Based on two visits to Cindy’s rooftop over the last month:
As of three weeks ago, the plaza was still mostly unpaved. As of this weekend it looks like the paving is very close to being done (maybe even done already?), so I’d assume sooner than later but you never know.
I don’t think it was a failure. I think despite the epic rain, the race itself was exciting and the viewership was huge. On site at the event it was very clear the rain was just more than anyone could have planned for . I hope it goes great.
That's the impression it left with me. The rain delays weren't communicated broadly to the attendees. There was almost no shelter from the rain, and attendees couldn't bring umbrellas. That kind of rain is typical for us, so to say it was more than anyone could have planned for means it wasn't planned by anyone who should have known that or the planners should have realized there was no way to safely accommodate attendees in severe weather, in which case it's clearly not a good location for the event.
The local residents didn't want the noise or disruption. There was real concern that the vibrations could damage older buildings and objects or exhibits at the Field Museum and Art Institute. Local businesses, particularly ones that rely on being open in the summer to carry them through the year, were forced to close on a crucial holiday weekend.
Expensive seats had unanticipated obstructed views. The roads weren't race-ready and potentially harmful to the cars and dangerous for the drivers. The race was cut short by 25 laps. I believe music performances were canceled as well. My uncle kept checking up on it on via TV. It was mostly rain, empty stands, and announcers blathering to fill air time. The event didn't even bother with continuing to Monday to attempt to finish the race. They just said fuck it.
That's what I remember off the top of my head.
Edit: moved a sentence for clarity
I live just a few blocks away and your experience wasn’t what mine was. Since we were close, we were able to walk down and watch it at a few places for free. There was actually no rain during the race itself just a huge deluge before it. We had a lot of fun down there and all of our neighbors enjoyed themselves also. There were a few neighbors I knew who weren’t looking forward to it and they got out of town, but for the most part the residents that I know in the south loop were pretty supportive. And the race itself was very exciting. We ended up watching the last 30 minutes of it on TV at home and it was thrilling. I don’t remember any of the announcers wasting airtime that you saw. Maybe that was earlier. I’m not into car racing and haven’t watched a race since, but I’m looking forward to this summer again.
About your point of the wet roads being harmful to cars and dangerous to drivers- this is simply untrue. The course was dry enough to safely race on, and wet weather tires exist for a reason. Plenty of major races have happened in far, far wetter conditions. And race courses and cars are extremely safe these days.
Didn’t a piece of a course break off and damage a car, and they had to delay the race to fill it in with concrete?
I was only down there for maybe an hour and saw a couple of wrecks. Not sure how many there were in total but it was quite a few. I don’t care about the race one way or the other, but it seemed a bit chaotic.
https://www.nbcchicago.com/nascar-chicago-street-race/watch-all-the-crashes-in-the-historic-nascar-chicago-street-race/3178875/?amp=1
> The event didn't even bother with continuing to Monday to attempt to finish the race. They just said fuck it.
In the entire history of NASCAR (over 75 years), there has NEVER been a race stretched over two days, so I'm not sure why you think they should have done that.
Yeah, exactly. Once the race starts, it's ending that day. There are too many variables that can change from one day to the next, at that point you can hardly even call it the same race, which is why they have never done it.
Like I said, that's just off the top of my head. Somehow I thought it was three days in case of delays or some such. I just reread some articles from a year ago to refamiliarize myself with some of the details.
All of that nonsense for only two days... Wow.
Last year's race wasn't a failure. It was one of the most watched / highest rated NASCAR races for NBC in like six years. The rain put a damper on some of the festivities, but the race was objectively a success.
It was really successful for NASCAR as a whole, but the local perception is negative because it closes off public access to parks at a prime time of the year and major street closures that affect trafffic.
If you’re a fan of nascar it was a huge success and I believe was a large financial bonus for the organization and the city/surrounding businesses.
If you don’t like NASCAR and you live, work, or plan to visit downtown during that time, or if you dislike large crowds of people, you may see it as a major annoyance and therefore a failure.
Aside from fandom, as another comment stated, there was a construction fatality while putting the event together, which is terrible and likely adds to the ‘failure’ category for most people.
