Happy Holidays from Nowheresville

I have been working at Chicago Public Radio for the past month, which means daily walks through Navy Pier where WBEZ is housed. Navy Pier is one of Chicago’s main tourist destinations and one of the most god-awful places in my known universe. Part fast-food court – part touristy knick-knack market – part holiday/patriotism themed fun house. All of these components come together to create perhaps the loudest example of contemporary American “Nowheresville.” Ever been to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco? Or Quincy Market in Boston? They are all the same place! In fact, if you peruse the flickr tags for Quincy market, Navy Pier and Fisherman’s Wharf – you can get a sense of this for yourself. The popularity of these places really confounds me:  food courts, cheap gee-gaws and obesity should not be magnets for tourists.. unless that is the point. But I have a real hard time accepting that Americans can call visiting a trussed up strip mall - tourism.

I hope I don’t sound like an asshole, it may be the relentless 'Here Comes Santa' music but I really really hate this place. I recorded this video walk-thru to back up my protestations..  (link)

Comments

[fatty jubbo]

man! that's a hot khaki ass in that picture!

ya know -12 years of living in Chicago and I have never been to Navy Pier! I understand I should consider myself lucky, although that ferris wheel sure is perty.

Your video walk-through looks like it was shot at a never-ending highway rest stop.

[Daephex]

Of course, its Chicago's fault-- I mean, its pretty well plastered all over every tourist guide for upstate that I've ever seen.

[nt]

The saddest part is the complete erasure of Navy Pier's former life, circa 15-20 years ago. It was basically like walking through half a mile of the set of Carnival of Souls to get to the lone operational building, the ballroom at the far end of the pier. Usually empty, it would occasionally play host to a Pow Wow or a creepy drill team from Indiana or any number of things involving Masons. While it certainly would have still qualified for a circle of hell and you could sometimes by gee gaws (and trip over piles of dead fish), it was vastly more entertaining than anything there now.

[Parq]

For some reason, there seems to be nothing tourists want more than to duplicate whatever experience they'd be having at home if they weren't traveling. How else to explain the people who have to go into *every* Hard Rock Cafe wherever they go, who always eat at chain restaurants, who flock to cookie-cutter Rouse Projects in whatever town they're in? Ben writes: "food courts, cheap gee-gaws and obesity should not be magnets for tourists.. unless that is the point." The thing is, of *course* that's the point. God forbid you should ever actually *see* the place to which you've traveled!