtown Chicago that serves the Metra Electric Line to University Park, Blue Island, and South Chicago neighborhood and the South Shore Line to Gary and South Bend, Indiana.
FEATURE image: Chicago Loop, August 2014. Photographs ©John P. Walsh
William C. “Bill” Henry (1935-1992) for which this portion of 16th Street is named, was a 24th Ward Chicago alderman. Ald. Henry put together the coalition of Black and white aldermen to elect Eugene Sawyer (1934-2008) as mayor of the City of Chicago following the sudden death of Harold Washington (1922-1987), the first black mayor elected in Chicago.
Responding to accusations of deal cutting, Ald. Henry declared during the debate in the City Council chamber: “Deals? We was all making deals!” Henry’s constituents voted their alderman out of office for helping Sawyer in preference to Tim Evans, the reform candidate. Ald. Henry passed away from cancer in 1992 at 56 years old. In 2021 Timothy C. Evans is the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
see- http://www.cookcountycourt.org/ABOUT-THE-COURT/Office-of-the-Chief-Judge – retrieved June 3, 2021; https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/10/15/new-podcast-the-city-brings-back-memories-of-alderman-bill-henry-and-dealmaking-in-chicago – retrieved June 3, 2021.
FEATURE image: July 2026. Metra, Westbound, BNSF Line. Photographs and text ©John P. Walsh.
Video of same run of Metra Locomotive 185 (above), westbound BSNF Railway Line, August 2022.
The Brown Line (also known as the Ravenswood Line) is part of the Chicago “El” or “L” rapid transit system. The Chicago public transportation train system offers a total of 8 color-named lines (Yellow, Red, Blue, Pink, Orange, Green, Purple, and Brown). All the lines begin in the downtown “Loop” and branch out from there in different directions throughout the city (except, of course, east into Lake Michigan).
The popular Brown Line travels over 11 miles from downtown Chicago to the north and west to the “Kimball” station in Chicago’s Albany Park. There are 27 stations on the Brown Line and the train runs entirely above ground. The Brown Line first opened in 1907.
https://www.transitchicago.com/visitors/ – retrieved June 30, 2021.
https://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/6/ctamap_Lsystem.png – retrieved June 30, 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Line_(CTA) – retrieved June 30, 2021.
Locomotive METX 183, EMD F40PH-2 was originally built for Metra by General Motors in September 1989 at their Electro-Motive Division (EMD) plant (now closed) in LaGrange, Illinois. see – http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=2727 – retrieved July 1, 2021.
Video of same run of Locomotive 183 (above). BSNF Rail Line, westbound. June 9, 2023.
Locomotive 194 was the first Metra locomotive after 2015 to be completely rebuilt and repainted just outside Patterson, Georgia at the Progress Rail plant. The first F40(PHM) rebuilt “like new” engines were returned to Metra service in September 2016.
The F40PHM locomotives were originally built for Metra by General Motors in 1991 at their Electro-Motive Division plant (now closed) in LaGrange, Illinois.
This locomotive features a short nose and sloped cab improving engineer safety in the event of a crash. These rebuilt locomotives are essentially a brand-new locomotive in their original 1991 frame.
The paint scheme for the F40 was developed by a Metra engineer for earlier rebuilds of Metra F59PH and MP36PH locomotives with slight variations.
These rebuilds offer internal systems that are an improvement over the original—this includes better emissions. Locomotive 194 and the 40 other F40PH-2 and F40PHM-2 locomotives that were under contract to be rebuilt for Metra in 2015 are expected to be in service until around 2030.
The total cost for these 41 rebuilt locomotives was $91 million—that is, about $2.2 million for each locomotive. That is contrasted to the cost of a brand new locomotive (about $7 million each). These F40 rebuilds, which serve mainly on the BSNF line, are familiarly called “Winnebagos” for their sleek style reminiscent of the recreational vehicles of that well-known manufacturer.
https://metrarail.com/about-metra/newsroom/the-signal/welcome-home-locomotive-194 – retrieved June 24, 2021.
Video of same run of Metra Locomotive194, westbound BSNF Railway Line, August 2022.
Feature Image: August 2021. Chicago, Michigan Avenue. 1.68mb Photographs ©John P. Walsh
