Mode Theatre

My Festival/Mode recollections had inadvertantly gotten posted to the Sheridan/Palacio page. Probably because I was expounding on the area a bit.

The ultimate demolition & building of condos on the Mode site, likely took much longer to happen due to hesitant developer speculation in the area. That gas station at Irving & Sheridan seemed to hang in deveolpment limbo even when it doubled as Cubs parking.
There was also a hip hop clothing store under the “L” that had grafitti signage visible from the tracks. It too seemed transitional at first.

Further West on Irving at the tracks by the cemetary, I remember a small, freestanding triangular garage type building for sale in 1991 or so. They wanted an unbelievable 1.5 million or something for the thing. And it was on an alley, and later I found out had some kind of variance/clause about if the CTA ever needed space to do work.
So if that was the land pricing mindset in 1991, how long did it take for actual usable land to start hitting the high mark. It seemed the 1998-ish condo boom had passed the area by.

When I first moved to Chicago in 1985, I looked at an apartment at 3934 Sheridan! You’re right, the L came way to close to the apartments. So, I had to pass and find another place.

Let me know when you post that film. It will be fun to see!

Actually Charles, Daley and the alderman still have all of the power. You will note that even though there was a neighborhood meeting, and many people protested the condo development, the Rowland Funeral Home was torn down. I went to meetings when they were deciding what to do with lot for the recently torn-down Sheridan Theater. The alderman wanted a senior citizens home to go on the site. She actually bussed seniors into the meeting so they could argue with many of the neighborhood residents who wanted some other type of building to go into the site.

There was a recent series of articles in the Chicago Tribune about how the alderman get much of their campaign funds from developers who want to change zoning codes and get permission to build whatever they want, even if the residents do not want it.

In fact, when the neighborhood was down and out in the 1960s and 70s, two huge high rise subsidized buildings were built right on Buena and the street behind my building. So, there are now two 20-story buildings in a neighborhood of 2 to 4 story buildings. These buildings look absolutely ridiculous, they block the sun, they create their own wind tunnel effect, and they have ruined the scale of the neighborhood forever. All thanks to whatever brilliant alderman was in office at the time.

On a brighter note, I went to the Ace hardware store today, that is across the street from the Mode theater. I was delighted to find that a grocery store and fruit market still exists at 3942 Sheridan, right under the L tracks. It’s amazing that this address has been a small grocery store since the 1930s. 3944-46, the address of the old Sheridan Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge still exists as the Sheridan “L” Lounge and Liquor Store. It’s in sorry shape, but the facade still has broken pieces of the black Vitrolite that I am sure was there when it was a restaurant.

You can see the Sheridan Restaurant postcard on the compassrose blog. I will post a photo of the 3942 Sheridan grocery store advertising thermometer soon.

Charles, I went to the neighborhood meetings when the developer was seeking permission to tear down the Rowland Funeral Home for condos. Many people wanted to see the old house saved, since it was last remaining mansion on the Sheridan from the 1880s and 90s. Of course, those favoring the condos said that the house had little historic significance and was not worth saving. From your last visit to the neighborhood, you know who won that battle.

Is the St. Mary of the Lake convent to the north of the church? As far as I know, it is still a convent, but I will have to check the next time I drive by (maybe this afternoon).

Does anyone know what was on the southwest and northeast corners of Buena and Broadway. The northeast corner is now a parking lot. The southwest corner is a KFC, that recently closed (they say that condos are going to be built there). All I know is that what probably was once a vibrant corner is now a visual mess. At least the Broadena building is still on the northwest corner. I would love to see that building rehabbed someday. It has a lot of nice terra cotta details.

Yes, in the Hutchinson historic district (the area surrounded by Broadway, Montrose, Buena and Marine Drive) there is a large group of mansions that somehow escaped the ravages of time. They sell for between 2 to 3 million dollars, or more, when they come up for sale, but nowhere near the amount they would fetch if they were located in another area.

This area is officially part of Uptown, but called Buena Park. Before it was annexed into Chicago, it was part of the town, or village, called Lakeview. It was an grand area, with the Montrose Clarendon beach, the beautiful US Marine Hospital. The Frank Lloyd Wright Husser house, was built in 1899 on Buena at the lake. I am not sure when it was torn down, but it certainly wasn’t around for long.

