Calo Theatre

The Griffin Theater Company has recently left the Calo Theatre due to mounting upkeep and renovation costs (see this recent news article for further details.) Until a new home for the Griffin can be found, the theater company is using other theatrical venues around the city.

According to this article in today's Chicago Tribune, the Calo has been acquired by Lukaba Productions and Brian Posen, founder of the Chicago Sketchfest and local improv director and teacher. The Calo will be transformed into a three auditorium venue for local theatre groups mainly for rental use, similar to the Theatre Building in Lakeview. The renovation is expected to cost about $1 million and the Calo will reopen in spring of 2006.

I grew up in the Andersonville area in the 60-70's. Was this the Calo Bowling Alley? I'm confused. I don't remember a theatre there. During the 1980's I lived out of state and so much changed while I was away!

Here is a photo of Clark Street and the Calo dated 1916 from the Library of Congress' Chicago Daily News archive.

The Calo was a bowling alley during my college days in Chicago in the late '70s; don't know when that use began or ended.

I'm almost positive the Calo was converted to a bowling alley during the 1960's. Sorry can't be more specific.

Not sure...I remember bowling there in the mid to late 60's when I was a teenager. I don't recall the bowling being new, so it must have been there around 10 years before I starting bowling with my friends. There was a cigar store on the corner and Sip & Straw Ice Cream across the street. I remember it well!!

I've contacted the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce with regards to finding any information on the Calo's use as a bowling alley. I'll pass on any information I receive from them when I hear back from them.

To Mary Anne: I'm guessing that bowling started about 1960, because in the mid to late '50s, the Calo was showing movies.I grew up in the Edgewater area- just east of you. My first visit to the Calo-about 1956-was the first time I saw "THE WIZARD OF OZ". Not long after, a bunch of us kids went to the Calo for= I think- 12 Saturdays in a row. Why? We were hooked...A Superman serial (with Kirk Alyn?)about 15 minutes long each week, with a cliffhanger ending to keep us coming back. This, along with cartoons and a single feature, kept us entertained. But, I suspect the adults much preferred the theatres east of Clark st.-the Uptown, Riviera, Devon, and Granada. These theatres were bigger,more attractive and inviting than the Calo, which was rather ordinary,as I recall.So, I think the Calo closed for movies 1959-1960, coverted to a bowling alley early '60s through mid to late '70s. You're right, Mary Anne, so much has changed. But one business is still there- Augie's Restaurant on Clark near Balmoral- since 1954, according to Augie. To Bryan: Thanks for the photo of the Calo. Please keep them coming; they are much appreciated!

I have bowled there from 1967 to 1972. If I remember right, it was a ten lane house. Robby Robinson was the owner. His wife's name was Jane. Robbie was also a pro bowler from the 50's. As a mather of fact he taught me how to bowl. It was a great time back then. If you have any other questions feel free to contact me.

Ralph Machonga

My wife and I and our 2 dogs, and 1 snake lived in the Calo Theatre from 1991-02. We had the other side of the theatre, the side where the screen used to be. The main room had a 50 ft cieling. There were beautiful sconces about half way up the room at about25 ft. The sconces were of neo-grecian style women in robes. I loved it there. Also behind some of the wall were hand painted scenes of tropical locations with palm trees and such. We used to have great after hours parties there. I ran a mobile night club around Chicago in the 80's and 90's called The Phantom Club. The Calo Theatre was one of the last locations. It was a great location because you had to go to the alley behind the Griffin to get in. What a wonderful building.

The Chicago Historic Resources survey lists George H. Borst as the architect. Anyone hear anything more on the renovation project?

To: Ralph Machonga,
Would you know if Robbie Robinson was still alive or where I might contact him? My father, Ed Vollenweider, bowled with and was good friends with Robbie in the 50's and 60's. I can remember visiting Robbie and his wife, Jane, at their home in Chicago and also bowling at their bowling alley (the Calo) in the 60's. We moved to Michigan in 1965 and we lost contact with Robbie and Jane. My father's 85th birthday is in January and I thought it might be nice to get a note from Robbie. Bill Vollenweider

It looks like the project is coming along very nicely and tastefully. Can't wait to see inside.

Oddly it's now open as the Brown Elephant Resale Store. I guess the theater thing fell through? When I made my post last month, a tile entry had been laid that read "Brown Elephant". I was wondering what that was.

I checked out the Resale Store today, it seems to have just opened. It looks like any renovations that had made it a smaller theater, or bowling lanes, or any of that have been removed and the auditorium is fully open. It's very interesting. Much of the plaster and tropical murals are badly damaged, but it's pretty neat and something you don't see often. I definitely reccomend checking this out for any Chicago theater fans.

I sometimes drive through there. Is it open normal business hours Brian?

Here is a close-up view of the Calo Theatre's beautiful terra-cotta facade.

I have passed this place probably fifty times over the years. I couldn't resist stopping to take a look today on my way down Clark St. Most everything is still there. If someone had good reason, this could certainly become a great theatrical space again.

Here are a couple recent shots of the theater.

