Hey LouieB

[Edie]

Jun 29, 2009 11:55 am

Discussion Planned On Future Of Uptown Theatre

Chicago Architecture Foundation To Host Documentary Screening, Talk On Restoration Efforts

 

 

The long-vacant Uptown Theatre looks much the same as it did nearly a year ago when JAM Productions bought it with plans to bring live concerts back.

 

But many Chicagoans are eagerly awaiting its reopening, and they may get some updates this Wednesday.

 

The Chicago Architecture Foundation on Wednesday will screen, "Portrait of a Palace," a documentary film on the history of the Uptown Theatre, 4814 N. Broadway, which has been boarded up since early 1981. Afterward, JAM Productions founder Jerry Mickelson and Friends of the Uptown volunteer Andy Pierce will talk about the history and planned renovation of the theatre.

 

The free screening and discussion are set for 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Chicago Architecture Foundation's first floor gallery in the Santa Fe Building, 24 S. Michigan Ave.

 

When the Uptown Theatre opened in 1925, it was touted as "an acre of seats in a magic city." The theater originally showed movies and held stage shows by entertainers including Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin, and Judy Garland when she still went by the name Frances Ethel Gumm, among others. It also boasted the second largest Wurlizter theater pipe organ in the world, Friends of the Uptown reported.

 

But the theater went into decline in the 1960s. It found some success as a concert venue in the 1970s – hosting A-list artists including the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Marley.

 

But in early 1981, the theater closed its doors following a sale and serious problems with deferred maintenance, Friends of the Uptown reported. Since then, the building has been used as a site for the filming of a few movies, and its lobby hosted the Hearts Party HIV/AIDS benefit. But otherwise it has been shuttered.

 

Numerous other former movie palaces across the city have been demolished in the past two decades, but the Uptown is protected by landmark status.

 

Last year, the theater was subjected to a forced judicial sale because of confusion about who actually owned it. JAM Productions, which already owns the nearby Riviera Theater, paid $3 million for the Uptown in July 2008. The company announced plans to renovate the theater and bring back live concerts.

 

A forced judicial sale was held because of confusion about who actually owns the theater. While Standard Bank and Trust is the legal title holder, the beneficiary is the now-dissolved corporation Cercore Properties, the Chicago Tribune reported.

 

Jam Productions paid a little more than $3 million at a court-ordered auction Tuesday to re-create the magic. The theater at 4814 N. Broadway had been boarded up since 1981.

 

Friends of the Uptown is also holding a fundraiser in September at the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington Hills. The $40-per-ticket fundraiser will feature tours of the mechanical musical devices and historical artifacts at the estate, and a theatre organ concert. It's set for Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.

 

Fingers crossed. Wouldn't a Wilco show there be all kinds of awesome??

[jenbobblehead]

Sweet. Always love to see stories about important old buildings coming back to life.

[LouieB]

I will believe this when I see it, as in some actual rehab starting on the place. Considering it has been closed for a quarter of a century and will cost millions to restore, who knows. It would be a great place for a Wilco show for sure, maybe a whole week's worth.

 

Just drove by it today actually.

 

LouieB