Roosevelt Theater

The book Here’s The Deal covers Block 37 in detail

The Block 37 straddles the Blue Line and Red Line subways. It is also close to the Loop L structure and the Metra Electric and the South Shore Line. So, yes, a transit facility is going in as it would make sense to have it there.

I have always wondered what made the Roosevelt go so early. I don’t think any other vintage buildings on that block went down until everything got leveled during the 90’s. The larger State-Lake and Chicago Theatres continued to operate for a few more years after this (in the same theatre chain as the Roosevelt), which is counter-intuitive.

Well that answers my question,thank you.
Now i see what you mean by a record setting deal.
Thank You.

What was so record setting about the deal?
What other theatres did the Ascher Brothers have?
I am just sorry that it had to be taken down.:(
Thank you for you time.

Does any one have any more information on this theatre?
Like,what “CHAIN” it was part of or was it a vaudville house that became a movie house?

Here’s what is set to take place now at Block 37:
http://www.108northstate.com

It appears to have stalled though as there has been no news since 2005 and the only change noted at the site is the movement of earth.

BK, thanks for mentioning that book. I had never heard of it, but it sounds like a fascinating read. The Chicago Sun-Times had a recent series on the re-development of the Downtown Area. It examined the successes and pitfalls of this development.

BW, that could explain the row of single-story stores. They may have been trying to re-develop the block piecemeal, or the structures could have indeed been temporary in order to get a few tax dollars out of the site. I remember that the original plan was to obliterate practically the whole North Loop. Imagine the area with no Oriental/Ford Center, no Goodman, no Cadillac Palace! I’m glad that these places were retained, or in the case of the Goodman, the facades restored. Broadway and live theatre in Chicago is alive and well because of these places.

The structures in Bryan’s photo above look like they are all closed and awaiting demolition. Around the corner and across the street from the Oriental was a huge pinball and video game arcade. I just remember that block of Randolph being rather seedy. Demolishing all of it was actually an improvement!

If you compare and contrast Bryan’s 1978 and 1990 photos, you will see that State Street had been re-configured into a “Mall” (a glorified busway, actually). You can easily see that the State Street Mall was a colossal failure. It was ugly and it did nothing to stem the exodus of businesses from the Loop. Circa 1996, the City of Chicago removed the “Mall”, re-opening the street to traffic. Since then, business on State Street has gone up with stores and restaurants (like Borders Books and Nordstrom Rack) re-appearing. At one point, they proposed a Target store for block 37. On one hand, it would have made sense as Target and Marshall Fields were once owned by Target Corporation. On the other hand, there would have been no parking available for the Target.

I wonder why those single-level non-descript stores were built on the site of the Roosevelt. Certainly they knew that the entire block was going to be demolished.

There definitely is work going on at Block 37. The underground “Pedway” underneath, which links Marshall Fields with the CTA Blue Line and the Daley Center is now closed (the “Pedway” east of that point to Randolph Street Station has been closed for many years) The ground has been broken up and there is construction work going on.

View link
View link

The Roosevelt closed after its Sunday evening performances on August 26, 1979. The final booking was a less then memorable double feature of “The Master Killer” and “The Chinatown Kid.”