A Guide to Chicago’s Historic Movie Theaters

In the early days of cinema, movies were seen as cheap entertainment for the lower classes. In an effort to attract a more affluent clientele, theater owners in cities across America decided to build “movie palaces” that were larger and more ornate than the cramped nickelodeons and rundown vaudeville houses being used for motion pictures, and Chicago was an early adopter.

By Dave Lifton (@daveeatschicago)

Brothers Barney and A.J. Balaban partnered with Sam Katz to open the city’s first movie palace, North Lawndale’s Central Park, in 1917. Designed by Rapp & Rapp, it held 2,600 patrons and was the first air-cooled theater in the world. Four years later, their fourth, the Chicago was their first downtown. Inspired by French elegance on the interior and exterior, the “Wonder Theatre of the World,” as Balaban & Katz billed it, helped prove that a movie house could be as sophisticated as an opera house or symphony hall.

Balaban & Katz operated dozens of movie palaces throughout the city, including the Paradise (1928), immortalized in a triple-platinum 1981 concept album by Styx. Bronzeville’s Regal (1929) became more famous as a venue for every major Black musical act from the 1930s through the 1960s. Stevie Wonder recorded his first No. 1, “Fingertips, Pt. 2” there in 1962, and it was the site of B.B. King’s classic 1964 album Live at the Regal.

But their crown jewel was the Uptown (1925) at 4816 N. Broadway, only a block away from their Riviera. With 4,381 seats, it was the largest theater in the U.S. until Radio City Music Hall seven years later. For 50 years, the Uptown showed movies, and then transitioned to a concert venue. Its fate was sealed in December 1981, when a pipe froze and burst, and the owners decided to shut the facility rather than restore the building. It was purchased by local concert promoters JAM Productions in 2008, but plans to restore the Uptown to its former glory have yet to begin.

By the 1930s, the quarter-mile stretch of Randolph St. had become Chicago’s theater district, with no less than five major theaters for movies and/or stage productions: the Palace, Woods, Schiller (later the Garrick), Apollo (later the United Artists), and the Oriental (now the Nederlander). Around the corner on Dearborn St. stood the Harris and Selwyn, whose historic facades were incorporated into the Goodman when that company moved into a new complex in 2000.

The Nederlander was built on the site of the Iroquois Theater where, on Dec. 30^th, 1903, a fire broke out during an afternoon performance of Mr. Blue Beard. The owners had billed the five-week-old theater as “absolutely fireproof,” but the reality is that they had cut corners on fire-safety measures in order to get the Iroquois open in time for the lucrative holiday schedule. The building was quickly engulfed in flames, and 602 people lost their lives.   

These days, only the Nederlander and the Palace remain on Randolph St., having been restored in the 1990s and they now house touring musicals. The Adler & Sullivan-designed Garrick (1891) was torn down in 1960-1, but not before a public campaign arose to spare it. A section of the façade at the entrance was eventually moved to The Second City in Old Town, and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks was established in 1968 to protect buildings of historical significance.  

The focus on preservation spared many of these old theaters from the wrecking ball. One of them, the Ramova (1929) in Bridgeport, sat dormant from 1985 until 2017, when it was purchased. A $30 million, two-year renovation began four years later, with financial help from native South Siders Quincy Jones, Jennifer Hudson, and Chance the Rapper, and it reopened on New Year’s Eve 2023 as a live music venue, restaurant, craft brewery, and events space.

The Portage (1920) in Portage Park had gone through the same lifecycle as many others, but it was reborn in 2006, going completely retro by showing silent and classic movies before closing again in 2018. It is currently on Landmark Illinois’ Most Endangered Historic Places list.

One of Chicago’s old theaters has weathered the times. Lakeview’s 750-seat Music Box (1929) is arguably the city’s most beloved home for independent cinema, and it hosts events like 24-hour horror festivals in October and a double-feature of It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas—with a Christmas carol sing-along at intermission—throughout December.

Another Lakeview palace, the 3,080-seat Diversey (1925) was converted to a mall in the 1970s. But in 2000, the upper floors became the Landmark Century Centre Cinema, a seven-screen art house.

If your hometown had a movie theater that has either been demolished or repurposed and you wish to learn more about it, visit Cinema Treasures, an invaluable source of information on them.