Tree Towne Changes
The oddly dull, fingerpaint-reminiscent rainbow tiles covering the new McKinley Towne [sic] Centre [sic] are bad enough, but did they have to take down the time and temperature (or would that be tyme and tempreature?) display? It always seemed to feel your pain as you walked down Division. “Yes, it really is 2 degrees. At 3:42 in the afternoon!”
It easier to clean the wafting Blimpy Burger grease off tiles than brick.
posted by Ypsidweller on April 23rd, 2007 at 9:28 amOn the contrary, the Blimpy plume generally wafts South/SouthEast.
posted by Nitro on April 23rd, 2007 at 1:03 pmThe Blimpy plume - is that anything like the Pall/Gellman plume?
posted by justme on April 23rd, 2007 at 1:55 pmYes, but primarily airborne. I ride my bike Westward through the plume on my way home from work every day, so I have to clean my sunglasses around Packard and Fifth Ave. On the upside, I never have to buy hair gel, and my leather jacket stays supple without mink oil.
posted by Nitro on April 23rd, 2007 at 2:40 pmwhew. I’m glad it’s on Division. The bank on Liberty (the name right now is escaping me) that does time/temp in a bright pixellation of light bulbs has been my longtime friend. I would be sad if they went from poured concrete to fancy tiles and took away my affirmation that yes, it is f-ing cold.
posted by heidi on April 23rd, 2007 at 3:41 pmI believe they are talking about the bank on Liberty and Division. So, same bank.
posted by Chris on April 23rd, 2007 at 4:13 pmRumor is the happy tiles are courtesy of Google…?
posted by cvg on April 23rd, 2007 at 7:10 pmOh noes!
posted by heidi on April 24th, 2007 at 3:20 amHow about the annoying voice from Republic Parking that thanks you for parking at Tally Hall? Tree Towne progress?
posted by Worker Bee on April 24th, 2007 at 8:05 amNow I have to ride my bike all the way to Arborland to see giant digital time/temp. I agree, it’s tragic. And the tiles are kind of like perfuming the proverbial pig.
It kind of reminds me of the bizarre halfassed makeover they committed on the 70’s fountain area at Briarwierd. I wonder if that was the same tile salesman at work?
posted by Nitro on April 24th, 2007 at 9:08 amI, too, was saddened to see the temperature thingy go. I drive past it every day home from work and I *still* keep looking over at the building expecting to find out the temperature and instead just seeing an impassive ochre wall.
posted by Dave on April 24th, 2007 at 10:56 amHaha. My parents were just bitching about this yesterday.
posted by js on April 24th, 2007 at 1:05 pmJust like there are no clocks in casinos, maybe they don’t want their employees to know what time it is.
posted by Bob on April 24th, 2007 at 2:19 pmThose tiles are disgusting! They look so “new construction” If you happen to walk past the entrance, check out the horrible concrete job. There is a long crack in the middle, there are some small piles on the sidewalk, it looks like shit. There is absolutely nothing appealing about the building, the tiles look like my vomit after I’ve been to Taco Bell, the concrete color is like dog poo, it’s visually gross.
posted by Sarah on April 24th, 2007 at 8:30 pmThe tiles are indeed disgusting. They look like they came out of the mensroom of a McDonald’s with a bad Pacific Northwest theme. Remarkably, that ugly pile of Brutalist bullshit looks better despite the tiles. Now, if someone will do something about that hideous rock wall that’s part of Tally Hall.
posted by The Squid on April 25th, 2007 at 10:24 amI think my remark to someone was, “They took a totally hideous building and… made it slightly less hideous. Maybe.”
posted by Dave on April 25th, 2007 at 11:32 amIt’s definitely less hideous–if that’s what you aim for in architecture. The tilework is a desperate attempt to humanize a building that looks like background scenery from “Robocop”.
posted by halflight on April 25th, 2007 at 12:39 pmNo, I gotta vote for More Hideous Now. It just looks anachronistic and fucked up. That building has lost all integrity. It reminds me of when old Mr. McFeeney next door suddenly started wearing those fancy french biking pants and the blonde toupee.
posted by Nitro on April 25th, 2007 at 3:45 pmIt never had integrity to lose.
Call it Tally hall II
posted by Bob on April 26th, 2007 at 8:46 amMore Hideous Now. When they started installing a trial patch of that tile I thought, yes, that has to be a mistake, or a joke, no one’s taste could really be that bad (and yet, we have the Colonnade. Scratch that.)
posted by carush on April 27th, 2007 at 1:56 pmI remember the French calling Disneyland France”multi-colored vomit” when it opened. Thats a good description.
posted by Bob on April 27th, 2007 at 2:03 pmIt just occurred to me recently that the tile colors are Google’s colors but several shades darker. Next time you walk by compare them to Google’s sign at the top of the building and you’ll see what I mean.
posted by The Squid on June 8th, 2007 at 8:17 pm