A north–south view through downtown Minneapolis during early evening, with illuminated office towers forming a dense street corridor and minimal traffic on the roadway below. The cylindrical crown of the IDS Center, completed in 1973, anchors the skyline in the distance as the city’s tallest building and a defining element of its modern profile. In the foreground, the neon signage of Murray’s, a Minneapolis institution since 1946, adds a warm counterpoint to the cooler glass-and-steel architecture surrounding Nicollet Mall.

Ronny’s Original Steak House, a longtime fixture of Chicago’s Loop dining scene, glows under its vintage neon sign at night. Founded in 1963, the cafeteria-style steakhouse has served generations of downtown workers, theatergoers, and travelers from its no-frills location near the CTA Red Line and City Hall. Its tufted green booths, mirrored walls, and steady stream of regulars evoke an earlier era of affordable downtown dining—one of the few survivors of mid-century Loop eateries that once defined the city’s commercial core.