Uptown Theatre in Chicago Finds a New Buyer

As friends and family know, Ted and I have long been advocates for the renovation of the Balaban and Katz Uptown Theatre, which is perhaps the biggest movie palace ever built in the United States. We were only ever able to go inside once--it's been closed since the early eighties--but we've hosted a petition to renovate it, published a free PDF reprint of the opening day Balaban and Katz magazine, took part in a documentary (click here for a preview), and pretty much prayed for its restoration and despaired that we would never see it happen. Well, yesterday it was purchased at a forced judicial sale/auction for $3.2 million, and the new owner hopes to see it restored. We have our fingers crossed. It's going to cost a bundle.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from an entry I wrote last fall for my other blog, which focuses on the history of the Uptown Chicago neighborhood. To read a more complete history of the theatre, go to our Web site: Compass Rose Uptown Theatre History.

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Near the end of 2005, I was lucky enough to take part in filming a documentary about the preservation efforts surrounding the Uptown Theatre. Prior to that, I had only glimpsed the interior from the street, but I had heard stories of its grandeur. My Aunt Marsha had told me how, during high school in the late fifties, she and her best friend would sneak into the Uptown to catch a show. It was also one of my dad's favorite theatres, the others being the Granada (demolished in the 1990s) and the Nortown (undergoing demolition this year). There really aren't many of these great movie palaces left standing.

The Uptown is a bit of a mystery to most folks in the neighborhood. It's been closed for decades, and it's very difficult to get permission to go inside. I work with Friends of the Uptown, and even I haven't been able to go back inside since 2005. (The caretakers won't let anyone in without a signed waiver from the city, and it's pretty much locked down tight. ) The exterior facade has been stabilized, which means that much of the elaborate terra cotta has been taken down for safe storage. She's certainly not looking her best, and for that she's often called "an eyesore" and a "stumbling block to neighborhood progress." But if they could only look inside! It's still in remarkably good shape. While many of the fixtures have been taken down and stored away over the years, the physical structure and the majority of the decorative plaster and features are there. I do have strong hope for its restoration. There are entertainment prospects who are interested. And heck, if the Oriental Theatre downtown can reopen after being shuttered for 18 years (and now hosting a very successful run of Wicked), it's quite feasible for another movie palace--this one located directly on the train line and in a rapidly improving area--to do the same...

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Our Uptown Chicago Condo

When I was growing up, I was pretty tight with my cousins, but now we're scattered from Arizona to Texas to Wisconsin and Illinois and all the way over to North Carolina. It's not surprising, then, that most of them were never able to make it over to see our condo before we moved to The Box House. At a family BBQ last week, I was reminded of that fact, and so I thought I'd share a few pictures here of how it looks since the current trio of tenants we are renting it to probably would not appreciate if we gave a tour in person.

Of course, looking at these pictures, I'm wistful for all the shiny newness of the condo, particularly as we spent our Fourth of July afternoon fixing an electrical problem in the tenants' unit at The Box House and missed out on another family BBQ. (Don't get me wrong, the condo had its own variety of problems, and I really do prefer a vintage building. But it will be a long while before we get The Box House looking how we want it to.)

This is the living room of the condo. It's pretty, but we almost never used this room. (Our couch is not really see-through, we had the mattress in another room when I took the photo.) We left the couches and curtains for the tenants.

This is the fireplace in the living room. It is the one thing I truly, truly miss about the condo. But we'll soon take care of our need to play with fire by building a fire pit.

Hmmm. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I can find on my hard drive of the kitchen (taken five minutes before we handed over the keys) and I'm too lazy to go look for another one on disc. You'll have to be satisfied with this, but please note we were never this clean. All the living room furniture was left for the tenants, as were the kitchen bar stools.

Poor Ted. I finished the Venetian Plaster on his office the day before we moved out of the condo, which is why the book shelves in this picture are empty and the desk is bare. I think I'll paint his office at The Box House the same color. Two walls are made from tongue-and-groove boards, the other two are brick, and I think it will make for a striking room.

This is the master bedroom, done up in terra cotta Venetian plaster. The 1930s deco bed with the marble-top cabinets is one I bought on eBay. Ted and I never got around to getting a proper mattress for it. We need to order a custom-sized one because the bed came from France and the size is non-standard. That's why our mattress is just set in the middle of the frame. At The Box House, we are currently using the nightstands and just the mattress--we haven't bothered setting up the frame at all. *Sigh*

This too-dark picture is of the guest room/my office. I LOVE the red walls, although I doubt anyone else will when it comes time to put the condo on the market. I may have to paint my office at The Box House red, although it may be too dark because it is in a basement. I do have two window, but still. The 1890s bed I picked up at an estate sale northwest of Chicago; supposedly, the house was part of the Underground Railroad.

