Lee Bey: The Urban Observer

I've been hooked on DVDs of "Crime Story," a drama that aired two seasons on NBC beginning in 1986. Set in early 1960s Chicago for most of its first year, the show tracked the exploits of the Chicago Police Major Crimes Unit and its commander, Lt. Mike Torello (played by Dennis Farina, a former Chicago cop in one of his best roles) as they try to capture hood-on-the-rise Ray Luca (played by Anthony Denison). It was a dark, brooding and violent show produced by director Michael Mann, a Chicago native whose better-known work, "Miami Vice" had made him a household name by then. Watch it now and it's alomst a dress rehearsal for the motion pictures "Goodfellas" and "Casino." And John Santucci's oafish but dangerous Pauli Taglia character in "Crime Story" is almost Version 1 of Paulie Walnuts on "The Sopranos." Most important for today's discussion: "Crime Story" made good use of Chicago locales and architecture. In the first scene of the pilot, the Major Crimes Unit men are awaiting a meal at Janson's, at 99th and Western when a call comes in. Torello, the tough cop, lived in Mies van der Rohe's 860-880 N. Lake Shore Drive. There, he puts on a robe that has Mondrian's Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow as a design. I still want one of those. In another episode, the two Outfit guys--we don't call it "the Mafia" in Chicago---shove a character through the window of his Marina City apartment. The show's wounded are taken to St. Joseph Hospital, the darn-near Googie medical center at 2900 N. Lake Shore Drive. Later in the first season, it looks as if Torello has moved to the Mies-designed Commonwealth Promenade Apartments. The show's credits feature a shot of Torello and his men outside of Superdawg on Milwaukee and Devon. And mob boss Phil Bartoli lives in a circular modern house on Dee Road in Park Ridge. That's Bartoli (played by Jon Polito) on the left, sitting in the living room of the house with Johnny O'Donnell (played by a very young and scene-stealing David Caruso) and Denison's Ray Luca. The show is worth a look. A warning: Stay away from the utterly poor and directionless second season which wasn't filmed in Chicago anyway.