I own a huge 3-flat building on Buena Avenue that was built in 1907. From what I have found out, it was one of the first apartment buildings built in the neighborhood. It’s a beautiful, grand building, but was a harbinger of how the neighborhood was about to change from single residences to apartment buildings. By the 1920s, apartment buildings were springing up everywhere in the neighborhood, and many of the old mansions (although at that point they were only 20 to 40 years old) were being torn down in the name of progress.

You’re welcome. I think the best link is the arial view of Uptown and Buena Park from 1936. It’s amazing what kind of detail you can see.

Charles and Sharon: Here are a few links that will get your heart pumping about Uptown’s history…

http://uptownhistory.compassrose.org
View link
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org

Thanks for the information, Scott. That whole area of the northside along Broadway and Sheridan had design and construction worth saving.

There was a building near the church that indeed looked like nothing but an auto dealership, but there was no auto dealership there in my time. It was a landmark.

I thought for sure Biasetti’s had closed.

BW, thanks for your post on the Philips-Overland dealership. Do you have any photos of the building from that time?

Scott: Thank you for your response and information. I am glad to learn you have such a project. I have not been in the area in decades. Some of the theater sites are difficult for me to picture now. It would seem you have carved out a pretty big chunk of area to write about. I would offer to provide a little help with some of the shops along Broadway in the Uptown area if needed.

My understanding of the Chateau area was that the core of it was along Broadway between Grace St. and Irving Park Rd. and it extended east and west; I never knew quite how far. This is where the
“Vogue” Theater was located. I think there was a jewelry store south of the Vogue and a hat shop north of it on Broadway in the Chateau area.

I attended the Buena (pronounced Byoo-en-a) Presbyterian Church between Sheridan Rd. and Broadway; I thought it faced Buena. My recollection is that Sheridan south of Buena to Irving Park Rd. was pretty much apt. buildings, and there was a bus route. I think there were some large apt. buildings that almost resembled colonial houses there. Is this where Clarendon is; I remember the name, but can’t find the street. I would not be surprised but that if you could collect the names of the old apartments in this area, it would provide you some clues as to an overall name for the neighborhood. I was told the original developer of Chateau ran out of money before he could complete his vision; plus the area of Uptown grew apace and developed another style.

On the south side of Irving Park, just west of Broadway was a row of businesses at the basement level of what I remember may have been a series of about four flats or row houses. The second or third basement business was Helene Studio of Dance. I think she moved out in about 1958-59, but had probably been there for 20 years give or take.

West of Sheridan (don’t remember how far) on Irving Park Rd., I think, on the south side of the street, was a quite popular dinner restaurant, Biasetti’s. I think it closed about 1966.

I think I heard something about the bicycle give-away at the Mode, too; hearing someone had won one.

Sharon Pearce

I did not grow up in the area, and I am too young to remember when the Mode was open, but I have been collecting postcards from Uptown and Lakeview businesses from the 1910s through the 1960s. My goal is to piece together the business history of the area through postcards and brochures.

The Chateau area that has been mentioned probably refers to the corner where Sheridan and Clarendon Avenue came together. There was a huge English tudor style courtyard apartment building at that corner with tennis courts, a conservatory and lagoon. That building was torn down and replaced with a Chicago park district building and park. In the early 1930s, the Chateau Hotel was built at 3838 Broadway. That building is still there and exists as an SRO.

At 3944-46 Sheridan Road, there was the Sheridan Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge. The postcard I have, which looks like it’s from the mid- to late-1940s, says that the restaurant had been in business for over 40 years. That address no longer exists, but it seems like it was almost at the southwest corner of Sheridan and Irving Park Road.

One door south, at 3942 Sheridan Road, there was the Chicago Fruit Market. I have a advertising thermometer from that store. It says the store was a member of Grocerland and they sold all kinds of fruits, vegetables and fancy groceries. Their number was LAKeview 7406.

North of Irving Park Road, in the building where Nick’s Uptown is today, there was a place called the Cairo Restaurant. The building has some very distinctive Egyptian terra cotta details. About 10 years ago, they tore down a building next door, and you could easily see a painted sign for the restaurant. It looks like it was from the 1920s.

Across the street from the Sheridan theater, and just a little farther north, there was the Hotel Stratford at 4131 Sheridan Road. The postcard I have says it was an elegantly furnished hotel of 200 rooms situated in the finest section of uptown Chicago. Convenient to all transportation. Bathing beach nearby. This building is still there, but it is now a rehabilitation center.

