Adelphi Theater
7074 N. Clark Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
7074 N. Clark Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
9 people
favorited this theater
The Adelphi, built in 1917 for the Ascher Brothers circuit, was designed by local architect J.E.O. Pridmore. The theater stood on Clark Street at Estes Avenue in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
In the 1930s, the Adelphi received an Art Deco remodeling. The theater was modernized during the 1940s and again in the 1950s. It began to show second-run features starting in the late 1960s, and closed briefly in the early 1980s, after several years screening Spanish movies.
In the mid 1980s, the Adelphi reopened as the North Shore Theater, but was again known as the Adelphi when it began to show East Indian films and became the premiere venue for Bollywood features in the Chicagoland area, despite its down-on-the-heels appearance both inside and out.
The Adelphi closed in January 2002. Sadly, the still-viable theater was demolished in January 2006.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 78 comments)
FYI. I believe there is a Carol Marin news piece about the Adelphi property on tonight’s, (March 18th) 10 pm NBC Channel 5 newscast.
It’s titled “Hole In The Nieghborhood” or something similar.
hah. Thanks.
Recap: The news piece that aired last night on NBC, basically covered the neighborhood’s frustration over the giant unfinished hole in the ground that was once the Adelphi Theater.
They ran a quick clip with a vintage pic of the building and marquee. And did mention the Adelphi by name.
Then it went into the various political donations that the developer had made to the current Alderman, and those in the ward’s of their other past developments. A practice the current Alderman apparently previousy frowned upon.
The story further implied that various re-zoning (to a 5 story structure in the Adelphi’s case), and other permit issues were suspect due to ANY donations given to a ward’s Alderman.
Didn’t quite catch what happened to cause the developer work stoppage at the Adelphi site.
But it apparently has left an in-ground foundation with rusting steel beams, and a chain link fence around the entire site for two years.
As well as exasperated neighbors who just refer to it as “the hole”.
Here is a link to the story:
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Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/df4fzc
1984 Photo
I worked as a projectionist at the Adelphi from Feb. 1993-Oct. 1994. It was one of the last projection booths with carbon arc lamphouses at the time. The late great Don Klein (1937-1999) operated the theatre. He tried to keep the place open as long as he could, but he finally relented and sold the business to Indian film exhibitors in 1995. I wish Don was still alive today. He’d be on the Cinema Treasures website 24/7. He really loved old-time movie houses. Working there was interesting, sometimes depressing, other times just downright scary. There were a couple of shootings near the theatre. Rats? Oh yeah, BIG ones. Attendance? Sometimes it was good; other times okay; and there were really slow weeks. The theatre was up and down; sometimes classy films; other times cinematic trash. It was one of the last of it’s kind: a double-feature theatre with 2nd-run prices. I really miss this theatre. I was hoping it would make it. It’s the type of theatre I miss working for: a single screen theatre. Well, as Don Klein said to me shortly before he died: “Let’s face it, Timmy, there’s just no place in this world for guys like me and you anymore.” P.S. If anyone is interested, there is a liquor store across the street from the Adelphi. It used to be a small movie house called Archibald’s Casino. Thank you for trying, Bill Morton. You and Don would’ve been great friends.
Bill and I are putting together a memorial site for the adelphi theater. If anyone has pictures that would like to see posted on the site or memories they want to share please e-mail me at If you have photographs that you would let us scan and post, please send them or visit us at QUEST – 7301 N. Sheridan Rd. in Chicago. The memorial site is www.adelphitheater.com
Thank you,
Kris
Here is an undated vintage photo of the entrance of the Adelphi.