Chopin Theater

sdoerr on July 3, 2004 at 12:14 am

Anyong have any pictures of the exterior? I have been along Michigan Ave and never seen a building that could of housed it.

atlastheatre on August 14, 2004 at 5:28 am

It was at Michigan Avenue and Chopin, between Central and Lonyo. I’m not positive if that picture is right or not. I remember a dry goods store and later a pizza parlor in that corner, but both are now gone. It could be the right one, or not.

The actual theatre would have had an entrance just before the party store. The marquee would have been about where the party store sign is now, but the marquee has long since been taken down. The building on the corner may well be the lobby, since remodeled. The actual theatre would be in the back of the building. Because there are second-story windows on the corner we see, I would think that the theatre would be further in, towards the middle of the block.

It was owned by Stanley Oleszkowicz, who ran it along with his children. An immigrant from Poland, he first owned a combination grocery store and hall (which became a bar whenever the hall was not rented out) with a place upstairs for the family. When prohibition came, Stanley sold that business and used the profits from it to build the Chopin Theatre. There were storefronts on the first floor and office space on the second floor, which were rented out. Stanley’s oldest son was the projectionist until the projectionist’s union objected. They set off a stink bomb in the lobby. Stanley was not intimidated, but both of his older sons refused to be the projectionist. That’s how the Chopin Theatre got a union projectionist.

Stanley and his family ran the Chopin until about 1930 or so, when Stanley decided to build a bigger theatre. That one was, modestly, named the Stanley Theatre, and it was on Warren near Greenfield. In 1938, Stanley opened his last theatre, the Atlas, on Plymouth between Greenfield and Southfield.

When Stanley moved his attention to the Stanley Theatre, he rented the Chopin to a gentleman who also had a theatre across the street. This gentleman showed Polish films in one theatre and American films in the other, until about the time when the Nazis invaded Poland. The timing may be coincidental, but still, it is what it is.

P.S. I know all this because my mother was one of Stanley’s children. And yes, I do listen to the stories in my family.

sdoerr on August 14, 2004 at 5:51 am

I did an aerial view, image here, the street right above the tack is Chopin st

CMHurley on December 29, 2017 at 12:13 am

Building is long gone, now a small shopping plaza.