Chicago Teleporter

Teleporting

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:35:00 -0500

Being a tourist these days is usually pretty virtual anyway. It’s hard to find anything essential because so much is there for the visitor, a mirror held up to their second hand experiences. So why bother going at all? Why not just scrabble together the few fragments of a place you’ve heard of and teleport in there for the afternoon?

So one day I just did that. I wandered around Chicago in Google Streetview. And like any tourist I had a faint list of recalled incidents and associations with Chicago that set me on a journey to find their actual locations.

And like any tourist, as well as appreciating each unremarkable place, I also appeared there, physically and pictured in that very scene as proof that I had been standing right there. A memento for Chicago of the teleporter who passed through that afternoon.

Below are the places I visited and thoughts I had along the way.

The Chicago Teleporter took place on the 11th November 2009 and was part of somethingnew

UNO’S PIZZA - 29 E OHIO ST, CHICAGO, IL -...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:10:29 -0500

UNO’S PIZZA - 29 E OHIO ST, CHICAGO, IL - MAP

Uno’s is broadly accepted as the origin of the Chicago Pizza, a carb-rich food for people building a great city into the sky. And now it’s great for ball games and heart attacks. Uno’s franchised across America so you don’t need to go far to get a meal that doubles up as a pillow if you fall asleep mid-feed.

RAYS, SOUTH PRAIRIE AVENUE AT EAST 47TH STREET - MAP We’ve...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:00:00 -0500

RAYS, SOUTH PRAIRIE AVENUE AT EAST 47TH STREET - MAP

We’ve all been to Rays. With the Blues Brothers. Here’s the scene. When i went to New York for the first time I felt like i’d already met it a thousand times. With Chicago I only knew it through the Blues Brothers. So when i started meandering around the city on streetview, one of my first thoughts was to head over to Rays. And here it is. And here’s me loitering outside. I feel sorry for loiterers who aren’t selling drugs or guns or whatever because people naturally assume that they are. I should be able to loiter if I like. So here I am, next to Ray’s, loitering.

I tried to find Obama’s family home but it was just off-map. When the streetview plan got made and the panoramic photo-car spun round the city they probably didn’t know what was coming. In fact it was probably the last thing on their minds. A lot of people probably turn up as I did, one street away and get stuck on the kerb which can just about see the end of the street. It would have been in my tour otherwise.

2122 NORTH CLARK STREET - MAP I’ve heard of the valentines...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:45:00 -0500

2122 NORTH CLARK STREET - MAP

I’ve heard of the valentines day massacre. I read about it here: I’ve got a bunch of high contrast black and white press shots in my head but that’s it. So I headed over to North Clark Street on Google Street View and found myself in a pretty boring street scene.

6 guys were shot. I don’t think 6 makes a massacre these days. You need at least ten killings I would have thought. The street shows no evidence, there’s just cars and UPS guys moving boxes and stuff.

CORNER OF E.HUBBARD ST AND N SLATE ST - MAP Sarah Weis, the girl...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:23:00 -0500

CORNER OF E.HUBBARD ST AND N SLATE ST - MAP

Sarah Weis, the girl helping me on the ground in Chicago lives round the corner. Street View doesn’t go in to her street. To the teleporter this means her place doesn’t really exist. This was the closest I could find so I thought I’d hang out on the corner. The Thai place looks pretty corporate. I was pretty hungry when I was finding the spot but still didn’t dream of Thai food.

MERCY HOSPITAL - E-25TH-ST X S-PRAIRIE-AVE - MAP As I was on my...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:19:00 -0500

MERCY HOSPITAL - E-25TH-ST X S-PRAIRIE-AVE - MAP

As I was on my way back into town from Ray’s I stopped by a big building that had some car parks and open spaces around it. I dropped into streetview and had a look round.

Mercy hospital looks just like how I imagine an American hospital to be. Beige and confident, full of buxom, firm, red haired nurses and doctors with caring voices and strange narcotic dependencies. I’ve never really watched E.R. or even scrubs so my US hospital clichés are still feeding off Quincy

Kay Frederick stuck the print up by the Hospital at night. She later wrote “The 47th & Prairie was VERY sketchy :( but I had also run out of tape. ” I always expect the area around a hospital to be safe. But I guess it’s practical to have nasty stuff there so you can just wheel in the victims if it all gets a bit bloody.