City After Dark

Should have saved more early evening shots that I took in the 90s, but what's done is done. The bottom two from Google Images, the last a shot of Lake Michigan. Its damn cold now, yesterday night dropped to 39 degrees. So tonight's walk home and various waits on trains/buses from the readings had me still despising this crazy summer, as it is barely in the 50s now. A week ago the readings were in a different location, closer to the lake, but the weather was in the 80s, and we will see that again by Wednesday. But last week the reading was on the lakefront, and so buses were the easiest way southward was by the No. 22 Clark Street bus, and I rode down with Not From Michigan Mike most of the way, then finished the ride to the Loop. I actually had time to catch the Red Line, at first I expected to be taking a cab from Midway. I kinda miss the days when I could screw along more in the Loop on a warm night. The Orange Line opened in 1993, so for years the route was No. 62 Archer to catch the No. 53B Pulaski, which would get me within a few blocks of my house until about 1 AM. Not that there was much to do in recent years, the days of used book stores and arcades open all night, the Mammy's Restaurant that served breakfast all night that was next to the Trailways station, even the theaters are gone. And, yea, it was a cheap thrill to be playing some pinball game and looking down at street level for a half hour or so. Granted, taking the bus to Pulaski wouldn't help much now, but even still, the routes are long shortened. Before I moved in 99, the last Pulaski bus from the Orange Line was at maybe 11:15. So I'd have to get gone from the Loop by 10:30 tops. There's a certain coolness to the desolation that gradually descends, not like how everyone scatters at once during the evening rush hour. Kids will hang out in front of the Art Institute dorms, smoking, then going back in, another group popping out. I'm just, well, no, last week I was feeling nostalgic about the loss of the transportation routes because it just so much fun taking a bus to the Loop instead of going almost immediately underground as soon as I leave the readings. The subway swings back above ground at Chinatown, so the Loop is missed completely (unless of course I was on the Orange or Brown lines). There likely won't be a warm night like last week (I'm talking for coming home from a reading) until next April.