Now that the Cubs are in the World Series (first time since 1945), what would you do if you had a four-hour layover in Chicago (from episode 419- REBEL SET). Me, I would try to catch a Blackhawks hockey game and maybe get some pizza at Rosati’s Pizza (you midwesterners/Chicago area fans would know what i am talking about).
As I noted in the episode guide: If it’s a plane layover, it would take you two hours to get into town from O’Hare and two to get back, so…
Me, I think I’d take the architecture boat tour of the Chicago River and note how the structures of so many of the buildings tend to draw my eyes upward … oh, okay, I’d go Navy Pier and get hammered.
You?
Update: To be fair, if anybody wants to describe their four-hour layover in Cleveland, go right ahead.
(Keep sending WDT ideas!)
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I would go shopping for postcards with grass hoppers on them. Maybe take boat tour with a blaring siren on it. Tough to choose between either.
I would look for Al Capone’s vault and then seal up Geraldo Rivera in it with a cask of Amontillado wine.
I’d like to visit the locales where The Dark Knight was filmed. Maybe plant bombs on two ferries and force the passengers to decide whether to blow up the other ferry or blow up themselves. (Oops, did I just type that?)
Does Torgo’s Pizza deliver out to O’Hare?
I’d go to the store across from the Art Institute on Michigan Boulevard to chat with the soldier there, head over to Observation Post 3 on the roof of the Drayton Hotel, then hurry over to 73rd and South Shore Drive so I could be in time to watch the giant grasshopper parade. Of course, I’d have to take a swing by Wacker and State and see a few more grasshoppers up close.
Giant grasshoppers are why people visit Chicago, right?
I’d take in a World Series game at this “Wrigley” place I keep hearing about. Only I can’t spend more than $5 of tickets and the game has to be under 3 hours long. I should be OK, right?
I would go hiking on my favorite mountain in Illinois… oh, wait…
I’d look high and low for the apartment where Bob Hartley lives with his wife, and ask about that dream where he thought he was living in Vermont running a hotel.
It has been suggested that if the Cubs win the World Series this week, that would truly be The Beginning of the End….
Suffering from an attack of mild regret I would have Weenie Man use his interocitor to send Geraldo a Chicago-style deep dish pizza to go with the amontillado.
I would travel to the benighted places selling thick, unwieldy, gross “Chicago style” pizza and
instill in them the virtues of East Coast thin pizza. Anyone availing themselves of Chicago style pizza
would henceforth have to avail themselves of Torgo’s speedy delivery service (the Master would be pleased).
Oh, I don’t know, I think I’d visit the Art Institute of Chicago, check out the Sears Tower, catch a game at Wrigley, and then work the city into a frenzy by lip-syncing ‘Twist and Shout’ atop a parade float.
As for a 4-hour layover in Philadelphia, I’d first head for John’s Roast Pork sammiches on Oregon Avenue,
eschewing touristy Pat’s/Geno’s cheesesteaks. Then a cab ride to historic City Hall (French pre-WWI style
architecture) and pedal past the Franklin Institute, Barnes Foundation, and Rodin Museum on the Parkway.
After (yawn) obligatory run up the Art Museum steps then bicycle on the East River Drive
(a.k.a. Kelly Drive) past Boat House Row and pioneer statues while admiring Cherry Blossom trees on West
River Drive across the Skookil River. If time head to Delaware River esplenade for ferry across to Camden, N. J. to
tour the Battleship New Jersey.
My MSTie self would track down Dr. Ed Wainwright and say, “You know how you thought that somehow it might be partly your fault? IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU MORON!”
My real self would visit the Art Institute, have the best Chicago-style pizza I could find, and most importantly I’d visit the Old Chicago Fire Department Building at 232 West Illinois Street. Its exterior was used as “McGinty’s Bar” in the ’90s TV series Early Edition and our family has a soft spot for that show.
I’d check out Sue the T-rex at the Field Museum, admire the Edward Hopper collection at the Art Institute, or just spend the whole time at the Shedd aquarium, where the fish live. Maybe try some of that marinara sauce in a bread bowl Chicago’s so proud of.
even though i’m a middle aged doughy guy, i’d drop by the Bears training site and beat Jay Cutler out of his starting QB job.
Go Cubs. Watch MSt3k
Hmm, this week’s topic is really specific to people who have actually been to Chicago. For the rest of us, once the grasshopper jokes have been done, there’s nothing left to add.
The closest I’ve come to a Chicago layover was when I went to Milwaukee for a CT show. I had to change planes at O’Hare, had about 30 minutes to get to the other plane, and nearly collapsed lugging my bags from one side of the airport to the other.
Navy Pier is a terrible place to get hammered. It’s just one long endless corridor full of kids and tourists. Stick to Rush Street.
I’d go take on the Illinois Nazis.
I hate Illinois Nazis.
When in Chicago, visit the Museum of Science and Industry. On the Lakefront.
Myself, I’d like to go the Medford Outlet Store, and shop. Unless there isn’t one.
