‘Things to see and do at Marina City’

(Above) Diners at a Marina City restaurant in the summer of 1965 are treated to a fashion show. In the distance is a new Dearborn Street Bridge completed just two years earlier. Photo by Joseph Jedd.

By the end of 1964, the complex housed a bank, grocery store, pharmacy, florist, gift shop, travel agency, skating rink, restaurants, and a cocktail lounge. A health club would soon be added, including a swimming pool at street level on the east side of the office building.

The pharmacy, owned by E. Leonard Solomon, also sold liquor and perfume. The gift shop sold cigars, cigarettes, newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, stamps, film, postcards, and souvenirs.

(Left) Marina City Management staff members Terry Paul (left in photo) and Ann Miller (right) model new Marina City uniforms in mid-1964. Worn by tour guides at Marina City, the uniforms were marine blue with gold insignia.

(Above) Visitors Guide created by Marina City Management in 1964. (“Toilet water” is more commonly referred to today as eau de toilette.)

In addition to the summer sculpture exhibitions on the ice-skating rink, a 12-foot-tall bronze sculpture with a cylindrical base made its home on Marina City’s plaza level in 1965.

“Polyphony II” was created by Austrian sculptor Egon Weiner (1906-1987) to symbolize the rhythm and motion of a conductor’s baton as he directs an orchestra.

(Left) U.S. Congressman Frank Annunzio, Austrian sculptor Egon Weiner, and Polyphony II at Marina City on November 1, 1965. This view from the plaza level looks southwest towards Dearborn Street and Wacker Drive.

About 20 people attended the dedication ceremony on November 1, 1965, including Weiner, U.S. Congressman Frank Annunzio, and city planning commissioner Ira Bach.

(Left) Polyphony II, currently located near the front entrance to Saint Joseph Hospital on North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.