See the video.
See the video.
I have all the old Superman videos from the original TV show and the Daily Planet Building depicted in the show sure looks a lot like Los Angeles City Hall.
For those who don’t know, Metropolis has only two things going for it. A Superman statue that tourists can take selfies with and a riverboat casino. Problem was, that the entire Ohio river belongs to Kentucky and Kentucky, which doesn’t allow casinos threatened to seize the boat as soon as it left the Illinois shore. Case went to the Supreme Court which ruled that the border was where the river was in the 1790s and therefore gave Illinois a small stretch river so the boat could sail.
With some exceptions Southern Illinois is a pretty depressing place. All political power in Illinois is held by the Chicago area, so the people in Southern Illinois are effectively voiceless in state government. But as sad as Metropolis is, a few miles downriver is Cairo which makes Metropolis appear to be a thriving community.
Far southern Illinois, south of Highway 13, is a severely depressed area. The towns along 13 are very nice, though crime in Carbondale is starting to become a problem. South of there is just bad. There’s nothing there but poverty. There used to be a lot of coal mines but they are closing down leaving no jobs. Cairo is the worst, I hate even driving through there.
North of 13 it’s nice, typical midwestern farm country.
From the late 60’s through the early 80’s I went through Metropolis all the time on the way to see my grandparents in Southern Illinois. It was memorable because we would cross the river and immediately see indicia of Superman around town, much like the connection between Chester, Illinois, and Popeye. Sadly, Southern Illinois—”Little Egypt”—has been on the decline for decades.
Back in the 80s, I visited Cairo, Illinois (as a railfan, I heard the Crab Apple and Egyptian had steam freight, so I went there and the Iowa Traction, which had electric freight) and it should be another state.