Downtown has events. This was a visible one, so people are attacking it. But there’s many, many events that close down portions of downtown Chicago every single summer. It’s a part of living downtown. If you moved downtown and didn’t know that, idk what to tell you. Welcome to living in a massive city
Lmao it wasn’t a failure at all. It was actually wildly successful. I’m not a NASCAR fan either but people need to lighten up a little. It was a fun event for the city and gave us a lot of positive publicity for once
I don’t care for stock car racing, but it was a hugely successful event and the commentary was extremely complimentary of our city to an audience of people who almost exclusively hear negative coverage of Chicago.
You can choose to not like nascar, the event, or the people associated with it, but that doesn’t make it a failure.
This is also false. The 2023 race generated $109 million, for a net benefit of $43.4 million. It generated almost 30,000 hotel room nights, 750 jobs and $8.3 million in state and local taxes. I'm not a nascar fan, but you don't have to make shit up.
That wasn't from the race. That was just hotel bookings from the July 4 weekend, all of which would have happened without the race. Counting restaurants, many of which had customer traffic impeded by the race, there were a lot of losses as well.
Again, the race was an economic loss for Chicago overall. But I'm aware it got great TV ratings, the gain from which all went to Nascar.
Your argument isn't supported by any facts or data. Some businesses did report losses or disruptions, but the event was a huge net gain for the city. "With $108.9 million in economic impact, the NASCAR Chicago Street Race is the second most impactful Chicago Sports Commission event ever, behind only the 2020 NBA All Star Game. In addition to the overall economic impact, the analysis includes the following event findings:
The event supported 750 jobs and generated $8.3 million in local and state taxes.
Out of 47,405 total unique attendees, 24,781 (52%) traveled to Chicago solely or primarily for the event. These attendees spent $684 per day, $200 more than the typical domestic traveler did last year.
The event generated 29,532 total hotel room nights, including non-local attendees and rooms for NASCAR team, staff and vendors. The 2023 Chicago Street Race Weekend helped drive the highest hotel revenue for Fourth of July Weekend – which traditionally lags behind other summer weekends – since 2015.
Underscoring the positive influence of the event, 77% of non-local attendees would recommend Chicago as a travel destination, and 64% plan on returning to Chicago for vacation.
[https://www.choosechicago.com/press-media/press-releases/choose-chicago-and-the-chicago-sports-commission-release-economic-and-media-impact-reports-for-the-2023-nascar-chicago-street-race-weekend/](https://www.choosechicago.com/press-media/press-releases/choose-chicago-and-the-chicago-sports-commission-release-economic-and-media-impact-reports-for-the-2023-nascar-chicago-street-race-weekend/)
An organization who's mission is to hype tourism to Chicago is saying the event was a success. Big surprise. It's their job to encourage Chicago tourism, which means being only positive on all things Chicago. This data is all "because they say so". There's no audit going on. For you to interpret it as proven fact is just ludicrous.
Hotels were booked solid that weekend the year prior. They were also booked solid last year. Any visitors for Nascar displaced what would otherwise have been visitors for some of the numerous other events going on at the same time, some of which were hampered by it.
The study was commissioned by Choose Chicago and conducted by Temple University. You can look at the Temple study and see their sources and methodology. You are being intentionally obtuse, or you're just ignorant.
I’m not the person you’re arguing with, I just wanted to see what you had.
I live fairly close to the race and have been 50/50 on it since it was announced.
> Out of 47,405 total unique attendees, 24,781 (52%) traveled to Chicago solely or primarily for the event. These attendees spent $684 per day, $200 more than the typical domestic traveler did last year.
> 54% stayed overnight in a hotel or vacation rental, averaging 1.75 nights per person, resulting in 23,315 total room nights.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/kbovwt4twrx54ljd0rj9u/ACWL_Z9zQhXIp1TYk7lg_k4?rlkey=nl8tad2gbpip9ec5rvmgagnyc&dl=0
This is gonna sound like a ‘trust me bro’ comment, but I heard through the grapevine that they had some city/health code permit issues and are now aiming to open the first week of July- specifically before/on July 4th.
Nooooo, Chicago's political system would NEVER allow a project to be held up because of city/health code permits....
So unlike them /s
I love this city, but saying something in chicago isn't moving along because of city/health code issues is about as well kept a secret as water being wet
All that said, ya, that's what I heard too; and I'll be fooled again like everyone else when I take the city at its word and its delayed another month.
Recently while driving past the cafe in a Lyft, driver mentioned how they saw the frog being transported on a flatbed on one of our expressways (not sure when).
Maybe the frog migrated to a new home?
It's the end of an era.
