Ramova Theatre
3518 S. Halsted Street,
Chicago,
IL
60609
3518 S. Halsted Street,
Chicago,
IL
60609
27 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 90 comments
(5/11/2018) The Ramona sign is being taken down.
Projects: The Ramova closed in April of 1985. I saw the last movie to play there; Police Academy 2. The poster was still pasted on the front of the theater for at least 15 years. Couldn’t forget it if I wanted to. Ha
FYI. A candidate for 11th Ward Alderman is making her announcement tonight in front of the Ramova Theater.
http://sullivan11thward.com/event/maureen-sullivan-declares-candidacy/
Can someone tell me when the last showing was @the Ramova month/YR. I no longer live in Chicago it’s been years since I’ve seen Chicago. the last time I believe I was @ the Ramova was 1974.
I lived in the projects on 31st and halsted. we had good times going to the ramova to see dracula, werewolf, frankenstein. then all Bruce Lee movies. i was the youngest of 3. Admission for me was 25 cents and for my brother and sister it was 50 cents. then it went up 25 cents more. but the memories are still there. we would have fun with other kids we see from school.( Armour School). it’s sad to see the ramova in it’s present condition. there were other old buildings on halsted that should’ve been saved also.back in the day Mayor Daley would always pass by the projects and i would be playing by the alley,he would say hay kid i would run to his car he would give me tickets to the ringling brothers circus i would pass them out in the projects.
the ramova theater was my second theater i wood go to when there was no seat’s at the Wallace theater but loved them both
Shots of five endangered Chicago palaces—including this one—and a Roger Ebert essay. Chicago Magazine
Since nobody has brought up any of this… The Ramova Theater had a parking lot down the block a little across the street. I believe at 35thPlace. To the north next to the theater was the Ramova grill which closed in 2012. It was mentioned on the Chicago news and papers and the theater was also mentioned. Above the grill in the same building I believe there were martial arts classes. And across the street from the theater was a hobby shop that I would go to often when I was a kid. It closed long ago. 1956 the Ramova was the 1st theater I ever was in. My mom took me to see Trapeze, a Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster movie. My dad didn’t want to go see it and my mom did, so she took me with her to see it. I can hardly remember the movie but after that I seen many movies there until around the 80’s. I have a lot of memories about the Ramova and the area. I hope someday they restore the old show.
I recently photographed the Ramova Theatre. Check out the post at After the Final Curtain
This opened on August 21st, 1929. Small grand opening ad is in the photo section for this theatre.
The photo gallery shows this place to be in much better condition than I would have thought. Hopefully a plan goes through one of these days. The cooling of the real estate market makes this less likely. But it also means the building will probably continue to stand.
Most photographers don’t care as long as they have credit, but if they complain their photos should be removed.
It wasn’t long ago that I was the junior member of THSA and itching to do something. I’m sure he’ll soon learn how to use that energy more productively. I did a lot of structured research and photography with that energy.
I know you can’t go into specifics, but can you speak generally about the ideas that IIT has publicly presented? It seems to me that the Ramova would be difficult as a 1200+ seat live venue (no stage, no parking, neighborhood not very dense with no nearby el, limited lobby space, large volume and low flat ceiling make for difficult acoustics, etc), but something more like the Biograph (hopefully with more of the original decoration replicated, unlike their generic interior) would be feasible. Sort of like the unrealized Dupage concept or the shrunken Paramount in Boston.
What about adaptive use as plan B? The Ramova could make a fine tribute to the Daley family if it were restored as a library branch, replacing the smaller one up the street, and that would be a good reason for the city to restore and renovate it.
Let me know if you’d rather I contact you privately.
Thank you Broan for agreeing that the additional Facebook pages are confusing. I’m one of the admins of the original Ramova Theater Facebook page (the page is over 2 years old with 2800+ fans). Our page is run by the Save the Ramova group, founded in 2005. We’re cautious about what photos we use, because we don’t have rights to a lot of photos. We have formed a non-profit corp “Friends of South Halsted” and are now fundraising for restoration of this theater into a performance space. This, as you all know will take a lot of time and work, so any good vibes or advice is appreciated.
Friends of the Ramova Theater is run by a fan of the theater. He is a minor who chooses to post willy-nilly information, use photos without credits and say things like “the status of the theater should be renovating, STATUS SHOULD BE RENOVATING”-Ramova 7719 (see in the comments above—renovation has not begun as of today). We have asked him to NOT do this, take down his Facebook page because it’s confusing etc., but he is a teen who’s parent doesn’t believe that he’s crossed any boundaries. You will notice that other Facebook pages have popped up too (same kid or friends of his are admining them too) Ramova 7719 is a member of the Theater Historical Society too.
Please do support the Ramova Theater Facebook page for up to date information about the theater project. Thanks, Maureen of Save the Ramova/Friends of South Halsted Street.
It is very confusing. People shouldn’t have to visit 7 different facebook pages to find the one that actually has information and a relationship to the theater. The other 6 have some nice pictures, but no indication who took them. I don’t see any reason those photos couldn’t have been posted to the main page (or, for that matter, to this Cinematreasures page). Confusing people and diluting supporters doesn’t help the Ramova, and I hope the various creators of these pages can get over whatever inspired them to splinter off and work together for the good of this theater.
Actually Maureen60609 Friends of the Ramova Theater has better pictures than Ramova Theater.
No, Ramova 7719 ‘Friends of the Ramova’ is not the official page of the Ramova. The official Facebook page for the Ramova is: https://www.facebook.com/ramovatheatre
‘Friends of the Ramova’ is a fan’s page. While we appreciate his zeal for the theater, we do not appreciate his misrepresentation of the official message of our advocacy group.
Stop confusing people, Vince.
Today the Ramova theatre opened at 1 pm with the dessert song happy birthday Ramova!
Like the Ramova theatre, and Ramova theatre on facebook!
Yes, if anyone has original floor plans they would be invaluable for our work with the IIT IPRO project to help save the theater.
Here is a link with info about the IIT group:http://ipro.iit.edu/about (see project #364 under current projects for info.)
Please, share them if you have them for the sake of this old girl!
Thanks Jim I and the rest of the theater loving community.
Maureen
Co-Founder @Save The Ramova! maureen@savetheramovacom
S
Jimindreika we need your help. You said that you obtained some orginal floor plans of the theatre? Do you think you could email them to me, becuase I’m working with Maureen, and IIt and saving the theatre. Do you think you could do that for us? Thanks
Like The Ramova Theatre, and Ramova Theatre. You need to like both for photos, and much much more. Oh and the Theatre is very intact, its just that a water pipe exploded, and when you walk past it it is a terrible smell!
I remember the atmospheric theatre it made me feel as if i were in a garden.
Someone really needs to open this theatre beforeit turns more into dust!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very old school looking!
Is anything happening with this property?