My name is SEARS Tower, bitch.
I just read about the clear ledges the Sears Tower in Chicago opened to the public Thursday. It sounds really cool but I wonder how many people without a fear of heights suddenly discover one when they go to step out? I never thought I had one (I used to be the one to go up in the bosun’s chair when shit went hinky up on the mast) but I had a moment’s pause last week when I was on a platform, 45 feet up a tree trunk. I was strapped up as tightly as one of Scarlett O’Hara’s corsets but it was still a bit intimidating to step off into nothing. And this ledge won’t have any visible means of support. I can see more than a few people having little breakdowns over this.
The article touts, “The balconies can hold five tons, and the glass is an inch-and-a-half thick.” And the Titantic was unsinkable. The worst part of the article is buried at the bottom, where they so casually announce they are changing the name of the Sears Tower to Willis Tower. Umm. No. It is the motherfucking SEARS Tower. That is its name. You can’t change the name of the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge. You don’t randomly decide to change your kid’s name on his 10th birthday. The prunes to dried plums thing made sense. But other than that, once something is named, that is its name. For fuck’s sake.
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I saw on Life After People that that shit is gonna fall down anyway – so I am not scared. Yeah – no logic associated to that at all.
I don’t think it was necessarily buried that the Tower was getting a name change. It has been known for a while now.
Also, Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge weren’t towers that had their naming rights purchased. Sears is not even in the building anymore, hasn’t been for years.
@Maitland –
The name change was news to me. 🙁 And my reaction isn’t based on legalities or anything rational. It is a purely emotional response. I love Chicago like I love no other city.
Right, I’m not saying it wasn’t news to you, just defending why it seemed to be glossed over or whatever. And, I get not liking the name change.
I just come down on the side of whatever it will take to get the office space leased, and changing the name does help with that.
I love Chicago. That platform looks scary. And it is the Sears Tower. It’s a LANDMARK.