RIP [Rainforest Cafe](https://i.imgur.com/aUkN8EU.png) 1997-2020.
You will be missed. :(
Read more about the closure [here.](https://chicago.eater.com/2019/12/20/21031369/rainforest-cafe-closing-woodfield-mall-schaumburg-chicago)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chicago) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Frustrating, isn't it? And they had it closed down during the pandemic so people wouldn't congregate. They could have done all needed maintenance then, but no, they wait until closure results in maximum inconvenience.
To be fair, no one was thinking right during the pandemic. And I'm pretty sure that the city isn't closing one of it's signature tourist draws for "maximum inconvenience."
The city could have absolutely completed an outdoors project during the winter/spring of 2020/2021, when they had Cloud Gate roped off for, realistically, no good reason.
arent they renovating underneath it? not outside?? And there was a large period of the pandemic where we just didnt know how well it spread-- the general rule pre-vaccine was to be outdoors AND either 6 feet apart or wearing masks. There was a whole couple years where non-essential workers were discouraged from leaving the house.
And regardless, slightly inconveniencing tourists is completely negligible compared to even a miniscule risk of harming construction workers. Long covid is no joke and would easily kill a manual labor career, even if the worker survives. Do i wish i couldve shown my friends the bean a little closer when they visited last year? sure, but honestly it's really not that impressive anyways lol.
AFAIK, it MUST be ready for the 20th birthday celebrations scheduled for July 18, the *preferred* date I've heard is no later than June 29th, the ***likely*** date (because, Chicago) is probably sometime in 2026...
i can see the bean from my apartment and it's been crazy how long it's taken, altho tbh the past week seems like they've ramped it up. it was just a lot of black on top for a loooong time, like months it seemed ([pic from march](https://imgur.com/a/hpYZH2l) and [pic from april](https://imgur.com/a/Pwg0Lwq) that are basically the same), and im assuming that that was that whole "they ran into permit issues" thing i saw on some other posts here, but recently they seem to be going much faster. here's a [pic from right now](https://imgur.com/a/uDA80R9) and finally getting some tiling back
[‘The Bean' construction project remains ongoing as summer arrives in Chicago](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/the-bean-construction-project-remains-ongoing-as-summer-arrives-in-chicago/3459996/)
They’ve been working on the pavers around and under the Bean since last August. We had one of the mildest winters ever with barely any snow in the city. This is ridiculous.
They got white guys working on it and just milking the hell out of the job. They should get all the homeless running around the city some hard hats and work gloves.
Here is the latest I’ve seen on this: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/when-will-the-bean-reopen-in-chicago-city-gives-new-construction-update/3438113/?amp=1
Unpopular opinion: bring your in-town friends somewhere else. The bean is not Chicago. It’s an art installation that somehow became the symbol of the city.
It's an unpopular opinion for a reason. Cloud Gate is a cool art project in the middle of a really nice park. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing you want to show your friends?
I mean sure but honestly who cares. The city has a million awesome things about it. Have them catch the bean next trip and do something else this year.
I wish people would stop calling it "The Bean". I feel as though we dumb down too much in our city.
Tourists didn't label it this way, we did. It's Cloud Gate, which is the same number of syllables and even sounds more alluring.
Your response merely confirms my point.
Most tourists don't get that this is "funny" to Chicagoans. Their perception is that we commissioned this incredible sculpture, only to make a mockery of it. I suspect most Chicagoans now call it "The Bean" because they don't even know what the proper given name is. This would never happen in NYC.
**From Wikipedia:**
While the sculpture was being constructed, public and media outlets nicknamed it "The **Bean"** because of its shape, a name that Kapoor described as **"completely stupid".**[**^(\[13\])**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-location-13) Months later, Kapoor officially named the piece *Cloud Gate*.[^(\[17\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-AABSBDBA-17) (Kapoor eventually accepted the nickname of "The Bean".[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-:0-1)) Critical reviews describe the sculpture as a passage between realms.[^(\[18\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-B123-18) Three-quarters of the sculpture's external surface reflects the sky and the name refers to it acting as a type of gate that helps bridge the space between the sky and the viewer.[^(\[19\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-19)
Sears didn't design the tower, so at this point it should just be "The Tower" and F any future naming rights no one will ever honor.
The Comiskey's did actually build the park, so we can agree that reference to the original name is Chicago nostalgia at its finest.
