Lawndale Theatre
4015 W. Roosevelt Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
4015 W. Roosevelt Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 48 of 48 comments
A Feb. post above claims LAWNDALE/RENO renovation stalled, and having driven past there last week yes—unfortunately no (outwardly) visible progress at all.
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/d34pzk
Great photos. It appears as though the square panes of glass in the window surrounding the medallion were later spray painted in various colors. The dropped ceiling that closes off the balcony and above from the main floor was done in a similar way at the Central Park/COGIC.
Take a look at our new Lawndale Theatre page at http://www.victoriansecrets.net/lawndale2.htm
Did you know that Frank Nitti was once a silent partner in the Lawndale?
The first ad for the Rena appeared in the Chicago Tribune in October 1949.
Among the stars who performed live at the Lawndale/Rena were Paul Robeson, Dinah Washington, Sonny Boy Williamson, Elmore James, The Dells, Magic Sam, and Johnny Hartman.
Peter Sefton
Anyone have an update on project status? I have heard that the Lawndale renovation stalled. But I cannot confirm.
Listed as the Rena in the 1953 Chicago yellow pages.
You could be right about Google. The “Checks Cashed” building is next door to the east of the theatre.
To get a street view of this theater, click on map next to the address above , then click street view. I am now convinced google is listing the incorrect addresses, however if you click on the west arrow it will take you up the street to the former Lawndale theater.
Thanks so much for posting the photo albums. I worked in Lawndale from 1999-2002, and passed this theater every day. Back then it still operated as a church, and the building was in decent shape. I drove by this past March, and saw that the church had closed and that the building had deteriorated. I’m amazed that it had not been gutted by fire. Although the Lawndale does not have the historical significance of the nearby Central Park, it still would have been nice to preserve it. Maybe the new owners will take a cue from the owners of the Belmont Theater and Howard Theater, and restore the facade.
There’s not much left inside this theatre. Urban Remains (a local salvage company) has removed quite a bit of the ornamentation from the interior of the building. Supposedly the attached building is being turned into apartments while the theatre will be used as storage. I was told that the stained glass emblem was removed last week by the salvagers who plan on displaying it in their museum. A couple weeks ago they let me into the theatre to take pictures that I have posted on photobucket. I have a couple pictures of the stained glass window which was still intact on my visit. The auditorium was very dark so taking pictures was a little tricky (walking around was also very tricky!). I have some really good pictures of the second floor lobby (where the stained glass window is). Even in its current state, it is obvious that this was a stunning theatre in its day. Here are two slide shows that I created from my pictures:
View link
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If they’re re-habbing as you say BW it’d be very nice if they preserved this old ornamentation which may (or may not) be a genuine theater relic. Especially when you consider how long it seems to have survived, given the very deteriorated surroundings.
The stained glass definitely predates the church but I doubt the single-color panels are original. I believe they are removing the auditorium and rehabbing the building with some new condos perhaps.
I think the stained glass definitely predates any church usage. For one thing it looks very period. For another, if the church had installed it I would think there would be a crucifix displayed.
It seems like they were there for a long time. I wonder if they ran into some maintenance expenses that they couldn’t deal with.
I rode by it during the summer; it’s boarded-up so there’s no longer a church useage. But it’s obviously also the former theatre (building) that I saw RETURN OF THE FLY at. Up on the Roosevelt Rd side it still had something like an (old) colorful stained-glass emblem or ornamentation. I may be wrong but it appears to predate the church aspect.
Curiously, only a month after the architects were announced as Rissman & Hirschfeld, another article came out with the probable actual identity of the architects, William P. Whitney with the R. Levine Co. The building’s description of program remained exactly the same. This includes a rendering which matches the building as built, and is similar to Whitney’s other works, the Symphony on Chicago avenue (announced a month later and as similar to the Lawndale as the Marbro was to the Granada) and the Montclare on Grand. Some of its features included concealed lighting inside and out, four stores, 12 apartments, bowling, billiards, a “living room” (whatever that means) and various other unspecified novel features. The “million dollar theater” opened at 5:30 pm October 19, 1927 with “Girl from Rio”. On the stage was “Rags Rubin, the syncopation king and his band; Coaster & Rich (International Dance Team); May and June (Radio’s Melody Stars); and the sparkling and colorful Feliz Ballet.”
I should point out that the change from Lawndale to Rena coincided with the rapid shift in population from Jewish to Black in the 1950s white flight. I’m not so sure it was ever the Arena; it may have just been sloppy reporting.
An ad for one such performance is at http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/drexel.html
It appears that it may have become the (New) Rena in 1955, and remained open through its conversion to the church in 1964, which came shortly after an unruly patron was shot by the assistant manager. In this time, it featured not only movies but live performances by such artists as Count Basie, Dina Washington, and Sonny Boy Williamson on weekends.
Actually, now I do see some evidence that it was also the Rena. Maybe new management took the ‘A’ off.
I think EP Rupert’s plan was actually scuttled. That article was older and mentioned a 6-story building in conjunction when it was actually built with 3. A later announcement in 1926 names Rissman & Hirschfeld, which probably were the actual architects. Incidentally a 1923 article also shows an even earlier plane by Crane and Franzheim; there must have been a lot of difficulty getting this project going. Also, it was the Arena, not Rena. The theater closed in the early to mid 50s and the church moved in in 1964. Here is a HAARGIS profile.
Looked pretty beat up the last time I saw it about six years ago. Still looked like the church was there.
Ahhh….RENA (not RENO). Thanks Ken & Bryan. Could never quite put my finger on it before ‘cause this theatre did'nt have a proper AKA for search purposes.
I’m gonna go by it sometime soon.
Architect E.P. Rupert. See Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1925 p28