And to a common man, a marxist laborer, Joe Schmoe, this is some pointless snapshot pic, not fit for an old dusty photo album.

You're missing the other, most obvious, feature of this photo: three-fourths of it is roadway.

It's a permanent cultural layer in Chicago. A sizable portion of The Windy City is Mexican-American, and the stands at a Chicago Fire game are always populated by loud, dedicated, Mexican superfans.

This post is even less cogent than the usual Mudede nonsense. The last time Mexico's national team played at Qwest, 60,000 fans packed the stadium. I'm sure today's match was well-attended, and there isn't exactly a shrinking Latino population in town.

It's the opposite of a fleeting cultural layer, Charles. It's a burgeoning cultural layer. It's going to be here for long time on the human scale, just like Chinatown/ID, and, uh... Just like Pioneer Square's ancient Mediterranean/Venetian forefathers, I guess.

@2: My god, YES.

@5, Pioneer Square has been the victim of rabid road engineers since 1928, when 2nd Ave Extension and 3rd Avenue Extension were rammed through and the streets were widened.

in the meantime, the biggest game in the world was played today. Barcelona manhandled man u. barça 3-man u-1

Fnarf, dear, do you know the history of "Yesler's Corner"? I think you'd find it very interesting. Basically (and this is from memory, which I have very little of, so bear with me) Yesler platted the streets north of Yesler, and Doctor Maynard plotted them south of Yesler. The streets didn't meet up, and it was a terrible mess.

So the city took some corner that Yesler owned, and he sued the city, and the city went bankrupt. I think they had to de-incorporate or something, it was so bad. That's was several decades before the extensions went in, but it might explain why they were so anxious to get them put there.

Also, you have to remember that, in the pre-airplane and pre-reliable intercity roads days, King Street and Union Stations were like Sea-Tac is now.

=( It looks like Ecuador's team's bus crashed on I-90 in Cle Elum? Two on the bus killed: http://dailyrecordnews.com/news/two-kill…

I do believe he was referring to them as fleeting within the context of Pioneer Square/ID, not in the region as a whole. I spend some serious time down there and there sure isn't a sizable Latino presence in those blocks.

But my bus ride into town this morning for work was filled with throngs clad in green and red. I loved it. It's moments like those that I remember why I love America and cities in general. Life is more interesting when bubbles of different cultures float all around us, especially on the occasion when a bubble bursts and we get drenched in the colors of their language and culture (quite literally for me, in the case of some Holi this past March). It was a true treat this morning being in the middle of it, even if it was only for a fleeting moment before I stepped into my crappy job.

Another beautiful post from guest blogger Terrence Malick.

The pure joy, exuberance and pride of culture one sees at sports events having to do with Latinos, and especially Mexicans, always brings a big smile to my face. In the face of cold, rain, and gray skies, they did not disappoint. This display of unabashed enthusiasm in the face of so much anti-Latino sentiment warms my soul in the cold winds.