Sometimes the biggest things go unnoticed. The Uptown Theater, for example. For a full century it’s stood at 4816 North Broadway, always there but overlooked by passersby since it closed its doors some 45 years ago. But in its heyday the Uptown was rarely so quiet and reserved. Rather it was the centerpiece of the likewise bustling Uptown neighborhood. Local writer Robert Loerzel and co-writer James “Andy” Pierce have addressed the theater’s long yet abbreviated history in their new book The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace, an encomium of photographs, prose, and praise for a theatrical grande dame as well as a plea for its preservation.

Photo credit CityFiles Press.

Loerzel is a font of facts about the theater and Uptown neighborhood, the latter of which he’s called home for the past 20 years. A journalist by trade, he stresses his lack of academic credentials as an historian. Regardless, he’s covered many of Chicago’s little-known stories in books and articles written for sundry newspapers, radio stations, and public TV. He also has a reputation as one of Chicago’s premiere flâneurs, wandering the city and snapping pictures and writing about its wildlife. The latter can refer to both Chicago beasties at large and the many hotspots that serve and served the Uptown area.

“A few years ago, I did a story for Curious City and WBEZ. The question was why the area around Broadway and Lawrence had all these entertainment venues that had been around since the 1920s. Answering that question led me down all these rabbit holes.”

As Loerzel researched another Uptown neighborhood mainstay, the Green Mill Tavern—blogging about it under the title “The Coolest Spot in Chicago”—he eventually encountered James “Andy” Pierce. Pierce is his co-author on The Uptown, a Friends of the Uptown volunteer, and a fellow journalist who shared his interest in the neighborhood and the Uptown in particular.

He and Pierce first conceived of the book in the spring of 2024, anticipating the theater’s centennial on August 18, 2025. City Files Press agreed to publish it, long having a history of releasing books on architectural preservation. The time frame was tight, but Loerzel and Pierce created a document of the neighborhood, building, and its story. More impressively, The Uptown grants a exceedingly rare glimpse into the theater’s shuttered confines. Unlike many Chicago buildings, tours are not available to the general public.

Photo credit CityFiles Press.

The Uptown was commissioned by the Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation and designed by the architectural firm of Rapp and Rapp (who also built the nearby Riveria Theater, The Loop’s Chicago Theater, and several other “palaces” in Chicago and elsewhere). It was n exceedingly special place. Per Loerzel’s blog, “ith 4,381 seats, it was the world’s largest cinema at the time.” As is typical of many movie palaces, whoever or whatever is on the stage or screen isn’t the only thing to see. The Uptown’s interior offered gloriously overflowing art and ornamentation. Still does—not that anyone could tell from the outside today.

“I’ve walked past the Uptown Theater countless times over the years, and only very recently, when I was working on this book, did I ever get a chance to go inside,” says Loerzel. “It had always been to me, this mysterious, building. I mean, it’s huge… It’s a respectable-looking, bulky building. But…it’s not like a jaw-dropping impressiveness… But the inside is really amazing.”

Loerzel describes the book as a “guided tour” (with sumptuous photos of the theater in its bloom as well as its current state of elegant decline), while serving as a “a lens through which you could look at how American pop culture changed over the years.”

“It was one of the biggest and most lavish movie palaces in the country, or really in the world, when it was built in 1925, so it is historically important for that reason,” he continues, “A lot of people who are fans of the old movie palace architecture would mention the Uptown Theater as an exemplar of that form.”

In addition to silent films, the Uptown offered elaborate stage shows, a full-time orchestra, and other entertainments, and employed a staff of more than 130 uniformed workers. In the years to come it hosted performances by luminaries like the Marx Brothers, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington, and was rewired to show “talkies,” mostly operating as a movie theater. 

Later, in the mid-70s, it hosted rock shows, with the likes of Roxy Music, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Prince, Peter Gabriel, the Kinks, Frank Zappa, the Grateful Dead, and others playing its stage. But the theater took a beating from the big crowds. Many fans recall concerts where the balcony swayed and plaster fell as the music boomed and patrons danced and stomped. The J. Geils Band was the last act to play the Uptown on December 19, 1981. It’s difficult to imagine that last audience appreciating the Uptown’s fancy statuary, stained glass, fountains, light fixtures, and other garnishments as “Love Stinks” reverberated throughout the theater. 

Photo credit CityFiles Press.

After it closed, and over time, volunteers worked to keep the place on life support—making repairs, checking door locks, minding the plumbing, and so forth to offset further damage. Receiving city landmark status in the 90s protected the Uptown from extreme modifications or the wrecking ball. The current owner seeks funding to help the theater return to its former glory, but there’s much more to be done to save it. Which led Loerzel to an interesting observation regarding his work on the book.

“I’m not really accustomed to being the advocate for things. People like to dismiss the whole idea of both sides journalism these days,” he says, “but that’s what I was raised on and was trained to do. So, I do like the idea of journalism that’s down the middle…fair and objective. It gives the different sides of an issue”

He continues.

“So as I set out to write a history about the Uptown Theater, I was not initially thinking of it as something that would be an argument for saving the theater, but to some extent, I think that’s what it ended up being.”

The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace is available at bookstores and through the CityFiles Press website.

For more information on efforts to save the Uptown Theater, visit the Friends of the Uptown Theater site.

Robert Loerzel and James Pierce will talk about the Uptown Theater and the book at the following events:

Monday, December 8, 6 p.m.: Chicago Architecture Center, 111 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Register here.

Sunday, December 14, 2 p.m.: Bezazian Branch of the Chicago Public Library, 1226 W. Ainslie Ave.