Cars-on-a-stick Letterbox
Berwyn, Illinois (Cook County)
Other nearby letterboxes: Chicago Portage, Architectural Mystery
Easy, great for families. But watch for cars.
Placed November 29th, 2002, by yooperann (wfisher47@attbi.com),
replaced January 26, 2003

This would be the most ordinary of dingy strip malls, were it
not for its owner, an artpatron named David Bermant. Instead, thanks
to Bermant's passion for public art, the mall has
more than twenty pieces of sculpture towering over the parking lots
and lining the sidewalk in front of the stores. Many of them move
some almost imperceptibly, some with the push of a
button, others with every breeze. For a complete list of the art,
and the controversies that have sometimes surrounded it, see
http://www.enteract.com/~jdeubel/plaza/
Undoubtedly, the best-known piece of art in the Cermak Plaza,
thanks both to its size and its cameo role in the movie "Wayne's
World," is an 80 foot tall spike that appears to have been
pushed through a stack of eight cars in various stages of
disintegration. The sculpture is officially named "Spindle" but at
our house we've always just called it "Cars-on-a-stick." This
letterbox is placed in honor of this quirky piece of public art and
in the hopes that you'll stop awhile and appreciate this too often
neglected collection.
Directions:
The Cermak Plaza is located at the southeast corner of the
intersection of Harlem Avenue and Cermak Road in Berwyn, Illinois,
about eight miles from downtown Chicago. Both the
Eisenhower expressway (I-290) and the Stevenson Expressway (I-55)
have Harlem Avenue exits (the mall is about two miles south of the
Eisenhower and about four miles north of the Stevenson). The mall can
also be reached by public transportation.
Once you've located the mall, start your search at the base
of the Cars-on-a-stick. Note and remember the artist's nameyou'll
need it later. Now look toward the horizon, facing the
same direction as the spindled car with the license plate KPA 807. As
you scan the horizon to your left you'll see a water tower, and then
just below and to the left of the water tower, you'll see a moving
sculpture that just sticks above a small square building. That
sculpture is called "Bee Tree" by artist George Rhoads.
You're going to go over by Bee Tree, but you'd be crazy to
just cut across the parking lot. Instead walk over to the strip mall
and walk along the sidewalk in front of the stores, admiring
the other sculptures on your way. Now go to the Bee Tree. Starting
from in front of Bee Tree, go around the square building until you
find another sculpture by the same artist who did the
cars-on-a-stick. As you read the sign, notice that you are in an
extremely public spot. Think of how very foolish it would be to put
a letterbox in the rear wheel well of that sculpture. Someone
would surely take it. So anticipate that the replacement box would
be in a much less public place. Look across the parking lot to a
store that sends you around in circles (just as these clues
have done). Near that store is a sculpture called Urban Towersfour
fifteen foot towers made out of discarded circuit boards (very
nondescript during the day, wonderfully illuminated from
within at night). The towers stand in four of six small gardens.
Find the easternmost garden without a tower. Move the pieces of mud-
like stone to discover the letterbox in under a south-
and east facing ledge. Please be sure to tuck the letterbox away
completely and discreetly when you are done.