If there are legitimate people interested in it, How do we encourage such people?
I worked at the JAM concert that they held at the Uptown with the Bay City Rollers. I know I’m showing my age, but I am more familiar with them than with Live Nation.
Someone should remind Oprah that “Queen for a Day” was broadcast from there. First show that focused on women. It was cheesy, but it was there. Maybe a reunion for people involved with that show could get the old place some attention?
I could just see something funky like an anime convention running in the Uptown. That would be a perfect fit. A Harry Potter convention would have gone over well in the old castle, too. There are all sorts of possibilities for the place besides films and plays. They could have another theatre conclave and use it as a base.
I was at the Chicago in the early 80’s when Lillian Gish brought some of her films and gave a talk on her career, and they played the films and used the Chicago Theatre organ. That kind of thing would be cool there, too. Some kind of annual theatre history program.
I heard, and granted, it was just something I heard, that the New York company that runs Radio City Music Hall and has brought many people into the Chicago Theatre with the Rockettes' Christmas show took a long hard look at the Uptown before deciding that the neighborhood and the condition of the theatre’s interior were cost prohibitive. But I love the Uptown dearly and still continue to hold out hope for the place. It has infinite possibilities and faces infinite impossibilities at the same time. I would love to see the theatre be part of that neighborhood turning around and becoming one again the thriving area that it used to be along time ago.
I think there is definitely widespread discontent about taxation coming out of Chicago. But I’m no expert, either. My mother left because she literally could not afford to live there anymore.
I found my Theatre Historical Society booklet that featured the Uptown and was looking through it. I wanted to cry or pound the walls. I coudn’t make up my mind which.
Well, that probably counts as one of the few with verticals, considering how many there used to be. The Aragon IS amazing. I used to teach at St. Thomas of Canterbury school down the street, and I used to show the kids pictures of the Aragon, Riviera and the Uptown from their heydays as part of my lessons on the community. (My uncle worked at the Riviera when it was a movie theatre in the early 50’s and had some cool pictures.) If they tried to tear down the Uptown, I’d bet the old girl would put up a fight. Breaking up that huge lobby floor would e difficult and probably cost a fortune right there.
I worked there in the 70’s. They even had a few concerts there. It was funny to see people coming in stoned for a concert, looking around at the theatre going, “Wow, man!” This theatre was a gem. At that time the murals were still visible in the old nursery area. The main problem, if I remember correctly WAS the lack of parking. With the Nortown gone, it’s one of the last remaining theatres with a vertical sign, is it not? It deserves a chance.
Jayne1955
During the 70’s I worked at the Uptown, Nortown, Chicago, Gateway and several other ABC Great States/Plitt theatres, but the Nortown was my favorite. I love astmospheric houses. This one was in great shape back then. It’s a shame how it went downhill. It really was gorgeous. I have a lot of pictures I took somewhere. I will try to find them. I remember when the Theatre Historical Society had their conclave in Chicago in the 70’s, and the Nortown was one of the theatres included. Everyone had already left when a guy pulled up in a cab and asked if he was too late to see it. I took him around the place, and he was a really funny, interesting man. It turned out he was Kenneth Anger, of “Hollywood Babylon” fame. I’ll never forget that night.
Jayne1955
If there are legitimate people interested in it, How do we encourage such people?
I worked at the JAM concert that they held at the Uptown with the Bay City Rollers. I know I’m showing my age, but I am more familiar with them than with Live Nation.
I hope they can work out a deal to save it.
What can I say? I’m old. I remember all of that useless old stuff. Just do not ask me where my keys are this morning.
Someone should remind Oprah that “Queen for a Day” was broadcast from there. First show that focused on women. It was cheesy, but it was there. Maybe a reunion for people involved with that show could get the old place some attention?
I could just see something funky like an anime convention running in the Uptown. That would be a perfect fit. A Harry Potter convention would have gone over well in the old castle, too. There are all sorts of possibilities for the place besides films and plays. They could have another theatre conclave and use it as a base.
I was at the Chicago in the early 80’s when Lillian Gish brought some of her films and gave a talk on her career, and they played the films and used the Chicago Theatre organ. That kind of thing would be cool there, too. Some kind of annual theatre history program.
The problem is, no matter how many people think it’s worth saving, by the time they quit arguing about HOW to do it, the place will be rubble.
I heard, and granted, it was just something I heard, that the New York company that runs Radio City Music Hall and has brought many people into the Chicago Theatre with the Rockettes' Christmas show took a long hard look at the Uptown before deciding that the neighborhood and the condition of the theatre’s interior were cost prohibitive. But I love the Uptown dearly and still continue to hold out hope for the place. It has infinite possibilities and faces infinite impossibilities at the same time. I would love to see the theatre be part of that neighborhood turning around and becoming one again the thriving area that it used to be along time ago.
It has
I think there is definitely widespread discontent about taxation coming out of Chicago. But I’m no expert, either. My mother left because she literally could not afford to live there anymore.
I found my Theatre Historical Society booklet that featured the Uptown and was looking through it. I wanted to cry or pound the walls. I coudn’t make up my mind which.
Well, that probably counts as one of the few with verticals, considering how many there used to be. The Aragon IS amazing. I used to teach at St. Thomas of Canterbury school down the street, and I used to show the kids pictures of the Aragon, Riviera and the Uptown from their heydays as part of my lessons on the community. (My uncle worked at the Riviera when it was a movie theatre in the early 50’s and had some cool pictures.) If they tried to tear down the Uptown, I’d bet the old girl would put up a fight. Breaking up that huge lobby floor would e difficult and probably cost a fortune right there.
I worked there in the 70’s. They even had a few concerts there. It was funny to see people coming in stoned for a concert, looking around at the theatre going, “Wow, man!” This theatre was a gem. At that time the murals were still visible in the old nursery area. The main problem, if I remember correctly WAS the lack of parking. With the Nortown gone, it’s one of the last remaining theatres with a vertical sign, is it not? It deserves a chance.
Jayne1955
During the 70’s I worked at the Uptown, Nortown, Chicago, Gateway and several other ABC Great States/Plitt theatres, but the Nortown was my favorite. I love astmospheric houses. This one was in great shape back then. It’s a shame how it went downhill. It really was gorgeous. I have a lot of pictures I took somewhere. I will try to find them. I remember when the Theatre Historical Society had their conclave in Chicago in the 70’s, and the Nortown was one of the theatres included. Everyone had already left when a guy pulled up in a cab and asked if he was too late to see it. I took him around the place, and he was a really funny, interesting man. It turned out he was Kenneth Anger, of “Hollywood Babylon” fame. I’ll never forget that night.
Jayne1955