An article posted to Chicago.Curbed.com this week features a photo of 11 members of the Chicago #1 local ironworkers recreating the iconic 20th century image Lunch atop a Skycraper by posing for lunch on a steel beam dangling hundreds of feet above the “Loop” central business district. As a modern touch, the recreation swaps out the original photo’s flask of whiskey for a soft drink and has the two men on the far left sharing an image on a smartphone rather than a cigarette.
The image recently reappeared on Reddit’s “Old School Cool” sub accompanied by the original Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo (shown at right). While the black-and-white original dates back to the 1932 construction of the 850-ft, steel-framed 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan (now officially known as the Comcast Building), the restaging was taken from atop Chicago’s new CNA Center. The 35-story Loop office tower, made of a structure steel frame and concrete core, will open next summer.