It is just a building, of course, standing near the corner of Broadway and Lawrence Avenues in the city’s Uptown neighborhood, from which it takes its name. It has “lived” for 100 years, most of them spectacularly active, but for the last 40 years or so as quiet and lifeless as a tomb in St. Boniface Cemetery, which sits just to the west.
You might have noticed some of the notable 100th birthday celebrations, such as stories in print and radio and TV, and a Chicago History Museum exhibit that will run through Jan. 4, 2026.
Many of these focused on a new book, “The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace” (CityFiles Press). It captures in words and photos (old and contemporary), vintage blueprints and programs, the building’s amazing history, but also serves as a call to action, an argument for salvation. The first words in the book are “The Uptown Theatre — a movie palace built ‘for all time’ — must be saved.”
Those words in the book’s introduction are written by James A. Pierce (better known as Andy), a journalist, radio host and founder of Friends of the Uptown. The bulk of the text is the work of Robert Loerzel, a writer and photographer, and a copy editor and contributor for the Tribune. Neither of these men is old enough to have experienced the Uptown when it was in operation. They only met a relatively short time ago when their shared enthusiasm for the theater and its history set them on the collaborative path.
“In realizing the 100th anniversary was coming up in less than two years, we knew we had a short deadline but decided to use our shared enthusiasm for the theater and for its future that we just had to work together,” said Loerzel.
The “gingerbread” style lobby at the Uptown Theatre on North Broadway in Chicago, circa 1931. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)
Pierce, who had come upon Loerzel’s compelling internet history of the Green Mill Gardens, an entertainment complex just south of the Uptown, says, “I thought this is the guy who tied the knots of the ancients in the tomb, doing the sort of research I always wanted to do.”
They chose to work with CityFiles Press, a publishing company run by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams that has produced many fine Chicago-centric photo-rich books over more than two decades.
“Rich Cahan’s book about (photographer and preservationist) Richard Nickel (1994’s “They All Fall Down”) has been an inspiration to me,” says Pierce.
Cahan and Williams have been pleased.
“We have been moved by the response to the book,” says Williams. “A week after its official release, we’d already sold half our stock and will likely be sold out before Christmas. And here’s what’s really interesting. At a recent event, easily more than half of the people buying books were young people, which is really heartening to see for us old timers.
“One of the reasons this book is so important to me personally is because I’m still haunted by what happened to the Granada Theatre in Rogers Park back in 1987. I was part of the losing battle to save the Granada, and it has always stung because I don’t think we ever made the case to the public about how beautiful and historic the Granada was. Much like the Uptown, the Granada had been shuttered for many years and people had forgotten what it looked like inside, as well as its rich history.”
The Granada Theater at night in Chicago in 1927. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
We have long been a city that erases parts of our past. But sometimes we’ve been able to hang onto some too, such as the Uptown’s neighbors, the Aragon Ballroom and Riviera Theatre.
There will never be another Uptown Theatre, among the largest and most luxurious theaters of its kind still standing. As Loerzel reminds us in the book, an early advertisement shouted, “It will hush and thrill you. It throbs with beauty.”
You will understand as you travel through the chapters that travel through the years and their entertainments, tasting of vaudeville, musicals and movies.
I was especially drawn to the book’s section on the 1970s, which were hard times for the theater and the neighborhood. The area had by then become a haven for Appalachian clans, Native Americans and immigrants from around the world, turning much of it into a place for those whom society has marginalized or left behind altogether.
It had more than its fair share of dilapidated apartment buildings, skid row taverns and guys on the street selling gold chains … selling whatever. Columnist Mike Royko once rightly called it “one of the most depressing sections of Chicago.”
The Uptown Theatre in disrepair in Chicago on July 16, 2015. (José M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
Jam Productions, the concert promotion organization, began booking shows at the Uptown in the mid-1970s and I was there for an unforgettable Bruce Springsteen show, a few of the 17 Grateful Dead concerts and some others until the Uptown closed for keeps after a J. Geils Band concert on Dec. 19, 1981.
It was already getting shabby by then, and the wear and tear continued as volunteers fought to stay the deterioration. Ownership of the theater passed through various owners, some with big plans, no plans and busted plans. The theater is now owned by Jerry Mickelson, who founded Jam Productions in 1972 with Arny Granat, who has moved on to other projects. Mickelson carries on and is an important voice in the Pierce-Loerzel book. He also recently wrote an impassioned editorial in this newspaper, which said, in part, “In 2008, I was the only bidder who showed up at the foreclosure auction… On that day, I had no clear plan for how I was going to save (the Uptown), only a deep conviction that it needed my help.”
Loerzel and Pierce share that conviction, as do many others. It will take a massive effort and a massive amount of money, with some estimates closing in on $200 million.
Look at the book and tell me it wouldn’t be worth it. Or as Mickelson writes, “The Uptown is more than a building — it is a stage for human connection, a monument to creativity, and a beacon of what can be achieved when vision meets commitment.”
rkogan@chicagotribune.com