Capone himself wouldn't recognize the place. It goes beyond pretty. A lakefront highway has been moved. An airport is to become a park. The Capone's Chicago museum, a kitschy tourist trap, has given way to the big green frog of the Rain Forest Cafe.
Jackhammers clatter away on construction projects across the Loop.
The Goodman Theatre is building a new home. The city has rebuilt itself in a big way before, of course. There's an image of Chicago becoming feminized almost, if you use old gender categories. This is the can-do city that built the world's tallest skyscraper, and reversed the flow of its river to curb disease. The University of Chicago produced America's first Nobel Prize-winning scientist.