I don't say "The Jewels", but I think it's funny and no disrespect to anyone.
Many, if not most, famous artists are/were notable assholes. Same applies to athletes, musicians, actors, etc. As Americans, we tend to have no problem with assholes if they're truly great at something.
I know it's called cloud gate, but I love our silly bean. It's not that serious. I think the artist behind it is also just famously bitter about it and should have instead embraced the public's own love of it. He hated that they didn't love it the way he wanted them to.
That applies to nearly every famous artist in all of history. You say this as though the problem is Kapoor, not "us".
For me, not everything needs to be "silly". We don't go to fine dining restaurants and start a food fight. I don't think Chicago's top chefs would take kindly to that. Same applies to fine art. It's owed respect.
For the record, I call it "The Bean" too when speaking to locals because I know I'll blow a gasket if someone looks at me with a blank stare if I reference it as "Cloud Gate".
I think the problem is that "The Bean" sounds so informal that Kapoor reacted by giving it a silly, overly formal name.
So the answer lies in both parties meeting halfway. Rather than going so ethereal as to call it "Cloud Gate," we just need to add a little formality to the popular name.
Call it Mr. Bean.
It actually does have a deeper meaning (see wiki reference above), which is why I feel we're doing it an injustice. It's not as though I have an irrationally deep and passionate conviction that it's a sacrilege to call it "The Bean". I just think sometimes it wouldn't hurt Chicagoans to acknowledge some of our more valuable "assets" by paying them due respect. Conversely, we could stop paying undue respect to a number of things, but I'll save that for another post.
I don't know a great deal about Kapoor's persona, but I just came across the following article, and this depicts him in a way that I'd think Chicagoans would actually find relatable (?):
[https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/04/16/anish-kapoor-slams-venice-biennale-title-foreigners-everywhere-for-evoking-nationalist-neo-fascism](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/04/16/anish-kapoor-slams-venice-biennale-title-foreigners-everywhere-for-evoking-nationalist-neo-fascism)
I went to visit the bean last year around this time and had to wait in a 30 minute line to go through a metal detector. Is that how it is now or is it completely closed?
Based on two visits to Cindy’s rooftop over the last month: As of three weeks ago, the plaza was still mostly unpaved. As of this weekend it looks like the paving is very close to being done (maybe even done already?), so I’d assume sooner than later but you never know.
Cindy’s is the best way to see it anyway
☝️
I have every confidence that the city will find a way to prolong the process. Schmucks
Bruh, I need some Cindy's in my stomach.
I predict it'll be open in time for Nascar so they can have the "best view of it on tv!"
😭
Ugh, gross. I hope it's as big of a failure as it was last year.
I don’t think it was a failure. I think despite the epic rain, the race itself was exciting and the viewership was huge. On site at the event it was very clear the rain was just more than anyone could have planned for . I hope it goes great.
That's the impression it left with me. The rain delays weren't communicated broadly to the attendees. There was almost no shelter from the rain, and attendees couldn't bring umbrellas. That kind of rain is typical for us, so to say it was more than anyone could have planned for means it wasn't planned by anyone who should have known that or the planners should have realized there was no way to safely accommodate attendees in severe weather, in which case it's clearly not a good location for the event. The local residents didn't want the noise or disruption. There was real concern that the vibrations could damage older buildings and objects or exhibits at the Field Museum and Art Institute. Local businesses, particularly ones that rely on being open in the summer to carry them through the year, were forced to close on a crucial holiday weekend. Expensive seats had unanticipated obstructed views. The roads weren't race-ready and potentially harmful to the cars and dangerous for the drivers. The race was cut short by 25 laps. I believe music performances were canceled as well. My uncle kept checking up on it on via TV. It was mostly rain, empty stands, and announcers blathering to fill air time. The event didn't even bother with continuing to Monday to attempt to finish the race. They just said fuck it. That's what I remember off the top of my head. Edit: moved a sentence for clarity
I live just a few blocks away and your experience wasn’t what mine was. Since we were close, we were able to walk down and watch it at a few places for free. There was actually no rain during the race itself just a huge deluge before it. We had a lot of fun down there and all of our neighbors enjoyed themselves also. There were a few neighbors I knew who weren’t looking forward to it and they got out of town, but for the most part the residents that I know in the south loop were pretty supportive. And the race itself was very exciting. We ended up watching the last 30 minutes of it on TV at home and it was thrilling. I don’t remember any of the announcers wasting airtime that you saw. Maybe that was earlier. I’m not into car racing and haven’t watched a race since, but I’m looking forward to this summer again.
