Norshore Theatre
1749 W. Howard Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
1749 W. Howard Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
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In the book “IMAGES of AMERICA- ROGERS PARK” by Jacque Day Archer, there are some nice pics of the Norshore, in its early years,on pages 66 and 67. Also in the book: the Granada theatre on page 68 and 78, and the Adelphi on page 69.
This site when it was the “Howard Bowl” as well as the Howard “El” station was the gateway to what my friends and I effectionately referred to as “The Jungle”. I’m hoping the Gateway Plaza(Thats what that strip mall is called now right?) helped clean the area up at least alittle. Although a movie theater would’ve been nice to put in there. I actually remember when it was in development and how excited everyone was that there would be movie theater closer to the neighborhood instead of having to trek over to the Adelphi.
LTS,
It has been awhile since I was at the Village North. It was okay. The floors were clean, as were the rest rooms. The Village North gets significant walk-in trade from the community.
Once when I was there, circa 1997-1998, there was a petition being circulated protesting the proposed multi-plex. So, perhaps indirectly, Village Theatres won on that one.
My guess is that, with all the changes taking place in the business, potential investors are much less likely to embrace the idea of a theatre complex than they were ten years ago.
ONLY the Village North is right man. Last time I was there it was still called the 400 and was a single-screen dump. As a matter of fact I think they started to twin it and then ran out of money. So it was half torn apart. Has it improved at all under Village management?
Another sad irony is that the Gateway Plaza development there was supposed to contain multiplexes in two different iterations of the plan, but both fell through, leaving the Far North Side with only the Village North.
A friend of mine’s father worked as an usher here when he was young. The story he related is that when B&K vacated the building they had to clean and repair it extensively per the terms of the lease. The idea was that the theatre had to be returned in the same condition it was received in. Then it was demolished not long after. Tragically humorous.
Another note: there was an office building constructed on the site. The bank was in an older building on the east end of the block. The office building, bank, and most everything else (including the very cool Howard Bowl) were demolished to make way for a multi-use plaza. In all fairness I think that the plaza is not a bad place at all.
Was in Barnes and Noble today; came across the book “LOST CHICAGO” by David Garrard Lowe. Pages 204-209 will be a treat for all theatre lovers.Pictures of the Tivoli, Marbro, Paradise, and Diversey are shown…all great. However, pics of the lobby and auditorium of the Norshore (page 207)are…well… two words: Beautiful! Fantastic!