Hi SPearce! That’s interesting that, in later life, you dream about the streets in the neighbourhood around Irving Park and Sheridan! I do too! When I finally visited the former site of the Modè Cinema after 35 years, stood on the L platform, remembered all the stores and shops that surrounded the theater in the early 60’s – it felt as if I was awake in a dream… Besides the Modè and Sheridan cinemas being gone, the other buildings on Sheridan and Irving were just the way I remembered them! What school did you go to? Do you remember the grocery store on the corner near the Modè and the Hot Dog Haven snack bar, Burney Brothers bakery, Walgreen’s, Rexall etc.? They’re all gone but the Hardware Store across the street from the Modè is still there! They used to sell toys as well. That’s where I got my first model train set.
A Saturday at the Modè was nearly an all day affair. Cartoons, double or triple features… and you could stay as long as you liked. Sometimes my parents would have to come and get me. All the neighbourhood kids were there! Great fun. I remember badly dubbed Italian Sandal films like Hercules Unchained, Samson, etc. Also, great classic B Horror films like; I WAS A TEENEAGED WEREWOLF…
Oh yes, as young as we were, we always used the French pronounciation! MO-DAY!

From the Fall of 1956 until probably late 1957 to early ‘58 I attended this movie house sometimes, with a school chum and her brother, who lived to the east over on Fremont, just south of Irving Park Rd. I don’t remember what movies I saw there or much else except that it was easy for children to run over there to see movies because tickets were inexpensive. I remember that when we were thinking of going to see a movie, a parent would say, “Why don’t you just go to the Mode;” meaning, it cost less. Reading your posts, the “yellow tile” rings a bell and the references to black fields, black doors, etc. does as well.

(Decades later at times I had dreams about these and other streets and buildings in Chicago – just trying to identify and sort out myself in the streets; no people or cars present, oddly enough. Perhaps it was a premonition that one day I would be trying to do the same at Cinema Treasures.) Anyway I remember as a young person going to the movies and running around the corner of Irving Park, and there would be the Mode.

I will add that I always called it the Mo-day, and my friend would ridicule me and say, “Mo-day! It’s MODE!” And I would indicate the accent on the “e” and say, “It may be MODE to you, but it’s a French word, and in France that is pronounced "Mo-day.” My friend would say, “But we’re not in France.” This brings up a thought. I posted on the Vogue Theater a while back, which theater is three or four blocks away, in an area that was known as the “Chateau” block, or Chateau neighborhood. Might it have been establishing continuity from one neighborhood to the next in frencifying the movie house name, near the Chateau area, renaming this theater “Mode” in the ‘30s as indicated in a post above? Also, Chicago chose to pattern itself after Paris and French architectural style in the early development period, reportedly (this style is noticeable in the early apt. buildings up Lake Shore Drive). Something specifically self-conscious may have been going on in the renaming of this theater in the '30s.

As to Richard G’s post of Jan. 25, 2004, I think his father was correct about Irving Park Rd. being a border for a neighborhood. The way it was told me was that Irving Park Rd. was the northern border of a neighborhood that proceeded south, and that the same area north from Irving Park Rd., a distance, was supposed to set off yet another neighborhood with another name. The teller could only partly recall it then, and I can’t remember it now, unless it was “De… or something "Garden…”; two or more words. This neighborhood of the Mode did have a name (again, it could have been part of Chateau to the east, but I think it was something else.) I was told some of the streets were labeled “Road,” i.e. Irving Park, Sheridan, for a specific reason here; the roads were dictated to run in the same direction, and when someone pointed out that they obviously didn’t, there was an explanation of why the exception was made here. But “Road” was wanted by the City on those streets for a specific branding reason.

Also, around the corner on Irving Park was a laundromat that many in the neighborhood used in the mid-50s, and a hole-in-the-wall storefront take out eatery I have never forgotten. We could buy a shrimp dinner (all the fried shrimp you could eat, plus fries and cole slaw, I believe) for $1.99, or a Spaghetti dinner for about $2.99 and Pizza about the same or up to $3.99, even NY Steak plates for very little. On Friday or Saturday nights we would pool our coins or dollars and take home more food than we could eat. I have always recalled wistfully that in those days, it was the shrimp dinners that were the “least” expensive.