January 25, 2008 – A collection of slides from the 1960s – recently sent to the Marina City history project – includes a candid photograph of John Denver playing a guitar inside a Marina City apartment.

Photograph by Mike Kobluk shows John Denver playing a guitar inside a Marina City apartment in 1966. Seated on the sofa are, at left, Denver’s wife, Annie, and Bob Hefferan, a guitar accompanist for Chad Mitchell Trio. (Kobluk could not recall the names of the other people in the photo.)

Mike Kobluk, an original member of Chad Mitchell Trio, took the photo in 1966 in unit 4707, a one-bedroom apartment in the west tower. Kobluk and his wife, Clare, lived in the apartment from 1963 to 1967. In June 1967, Denver and his wife, Annie, took over the Kobluk’s lease.

Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., John Denver (1943-1997) replaced Chad Mitchell, who left the trio in 1965 to pursue a solo singing career.

Kobluk says when they moved in, theirs was the only completed unit on the floor. “Since it was promised by a certain date, the contractors completed my unit first and continued working all around and above us.”

The trio chose Chicago because their business manager and booking agency representative were there. They traveled to colleges throughout the country and, says Kobluk, “it made sense to be located in the middle of everything, and close to Chicago’s airports.”

 More history: City Within A City