Avalon Regal Theater
1645 E. 79th Street,
Chicago,
IL
60649
1645 E. 79th Street,
Chicago,
IL
60649
23 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 82 comments
January 13, 2023 WBEZ article about Avalon Regal Theater.
https://www.wbez.org/stories/avalon-regal-theater-history-south-shore-chicago/c95b2f43-4c7d-4f70-8d27-3fa7f464fdf5?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wbez
Not restoring there is nothing being done with this theatre!
The owner owes half a million in backed taxes, let the theatre interior become destroyed with water damage and still nothing done to this theatre. Went into it today for open house chicago. Extreme water damage in auditoriumsave this theatre now!
Block Club Chicago article about possible funding sources to prevent the Cook County Land Bank from taking possession.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/06/15/avalon-regal-theaters-owner-needs-millions-to-bring-landmark-back-to-life-and-hes-turning-to-crypto-to-do-it/?utm_source=Pico&utm_campaign=83d9e3a3fb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_05_26_01_35_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6b84a5cee-83d9e3a3fb-126767157&mc_cid=83d9e3a3fb&mc_eid=173b7b99f7
1955 photo credit Joe+Jeanette Archie, enlargeable within Flickr link.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jarchie/3549327067/in/photostream/
Article from today’s Sun-Times.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/20/22678518/avalon-regal-theater-restoration-jerald-gary-kanye-west
https://afterthefinalcurtain.net/2012/08/23/avalon-new-regal-theatre-2/
I haven’t been down 79th Street east of the Dan Ryan in about two years. But at that time it was pretty rough. Boarded up buildings, vacant lots, a bunch of police tape from some large recent crime, two menacing guys sitting inside a car parked in a vacant lot doing God knows what.
This is an incredible building in decent shape. But I suspect there are many challenges involved in bringing it back to life.
Hope this winds up being true, but Kanye West says he will be restoring this amazing theater.
https://therealdeal.com/national/2019/08/14/kanye-west-wants-to-be-the-henry-ford-of-real-estate-heres-what-hes-done-so-far/#new_tab?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=feature_posts
Link from August 2017 with photos.
https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/08/02/john-ebersons-persian-atmospheric-regal-theater-with-star-filled-auditorium-and-forgotten-attic-objects/?fbclid=IwAR2YTIoch_iP-JA5BWPrSL_pJCBdhQiDwgZ3qm7mzI4qdDg6nll9pKjMgrQ
(Amber Fisher, Sep. 10, 2018) – Kanye West announced on Sunday, Sept. 9 that he supports the restoration of the Avalon Regal Theater in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, which has since been transformed into a church, then a performing arts venue. “We’re doing Chicago Comedy Jam. We’re going to restore the Regal Theatre,” tweeted West, a South Side native. According to several reports, West was likely referring to the Chi City Comedy Jam, an annual stand-up comedy festival that features black comedians from Chicago. This year’s Chi City Comedy Jam will be held Oct. 5-6 at the Arie Crown Theatre. No further details were forthcoming about when the festival would be held at the Avalon Regal Theater. South Side native and entrepreneur Jerald Gary, 33, bought the theater for $100,000 in 2014, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He’s since been trying to raise money to fix up the building, and sent a message to the Sun-Times saying he acknowledged West’s tweet, according to the report. Gary couldn’t be reached for further comment, the Sun-Times reported.
Set to reopen October 1st.
http://chicagoist.com/2017/06/16/a_chicago_theater_will_start_hostin.php?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily+Chicagoist+Daily+Trump+Claims+Chicago+Is+Worse+Than+War-Torn+Places+In+Middle+East&utm_content=Daily+Chicagoist+Daily+Trump+Claims+Chicago+Is+Worse+Than+War-Torn+Places+In+Middle+East+CID_ecdcf602e19b62b722403a3747ee4f72&utm_source=CM&utm_term=Iconic+Avalon+Regal+Theater+Will+Specialize+In+Hologram+Shows+Starting+This+Fall
Update on the new Avalon Regal Theater.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/kapos-new-life-for-new-regal/amp/
Potential venue for hologram concerts now.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160217/south-shore/hologram-concerts-of-dead-legends-could-be-next-life-for-new-regal-theater
Article from this morning. Copy and paste to view.
http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/04/resurrecting-one-of-chicagos-most-endangered-landmarks/389739/
The new owners of the New Regal/Avalon Theatre in Chicago are trying to reopen the theater as a performing arts center. They’ve launched a crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter to raise the remaining $100,000 needed to open the theater.