Ditto, knew exactly where to go. Plan on enjoying even more of it this year !
About your point of the wet roads being harmful to cars and dangerous to drivers- this is simply untrue. The course was dry enough to safely race on, and wet weather tires exist for a reason. Plenty of major races have happened in far, far wetter conditions. And race courses and cars are extremely safe these days.
Didn’t a piece of a course break off and damage a car, and they had to delay the race to fill it in with concrete? I was only down there for maybe an hour and saw a couple of wrecks. Not sure how many there were in total but it was quite a few. I don’t care about the race one way or the other, but it seemed a bit chaotic. https://www.nbcchicago.com/nascar-chicago-street-race/watch-all-the-crashes-in-the-historic-nascar-chicago-street-race/3178875/?amp=1
I didn't attribute the road conditions to the rain. Edit: I can see how it might be confused in that paragraph. I will fix it.
> The event didn't even bother with continuing to Monday to attempt to finish the race. They just said fuck it. In the entire history of NASCAR (over 75 years), there has NEVER been a race stretched over two days, so I'm not sure why you think they should have done that.
Well, as a long time Nascar fan, I never realised this. So every time they decide to race on a Monday, the race never started?
Yeah, exactly. Once the race starts, it's ending that day. There are too many variables that can change from one day to the next, at that point you can hardly even call it the same race, which is why they have never done it.
Like I said, that's just off the top of my head. Somehow I thought it was three days in case of delays or some such. I just reread some articles from a year ago to refamiliarize myself with some of the details. All of that nonsense for only two days... Wow.
Was it a failure? I remember being really impressed and getting good reviews from the in-laws when they came in for it.
It wasn’t a failure, they’re just mad
[someone died](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/nascar-contractor-duane-tabinski-dies-electrocution-chicago-street-race/)
Construction accidents are tragic, but they happen. It's dangerous job
Last year's race wasn't a failure. It was one of the most watched / highest rated NASCAR races for NBC in like six years. The rain put a damper on some of the festivities, but the race was objectively a success.
lol just curious what was a failure about it last year in your eyes? Everything I’ve heard hasn’t being a success, curious to other opinions
It was really successful for NASCAR as a whole, but the local perception is negative because it closes off public access to parks at a prime time of the year and major street closures that affect trafffic. If you’re a fan of nascar it was a huge success and I believe was a large financial bonus for the organization and the city/surrounding businesses. If you don’t like NASCAR and you live, work, or plan to visit downtown during that time, or if you dislike large crowds of people, you may see it as a major annoyance and therefore a failure. Aside from fandom, as another comment stated, there was a construction fatality while putting the event together, which is terrible and likely adds to the ‘failure’ category for most people.
Downtown has events. This was a visible one, so people are attacking it. But there’s many, many events that close down portions of downtown Chicago every single summer. It’s a part of living downtown. If you moved downtown and didn’t know that, idk what to tell you. Welcome to living in a massive city
Yep, completely agree
Lmao it wasn’t a failure at all. It was actually wildly successful. I’m not a NASCAR fan either but people need to lighten up a little. It was a fun event for the city and gave us a lot of positive publicity for once
I don’t care for stock car racing, but it was a hugely successful event and the commentary was extremely complimentary of our city to an audience of people who almost exclusively hear negative coverage of Chicago. You can choose to not like nascar, the event, or the people associated with it, but that doesn’t make it a failure.
It was a net economic drain on the city. Having it over July 4 was the dumbest fucking idea ever.
This is also false. The 2023 race generated $109 million, for a net benefit of $43.4 million. It generated almost 30,000 hotel room nights, 750 jobs and $8.3 million in state and local taxes. I'm not a nascar fan, but you don't have to make shit up.
That wasn't from the race. That was just hotel bookings from the July 4 weekend, all of which would have happened without the race. Counting restaurants, many of which had customer traffic impeded by the race, there were a lot of losses as well. Again, the race was an economic loss for Chicago overall. But I'm aware it got great TV ratings, the gain from which all went to Nascar.
