It’s been about 35 years since I first met an enthusiast for the Uptown Theatre and heard tales of its imminent revival and its promise to transform the neighborhood.
The latest report on the topic comes via the Tribune’s Blair Kamin. In the course of a long and engrossing article on the Uptown Theatre’s history and prospects, Kamin tosses off a few jibes at the “diverse, ever-struggling” Uptown neighborhood. He sees the theatre as “an oversized symbol of the teasing promise and ongoing dilapidation of the Uptown neighborhood.”
Ongoing dilapidation? One can only speculate that Kamin hasn’t seen much of Uptown over the past 30 years. It’s a neighborhood that still has many problems, but one that has seen a great deal of new construction and rehab activity during that time span.
Joseph,
Kamin linked to an article by Mark Caro.
Caro wrote that
Here’s a post from the comments section of the original article:
John Pappas at 10:43 AM October 12, 2011
When I was a student at Northwestern, I co-produced a documentary about the theatre. We were lucky enough to get into the theatre while it was still in receivership and spent 13 hours filming the entire building. It’s the best documentation of the theatre yet, but it still pales in comparison to actually being inside. Walking in to the Grand Lobby is truly a transformative experience. For that reason, I urge people to check out that fundraiser mentioned at the end of the article. That’s a RARE opportunity. But in the meantime, feel free to check out the video here: http://vimeo.com/5812171
I saw that documentary at the Portage Theater and it is well worth watching.
Will the Uptown Theater be reopened in the near term?
I suspect Mayor Rahmbo wants it to happen. He’s not exactly bashful about pressuring people into submitting to his imperial and annoying will.
With the opening of the parking garage at Truman College and the now vacant parking garage at the old AON building on Broadway the parking issue has largely been dealt with.
Just getting the building into shape to open the lobby for charity events and weddings for those with too much money would be a good start.
I wouldn’t want to be the owner of the Uptown if the Mayor had any leverage over me. Being the biggest concert promoter in town seems to give the Mayor some leverage.
“You got lotsa venues, I got lots of building inspectors.”
When Sears was talking of moving their HQ out of Chicago in the late 60’s the first Mayor Daley, may his memory light the fire of our imaginations and may his progeny rule over us for a thousand years, basically had that conversation with the chairman of Sears.
“You got lotsa stores in da city, I got lotsa building inspectors.”
Thanks for the clarification, IrishPirate.
Kamin didn’t link. He copied verbatim. It is so completely wrong to incorporate an entire article by someone in your post that I missed Caro’s byline.
Yeah,
Kamin’s post was a bit confusing. Perhaps since Caro also works for the Tribune he didn’t see any problem in copying it verbatim. He should have made it clear Caro had written the piece.
Caro’s comment on “ongoing dilapidation” is way off base; although, I do like the whole turn of phrase in that sentence.
James Joyce comes to mind.
“My mouth is full of decayed teeth and my soul of decayed ambitions”.
Uptown has some cavities and chipped teeth, but the root canal is done. The ambitions of the Uptown Soul may not quite be within reach, but are clearly within sight.
My guess is through some combination of city loan guarantees, tax breaks, and corporate sponsorship we shall soon see some movement on reopening the Uptown Theater. As I suggested earlier “da mare” does have a bit of leverage on this issue.
Considering where interest rates are and the lack of activity in the construction industry now would be a good time to go forward. I suspect our 9 1/2 fingered “mare” might even get some concessions from the trade unions for a project of this size.
Joe,
Uptown is still in bad shape. Perhaps it was worse years ago, but it has a long way to go. That’s why I cringe when I see Uptowners oppose developments like that new highrise complex (forgot the name). Seriously, you want less market rate housing? If I were a property owner in that neighborhood I would be desperate for more developments like that. In the short run such developments may lower your property values because there is more supply, but in the long run the effect would be opposite.
tup,
Parts of Uptown are in bad shape, no doubt about it. But other parts of Uptown have improved so much that their neighbors are trying to rebrand them as “South Andersonville” and “East Ravenswood.”
Here’s a video in which I reminisced about the changes along Kenmore Ave, beginning with Dylan’s Desolation Row in the background:
Tupster,
the main objection against the proposed “Lake View Station” development at Clarendon and Montrose was the possible use of tens of millions of TIF dollars.
Now of course some NIMBY’s did oppose the building of a highrise because they felt that Uptown needed more park space. Right across the street from a large park and one block west of Lincoln Park.
Personally I wanted a tall market rate highrise there. I suspect the financing could be found for a large rental building there.