I apologize if this isn't the right place for this question, but I don't know where else to find a bunch of Chicago experts...

Why are there so few billboards or ads in downtown Chicago?

I've seen historic photos featuring large ads for Pabst Blue Ribbon, and many old buildings have fading remnants of painted advertisements on their exposed sides, but today I can't help but notice there's close to zero large format outdoor advertising in the downtown area. Once you get into the River North area there's a few billboards in vacant lots, but it's nothing like what I see in NYC or LA.

I can only imagine there must be strict regulations or ordinances about that, but I haven't been able to find documentation about such a thing. Does anybody have a good source they could point me to? Thanks.

I doubt it is regulations, there probably just isn't many good placement options in downtown. The density doesn't really lend itself to wide open spaces and view angles that would facilitate such large ads. Venture into river north and it is everywhere.

That said, it isn't completely missing from downtown. There is that huge painted GOOD ad on state and washington-sih. http://goo.gl/maps/lYwf1

^^ That's not an ad, it's an art installation.

Granted, artsy things are marketable in cities and the line between art/marketing is pretty fuzzy. But this one has no commercial purpose.

That's actually a piece of art. As far as I know it is not tied to any product or company.

[Oops, a couple seconds too late]

There are very strict regulations for the downtown districts and for signs in general.
Read the zoning code for signs.
http://www.amlegal.com/library/il/chicago.shtml

In DC and DX districts,
Off premise signs are not permitted. Sign area is limited to 800 sqft per building, no roof signs. High rise signs are special use on everything except hotels and hospitals.

They were running reruns of M-squad on channel 26 a while back.
It was shot in Chicago back in the 50's.

Back then, the signs on streets were pretty impressive.
The street at night must have been a living, throbbing thing.

Forgot where we're posting this guy, but here's the Ashland & Division building a few days ago...from the Wendy's drive-thru, sadly:

http://i.imgur.com/g4ckZAp.png

And Edward Sharpe isn't even a real guy!

Still, I think you're being a tad harsh. I appreciate the work on the video, I think some river-connected water feature at Riverside Park is exactly what is needed and am glad this person is helping propagate that idea, and, by gosh, I love me some bridges everywhere I can get them. Hopefully the Gehry bridge will be just one of many future strolling/meandering bridges in the city.

-----------------

A reasonably-sized parcel on the SE corner of Belmont and Clybourn (so, a 45-degree corner) has been levelled, I'm guessing late last year or more recently. Has this come up in the news here at all? I hope the developer is aware the Western Ave viaduct is expected to come down before long, and is designing accordingly.

^ Don't get me wrong, the idea is awesome. It's those first two minutes... I don't know what the context for the proposal was (school project? design competition? the hell of it?) but he's selling the idea very short.

Couldn't have been too tragic... Looks like you were in line to get some square burgers and Frosties yourself!

Forget the burgers, Wendy's has the finest fast food chicken sandwiches bar none. Anyone care to argue this fact?

Where the gas station was?

SE corner Western and Belmont
 

No development planned on this corner.

I'm not quite sure how it's better than the actual online zoning map, but some folks have made a "SimCity-like" version of the Chicago zoning map.

So as long as the future development on that corner would be bigger and better I have no problem. It would be awful to see some suburban style development there. I do agree the overpass is hurting that area. I can't entirely agree with the owner's reasons for tearing this down so soon. Leases can be shortened. Repairs can be made. Cost of repairs is almost never an excuse. It's a part of the business when you buy an old building. Preventative measures during previously remodeling to shore up the building would have been helpful then. But they weren't done then.

I once had a long wait for the Division bus from the blue line and like a true architecture and construction geek went to Wendy's and sat near the window so I could watch construction on Pizza hut tower.

I drive by this site all the time and can see why they tore it down. There really was no value left there. The building was completely covered with some kind of 1970's textured concrete stucco which would have destroyed the facade requiring complete replacement. I'm fairly certain that would have been far more expensive to rehab than to just build a new building at this site.

My concern here is just that it will end up being a gas station or drive thru bank. However, this area has been seeing a lot of dense development with a lot of six flats being built along Western as far north as Irving Park. Hopefully that trend continues here and we get a nice flatiron like the new ones built on Lincoln or that other one one Milwaukee near Western.

Gas station is still occupying the lower half of that quadrant of the Western/Belmont intersection.
Dang, you're fast.

Roscoe Village seems to be a rather underappreciated area, more so now that Riverview Plaza has been refreshed from 1970s stank to the 21st century (and now has Meatheads, a pretty good new local burger chain). I wonder if distance from a rail station is going to keep it permanently behind its gentrifying brethren neighborhoods -- this might also hinder any "flatiron" high rises that would otherwise be suitable for the area.

JGMA's newest project, the Casa Nayarit Affordable Housing development in Back of the Yards. (Apologies if this is a repost - don't remember seeing it around these parts)

http://jgma.co/images/projects/casa-nayarit/01.jpg

http://jgma.co/images/projects/casa-nayarit/06.jpg

http://jgma.co/images/projects/casa-nayarit/07.jpg

http://jgma.co/images/projects/casa-nayarit/08.jpg

http://jgma.co/images/projects/casa-nayarit/02.jpg

http://jgma.co/images/projects/casa-nayarit/05.jpg

More here.

^ Really like the contextual exploration on that. But what makes me most happy is filling out that triangle wedge. I feel nowadays you don't see enough of that.

Fulton Market Cold Storage
 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8...738d4a34_b.jpg
Fulton Market Cold Storage by YoChicago1, on Flickr

Shot from a 5th floor balcony at K2.

What? Roscoe is probably one of the most gentrified neighborhood around. It's just a quieter area not as many bars etc. It's almost all professional parents.

I hate these posters but this says it all.

http://img3.etsystatic.com/006/0/708...54571_4gzt.jpg