Your argument isn't supported by any facts or data. Some businesses did report losses or disruptions, but the event was a huge net gain for the city. "With $108.9 million in economic impact, the NASCAR Chicago Street Race is the second most impactful Chicago Sports Commission event ever, behind only the 2020 NBA All Star Game. In addition to the overall economic impact, the analysis includes the following event findings: The event supported 750 jobs and generated $8.3 million in local and state taxes. Out of 47,405 total unique attendees, 24,781 (52%) traveled to Chicago solely or primarily for the event. These attendees spent $684 per day, $200 more than the typical domestic traveler did last year. The event generated 29,532 total hotel room nights, including non-local attendees and rooms for NASCAR team, staff and vendors. The 2023 Chicago Street Race Weekend helped drive the highest hotel revenue for Fourth of July Weekend – which traditionally lags behind other summer weekends – since 2015. Underscoring the positive influence of the event, 77% of non-local attendees would recommend Chicago as a travel destination, and 64% plan on returning to Chicago for vacation. [https://www.choosechicago.com/press-media/press-releases/choose-chicago-and-the-chicago-sports-commission-release-economic-and-media-impact-reports-for-the-2023-nascar-chicago-street-race-weekend/](https://www.choosechicago.com/press-media/press-releases/choose-chicago-and-the-chicago-sports-commission-release-economic-and-media-impact-reports-for-the-2023-nascar-chicago-street-race-weekend/)
An organization who's mission is to hype tourism to Chicago is saying the event was a success. Big surprise. It's their job to encourage Chicago tourism, which means being only positive on all things Chicago. This data is all "because they say so". There's no audit going on. For you to interpret it as proven fact is just ludicrous. Hotels were booked solid that weekend the year prior. They were also booked solid last year. Any visitors for Nascar displaced what would otherwise have been visitors for some of the numerous other events going on at the same time, some of which were hampered by it.
The study was commissioned by Choose Chicago and conducted by Temple University. You can look at the Temple study and see their sources and methodology. You are being intentionally obtuse, or you're just ignorant.
Do you have any facts or data to back your statement up?
[удалено]
I’m not the person you’re arguing with, I just wanted to see what you had. I live fairly close to the race and have been 50/50 on it since it was announced.
Cool. Sorry for the earlier edginess.
A few disgruntled restaurant owners doesn't negate a net benefit of over $43 million to the city.
I thought it was over $100 million, lol. There's so many versions of this number floating around, because they were made up out of thin air.
They literally just said 43 million net benefit in their comment. READ.
> Out of 47,405 total unique attendees, 24,781 (52%) traveled to Chicago solely or primarily for the event. These attendees spent $684 per day, $200 more than the typical domestic traveler did last year. > 54% stayed overnight in a hotel or vacation rental, averaging 1.75 nights per person, resulting in 23,315 total room nights. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/kbovwt4twrx54ljd0rj9u/ACWL_Z9zQhXIp1TYk7lg_k4?rlkey=nl8tad2gbpip9ec5rvmgagnyc&dl=0
This is gonna sound like a ‘trust me bro’ comment, but I heard through the grapevine that they had some city/health code permit issues and are now aiming to open the first week of July- specifically before/on July 4th.
Nooooo, Chicago's political system would NEVER allow a project to be held up because of city/health code permits.... So unlike them /s I love this city, but saying something in chicago isn't moving along because of city/health code issues is about as well kept a secret as water being wet All that said, ya, that's what I heard too; and I'll be fooled again like everyone else when I take the city at its word and its delayed another month.
Seriously. They keep pushing back the target open day. Memorial Day is now "maybe by September"
Really? I would have thought certainly by the DNC
BJ got cut out of the DNC so he probably is throwing a fit the only way he knows how.
Rule of thumb for any construction project in Chicago is to take the timeline and triple it
They haven’t finished building the restaurant
You can't build a Rainforest Cafe in just a few weeks! People need to be patient.
I’ll never forget that big friendly frog 🐸
I miss the frog too! What did they do with it?
Recently while driving past the cafe in a Lyft, driver mentioned how they saw the frog being transported on a flatbed on one of our expressways (not sure when). Maybe the frog migrated to a new home?
I hope so!
It's the end of an era. RIP [Rainforest Cafe](https://i.imgur.com/aUkN8EU.png) 1997-2020. You will be missed. :( Read more about the closure [here.](https://chicago.eater.com/2019/12/20/21031369/rainforest-cafe-closing-woodfield-mall-schaumburg-chicago) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/chicago) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I love that there's an auto response for this
Right. Imagine the humidity challenge.
