Also I just remembered. I saw a book my father had that was printed when the Southtown opened, there was a moving sidewalk planned for the parking lots. Of course, that never happened.
This was the ONLY most elegant Theatre in the City of Chicago. There was not another one like it. I visited there many times in the 60’s & 70’s when it was Carr’s Department store. My father, Warren was the manager of the store. It was huge, and many of the luxury items were gone. The area where the baby sitting room was, was the toy section. The pond was gone, and the main staircase was boarded up because of the layout of the store and no one was allowed in the balconies, it was lay-a-way storage and stock. This was an amazing building, the statues were still in the alcoves in the auditorium and you could see the proscenuim behind the walls that were built for the shoe department. I was all over that building except the basement. I was told it had 2 basements, and the lowest was flooded and not in use, the other basement was infested with rats, although I never saw one in the building. I remember the projection room, and the tower, which was a tower, nothing inside of it except a ladder which you could climb to the top of the tower, and I did. It was an amazing view. It is a total loss to the City of Chicago and a shame it was not saved, in those days there were some roof leaks, but still in pretty good shape. I think of it often…..
Also I just remembered. I saw a book my father had that was printed when the Southtown opened, there was a moving sidewalk planned for the parking lots. Of course, that never happened.
This was the ONLY most elegant Theatre in the City of Chicago. There was not another one like it. I visited there many times in the 60’s & 70’s when it was Carr’s Department store. My father, Warren was the manager of the store. It was huge, and many of the luxury items were gone. The area where the baby sitting room was, was the toy section. The pond was gone, and the main staircase was boarded up because of the layout of the store and no one was allowed in the balconies, it was lay-a-way storage and stock. This was an amazing building, the statues were still in the alcoves in the auditorium and you could see the proscenuim behind the walls that were built for the shoe department. I was all over that building except the basement. I was told it had 2 basements, and the lowest was flooded and not in use, the other basement was infested with rats, although I never saw one in the building. I remember the projection room, and the tower, which was a tower, nothing inside of it except a ladder which you could climb to the top of the tower, and I did. It was an amazing view. It is a total loss to the City of Chicago and a shame it was not saved, in those days there were some roof leaks, but still in pretty good shape. I think of it often…..