Welcome to CornerSpotter, Curbed's regular game in which you, fair readers, consult archival streetscape photos or postcard illustrations to identify the building(s) and/or location presented. Time to tap that reservoir of urban minutiae and flaunt it before your fellow readers. Fire away in the comments, and we'll reveal the correct identity and backstory tomorrow.
One of two piers at a notable Chicago beach, there's nothing left to commemorate the audaciousness of the above tri-level shoreline amusement. We're not sure exactly when this structure came down but the photo dates to the 1910s, just prior to the city's naming of the beach. Another smaller adjoining beach to the south merged with the main one in 1959 when the Park District assumed control, and now there's a total of around 60 acres of park and beach. Another compelling detail — and hint — is that racial flare-ups at this beach in the early-60s were linked to the successful desegregation of Chicago's beaches a short time later (even though the segregation was unofficial, "wade-ins" were the sort action required). The pier seen in the background is the one still in place, though stripped of its buildings and attractions. Where are we?
·Cornerspotter [Curbed Chicago]
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