No. 1 Tinkle: Signature Lounge at John Hancock Center Chicago
A bar was the inspiration for this wacky series, and a bar will finish it. We were in Chicago for MTM to reconnect with Hanno Weber, one of his architecture mentors. Hanno and his partner, Kathleen Hess, invited us to their apartment for dinner on our last night in the city.
But, WHY do we have to go to a crummy old apartment to eat? I’d rather go stand in line at Frontera Grill.
Their apartment is in a Mies building, Andra. You HAVE to see it.
Why? WHY? His buildings all look the same. A bunch of tall glass and steel. You’ve dragged me to almost all of them while we’ve been here, and I’ve had a hard time differentiating one from the rest of them.
*Sigh*
The doorman directed us to the correct floor in the Mies building on Lake Shore Drive. It was like popping popcorn between my ears as we ascended in the elevator. I gritted my teeth and hoped I would get to utter one sentence during a dinner party with three design people. It had the potential to drag on for hours. And HOURS.
I ended up highjacking the whole conversation with my boorish charm, lecturing Hanno about the perils of not running an architecture practice like a business for most of dinner. We volleyed back and forth with heated fervor. At the end of the evening, he smiled at MTM and proclaimed that he liked me.
Kathleen insisted that if we did nothing else in the time we had left, we had to visit the bar atop the John Hancock Center. Because you MUST visit the bathroom.
?
The building was a short walk from their apartment. More popping ears, and we were dumped into the Signature Lounge, a packed establishment with the Chicago skyline twinkling everywhere we looked.
I’m going to the bathroom.
Now? Andra, we just got here. You haven’t even had a drink yet.
Just order me anything. I’ll be right back.
I pushed open a door to the ladies room and staggered. While the bar was teeming with people jostling for a chance at a window seat, the bathroom was empty. AND IT HAD THE SAME SHIMMERING CITY VIEW. Finally, a drinking spot that understood the relationship between bar and toilet, moving the patron from raucous activity to a private, quiet view. I was tempted to leave the stall door open while I tinkled, just to take it all in. I was gone so long that MTM thought I had flushed myself down the toilet.
It was tempting to stay in a place where they really know how to treat a girl who’s gotta go.
This post is part of the series My Top 10 Tinkles. If this is your first visit to this urinary extravaganza, please click here to start the series at the beginning. Thank you for reading my blog, for sharing it, and for spending time here.
That’s so cool – a crowded bar with an empty toilet, both with a glorious city view.
My ranting about how cool this bathroom is compared to Ink 48′s became the ah-ha inspiration for the entire series.
Well, this was fun, and you definitely have a clear winner! I have added this potty-spot to a list of places I’d still like to visit!
It isn’t too far for you to try, Karen. Please let me know if you and Kim take a jaunt up that way.
YES!!
You made me work for that one.
I had to go to satellite maps and intense Google searches!
Your grand prizes will be announced in a post tomorrow. Congratulations.
Is that a photo from the #1 throne room? Awesome series.
This one is from the bar itself. We had no photos from the bathroom. I didn’t think at the time I’d be writing a blog, let alone writing about my favorite tinkle spots of all time.
Dang. *sigh* And here I was looking forward to “something” from New York. Next time…I want pictures of the bathroom and its view.
I think I’ll start sending you pictures of the bathrooms I now will visit when I receive my camode cannister. Teehee (not to be confused with tinkle-tinkle.) I think the pink dye has gone to my brain!
Lori, Carnell and I had lunch today. He went to the bathroom and tweeted and texted a picture from the bathroom while he was in there.
I have sick, sick friends. And, I love every one of you.
What an “artsy” photo. I rather like it! You have given me a whole new appreciation for taking notice of “lavatories around the world.” You’ve started a whole new conversation starter and when someone wonders about my questioning, I will reference your clever series! I can’t imagine what’s coming next! D
Debra, it always makes me happy to hear that my blog ignites conversation. Please let me know if you find a new or interesting tinkle spot.
Darn, I’m p*ssed. Being from Chicago, I’ve never tinkled but I’ve p*ssed in that bar. In the old days, the restaurant was called The 95th and I think the bar was either on the floor above or below. They always say the ladies room is nicer than the gents but at that height, nobody is looking in.
The gents doesn’t have the same sweeping views at that bar, so MTM told me.
That was my question, too. I just told Shawn he needed to go there to pee the next time he travels to Chicago. Oh well, he’ll just have to take me.
He could ‘accidentally on purpose’ go to the wrong one.
I’m going to dare him…
This was fun! I even went back to all the posts to see if something would jump out and hit me. No clue!
I had fun writing it, too, Debbie.
So, does this mean the end of the tinkle series? I’m disappointed. I, still, maintain it was a brilliant idea!
Hugs,
Kathy
Kathy, this is the end, though I do have a post that fits with it for tomorrow.
Will these be published in guidebook form for my smartphone?
Ha. They do have a toilet finder app for your smartphone, you know.
But does it have the AW/MTM top 10?
Ha. I doubt it. This reply was in my spam folder, Cameron, so forgive me for the delay in freeing it from prison and responding.
Love the photo, Andra, and this was a very interesting series, indeed.
Go to the bar there, Penny, and have a drink for MTM and me.
Pretty funny that you could enjoy the view better from the bathroom. But perhaps that’s the sign of a really considerate bar.
I think it was a clever plot to get ladies to have an extra drink for the extra two trips to the bathroom.
