(hat tip to Matt Johnson)

Budweiser has a great ad (not sure how it relates to beer really, but that’s for the ad men to decide – and then convince me) with a nice little tour of Chicago from the El:

It’s always interesting to me reading the history of various legacy transit systems and the push to remove old elevated railways.  While they’re far from perfect, the El just is Chicago.  And riding it gives you a unique view of the city – good neighborhoods and bad, industrial areas, expressways, downtown – everything.

Zach Schrag notes that initial concepts for DC’s then-undefined rapid transit systems included proposals for elevated systems as a means to see the sights and monuments.  I’m not convinced that’s the reason to pick elevated, but it’s certainly a fringe benefit.

The only thing that would make this ad more ‘Chicago’ would be if they were pushing Old Style instead of Bud.