(Above) A map of a hustling, bustling Marina City from a visitors guide published in, most likely, 1967. Bridge level (left) and lower, street level (right). Click on images to view larger versions.

Marina City in 1967 sported a gourmet shop, supermarket, restaurants, bar, liquor store, candy store, florist, gift shop, barber shop, beauty salon, travel agency, and drug store. The swimming pool was still under construction.

The “Teleview Teller” near the tunnel to the office building was the 1960s version of an ATM. You could see the teller on closed-circuit television. Drive-in and walk-up windows were available outside the bank, closest to State Street.

The National Design Center was a showcase, open to the public, of home furnishings and appliances. It leased 35,000 square feet on the first four floors of the Marina City office building.

The escalators were still located on the northwest side of the lower concourse level.

March 21, 1967

On a Tuesday night, about 200 people affiliated with transportation industries gathered at Marina City, most likely in one of the restaurants, for a bingo party. That number increased slightly when the police arrived. They confiscated game equipment and arrested one person, the editor of a publication called College of Advanced Traffic, which had sponsored the game. Charles Ohanian was charged with being the keeper of a gambling establishment.

June 1, 1967 Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., better known as John Denver, and his wife, Annie, took over the lease of Mike Kobluk, an original member of Chad Mitchell Trio. They lived in unit 4707, a one-bedroom apartment on the 47th floor of the west tower. Denver joined the trio in 1965, replacing Mitchell, who left to pursue a solo singing career. (Left) This photograph by Mike Kobluk shows John Denver playing a guitar inside a Marina City apartment in June 1967. Seated on the sofa are, at left, Denver’s wife, Annie, and Bob Hefferan, a guitar accompanist for Chad Mitchell Trio. (Kobluk could not recall the names of the other people in the photo.)

June 4, 1967 An exhibit at Marina City of Illinois artists featured works such as Detroit Garden, made of parking meters and automobile bumpers. The North Shore Art League sponsored the seventh annual New Horizons in Sculpture, which ran from June 4 through July 22. The Door consisted of elaborate electrical machinery that opened a small door. In Emerging Form, a woman appears to have blended into a chaise lounge. (Right) Awarded first prize at the art show was sculptor Fred Borcherdt, seen here in a recent photo.

June 10, 1967

It was a Saturday night. Robert Sang was on his balcony on the 59th floor, using a small barbecue grill, when a spark from the grill landed on a one-gallon can of starter fluid. The can exploded, setting on fire several pieces of patio furniture. This attracted about 50 fire fighters to Marina City, many of whom had to climb 19 flights of stairs because frightened residents were using the elevators. Fire fighters had trouble finding the fire because it had been erroneously reported on as many as four floors in addition to the 59th.

November 4, 1967

Under oath, parking company boss Kenneth S. Leonard is asked by the Illinois Crime Investigating Commission if he had ever tried to take over the parking service at Marina City. They had other questions, too, about his mob connections, but Leonard on the advice of his attorney was not talking. This was part of a scandal involving valet parking in the area of Rush Street, two blocks east of State Street. Police had noticed numerous violations of city parking regulations.

Leonard, who operated a company called Attendant Service Corporation, was popular with investigators. At various times, he had been checked out by the United States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Illinois Department of Revenue, and Chicago police.

December 16, 1967

In the Chicago metro edition of TV Guide, for the first time, the address for WFLD Channel 32 is listed as Marina City. The UHF television station was located at Marina City from 1967 to 1986, starting out in the office building where Hotel Chicago is located today, but soon moving to the theater building now occupied by House of Blues. The television station was on the second and upper floors, above the movie theaters that closed in 1977.

(Above) 1981 image of main entrance to theater building where WFLD-TV was located. An escalator leads down to the restaurants, residential towers, etc. The parking cashier is visible in lower right corner.

December 24, 1967 A Christmas tree in the main lobby puts on a show of colored light, synchronized with music. An article in the Chicago Tribune describes the tree as about eight feet tall, sprayed with artificial snow, with red, blue, and green lights. Leon Shan, a graduate student of electrical engineering whose parents lived at Marina City, had been building the display for the past three years. (Left) Holiday decorations on the concourse level of Marina City in 2011.