moon phases

Palmolive beam will shine anew, but its neighbors remain skeptical

Chicago - The famous revolving beacon that once sat atop the 37-story Palmolive Building was for years a beloved Chicago landmark and a navigation aid to pilots, who reportedly could see it from 300 miles away. But eventually it shone into the apartments of the high-rises that grew up around it and was removed in 1981.

Now, a new version of the Lindbergh Beacon--installed in 1930 and named after the legendary aviator--has been created and was to be tested at 1 a.m. Wednesday. The landscape surrounding the Jazz Age skyscraper has changed so greatly, however, that what developers see as an attempt to restore the past is stirring fears among nearby residents that their sleep--and who knows what else?--might be disturbed.

The developers, Chicago-based Draper & Kramer, are assuring the residents that the computer-controlled beacon--which no longer rotates but follows an arc across Lake Michigan--will not shine into anybody's bedroom or any corner of their pricey abodes in the sky. Yet the residents, miffed that the developers did not notify them of the test, are adopting a wait-and-see attitude, illustrating how even the simplest historic restoration projects can be fraught with complexity.

"Until we actually see it, there's no way to comment on it," said Rosalind Hecim, president of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, a non-profit group. "Last time, it went right into the apartments at One Mag Mile."

Beacon test run a glaring failure
Errant beam hits home in worst way

The first clue that something was going wrong with the new version of the famous revolving Lindbergh Beacon that once sat atop Chicago's Palmolive Building came shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, August 29th, when the phone started ringing at the home of Ald. Burton Naturus (42nd).

His constituents were calling to complain that light from the 7 billion candlepower beacon, which underwent its first test early Wednesday, was shining into the windows of their high-rise apartments, disturbing their slumber--and, in the case of one dedicated law student, his studying.

The law student even called 911, asking authorities to shut off the super night light. Later Wednesday environmentalists expressed fears that the beacon would create more light pollution, waste energy and interfere with migrating birds.

The real estate developers, who want to put the newly created beacon in the original spot atop the Palmolive's mast some 555 feet above the ground, had confidently predicted Tuesday that the beacon would shoot a highly focused column of light out over Lake Michigan, interrupting no one's nocturnal routine.

But on August 29th, they were forced to acknowledge their beacon boo-boo, admitting that the giant electric light fixture, which now sits on the roof of the 37-story Art Deco skyscraper, had cast a far wider glow than they had anticipated.

"The additional distribution of light from the fixture is unacceptable," said Peter Bazeli, an assistant vice president with the developers, the Chicago- based firm of Draper & Kramer. "It was sort of creating a full-moon effect, illuminating the exterior of buildings."

The beacon may look nice, they say, but it no longer serves any practical purpose, as it did in the days before radar when it helped guide pilots to Chicago's Midway Airport. Moreover, they add, it is out of step with the conservation-minded thinking spawned by this year's California's energy crisis.

"It's a waste of electricity and a brightening of the sky that's not needed," said Dennis Erickson, who heads the Chicago chapter of the International Dark-Sky Association, based in Tucson, Ariz.

"I know that there's a big effort in the city to have lighting for the aesthetics of the city," Erickson said, referring to Mayor Richard M. Daley's bid to have building owners illuminate their structures, "but when it interferes with other people and wastes energy or affects wildlife, I think it's gone too far."

The beacon, he said, is a "frivolous ornament."

That opinion is shared by 34-year-old Loyola University law student Dan Cantor, who at 1 a.m. Wednesday was typing class notes into his laptop computer in his apartment on the 58th floor of a high-rise at 441 E. Erie St.

Sitting at a wood desk in his living room, Cantor got up, looked out his window, and, so to speak, saw the light.

"I had to look away," he said. "It was flashbulb brightness. It was really uncomfortable to look at."

He called 911 and asked authorities to tell whoever was shining the light into his apartment to turn it off.

STOP THE BEACON!
From the Calumet Astronomical Society's website:

"Our web site is "whited out" in protest of the a seven billion candlepower beacon that real estate firm Draper & Kramer has decided to place atop Chicago's Palmolive Building. The Calumet Astronomical Society is dedicated to fighting this. We need your help. Sign the petition today!"