Via Dajvid, details on the demise of the Lakeside Motel on North Sheridan Road, Edgewater, Chicago...I'd walked and driven by this 1960's beach-motel relic for years, but apparently not frequently enough to know that it was recently torn down.

Its orange and aqua color scheme and pierced-concrete-block facade stuck out like a pleasantly sore thumb among Sheridan Road's 70's and 80's brownstones and condominiums, at least for this fan of Mid-Century Atomic Age design. On sunny summer days, the Lakeside conjured childhood memories of sparkly-sand burnt-foot beach days, even if the sparkle came from broken glass and beer caps, and the burn came from discarded barbecue coals. Such was the appeal of this fallen lady by the lake.

[Photograph by Claire Nowak-Boyd and Michael R. Allen, as seen on Ecology of Absence]

• Chicago blog Looper also has some nice ante-demolition shots of the Lakeside.
• YoChicago offers an architectural rendering of the building that will soon take the Lakeside's place - a shiny, glass-encased Booth Hansen Box-O-Humanity.

YoChicago's Alison Soltau writes,

My favorite review would have to be the one from the guy talking about the bullet-proof receptionist's window, possibly blood-stained shower curtains and the sign, "prostitutes will be prosecuted." What did people like about Lakeside Motel? It was a little cheaper than many motels and lured tourists by promoting itself as "close to Wrigley Field," although locals could perhaps have steered them to some closer and better motels.

Judging from pictures of the motel, it had a cheesy sensibility that was reminiscent of coastal resort motels in the seventies and eighties. I must have been too preoccupied with sandcastle construction to notice the hookers.

Three doors down, you can still enjoy the "seedy glamour" of Edgewater's [unfortunately- or fortuitously-named, depending on your point of view] Chinese-dining staple, Wing Hoe. The Gobbler and the Lakeside Motel may be gone, but at least we still have the Pink Palace.

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