Scavenged Oprah bricks a 'hot commodity' on Near West Side (Chicago)

Chicago Tribune ^ | 8/24/2016 | Kim Janssen

[simpson96]

Oprah Winfrey may have packed up and left town, but just because her Harpo Studios site on the Near West Side is now a pile of rubble, it doesn't mean the freebies immediately dried up.

Sources say late-night scavengers at the Randolph Street site have been acting as if the queen of daytime TV had been telling them, "You get a brick, you get a brick, everybody gets a brick!"

So many trespassers were helping themselves to mementos from the ruins that the demolition crew from Heneghan Wrecking has been forced to employ overnight security guards, site workers confirmed.

But that hasn't stopped demand from treasure hunters, according to neighbor Moshe Tamssot, who admits he has liberated several bricks for himself and his pals from the rubble of the studios, home to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" from 1990 until it went off the air in 2011.

"There are two security guards, and I saw them offering to toss one brick over the fence for $10 or two for $25," he said. "Their math may be a little bit off, but an Oprah brick is a hot commodity right now — it's a piece of West Loop history."

Tamssot said he had declined the offer to buy a brick as "it's more fun to pick up a few on the periphery of the site," and that he had not seen anyone actually pay.

Though Heneghan Wrecking declined to comment, Tamssot said he admired the guards' entrepreneurial spirit for being "so Chicago."

The building was demolished to make room for McDonald's new corporate headquarters; construction should be complete by spring 2018.

[simpson96]

Moshe Tamssot

[FatherofFive]

Really don't mind if you sit this one out.

My words but a whisper your deafness a SHOUT.
I may make you feel but I can't make you think.
Your sperm's in the gutter your love's in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
You make all your animal deals and
Your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.

[KosmicKitty]

Tull Rulez!!!!!!

[Opinionated Blowhard]

So many trespassers were helping themselves to mementos from the ruins

[DuncanWaring]

Thick as a Brick it is, then.

For some reason I was originally thinking “Quadrophenia”.

[Arthur McGowan]

As a cultural polluter, Oprah was second-fiddle to Phil Donahue. He was able to do more damage because he could pose as a Catholic. In 1984, he had the pro-abortion nuns on, who had signed a NYT ad. JPII, as usual, dithered around for a decade or so, and did nothing.

[Gaffer]

I still remember the day some woman he was interviewing in the audience according to his outrageous pompous habit and the lady looked at him up close and said “your glasses are filthy.”

MAJOR burn....he didn’t recover from it.

[major_gaff]

Sources say late-night scavengers at the Randolph Street site have been acting as if the queen of
daytime TV had been telling them, "You get a brick, you get a brick, everybody gets a brick!"

Gearing up for the next BLM riot?

[jiggyboy]

“So many trespassers were helping themselves to mementos from the ruins that the demolition crew from Heneghan Wrecking has been forced to employ overnight security guards”

In a world with fewer ambulance chasers, they could just put up a sign that says “FREE — OPRAH BRICKS” and actually reduce both their payroll and their schedule.

[bgill]

More ammo for the BLM crowd to throw.