Free previewStop 9 of Chicago Christmas Walk: Magnificent Mile Lights to the Christkindlmarket
The Bean Its Maker Called Stupid
You're standing in Millennium Park, on the plaza Chicagoans still sometimes call AT&T Plaza, though its name today is Grainger Plaza. In front of you is a giant drop of polished steel. Officially it's Cloud Gate. Everybody calls it the Bean. Look along its side toward the north, and you'll find the skyscrapers of Randolph Street bent and stretched across its surface. You're in there too, somewhere, looking a little strange.
This whole park sits on a roof. Until 1997 this corner of Grant Park was rail yards and parking lots, and the trains still run underneath you. In 1999 the people planning the park went looking for a centerpiece. They narrowed the field to two artists. Jeff Koons, an American artist, proposed a 150-foot playground slide, with an elevator up to an observation deck. The committee passed.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 9 of Chicago Christmas Walk: Magnificent Mile Lights to the Christkindlmarket (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
