By the time this photo was taken, in the late 1980s, the once-proud Woods Theater in Downtown Chicago had fallen on hard times. Homeless people washed themselves in the bathroom, drunks slept in the toilet stalls. The creaky theater seats were patched with liberal amounts of duct tape. The place looked and felt dirty and had that musky, funky smell that old theaters get after decades of cigarette smoke, greasy popcorn, and slowly-dwindling maintenance. Six-month old hits, and more recent Grade Z films were what played to audiences that had nothing better to do than spend their days sitting through double features, while talking back to the screen, or yelling at the drowsing projectionist for mixing up the reels or burning the print. As a middle-class, young white boy, looking for decadent experiences to write about, I found the place fascinating. The Woods, along with the neighboring United Artists Theater were razed in the early 1990s, along with several of the surrounding square blocks, as a part of the newly-elected Mayor Daley Jr.'s urban renewal program. A change that did, in fact, bring a new vibrancy to a downtown area tottering on the brink of skid row. For all that it gained, it lost a very definite sense of urban reality and atmosphere, and was the bitterest part of a slow and sad end to what had been (in an era before television) a vibrant entertainment district, crowded with numerous movie theaters, their marquees blazing, as hordes of people partook in a night out on the town. All is not lost, however, as the spot is now occupied by the Goodman Theater Center, a very nice, modern venue that houses a world-class theater company. It is, however, hardly a place where you can see a double feature (or any movies at all) for $3.00 on a cold winter day. This picture was made from the second floor window of the McDonalds at Dearborn and Randolph (which is still there) on February 2, 1988, using a Nikormat 35mm SLR and Kodak Tri-X black and white film. Fans of the original Blues Brother's film, will notice the Honorable Richard J. Daley Center (King Richard I) in the background, along with a glimpse of the facade of the old City Hall.