From the Archives - Eye in the Sky

Union Terminal Ceiling, Cincinnati, Ohio  © Doug Hickok


The art deco style of Cincinnati's Union Terminal train station offers fascinating designs to gaze upon. This is a photograph of the geometric pattern on the terminal ceiling, which is directly over the heads of the one million visitors who walk beneath it every year. The terminal has been in use since the 1930's, but was converted into a museum in 1990. Nevertheless, it's still used today as an Amtrak stop where you can board a train to Chicago or Washington, DC. And the sensation that you're being watched as you pass below the "eye" is simply unadulterated paranoia, even though there are hundreds, no, thousands of hidden security cameras everywhere you look. And the dark suited man standing next to you is listening to every word you think. And he knows your favorite color. And where you live. And, and, and...