Pretty Flamingo
Unfortunately, the Edgewater Beach Hotel is long gone, demolished in 1967. It thrived in a period when celebrities were celebrities. Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, and Tallulah Bankhead were among its occupants, as were FDR, Martin Luther King, and Dwight Eisenhower.
The hotel was designed by Benjamin Marshall and Charles Fox, with its first section being completed in 1916. A generation long gone once remembered the good times they had at the beach and in the ballroom dancing to the sounds of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Glenn Miller.
Many think the massive pink building at the north end of Lake Shore Drive is the Edgewater Hotel. In one sense it is. It is an apartment complex that was built in 1928 adjacent to the hotel, but it is not the hotel, which was colored sunrise yellow rather than sunset pink.
Volleyball Season Is Over
Photographer’s Notes: The Edgewater Apartments have been on my photographic bucket list for sometime. Many times I have pondered how to best photograph it. To do a close-up, I would need a very wide angle lens and a camera with shift capabilities. Fortunately, I have both, but I have been concerned about street clutter. Today, from the beach, I saw the perfect way to capture the building. I am not entirely satisfied with this image. I await the next day with interesting light. I will then head out with a slightly longer lens and a tripod. Hopefully the waves will be just a violent.
