Paradise Theater
231 N. Pulaski Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
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Photo Info
Taken on: January 21, 2012
Uploaded on: January 21, 2012
Camera: HP HP psc1310
Size: 1.3 MB
Views: 10,069
Full EXIF: View all
Reference black white: 0255128255128255
Model: HP psc1310
Color space: 1
Make: HP
X resolution: 200
Pixel X dimension: 1819
Resolution unit: 2
Y resolution: 200
Pixel Y dimension: 1164
Date time original: Sat Jan 21 00:15:10 -0800 2012
YCbCr positioning: 2
Exterior of Paradise Theatre in Chicago taken in May 1956, just prior to closing.
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Comments (11)
Great photo. But somehow it doesn’t communicate the size of the place.
In this view it seems obvious that the marquee was shortened to make way for a wider street. I’m guessing the vertical was replaced because the new one was much cheaper to maintain.
Thanks Paradise, Great photo! I remember very well the end. Even though the marquee was changed ,it was still very impressive with the orange neon and chasing whites. What a beautiful building! This photo shows alot of detail. Should have been saved, but we all went down this “street” before. Got any last of the Marbro?
Thanks Bobby. I don’t have any of the Marbro, but I have seen photos taken at the closing and during demolition. Incidentally, I used to post under the name “Scott” but it was changed to Paradise when CT did its redesign. I just haven’t bothered to change it back.
I knew it was you all along Scott….
Bobby, I seem to remember you had a photo of the Paradise you were thinking about posting.
Paradise, I do have a color night photo of the Paradise in its orange & white glory. How do I post it? And do I need a printer or scanner?
Bobby, this is what I did. I scanned the photo and saved it to my hard drive. Then I just uploaded the file to CT by clicking on the “Add a New Photo” button on the photos page. When there, click on the “Browse” button and you would point it to the file on your hard drive. That’s all there is to it. If you don’t have access to a scanner, you could go to a photo store or a Kinko’s and they could scan it for you. Where I live there’s a place that will put a picture on a CD for $4. There are probably other ways to do this, but that would require advise from someone smarter than me.
go to the library they usually have a scanner wired into a computer used for public internet use scan the photo/s and save to a pen drive
The exterior of this famous “Paradise” was in the “Louis XVI” style- while the interiors of white marble(staircases, statues, etc.) was in a suggested “Roman Villa” style. No doubt it would have satisfied a “Louis” and his French court. High(very high)above the proscenium arch was a life-sized statue of “Apollo in his chariot”– driven by horses(among other numerous statues in white marble(or faux marble)thru out. The very high celling- painted like the evening sky with twinkling stars + clouds- unfortunately affected the acoustic quality of the “new” sound pictures of the time, to the point it became hard to hear the sound/dialog. People began to frequent a competitor’s theater nearby- which offered better sound acoustics. This was just the beginning of the Paradise’s decline.
this 1956 paradise photo just screams old chicago long gone neighborhood movie palace. streetcar tracks and trolley wires too on crawford. in 1959 when my parents drove me by i remember the closed paradise (shortly before demolition). and i’m pretty sure the marquee truncation was necessatated by street widening because you can tell how narrow the sidewalk looks. when the (old) marquee had too much outward overhand a tall truck might clip it with street widened (that wasn’t before).