Paradise Theater
231 N. Pulaski Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
231 N. Pulaski Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
35 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 336 comments found
Thanks Brad. Beautiful picture of the Paradise signage. Also wonderful photos of many forgotten theaters.
Click here for an exterior view of the Paradise Theatre in 1930.
Like so many other CT listings, STATUS needs to be changed from “Closed” to “Demolished.”
From 1929 a photo postcard image of the Paradise Theater in Chicago.
Bobby, yes it is hard to believe that this theatre once sat on the site. I wish there were more pictures of the area available today.
Paradise, Wonderful view of the Paradise. Seems unreal a plain lot sits there today. This building looks like it belongs in Europe.
I have uploaded a rarely seen photo of the Paradise, probably taken during the last month of its operation, which was May, 1956. The marquee shows George Gobel and Mitzi Gaynor starring in “The Birds and the Bees.” Though the exterior was now blackened by the coal dust from a nearby railyard, the interior was still virtually pristine.
The resident orchestra of any movie palace was just that, they had no civic affiliation, it was a work-a-day job, and a good paying one at that.
My grandfather was also a concert violinist and his primary business with the music shop was concert level music lessons, at the time the Paradise was finished and he moved his shop from Elmhurst (was called McGovern music studio before the theater was finished) his health was declining from serving in battle with the army band in WWI and being exposed to mustard gas, I don’t believe he was playing at this point anymore himself but he also was the owner/director of the Civic Philharmonic Orchestra, while I don’t have any proof of at this point but I highly suspect they were the resident orchestra for the theater
Hear Hear!!!! It was a beauty………
Tomorrow (9/14) will mark the 83rd anniversary of the grand opening of B&K’s Paradise Theatre. Paramount’s silent Clara Bow starrer, “The Fleet’s In,” occupied the screen, with support from a stage show entitled “A Garden in Paradise” featuring the Ritz Brothers and a resident company with orchestra, soloists, and choristers. The Paradise’s advertising and promotion were targeted not only at residents of Chicago’s West Side, but also the “populous river cities” of Oak Park, Austin, River Forest, Elmhurst, Maywood, Villa Park, and Forest Park. Rest in peace, beloved Paradise, arguably the most awe-inspiring atmospheric theatre ever built.
To make for an ever changing site, Cinema Treasures now features as a main photograph the one with the most views. At the moment on this page, no one has posted a photograph of the actual Paradise Theatre building.
I believe the way the revamped CT site works is, the last picture posted, is the most recent profile pic. All one need do is download one of the pics buried within older comments, and re-post it above. Because your sample pic was posted within a comment, it remains within the comments only. I think CT should have set it up so that whenever a pic is posted within a comment, it would be automatically added to the Photo section. Also they should have culled all existing photos within older comments, and loaded them in that way.
Something like this, for example: virginia.edu
ShawnS, sorry about your mom. Thanks for the photos of a time gone by. Your grandfather must have loved going to work in such an ornate building!
Heh I cant figure out how to post the link so they are at the top of the page……you get the idea lol.
Hey ShawnS, I think you are going to have to load those pics in individually, using the CT Photo feature at the top of the page. None of your PhotoBucket links appear as links.
I had posted back on 11Oct10 about my grandfathers music shop that we suspected was located in the Paradise theater. Well my mom past in Jan. and we are still going through the tons and tons of her stuff (she kept everything from her childhood on up). I figured at some point we would find the difinitive proof that the sign was actually from the Paradise theater and yesterday we did in the form of a billing receipt pad that has the Paradise music shop header on it and then the location.
http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k607/slowdrive/Picture2778.jpg
http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k607/slowdrive/?action=view¤t=Picture2779.jpg
http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k607/slowdrive/?action=view¤t=Picture2780.jpg
Now that I know it was room 210 I need to try and figure out what street that office window faced and see if I can find a pictue of this sign in the window.
http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k607/slowdrive/?action=view¤t=Picture-2.jpg
Edit….I cant seem to get the direct links to show up so you can click them…..sorry
IT LISTENS GOOD!! It was a working middle class neighborhood hence all the movie theaters for the masses. People started selling in 1955 and shopping in the burbs where parking was aplenty and free. I am looking forward to the book. The city bought homes and demolished them for parking near the Paradise & Marbro theatres. A last ditch attempt which failed.
My recollection (from the book) is that the early start to the decline stemmed from the West Side being the last major area of Chicago to develop and grow before the Depression set in, and as a result there were few major industries that would “anchor” communities, and few to no upper-middle-class/rich residents, that would have a vested interest in staying where they were and supporting the area.
The West Side was mostly working-class and lower-middle to middle class residents (with some very overcrowded areas, especially after the war); as their economic situation improved after the war, they were naturally inclined to move up to better living circumstances than the by-then “dated” and worn-down neighborhoods they lived in…which essentially meant people were already moving out of the West Side en masse before the collapse of the 1960s. In addition, the Madison Street and Roosevelt Road shopping districts had to compete with downtown and, after the war, the nearby suburban shopping malls.
One of the saddest chapters in that book involves the placement of what is today UIC. The greater Garfield Park community was literally desperate to secure the siting of the campus in their neighborhood, as they believed it would stop the already visible neighborhood decline of the late 1950s. But, Daley and his minions won out, and they instead sited it in the Harrison-Halsted area that fought tooth and nail to keep it out.
Thanks for the name of the book. I will look for it right away. Hard to imagine it started in the 20’s because it was so wonderful in the early 50’s. But of course I was young and didn’t think or cared about the bigger picture….
The story of how and why the West Side slid downhill like an avalanche in the 1950s and 60s is a long and involved one, and it goes far beyond the fabled “blockbusters”…indeed, one can trace its roots back as far as the 1920s and the Great Depression.
There’s a fascinating (if grim) book called “Block By Block: Neighborhoods and Public Policy on Chicago’s West Side”, by Amanda Seligman, that sheds a lot of light on the subject.
It’s a terrible shame. Chicago is truly a great city, but it pales when compared to what it could be! The future of this country is in cities! People increasingly want to live and employers will want to locate where they do not need cars to commute.
And here they have not. One palm greases the other… Its the “Chicago Way”. And if one does not believe it, just ride down one of the streets and take a gander. Our west side had tons of movie houses, not ONE today. Despair everywhere. Everybody wants their cut. Laws have never been enforced here. Every time a new police supt. is appointed it is the same old thing. Now that warm weather is approaching, the drive-by shootings are increasing and innocent children are being caught in the middle. It happens almost every night. At least NY has a vision and I applaud them.
BobbyS, the hustlers that you speak of in Chicago were called Blockbusters here in New York and they did terrible damage here as well. While it did drive a lot of white residents out of the city, those areas of New York where it was most prevalent are for the most part solid middle class minority neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. The city now has strict laws against blockbusting and also redlining (banks refusing to lend in certain areas). Laws are one thing but they have to be enforced and here they have been.