Varsity Theater
1710 Sherman Avenue,
Evanston,
IL
60201
1710 Sherman Avenue,
Evanston,
IL
60201
14 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 68 comments found
It seems like there’s been consistent interest in restoring the Varsity over the last few years. Every time I think the subject has died down I hear from someone that it is being dicussed again by people who seem to matter. I’d love to see the project come to pass. But what would they do with it?
Such a sad story.
Wow, seeing those pics of The Varsity brought a tear to my eye. I worked at The Varsity, The Valencia, and The Coronet theatres from 1974 to 1978. I would love to see the glorious Varsity open it’s doors once again! Big thanks to my friend Dave Zornig for calling this site to my attention.
A 3/26 Geneva was installed in the theatre in 1926.
Northlight spent a good deal of money to remodel the Coronet. It was a very nice facility. They even put blue neon “Northlight” panels on either side of the marquee. I’m not sure why they eventually left. My best guess is parking.
Tribute from The Golden Age:
The Varsity Theater wasn’t made for Hollywood. Hollywood was made for the Varsity Theater.
That is pretty neat about that guy that took all those images, I never knew it was one guy.
Anyway, as for the Varsity, this is very similar to what happened with the RKO Madison Theater in Ridgewood, NY, in which the theater survives above a fake ceiling and the orchestra level used for retail. The Gaumont Theater in Manchester England also had a smilar fate, with a nightclub opening on the main level, and a fake ceiling put in. That one however was completely demolished in the end.
The Coronet did become the home of Northlight for a few years.
I don’t know why I remember this, but I think NorthLight Theatre had something to do with trying to resurrect the Coronet Theatre at one time too. I seem to remember their name on the marquee.
Hopefully more will come out of this venture than sadly didn’t, over there.
It will be interesting to see how they are able to reconfigure some type of entrance on Sherman Ave. And not just some side door in the alley.
Since the stage is towards the back.
Some of the previous pictures posted showed that the back half of the auditorium, ceiling, and possibly balcony space had all been encapsulated. Awaiting just this type of project.
Looks like it might be reopening…
View link
R.I.P Varsity
I was also surprised to learn that all those pics were taken by one guy. To even have COLLECTED that many photos would be an accomplishment… and to have actually TAKEN them is absolutely incredible.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t looking for anything about American Classic Images when I found that article. Just stumbled across it when I was searching for something else on Google News.
It reminds me of the German guy that flies to LA every year to take the you-are-here photos. No one really understands why he does this, regarding the particular city.
That was interesting. I didn’t know that one person took all of those photos. I’m sure that alot of people are happy that he did. I’m one of them.
That’s a very nice story. A dedicated guy, for sure.
There’s a really excellent article about the guy who took the photos on American Classic Images, here:
View link
1982 Day Photo
1982 Night Photo
P.S. The Coronet’s on that site too.
Great photo source LTS!
I just pulled up one of the 3 Penny Cinema. Alas, no Playboy/Sandburg/Chelex pic to be found.
I might now just have to go back through all my CT theatres, and repost my notification status again.
Something I was avoiding.
A 70’s photo of the Varisty. This is exactly how I remember it looking:
View link
Reactivate notification status.
Ah, you are correct. Thanks Cam!
Only in Evanston would the graffiti read “Rosebud”, on a former vintage theatre.
David, at one point there were fire escapes in the north alley. You can just barely see them in this photo:
http://www.mekong.net/random/photo187.htm
Man, I miss that place. I loved that theatre!
Post, post…Drove by the Varsity today. I saw no type of fire escape on the North elevation of the old Varsity building. There could have been one that was removed, but I couldn’t stop to look closely.
Maybe interior exit/stairwells from the balcony level, fed down to the first floor exits out to the alley back in the day.
Cool. I guess “Booksellers Row” would have implied more than just one store or something. And Bookman’s Alley was quite the quaint place all by itself.
I can’t remember if the Varsity had fire escapes hung over that same alley or not. Or if they were removed or not during the conversion. If so, even if some portions of the Varsity’s old interior are just encapsulated as previous posts imply, ever converting back to some usable theatre space could be hampered. If the balcony exits are no longer usable or up to code. I’ll take a spin by there soon.