Look, whatever you do, just make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes.
Gare (who actually lives in Chicago, and have pretty much been everywhere that Crow talks about).
I would find a giant grasshopper, mount it, and ride through the city on that mighty steed while haggling everyone for the terrible rock band named after their city.
I would beat up Merritt Stone (he’s not Merritt Stone)!!!
I’d go see if INS really does have a branch in Chicago (presumably a yellow convertible will be parked out front).
March outside the offices of WGN TV, getting them to bring back Bozo.
Visit the Willis Tower, use spray paint to rename it back to the Sears Tower.
Look for a parade to crash and lip sync Twist and Shout.
Go fishing at the Shedd Aquarium.
Say Hi to Carl for me!
Well, there’s Mike Ditka jokes (Da Bears), Mayor Daly jokes (talk about your Doughy Guys), Carl Sandburg jokes (City of Big Shoulders), deep dish pizza jokes (I wonder how Geraldo’s doing behind that wall?), 1968 Democratic Convention jokes (please, no Hubert Humphrey jokes), Mrs. O’Leary’s cow jokes (too historical?), and Kevin Murphy birthplace jokes (does River Forest count as Chicago?). Go for it, dude!
I don’t need to describe a four hour layover in Cleveland. I have lived here all my life and we will soon have a World Series parade downtown just like the NBA Title parade last June.
Visit the Museum of Science & Industry and note how much it looks like Exeter’s spaceship?
(Not one of your richer fields for WDT topics…)
5901 North Sheridan, according to fellow rerun-trivia experts.
http://jbw53191.blogspot.com/2009/03/quest-for-bob-newharts-apartment.html
Not sure where the office building was, but don’t take the elevator.
Go Tribe!
Why not? There’s room for one more.
i will go to see where Monster A Go Go was filmed.
I don’t know about Chicago, but If I had a layover in Cleveland I would visit the Rock and Roll hall of fame. I would then explain to the dude in charge what rock and roll is. And of course, be thankful it is not Detroit.
‘but there was no film.’
Ask him why the Monkees aren’t in the Hall yet.
;0 i should go back and do all the stuff i -shoulda- done while i lived there during my “four-year layover” livin’/workin’ there! like go to the top of the sears (i never did, even though i worked -right- across the street for awhile!) or the hancock, and have a swank overpriced martini! or revisited “sci-industry”, shedds or the planetarium without fam or friends on all-too-brief visits…
however, i -did- visit the art inst. school-side a good few times (although i shoulda also revisited the museum)… got drunk a few times in several basement dives too. ;0 but there’s always more to see around chi; lots of places to visit if you get into the darker, seamier side of history! in retrospect, i would’ve loved to explore more old capone haunts (some still existed back then in the ninties), or say, just more down around the area left from the old 1890s world’s fair – not to mention the old “h.h. holmes” corner! (any “devil in the white city” quote-unquote “fans” out there…)
so, hummmm… what would i do now? well it’d take more than four hours. but i’d try to go make up some lost time in the museums; try to catch some hard-to-see-on-bigscreeen movies outside the area… and while all the time revisiting some favorite cd-shopping spots (just to help!) and old eats, i’d -have- to get one of those deep-dish pizzas that new-yawkas hate so much! ;) (when i lived there, one was just right next to the alley up back to my place, so placing an order on the way home before hitting the el was as easy way to get supper)… sorry my east-coast friends… i’m from the country of “fried-pig-fritters” here! and at least i never developed a taste for that… chi-style deep-dish is the antidote to that; it just makes up for all the greasy meatness with cheese instead. ;0 mmmm, and who doesn’t love cheese?!? ;) sorry jon! sometimes yer pizza’s thick as a good lasagna, mmmm… and you just gotta love on that. with a fork!
well this is kind of interesting! for any “ferris bueller” sympathisers out there… from wiki:
”
According to Hughes, the scene at the Art Institute of Chicago was “a self-indulgent scene of mine—which was a place of refuge for me, I went there quite a bit, I loved it. I knew all the paintings, the building. This was a chance for me to go back into this building and show the paintings that were my favorite.” The museum had not been shot in, until the producers of the film approached them.[13] “I remember Hughes saying, ‘There are going to be more works of art in this movie than there have ever been before,'” recalled Jennifer Grey.[5]
According to editor Paul Hirsch, in the original cut, the museum scene fared poorly at test screenings until he switched sequences around and Hughes changed the soundtrack.[24]
The piece of music I originally chose was a classical guitar solo played on acoustic guitar. It was nonmetrical with a lot of rubato. I cut the sequence to that music and it also became nonmetrical and irregular. I thought it was great and so did Hughes. He loved it so much that he showed it to the studio but they just went “Ehhh.” Then after many screenings where the audience said “The museum scene is the scene we like least”, he decided to replace the music. We had all loved it, but the audience hated it. I said, ‘I think I know why they hate the museum scene. It’s in the wrong place.’ Originally, the parade sequence came before the museum sequence, but I realized that the parade was the highlight of the day, there was no way we could top it, so it had to be the last thing before the three kids go home. So that was agreed upon, we reshuffled the events of the day, and moved the museum sequence before the parade. Then we screened it and everybody loved the museum scene! My feeling was that they loved it because it came in at the right point in the sequence of events. John felt they loved it because of the music. Basically, the bottom line is, it worked.[24]
The music used for the final version of the museum sequence is an instrumental cover version of The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want”, performed by The Dream Academy.
