“When is the Next Adults-Only Event at the Adler Planetarium?” by S.M. O’Connor

Fifty years after men touched foot on the Moon with the Apollo 11 mission, and as we look forward to future trips to the Moon (and Mars) in the 2020s, adults can celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum with special talks, programs, and more at the “Adler After Dark” event with the “Moonshot” theme on Thursday, July 18, 2019. “Moonshot” is part of the Adler Planetarium’s APOLLO 11 CELEBRATION | JULY 18-20 (“CHOOSE THE MOON WITH THE ADLER”). There will be period-themed cocktails and music played by The Stingers to evoke July, 1969. Visitors will view the Adler Planetarium’s collections of artifacts related to N.A.S.A.’s Apollo program and the Moon in a pop-up exhibition, “Small Steps, Giant Leaps.”

They can listen to a new Moonrise podcast by The Washington Post in the Grainger Sky Theater. The Adler Planetarium stated, “’Moonrise’ tells the real origin story behind America’s decision to go to the Moon, weaving together the dream of space travel, the nuclear arms race of the Cold War, the transformation of American society and politics, and even the birth of science fiction, to uncover a story that has so much to reveal about our country—and about being human.” Afterwards, visitors can join hostess Lillian Cunningham and a panel of experts discuss the history and possible future of travel through outer space.

“Adler After Dark” events are for adults (twenty-one-years-of-age-and-over). These are monthly affairs and themes change every month. A ticket grants one “unlimited access, unlimited shows, and unique entertainment every third Thursday of the month.” For nine of the twelve months in a given year, the events are from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. [Normally, the Adler Planetarium is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Adler Planetarium began observing extended Summer Hours (9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) on Memorial Day (May 27, 2019) and will continue to do so through Labor Day (September 2, 2019).] During summertime (May-to-August), “Adler After Dark” events are from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Dinner will be available to purchase at the Galileo Café on Level 4. The Stingers will be playing at the Galileo Café.

Finish the night with Project Apollo, a double dry hopped I.P.A. (India Pale Ale) brewed in collaboration with Solemn Oath Brewery, Binny’s, and Omega Yeast that commemorates the 400,000 people who contributed to the success of the Apollo program. Select quantities will be available for purchase at event bars.

Visitors are encouraged to wear late 1960s-style and outer space-themed attire. If one needs costume inspiration, one can check out photo albums of past Adler After Dark attendees. One should consult the Cosplay & Costuming Weapons Policy before wearing a costume to the Adler Planetarium.

One can plan one’s evening in advance by consulting this event schedule. Advance tickets are $20 (or $10 for Members). Click here to purchase tickets. At the door, based on availability, tickets will be offered for sale at $25 ($15 for Members). Event capacity is limited and will likely sell out.

For groups of fifteen or more or for corporate booking, e-mail groups@adlerplanetarium.org. Bring a photo identification card on the day of the event.

Tours of Doane Observatory are $8 for Members and non-members alike. Please note that tours last fifteen minutes, tickets are available in limited quantities, and sell out rapidly. Tours of Doane Observatory are subject to cancellation in the event of bad weather. Observatory programs may be altered or cancelled without notice if clouds or weather conditions do not permit use of the telescope. Observatory staff may substitute an alternate program.

The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum is located on the Museum Campus at the northern end of the Chicago Park District’s Burnham Park. The address is 1300 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605.

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The Field Museum of Natural History in March, 2018

The Field Museum of Natural History’s entrance pavilions are at opposite ends of Stanley Field Hall, which has a north-south axis. The two porticos (porches) are each reached by two successive flights of stairs.

Both porticos of The Field Museum of Natural History are flanked by two small porches, which each have two caryatids (columns in the shape of maidens). On the facade, the wings are adorned with a colonnade of attached fluted Ionic columns. The building’s fluted Ionic columns have volutes (spiral-scroll-shaped crowns).

Each portico of The Field Museum is tetrastyle in antis with double-ranked fluted Ionic columns capped by volutes. An entablature crowned by a pediment rests atop the columns. The continuous frieze in each case is relatively plain. The wave-themed acroteria that crown the pediments are borrowed from the Palace of a Fine Arts, which housed The Field Museum until 1920 and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry.

The Field Museum of Natural History isn’t “just” a museum. Visitors can watch scientists at work through windows at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center’s Pritzker Laboratory.

Mrs. Charles (Laura) Schweppe, a daughter and co-heiress of John Graves Shedd, the former partner of Marshall Field I who succeeded him as president of Marshall Field & Company, and who, under the guidance of Stanley Field founded the Shedd Aquarium, donated an exhibit of 100 bronze sculptures by Malvina Hoffman to The Field Museum. They represent every race, nation, and tribe in the human family (more or less). On January 9, 1933, the first group, Unity of Man, went on display.

In addition to the four figures Henry Hering (1874-1949) made for the corners of Stanley Field Hall, he also made the twelve plaster round lion head shield escutcheons that line it. These are replicas of the marble round lion head shield escutcheon he made for the pediment of the facade of The Field Museum of Natural History.

Christmas at Chicago’s Union Station

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a POLAR EXPRESS display in the Great Hall of Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a closeup of the THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the headlamp of THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Union Station Company rail car loaded with super-size gifts is part of THE POLAR EXPRESS mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station.

Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Union Station in downtown Chicago has emblems of Amtrak, Metra, and historic railroad companies whose routes they now operate like Burlington.

Cinemas sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) Helped Design

This is the Pickwick Theatre Building, an Art Deco movie palace and office building erected in downtown Park Ridge, Illinois in 1928.

The architects were Roscoe Harold Zook and William F. McCaughey. Sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, who also worked on the Adler Planetarium, contributed to this building.

In recent years, the Vlahakis family, who’ve owned the building for 50 years, have been able to turn the building into a multiplex by adding smaller theaters around the original auditorium. The latest one, with a screen four times the size of the one in the auditorium, will open in time to screen INFINITY WARS in May, if all goes well.

The Catlow Movie Theater is a cinema that opened in downtown Barrington, Illinois in 1927. The Tudor Revival style of architecture is not confined to the facade of the cinema. As with the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Illinois, sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) played a role in the design and decoration of The Catlow Movie Theater.