Happy Birthday My Hometown!

Today marks the city of Chicago's 175th birthday. It was on this day in 1837 that the city was incorporated, so says this article from the Chicago Tribune that, along with telling you all about today's special meaning for the Midwest's greatest town, also offers up some local mugshots from bona-fide Chicago thugs on the right-hand side. Very Chicago!

The city will be celebrating by offering up special events beginning today for the next 175 days. That's right, we'll be partying Second City-style from now through August! I have a couple blog posts about Chicago--my hometown--coming up. But for now I just wanted to throw up a few pictures showing off this beautiful (if also notoriously brusque and brutal) city on its big day.* Happy Birthday, my old hometown!

The Chicago Theatre on State Street

The Chicago River, looking west from the Brown Line el train just past Merchandise Mart stop

Shadow on a bridge over the Chicago River, looking east

Stepping up to the Brown and Green lines

View of Belmont Avenue near Boystown from the Red/Brown/Purple line

Ad for the great Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago

Fire escapes in the city that sprang back from the Great Fire of 1871

Chicago Sun-Times (newspaper) building downtown, home of the great movie critic Roger Ebert

Downtown, opera house on the left

Water taxi on the Chicago River

Chicago coastline, looking north, from the John Hancock Building

Chicago skyline, looking south, including the Sears Tower

Wedding party crossing the Clark Street bridge downtown

A fall evening downtown, heading north

Chicago River and Lasalle Street Bridge at sunset

Statue of Lincoln outside the Chicago History Museum in Lincoln Park

View of the skyline from Lincoln Park

View of downtown from bridge at Lincoln Park Zoo

Gardens at Lincoln Park Conservatory

The mighty Second City Theatre in Old Town, birthplace of American improv comedy

The el, how we get around in town

At the Chicago Brown Line stop

Adult spelling bee in Lincoln Square

Neighborhood el line running above a street

The Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Square

The el lumbers through a neighborhood

Under an el line

Welles Park across from the Sulzer Library in Lincoln Square

Cyclist downtown on bridge

St. Peter's Church downtown

The Picasso sculpture in Daley Center, downtown

Sears Tower as seen from Chinatown

Garden under an el track in Old Town

Story of the Great Fire of 1871

I see you, alley in Lincoln Square

View from Sears Tower

Mighty skyline, view from Lake Michigan

Me in Andersonville, bus stop

*Note how cleverly I avoided posting snowy pics of this post-apocalyptically cold winter city.