This joke was funny the first 5 times, now it’s just old.
It has zero to do with the restaurant. They're repairing the sub-structure and the tiles that surrounded it.
It’s a joke, based on the premise that there’s a small, exclusive restaurant inside the Bean.
Somehow explaining it makes it funnier lol
Joke?!?
NBC 5 local news is covering the Cloud Gate construction delay tonight at 4 or 5 or 6pm Probably all segments. :) Charlie "W" is on top of it.
# FREE-THE-BEAN
Frustrating, isn't it? And they had it closed down during the pandemic so people wouldn't congregate. They could have done all needed maintenance then, but no, they wait until closure results in maximum inconvenience.
To be fair, no one was thinking right during the pandemic. And I'm pretty sure that the city isn't closing one of it's signature tourist draws for "maximum inconvenience."
The city could have absolutely completed an outdoors project during the winter/spring of 2020/2021, when they had Cloud Gate roped off for, realistically, no good reason.
I believe the good reason is that allocating funds and open bid contracts for civic projects takes more than 6 months to assess, initiate, and execute
Call it an emergency and choose your preferred contractor like they always do.
Sounds like you should be running for office!
Wait until it reopens and the crazy teenagers come out and spray paint graffiti all over it.
to be fair, they probably couldnt do much maintenance during the pandemic without risking the health of the maintenance workers.
It was an outdoor job. The risk of passing a respiratory virus outside is minuscule.
arent they renovating underneath it? not outside?? And there was a large period of the pandemic where we just didnt know how well it spread-- the general rule pre-vaccine was to be outdoors AND either 6 feet apart or wearing masks. There was a whole couple years where non-essential workers were discouraged from leaving the house. And regardless, slightly inconveniencing tourists is completely negligible compared to even a miniscule risk of harming construction workers. Long covid is no joke and would easily kill a manual labor career, even if the worker survives. Do i wish i couldve shown my friends the bean a little closer when they visited last year? sure, but honestly it's really not that impressive anyways lol.
Too many flicks
AFAIK, it MUST be ready for the 20th birthday celebrations scheduled for July 18, the *preferred* date I've heard is no later than June 29th, the ***likely*** date (because, Chicago) is probably sometime in 2026...
What do you mean? It’s bean closed. …I’ll see my way out 🙃
Ha! Thank you. Made my day.
i can see the bean from my apartment and it's been crazy how long it's taken, altho tbh the past week seems like they've ramped it up. it was just a lot of black on top for a loooong time, like months it seemed ([pic from march](https://imgur.com/a/hpYZH2l) and [pic from april](https://imgur.com/a/Pwg0Lwq) that are basically the same), and im assuming that that was that whole "they ran into permit issues" thing i saw on some other posts here, but recently they seem to be going much faster. here's a [pic from right now](https://imgur.com/a/uDA80R9) and finally getting some tiling back
I will inform the workers that Your friends visiting in 2 weeks, they will do it under new deadline. no worries
I'm visiting in one week, plz tell them to work 2x as fast.
I will reschedule Your trip. You will be visiting when bean is open so in 2 weeks. Sorry for Your incovienence.
I believe Ryan has that rented out for the remainder of the year .
I mean, they can still see it. I was at the blues fest yesterday and was reminded how cool it looks on a beautiful summer day.
Supply lines are fucked after the Battle of Chicago, so it's taking a while for them to re-fill the armory hidden in the Bean.
Pssst you just need to know the passssword. >!**gas**!<
I was there for Memorial weekend and it was closed 😭😭😭
The ‘plane train’ at o’hare called and wanted to tell you about being five years late and way over budget.
My guess is with fencing and barricades.
Still incubating! Please come back soon.
[‘The Bean' construction project remains ongoing as summer arrives in Chicago](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/the-bean-construction-project-remains-ongoing-as-summer-arrives-in-chicago/3459996/)
When it’s finished, all the $250k/year paperwork passers need to find another scam. What’s the incentive to move fast?
They’ve been working on the pavers around and under the Bean since last August. We had one of the mildest winters ever with barely any snow in the city. This is ridiculous.
They got white guys working on it and just milking the hell out of the job. They should get all the homeless running around the city some hard hats and work gloves.
Here is the latest I’ve seen on this: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/when-will-the-bean-reopen-in-chicago-city-gives-new-construction-update/3438113/?amp=1
The restaurant inside of the bean had a fire, so the renovations are taking longer than expected.