“
i’d take nesmith and the other noteworthy songwriters with’im… heck i’d want nez in just for all his ol’ “elephant/television parts” series! hopefully those are all already enshrined in the “modern vid” museums… “must-sees”, if you never have!
p.s. lol! like, -this- one… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoePxgsdG5E
Chicago. City of Industry. 3M welcomes YOU to YOUR exciting layover convention. Are you aware that if you wear your convention name tag around town that you will qualify for tremendous discounts?
Discounts such as fifty cents off of any Devil Dawgs hot dog. Ooops! Don’t tell the little wife that you ate a dozen of those bad boys, Jeff. It will be our secret.
Or how about a free cup of popcorn when you visit the zoo? Show those monkeys who’s the boss as you stroll by eating real Jiffy Pop popcorn.
There is that and so much more, and all of it brought to you by 3M and the city planners of tomorrow. 3M. It’s a brave new Chicago, waiting just for you.
Barry Livingston: Don’t be a drag!
Stanley Livingston: Wear your tag!
Barry Livingston: Yeah!
Or the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Chicago thinks it’s all cool and stuff with its “giant” postcard climbing grasshoppers. Ha! Just head west to the least visited state in the Union and see some REAL giant stuff. A four hour layover won’t get it, so why not take a FOUR DAY layover and see The Giants of North Dakota. Starting outside of Regent, ND there is a truly giant grasshopper on the side of the Enchanted Highway made out of old farm equipment. No joke. No postcard, either. Off of I-94 outside of New Salem is “Salem Sue”, the world’s largest fiberglass Holstein cow. It’s the vibrantly painted bulging blue veins on Sue’s udder bag that get the cameras clicking. When in Dunseith you can admire the Wee’l Turtle made out of thousands of steel car wheels. This one falls directly into the “don’t ask why they did it” category. Of course, we couldn’t end our Peace Garden State layover without a stop at The World’s Largest Buffalo in Jamestown. Cast out of bronze and taller than an NBA player see if you can resist rubbing his anatomically correct giant testicles polished to a high shine by the fondling of thousands of visitors. A stop afterwards at Kleinschmitzer’s Prairie Tavern may be required by those not driving. So there you have it, Traveling MSTies. Beat That, Grasshopper Town!
If I were there right NOW I can tell you what I’d be doing… I’d be on my knees in front of Wrigley field praying to the baseball gods for a miracle! :weep:
As no one’s really done Cleveland, and it’s very easy to get from the airport to downtown via the Red Line RTA (and hell, the Amtrak station IS downtown) I’ll make the following suggestions:
1) Wander the few blocks north from Terminal Tower and Public Square to take in the lakefront, with the New Mistake on the Lake (First Energy Stadium, home of the pitiful Browns), the Great Lakes Science Center, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bonus drinking in the Flats along the (in)famous Cuyahoga River.
2) Stay on the Red Line to University Circle and check out the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and/or Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra.
3) On a day other than Tuesday or Thursday, check out the West Side Market, a veritable smorgasbord of culinary delights from local vendors, especially famous for ethnic foods. Walk on over to Tremont and take in The Christmas Story House and Museum, featuring the Old Man’s Prized Leg Lamp in the window and the sink under which Randy hid because “Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie!”
Cleveland: The accents are as bad as Chicago’s, but it’s cheaper!
Haiku For Layovers –
Chicago/Cleveland
A four hour layover in question.
Find a chair and sleep.
I have lived in Cleveland all my life and there is no such thing as a Cleveland accent.
I’m sure the people who live in London’s East End also think there’s no such thing as a Cockney accent. :P
Crullers at Stan Mikita’s Donuts!
Slightly off topic but the Cubs won the world series about an hour and a half ago … now all of the riffs about being able to see the Cubs losing will have lost a little of their sting for Cubs fans. :-)
With me, it’s more likely that my four hour layover would be at Union Station. While I admire everyone’s diligence in spending some time at CAI and the Field Museum, I’d head over to 2120 S. Michigan to honor Phil Chess who passed away last week. Then on to Maxwell Street if for no other reason than to see if anything of the old blues clubs/dives are left. Then I’d head over to Berghoff’s on W. Adams for lunch, supper, whatever, and pig out on the fresh baked rye bread dumped in the middle of the table waiting for my weisswurst and kraut. Then, back to Canal Street, but before boarding my train, I’d light a votive candle to Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks this first day after his Cubs won the World Series, and wonder why I’m in such a hurry to go someplace else.