You can contribute to the kickstarter campaign here: Resurrecting the Legendary New Regal Theater
Anyway, my album of Open House Chicago 2014 pics. Not all pics are up yet(Saturday stuff is except for one pic, as of now the only things I’ve uploaded so far. a lot, lot more to come….), and the Regal Theater pics are towards the end of the album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/prfsnlwannabe/sets/72157647007243464
I visited this theater on the Saturday of the Open House Chicago weekend, and was the last person to come in to visit that day, plus to leave when they locked it up that day. Dunno if you got lucky BobbyS, but it was a challenge to shoot pics in the auditorium IMO, due to the fact some of the lights that are supposed to illuminate the theater were sadly not on. I couldn’t even get one smart phone shot off on my phone inside the auditorium, and only could get phone shots off in the lobby. Also unfortunately, the balcony wasn’t open either.
But it was a very enjoyable visit, and I hope the new owner is able to reopen this theater at some point, even if not by fall 2015(guy locking the theater up for the day when I left, said that was the goal of the new owner). For myself, it was my first visit here in over 20 years(once did a school field trip here to see something(can’t remember what), back in the early 90s), and I really hope so darn much this theater doesn’t face the same decaying fate as the Palace Theater(another John Eberson theater) in Gary where it becomes nearly impossible to save, 20 miles east.
It never occurred to me before but I suppose there are a number of similarities between the Avalon (New Regal) and the Paradise. I’m sure the same could be said about the now-defunct Capitol, also on Chicago’s south side. Since the New Regal is the only remaining Eberson theatre in Chicago it would be very sad if it is torn down at some point. Hopefully they can make it work.
Went to the open house today. A stunning theater. Beautiful! Many people showed up with cameras. Theatre well lit. Marquee not on. I could see how the Paradise was influenced by this theatre. Lobby very similar minus the statues of the Paradise and all the detail of course. But the outer lobby & boxoffice & doors brought back many memories of the movie palace on crawford ave. The parking lot next door was not in use. Locked up with grass growing between the concrete. Parking on the side street only. I wish new owners plenty of luck when it re-opens. Neighborhhod is definetly a challenge.
$100,000 isn’t much money for such a big real estate deal. That’s not a positive sign.
And I really don’t understand why so much money was used to build a new Black performing arts center on the site of the old Regal Theater. The timing of the project was horrible, as both performing arts and film presentation aren’t what they used to be, and it created competition for the New Regal after so much money was spent to make it beautiful again. Neither facility has fared well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Washington_Cultural_Center
I hope there is a good ending to all this. But right now I don’t see it.
The Avalon will be open as part of the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago on October 18 and 19, 2014: http://www.openhousechicago.org/site/396/
Sold for $100,000 to a company called Community Capital Investment, whose plans for the theater are unknown. DNAInfo story here.
From David Roeder’s column in today’s Sun-Times:
A buyer has emerged for the landmark New Regal Theater at 1645 E. 79th St. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has marketed the 2,250-seat auditorium for the eye-catching price of $99,000, said through spokesman Greg Hernandez that U.S. Equities Realty, its broker, has found a potential purchaser and is in the “due diligence” stage to determine if it can close a deal.
Hernandez declined further comment. The FDIC got the property through a bank failure. The last person to operate the theater was Regina Evans, the former Country Club Hills police chief, who booked some shows there but defaulted on her loans. She’s now due to be sentenced in a fraud scheme involving state job-training grants tied to the theater.
Would love to visit the New Regal Theatre; an audience is definitely waiting for a resolution on this story.