Wayne and I Miss You, Spindle!

I’m currently trying to squeeze early-morning time into my schedule (for three weeks I’ve dragged my butt out of bed at 5:30 a.m.) to get some writing done, on this here blog, on magazine articles, and on a book I’ve been working on (and off and on and off and on) for two years. In looking through some photo folders on my computer I found this one, of the Spindle:

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The Spindle, you might recall, was internationally famous for appearing in the movie “Wayne’s World”, but locally it was famous for just being a landmark. The boys and I made a visit to the Spindle in the summer of 2007. Its home was a shopping center called Cermak Plaza, located in Berwyn, which is another suburb located between where I’m at and the city of Chicago. Yes, it was rusty and covered in bird poop, and the entire shopping center, which many don’t know had many other art installations scattered all over the place, was very run down compared to what it looked like in its heyday, but it was a cool field trip.

At that time, a group of people had gathered to “Save the Spindle”; the shopping center wanted to get rid of it. There was a big online campaign to either keep it there or find someone who would take it and display it elsewhere. I googled “Save the Spindle” a few minutes ago and discovered that although it had been listed on eBay for $50,000 (plus the cost of dismantling and shipping), there were no takers and indeed, the Spindle was removed in the middle of the night last summer.

I’m sad. It’s too bad when a piece of classic Americana goes by the wayside. At least I’ve got the memories…

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7 Comments

  • Oh My GOFF!

    OMG! I buzzed about this on the show recently! So funny yet creative.. this is a traffic girls dream!
    Miss yoU!

  • Kat

    Far out. There was nobody who wanted to pay 50k+ shipping to have this beauty in their backyard?

    Always sad to see a landmark like that go.

  • Tom

    Most un-excellent. Seriously… that is a sad bit of news, when a local icon, a treasured landmark gets the axe because of some goobers with no sense of history nor love of kitschy remembrances.

    This world needs to keep their spindles; fix them up and revere them. Instead, we’re heading toward a cookie-cutter, mass-produced, artless future of architectural ennui.

  • WeaselMomma

    I used to drive past that all the time. It looked as crappy as the surrounding shopping center. If they took one down they should have taken both.

  • surprised mom

    I live quite near that shopping center and the former site of the spindle. I really thought the Spindle was cool in an auto as art kind of way. I miss seeing that unique landmark. If they had to take down anything, they should have razed the shopping center and built a park around the Spindle to give residents somehting nice to see and a place to sit and admire it. And I agree with Tom’s sentiments. I’m so sick of cookie cutter … have you seen some of the planned housing developments lately???

  • Mr. Man

    In Houston a few years ago, two of our iconic attactions were shuttered as well. In 1999, “The Eighth Wonder of the World”, the Astrodome, was closed to give our pro football team a new playpen. Six Flags Astroworld, an amusement park,was were I would go to try to meet girls and ride the coasters. It colsed in 2005,

    In the case of Astroworld, it was completely dismantled and paceled off to other amusement parks. The Astrodome just sits (empty and unused) in the shadow of its younger cousin, Reliant Stadium.

    It is kinda sad to see.

  • Michelle

    Man is Weaselmomma a bad influence on you or what? 5:30? Eesh!

    I remember that campaign to save the spindle and for whatever reason, I’d thought it had been successful. How sad!