Three new 'Placenotes' guides out: Pittsburgh, Dallas, Chicago

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 29, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Placenotes travel guides offer a unique format of 4-by-6-inch cards to help travelers appreciate landmarks, architecture, neighborhoods, parks and cultural institutions in various cities.

Three new Placenotes have just been issued, one for Dallas, one for Pittsburgh and one on "Chicago Art & Architecture."

Each set includes three to four dozen cards with color photographs of buildings or places on one side, and information including the address, phone number, small map, history and other details on the other side. The thick laminated cards make nice collectibles.

Visitors can thumb through the cards while planning their trips and then bring along cards for the sites they intend to visit. Most guides also have fold-out numbered maps that correspond to the cards.

The Chicago set includes well-known spots like the city's famed Art Institute, the Field Museum, Millennium Park and the Pritzer Museum, along with sites less well-known among out-of-towners, like the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio and the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. The set also comes with a separate map of the University of Chicago.

Pittsburgh Placenotes includes a guide to the city's parks and bridges, in addition to cards on attractions like the Andy Warhol Museum and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, which is located about 90 minutes from the city.

The Dallas box includes cards on the Dallas Arboretum, the Wilson Historic District, Southern Methodist University and Neiman Marcus among others.

The Placenotes series is published by the Charles Moore Foundation and distributed by the University of Texas Press. Moore was an architect, and Placenotes was inspired by his observation that "the best test of architecture might be whether people send postcards of your building."

Each box is $19.95. Past Placenotes have offered guides to Sante Fe, N.M.; "New York Art Museums," and Austin, San Antonio and Houston, Texas, along with one on the University of Texas. Future sets are planned on Boston, San Diego and Seattle.