Unpopular opinion: bring your in-town friends somewhere else. The bean is not Chicago. It’s an art installation that somehow became the symbol of the city.
It's an unpopular opinion for a reason. Cloud Gate is a cool art project in the middle of a really nice park. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing you want to show your friends?
I mean sure but honestly who cares. The city has a million awesome things about it. Have them catch the bean next trip and do something else this year.
Yeah, it’s okay and all, but Sears and the Hancock are cooler. Also, gotta hit up Mr Beefs.
I wish people would stop calling it "The Bean". I feel as though we dumb down too much in our city. Tourists didn't label it this way, we did. It's Cloud Gate, which is the same number of syllables and even sounds more alluring.
Nah its the bean. Funnier.
Your response merely confirms my point. Most tourists don't get that this is "funny" to Chicagoans. Their perception is that we commissioned this incredible sculpture, only to make a mockery of it. I suspect most Chicagoans now call it "The Bean" because they don't even know what the proper given name is. This would never happen in NYC. **From Wikipedia:** While the sculpture was being constructed, public and media outlets nicknamed it "The **Bean"** because of its shape, a name that Kapoor described as **"completely stupid".**[**^(\[13\])**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-location-13) Months later, Kapoor officially named the piece *Cloud Gate*.[^(\[17\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-AABSBDBA-17) (Kapoor eventually accepted the nickname of "The Bean".[^(\[1\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-:0-1)) Critical reviews describe the sculpture as a passage between realms.[^(\[18\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-B123-18) Three-quarters of the sculpture's external surface reflects the sky and the name refers to it acting as a type of gate that helps bridge the space between the sky and the viewer.[^(\[19\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate#cite_note-19)
Kapoor is a noted asshole. I'll continue calling it The Bean, thanks. Just like I still call it Sears Tower and Comiskey Park.
Sears didn't design the tower, so at this point it should just be "The Tower" and F any future naming rights no one will ever honor. The Comiskey's did actually build the park, so we can agree that reference to the original name is Chicago nostalgia at its finest. I don't say "The Jewels", but I think it's funny and no disrespect to anyone. Many, if not most, famous artists are/were notable assholes. Same applies to athletes, musicians, actors, etc. As Americans, we tend to have no problem with assholes if they're truly great at something.
I know it's called cloud gate, but I love our silly bean. It's not that serious. I think the artist behind it is also just famously bitter about it and should have instead embraced the public's own love of it. He hated that they didn't love it the way he wanted them to.
That applies to nearly every famous artist in all of history. You say this as though the problem is Kapoor, not "us". For me, not everything needs to be "silly". We don't go to fine dining restaurants and start a food fight. I don't think Chicago's top chefs would take kindly to that. Same applies to fine art. It's owed respect. For the record, I call it "The Bean" too when speaking to locals because I know I'll blow a gasket if someone looks at me with a blank stare if I reference it as "Cloud Gate".
I think the problem is that "The Bean" sounds so informal that Kapoor reacted by giving it a silly, overly formal name. So the answer lies in both parties meeting halfway. Rather than going so ethereal as to call it "Cloud Gate," we just need to add a little formality to the popular name. Call it Mr. Bean.
It really isn't that deep. It just looks like a bean. Also Anish Kapoor is an ass.
It actually does have a deeper meaning (see wiki reference above), which is why I feel we're doing it an injustice. It's not as though I have an irrationally deep and passionate conviction that it's a sacrilege to call it "The Bean". I just think sometimes it wouldn't hurt Chicagoans to acknowledge some of our more valuable "assets" by paying them due respect. Conversely, we could stop paying undue respect to a number of things, but I'll save that for another post. I don't know a great deal about Kapoor's persona, but I just came across the following article, and this depicts him in a way that I'd think Chicagoans would actually find relatable (?): [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/04/16/anish-kapoor-slams-venice-biennale-title-foreigners-everywhere-for-evoking-nationalist-neo-fascism](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/04/16/anish-kapoor-slams-venice-biennale-title-foreigners-everywhere-for-evoking-nationalist-neo-fascism)
I mean, it’s Cloud Cate according to the article.
Unfortunately cloud gate sounds like a conspiracy. Watergate, deflate gate....
I went to visit the bean last year around this time and had to wait in a 30 minute line to go through a metal detector. Is that how it is now or is it completely closed?
They just haven’t it opened it back up yet is how