Overview

Chicago's Uptown Theatre, one of America's largest and most lavish movie palaces, has sat vacant for more than 40 years. For decades, few people have been let inside--to experience its grand lobby, its sweeping staircase, or its massive theater auditorium, which once showed Marx Brothers films and played host to Bruce Springsteen concerts. The Uptown: Chicago's Endangered Movie Palace gathers the work of a dozen contemporary photographers with vintage blueprints, renderings, programs, and classic photographs to tell the story of one of America's jewels--a theater built ""for all time."" Opened a century ago, the Uptown is now in limbo, its beauty hidden behind a plywood barricade. Too costly to tear down and too expensive to restore, the theater faces a precarious future. That's why this book was created. To document what remains and to call for the protection and preservation of one of America's sacred places. It's not too late, as this book shows. Journalists Robert Loerzel and James A. Pierce have been studying the Uptown for decades. They have assembled a detailed documentation, relying on original records and first-hand accounts to tell the story of dreamers, a changing neighborhood and a nation stepping into a new world.

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9781733869072

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Opening this book is like stumbling upon a long-hidden door to an astonishing lost world. Spectacular photos combine with detailed, vivid storytelling to give readers a you-are-there feel for evolving life and times over an entire, rapidly changing century, all through the eyes of a single fairy-tale building."" --Lynn Becker, architecture critic "" More than a nostalgic journey, this is a thorough exploration of a cultural landmark, an in-depth examination of the architectural and social significance of a building that shaped the very fabric of Chicago's entertainment history, and a passionate plea for its restoration. The time is now."" --Cary Benbow, F-Stop Magazine ""The book is a bountiful feast for those who dig historic venues and want to peel back the layers of time to learn why it was built in the first place and what kinds of entertainment happened here over the decades. It also gives a firsthand account of how volunteers and owners have kept the theater from ruin in their combined hope for a revival. Historic, beautiful and distressed, the Uptown truly needs and deserves a miracle."" --David Gans, Author, host of Tales from the Golden Road on SiriusXM ""[This book] doesn't just show the Uptown--it feels like it. The scale, the details, the energy that still hums through the building--it's all there. But more than that, it tells the story of the people who've kept it alive... For me, this isn't just another theater book. It's a glimpse of the one that's always just out of reach--and a reminder of why it's still worth fighting for."" --Matt Lambros, Photographer & Author of After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater ""This wonderfully illustrated book is a valuable contribution both to the growing number of studies of Chicago neighborhoods and to the history of the movie palaces that once graced American cities. The Uptown details not only the Uptown Theatre and its history, but that of the neighborhood from which it took its name. This is a heroic story of twentieth century entrepreneurship, neighborhood building, and of the legion of volunteers who have worked to save the grand theater since its closing in 1981."" --Dominic A. Pacyga, Author of Chicago: A Biography ""The captivating images and stories in this book impel us all to support the efforts that will allow the UPTOWN to hold its place in Chicago's architectural firmament."" --Bill Kurtis, Journalist and author ""The UPTOWN: Chicago's Endangered Movie Palace does justice to a theater that thoroughly deserves a second (third?) life. With its descriptive passages and treasure trove of photos, it captures the Uptown in all its glory. If this book can help to spur a renovation of this magnificent theater, it will have served its purpose with flying colors."" --Will Clinger, Producer and Host of Wild Travels on PBS ""This volume's lavish photographs of the Uptown's glory days, and its decline, fix in our time what this monumental palace for entertainment - -and democracy! -- once was. Its richly detailed narratives of the Uptown and its namesake neighborhood's history explicates the building's past while also suggesting the future that might await it. Finally, the story of the Uptown's hundred years is the history of Chicago, and America, as well: silent movies to talkies, vaudeville to Cinemascope, Charlie Chaplin to Bruce Springsteen, extravagant terra cotta to ""less is more,"" boom times to white flight and blight followed by gentrification. The Uptown Theatre hosted or witnessed it all, and this book tells its story magnificently."" --Bill Savage, Author/ Northwestern University Professor

""Legendary and sprawling, a monument to a vanished age of cinematic grandeur, the Uptown Theatre in Chicago stands silent, awaiting its grand revival. Robert Loerzel and James A. Pierce's meticulously crafted volume traces the Uptown's journey, from its opulent opening to its gradual decline, and the unwavering dedication and hope for its restoration. Stunningly illustrated with contemporary and archival photographs and architectural renderings, this book captures the grandeur of the Uptown's design, the legendary events hosted there in its heyday, and a century's worth of memories forged within its walls. More than a nostalgic journey, this is a thorough exploration of a cultural landmark, an in-depth examination of the architectural and social significance of a building that shaped the very fabric of Chicago's entertainment history, and a passionate plea for its restoration. The time is now.""--Cary Benbow, F-Stop Magazine ""Opening this book is like stumbling upon a long-hidden door to an astonishing lost world. Spectacular photos combine with detailed, vivid storytelling to give readers a you-are-there feel for evolving life and times over an entire, rapidly changing century, all through the eyes of a single fairy-tale building.""--Lynn Becker, architecture critic

Author Information

James A. Pierce, a journalist, WDCB-FM jazz radio host, and a founder of Friends of the Uptown, has been documenting the Uptown Theatre and advocating for its restoration since 1998.Robert Loerzel, a journalist and photographer, is the author of Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 and an edition of the book Walking Chicago. He has written documentaries about the Union Stockyards and the Chicago River for the WTTW series Chicago Stories and worked on WBEZ's Curious City. He has also covered news, arts, and history for Chicago magazine, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader and Crain's Chicago Business.

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