Nice photos B:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=calo&w=11826414%40N00

News Item:
______________

Chicago Daily News, Friday, October 22, 1954, p. 32, c. 3:

CALO THEATER REOPENS WITH DOUBLE FEATURE
The Calo theater, 5404 N. Clark, was reopened Friday, following a two-year absence from the ranks of neighborhood theaters.

The Calo, popular for 40 years, served as a foreign film house for a short period following its closing.

"Dragnet," starring Jack Webb, and "Gypsy Colt" have been co-featured for the opening bill. The theater is planning to install a Cinema-Scope screen shortly.

It's hard to believe, but the obscurity that the Calo languished in for decades was loudly interrupted back in 1954, when one of the most spectacular police shoot-outs occured yards away. Soon the entire city knew where the Calo was. The folloiwng news items will help to understand what happened.

News Item:
____________

Chicago Daily News, Saturday, October 30, 1954, p. 1, cs. 7-8:

POLICE TELL HOW THEY GOT AMEDEO

SET UP TRAP AT THEATER

KILLER CHOSE TO SHOOT IT OUT, DIED WITH 13 BULLETS IN BODY

Detectives disclosed Saturday how they trapped and killed Agostino "Gus" Amedeo, slayer of a detective and jail-breaker.

Amedeo fell Friday night in a storm of bullets at Berwyn and Clark during a duel with policemen, some disguised as hunters. He was hit 13 times The death was termed "justifiable homicide" by the coroner's jury.

Amedeo died in much the same fashion as a more celebrated criminal--John Dillinger. Like Dillinger, he saw a movie in his last hours.

Gunman Amedeo, 26, took in a film called "Duel in the Jungle" in the Calo theater, 5401 N. Clark, a few minutes before he lost his last gun duel. Charles Scherr, 31, the theater's assistant manager, saw him there. "He stood for a few minutes at the candy counter, then lit a cigaret and left," Scherr said. "I said good night to him and he nodded." Then the hunted killer walked out of the lobby and headed for the fatal intersection.

The Calo never got the fame the Biograph Theatre did, but it got close:

News Item:

Chicago American, Saturday, October 30, 1954, p. 3, c. 5:

DILLINGER, COP KILLER TRAPS ALIKE

When police guns last night blasted the life out of cop-killer Agostino (Gus) Amedeo it seemed as if the clock had been turned back 20 years. On July 22, 1934 FBI agents and police killed the notorious outlaw, John Dillinger, as he left the Biograph Theater, 2433 Lincoln av. Amedeo was cut down at Berwyn av. and Clark st. as he walked from the Calo Theater, 5404 N. Clark st.

WOMAN AS BAIT
In each case, the murder of a policeman and a trap with a woman as bait resulted in the death of a killer. Chicago police had sworn to "get" Amedeo since Oct. 21 when he shot and killed Policeman Charles Annerino. The trap was sprung by Mrs. Dorothy Del Genio, the sister-in-law of Medeo's sweetheart. Amedeo had asked her to leave a car for him at Berwyn and Clark. She told police, and 58 men led by Lt. Frank Pape were waiting.

Note: please see under the Biltmore theatre (also in Chicago) for another police shoot-out that happened in August, 1955 (less than a year after the Amedeo gunplay), and made headlines in all the newspapers!

Here are photos of this theatre.

NEWS ITEM:
Chicago Daily News, Thursday, October 7, 1954, p. 53, c. 1:
Retreat From TV Ending: CLOSED MOVIES TO REOPEN
by Sam Lesner
Four of Chicago's closed movie houses are reopening!
The Essex theater, Sheridan rd. near Lake Shore dr., closed for two years, reopens Friday with the widely acclaimed French-Italian omnibus film, "The Seven Deadly Sins."

The Calo Theater, 5406 N. Clark, another victim of the theater-devouring TV giant, will be reopened Oct. 22, with Jack Webb's "Dragnet," the first feature length film version of Webb's TV program which was No. 1 in the Hooper ratings for September. (Isn't that poetic justice, or something?)

The 400 theater, another North Side film house that has been dark for some time, is being remodeled for a new lease on its former movie life.

The Armitage, 3545-51, also an early TV victim, is being remodeled for an early reopening---as a film house, of course.

A view of the Calo's interior.

A Kimball theater organ was installed in the Calo Theater in 1915.

Maybe someday Chicago Filmmaker's or some other group could redo and use the Calo as a independent theater. Andersonville would be a great place for another Music Box-like theater.

Not that I don't like the Brown Elephant. It's just that I can't stand to see such an interesting theater sit unrenovated (like the Uptown- sigh...).

Chicago Filmmakers' building was itself a former theater. http://cinematreasures.org/theater/3284/

Pictures of the exterior and interior of the Calo Theater from 10/13/07.
Click here for the set:
http://supercharger96.livejournal.com/13738.html

I would have had to pass this building twice a day, Mon-Fri, from Sept. 1959 to June 1963, riding up/down Clark St. to attend Senn H.S. at 5900 Glenwood. I stepped off the Clark St. bus and picked it up again to head south at about 5900 or 6000 Clark St. and I do not recall this theater building as such, but I must have seen it daily. I can't say I remember the name now either, which evidently means "Spanish Gypsy." However, the tale of another gangster being shot a la Dillinger at a theater in that neighborhood does rings a bell; another bus rider may have mentioned that. The white terra cotta facade, and the musician or cherub figure above the doorway with musical instruments, does seem faintly familiar. I would think that there was no functioning Calo theater there during this time period though. I don't recall the bowling alley either. I believe Andersonville was referenced also as the "Little Sweden" neighborhood. And it really was.

