TGIF Friday March 24, 2011

All it takes is a little ole software upgrade to wake up the stone cold geek in me! There’s been lots of photoshopping and videoing around Chez Chic this week – I love learning new things.

This little set of pictures is from a photoshoot in my neighborhood in Chicago: Wicker Park!

We went out to one of the more ubiquitous 6-way intersections – Milwaukee Ave/North Ave/Damen – and just started walking around.

Wicker Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Chicago – lots of it is built around 1885 through the turn of the Century. Many of the owners of breweries had mansions in a little triangle area around Leavitt & Milwaukee Ave, bordered by the Blue Line Elevated Train, called Beer Baron Row. In the good old days when you could still smoke a cigar anywhere, an Executive could ride the train right to their office – sort of a limo on rails…

“Pierce and Hoyne streets feature some of the city’s largest and best examples of Victorian-era architecture… Early inhabitants were largely German and Scandinavian in origin, although a later influx of Polish immigrants led to the area being called the “Polish Gold Coast.””

Our photoshoot went right to the heart of the matter in the commercial district – where you see mainly 3-4 story high old fashioned store front spaces with apartments above. There’s lots of restaurants, clothing boutiques, and for you Fluevog fans a huge store.

What was most fun for me was the ever-passing parade of neighbors going by. People on their way to school or work, strollers and kids, all became just our pose du jour!

An English Boy Band even became part of the fun!