Last night I experienced Millennium Park. It is immense and personal. Everything was gigantic and felt just right. There were dozens of thousands of people there and I was with Deirdre, solo.
We entered from the northwest corner, at a pond circled by names of the monied class who donated to help make the park. God bless them. They’re fine. Lord only knows the lying and cheating and whomping they’ve done for us, but I thank them.
There are wide steps flanking gardens that lead us up to the main attraction– the concert hall by Frank Ghery. The largest walk-in outdoor room I’ve ever been in. Walking in meant stepping onto grass, nothing more. No turnstiles of stadiums. Thousands of people were IN a concert a thousands of people were NEAR a concert. Here’s the reviews from the New York Times surrounding the opening.
That is one of the central conceits of this park– it is not about a single mass event, it is about singular experience of mass events by masses of people. The old Grant Park bandshell was immense, too– but it was singularly massive. It was a a destination, and as thousands of people streamed toward there, we all knew that we were all going to the same place to do the same thing. Not so here. There is so much to do. There are so many people doing so many things.
The concert hall is perfect from what I can see. A female, with a deep nestled stage made with soft woods, feeling comfortable amid the male tall buildings all around her. Medusa- like tendrils of steel make a dysfuntional roof but functional beauty.
The trellis over the lawn makes the room, and serves the function of holding the intense speakers.
Next is a dense forest, making space for itself just south of the concert expanse. There are hundreds of prairie plants and limestone mini-walls that mimic the stones that held/ hold the lake back. A little moat with wooden planks that float above.
The long, winding bridge that forces you into slowing, turning you into sound barriers.
The very Chicago building fountains, brand-new and seemingly there forever.
This is the Grant Park we remember, this is what we want as a city.