This theater has a lovely open Beaux Arts facade. My understanding is that Chicago strongly contributed to the development of Beaux Arts. Is there any record of whether this theater was utilized for vaudeville to any extent in its first 15 years or so (as was the Century further south at Diversey)?

It is unlikely that it ever hosted vaudeville, as the Calo has no evidence of a stage or curtain. Ascher Bros. theaters were frequently film-only. It should have been a bowling alley in the era you recall.

BWChicago - Thank you. I appreciate your information. It is a tricky street to recall as I mainly traveled it on bus and can only recall Clark and Foster, which I think of as Swedentown.

Looking at the photos from 10/20/07, I'm reminded of the Westlake Theater in Los Angeles. Lots of stuff worth preserving if you can dispose of the tacky retail.

Today I finally made it into the former Calo Theatre, now the Brown Elephant resale shop.
Truly a unique space with a haunting kind of quality, once you make it back into the old auditorium. Helped along by the eclectic choices of music by the shop's employees.
The modern yet oddly welcome ceiling lighting, casts an eerie industrial shadow & feel to the room. Like some place the "Clockwork Orange" druges or "Mad Max" drivers might venture into leisurely.
The majestic wall sconces are still visible, but aged & war torn as is what's left
of the plaster walls & exposed brick. All visible in the previously posted pics to Cinema Treasures.

I'm curious if anyone knows any history of the Essex Theatre listed as being at Sheridan Road & Lake Shore Drive, and re-opening with the Calo and 2 other theatres in 1954?

It's not listed among the other Essex Theatres on Cinema Treasures. But I'm guessing it may have once been incorporated into the building where Westbound Sheridan Rd. from LSD, meets at Halsted/Broadway between Grace & Irving Park by Clarendon. On the S/E corner (Starbucks), is a building that has a white terra cotta facade & parapit wall across the top, which is reminiscent of other old theater buildings.

Maybe Baliwick Theatre shares some of the old space??

The Essex is listed as the Guild.

Thank you, David; your description helps me to recall the interior of the Calo now. It seems I walked through it once out of curiosity but it would have been no later than 1970, or maybe on a trip back but no later than early late '70s-early '80s at the latest, and I don't think it was a theater then.

A few recent photos can be seen here.

It appears to be pleading for consideration and renovation.

Here is part of a Tribune article dated 2/10/25;

Bert Schreiber, Chicago real estate operator and more lately identified with the Florida realty boom, yesterday sold the Calo theater property, at the northwest corner of Clark and Baimoral, 185x125, to Otto C. Kraemer, for an indicated $350,000.

Grand Mogul,

Can I ask where you are accessing these Daily News articles from the 50's? I'm not finding any in the library databases I have access to.

Try Google news. You have to pay for the full articles, though.

Hi everyone! I worked at the Calo Theatre from 1954 to 1957. I was
a young teenager. I was there when they installed the Cinemascope
screen. It was reopened by Ray Geraci and Harry Goldsmith. The
Motiograph projectors were rebuilt at this time. The theatre was opened in 1915 as a vauldville house. There was still a full size
stage and a dressing room underneath it when I worked there. They
would have adult and and kid raffles. The stores in the area would
donate the prizes. I would get stuck running the raffle. You could
speak in a normal voice and everyone would hear you. In a room next
to the projection booth is where the organ pipes were.Pipes were
long gone when I was there. The wall was covered by a cheesecloth
type material for the sound to pass through.The admission prices
were Early Bird $.50, $.75 at show time, and $.25 for kids.
I learned how to run the projectors there. I joined the Air Force
1n 1957. I had a part time job running the projectors at the base
thestre. I also worked at the Patio Theatre in Chicago as a part
time projectionst for 5 years till it closed in 2001. So sad!
I am open to any questions you may have about the Calo or Patio.
Thanks, Jack, the "mechanic"

Hi everyone! I forgot to mention that the Calo has a sister
theatre "The Portage Park" that was opened by the Ascher Brothers
in 1920. The Portage is larger, but is simuler to the Calo.
Thanks, Jack, the "mechanic"

1986 photo

Thanks for posting that BW. It's nice to know that even in it's current thrift store use, they returned the entrance area to a little more as/like original.

Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dyumdu

Maybe I missed it somewhere on these postings, but what was 'Reflections Theater' when it inhabited the Calo? Was it an adult theater at some point?

This is not exactly a photo, but the Calo Theatre recently made a cameo appearance in my webcomic, Multiplex: http://www.multiplexcomic.com/archive.php?name=376

(The next strip, #377, shows a bit of the interior, as well.)

A nice picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flagtothefloor/3952894404/in/pool-53384099@N00