Oh, and don't be fooled by that guitar. I haven't made it past the first lesson in my teach-yourself book and dvd set. But one day, Ted (who plays some classical guitar) and I will sit on the roof of The Box House, hippie style, and play our guitars under the full moon. One day.

The laundry closet with its stackable washer and dryer is kinda boring, as are the storage unit and the garage. So I'll skip those. But I'm saving the best for last. The bathrooms. Oh, God, how I'd love a reliable toilet right now. The Box House bathrooms will be beautiful after we've dealt with them, but for now I'd give anything to be able to flush the toilet just once and have everything whisked away as expected the first time.

Okay, I'm only going to show you one bathroom. This is the guest bathroom. The master bath has a jacuzzi and shower, but it never seems to look good in photos because I can't fit everything into one frame. The walls in this room were the first I ever tried to Venetian Plaster, and I LOVE this color.

Oops, that wasn't the last picture. I forgot the balcony.

The balcony is particularly nice in the evenings, and during the day has a freakish amount of sunlight because it's on the top floor without another porch above it. Some of the best times we had on the balcony were watching the fireworks from the Saddle and Cycle Club, a show that rivals the downtown fireworks in many ways--and you don't have to fight the crowds.

On the day we moved, we realized that the patio table, which we had assembled on the balcony, would not fit through the doorway. We were tired and crabby at this point, and didn't want to mess with taking the table apart, and couldn't even if we wanted to because we had already moved the tool chest. "Fine, the tenants can have a furnished balcony," I said, a decision I've since regretted. When the lease is up, I may go claim the table back. *Grin*

Schwarzie, the condo mascot. I fed him by hand for two years (once he even walked right into our bedroom from the balcony to look for peanuts) until he got a little greedy and nicked my finger. Ted made me stop at that point. Don't feed the wild animals, kids!

The condo is pretty, and after all the hard work we put in plastering the walls, I wish we could have enjoyed it longer. But I'm so thrilled to be living in a place we have more control over--for instance, we can make decisions on how to decorate the yard without having to go through a committee!

Well, that's the fifty-cent tour. I hope you enjoyed it! We'll be putting the condo on the market as soon as the market changes and people actually start buying condos again. (If any of you random readers are interested in moving to Uptown, let me know! The designer finishes are fabulous, if I do say so myself!)

Art Deco Exit Light from Esquire Theatre in Chicago

After four long weeks, it's finally here. I won this nifty exit light on eBay last month, and the seller decided to send it parcel post from Hawaii all the way to Chicago! I had assumed (and should have verified) from the shipping/handling fee that it was going priority. But no.

So, after weeks of wondering where the heck it was, if it was ever going to get here, and if so, what condition it would be in, it arrived. I was quite nervous when I saw the package, too, as it was dented in on one side. When I opened it, I saw that the exit light was wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap and had maybe an inch on each side with crumpled paper. It's fine, but seriously, what is up with some eBay sellers? I would never ship a fragile glass lamp via parcel post and package it so roughly. Grrr.

I love love the lamp. We plan on putting it in the stairwell of the enclosed porches by the back door. How cool will that be? Of course, it's not going to get hung for a long while. We're still trying to decide exactly how we will re-do the back porches, which will involve some rewiring and perhaps new ceilings. And the lamp, which may have been converted at some point as a plug in--although the switch is some rather ancient-looking bakelite piece, so I don't know for sure--will need to be hardwired for our purposes.

OK, so here's the back story, supposedly (and on eBay, without documentation, I take most claims with a grain of salt) : The exit lamp is from the Esquire Theatre in downtown Chicago. The seller bought it at an auction while in Chicago.

Now, I am a huge junkie of old movie palaces and theatres. Our condo in Chicago is just two blocks away from the Balaban & Katz Uptown Theatre, which is closed at the moment, but is perhaps the largest movie palace ever built. I so miss walking past this theatre every day and hope my tenants appreciate it--if they've even noticed it, because from the outside it's hard to tell what's inside now. I collect Chicago movie house memorabilia when I can afford to, so when I spotted this lamp I had to have it and justified the purchase because, after all, we need a new lamp for the stairwell anyway!

I have some acquaintances at the Theatre Historical Society, so when I get the chance I'll check out the archives and see if I can spot the light in one of the pictures. The Esquire was built in the late thirties, and the light fits the role. But even if I can't validate it, it sure is a cool period piece.