Did You Know ... That the Sky Is Falling?

By Jocelyn Geboy in News on May 1, 2007 6:33AM

The Tribune ran a list of "Ten Things You Might Not Know About Chicago Transit."

A few highlights:

We knew about the whole el/"L" debate, and even though the official answer is "L," we won't say it's the "correct" one.

We thought it was incredibly ridiculous for the Trib to say that "for decades, Chicago's daily newspapers have been waiting for the CTA trains to break down on Christmas Day so they could print the headline "No 'L'" (as in "Noel")." Really? All of the newspapers? Or just you, Tribune?

Some of the errors by Hollywood involving the CTA: The Fugitive (1993) features a Balbo "L" stop, which doesn't exist. In High Fidelity (2000), the character played by John Cusack takes a Purple Line express to the Loop that goes underground, something the Purple Line doesn't do. Risky Business (1983), featuring the famed sex scene on an "L" car, depicts a single-car train on an underground route, which the CTA did not operate at that time. (It's not CTA related, but we rolled our eyes when we heard someone say to another person on "ER," "Meet me at Clark and Dearborn." Hmmm. That seems a little difficult to do, since they're parallel.)

And, to round off the list of things you may not have known about Chicago transit:

Last week, a piece of wood with some metal on it fell from the el over at Madison and Wabash and trashed a guy's windshield. CTA Spokeswoman Kim Myles (did Noelle Gaffney get the boot when Frank did?) said she didn't know if it came from the el or what it was. Oh.

The thing that creeps us out about that kind of story is the idea that it might not be a windshield next time. Not to mention, a train goes by and shit falls off? What's going on with that? Oh, you crazy elevated.

"Red Line Perspective" by josephp.