Quote:
Originally Posted by Via Chicago
I mean, I dont really see it appealing to people who it dosent already appeal to. The biggest thing Navy Pier offers is a sanitized way to experience Chicago that dosent require any effort or adventurousness. The sort of thing you suggest ("get a Cheval burger, but without actually needing to go to Logan or Fulton Market!") only perpetuates that.
Locals already have their own beaches, parks, restaurants, and bars that dont require descending into a tourist trap clusterf*ck. The only thing I could really see going out of the way for is the Shakespeare performances, which you cant readily get elsewhere. And thats nothing new.
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Is it a tourist trap clusterfuck if it provides an actual quality experience (summarizing a large geographic area that is difficult to thoroughly explore in less than a week) in a well designed, efficient, modern space? What is wrong with pop culture exactly? You remind me of my uncle from the East Coast who doesn't think Musicals are real culture. At some point you have to take American commercialism for what it is: American culture. If anything a cleaned up, modern, hipsterised Navy Pier would be an outrageous postmodern mockery of a true American tourist trap. An "ironic" version of the old Navy Pier like a hipster wearing a trucker cap. At some point you need to be pragmatic and realize this is popular, you might not find it "tasteful", but Americans love to travel and when they do they love to go to ridiculous caricatured outlets for "a taste of the local culture". We may as well make sure that the taste they are getting is actually representative of what we are. If we are funneling millions of people through Navy Pier every year and indoctrinating them as to what Chicago is, then we may as well switch the propaganda to something more pleasant.
But I digress, the point is not everyone is so repulsed by the idea of a touristy area that they wouldn't be caught dead there. I think most people avoid Navy Pier because there is nothing of value and a lot of annoyances in a relatively uncomfortably designed public space. If you made the space pleasant and provided quality content, then I can totally see locals using it. With the right design and content it just becomes at worst another nice place on the lakefront to locals.