Chicagoist: Forgotten Chicago: Save These Theaters

60609

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:18:11 -0600

Just to set the record straight-the Ramova Theater was not designed by the same architect as the Music Box. However, they were built in the same year, 1929, and in the same atmospheric style. They are very reminiscent of each other, except the Ramova is actually bigger. So whoever WardUp is (person who wrote that they were sister theaters and built by the same architect)is wrong. Furthermore, I was the one who spoke to the former Alderman Huels in the Nativity parking lot when the petition signature gathering was going on. The former Alderman was gracious and was just as interested as we were about helping to save the Ramova. I don't know who WardUp is, so if you want to come out of the closet, please call or shoot me an email, since I'm reportedly your friend. If you are my friend, then you know who I am. WardUp is right about Halsted St being the Lithuanian Broadway back then for sure. The Ramova was actually built by a Lithuanian man named Mikalunas. Labas!

joseph_dunphy_in_chicago

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:47:12 -0600

"For some reason independent movie theaters seem to have a really hard time. Look at the Three Penny and that one on Clark in the Gold Coast. I guess you just can't make it with only one screen." Actually, the Village had a few screens, but the problem with the space was more vertical than horizontal: so little space overheard, that the fan was in front of the screen when the lights were on, waiting to be retracted when the movie came on, with that fan dangling overhead, shaking in a way that was none too reassuring. I'd like to see somebody come up with a good use for the old place - maybe as a live theatre? But as a movie theatre, it was cramped and uncomfortable, and more than a little filthy, with bathrooms that look like they hadn't seen real maintenance in my father's lifetime. I'm firmly convinced that some of the popcorn I saw embedded in that carpet was older than I was. Movie audiences often fail to respect their spaces, and dealing with the damage calls for a budget that a few $7 ticket sales won't make a reality.

Von Erich

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:57:13 -0600

Growing up over by the Patio, I can tell you that the only way it is going to be saved is if they move the Polish Film Festival there, which will never happen because the Copernicus Center (Gateway Theater) has it. The demographics of the neighborhood will never make it a brew and view. It has had an "Under Renovation" sign morph into a "Renovation" sign with mismatched letters for years. The entire building that it is housed in has a beautiful facade. The two guys that saved the Portage Theater should have a book written on them. Because only people that devote all of their time and savings into saving something that will have a lasting effect deserve it. They not only rescued it form ruin, but also from some crack pot religious group that was set to demo all the ornate features inside. From what I understand, the work that needs to be done to the Patio is huge and unnoticeable (new roof, electricity, plumbing, duct work. It's hard to put all of your energy into stuff behind the scenes, and still have capital to modernize a theater that hasn't played a movie in years.

JawsOfJosh

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:47:04 -0600

I've lived around the corner from the Patio for several years. When they were last open, a ticket was only $1.50 for a 2nd run movie. They always seemed to enjoy decent attendance for any film I saw there. I think the last film I saw at the Patio was "Unbreakable". I hope those two guys who rescued the Portage theater will save this one as well.

A2

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:22:29 -0600

For some reason independent movie theaters seem to have a really hard time. Look at the Three Penny and that one on Clark in the Gold Coast. I guess you just can't make it with only one screen.

Ward Up

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:12:54 -0600

I leafleted with the Save the Ramova group a few years ago. I remember, as we leafleted and petitioned in the parking lot of Our Lady of the Nativity on Sunday, we handed a leaflet to a chubby older man. "Hello, Alderman," said my friend to as the chubster headed in to Sunday mass. It was former Alderman Pat Huels, the 11th ward boss who resigned in a corruption scandal in the 1990's. Though he left office, the 11th ward crooks kept right on going with their Hired Truck bonanza. Oh, to be fair, Huels did sign the Ramova petition.

Dig

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:14:24 -0600

Last I heard the city gave the OK to turn Ramova into a restaurant. There is a Save the Ramova group, though I don't know how active / effective they are. It would be IDEAL if Bridgeport-Pilsen-University Village-McKinley Park had a good theater. Everything is up north or in the suburbs. If I had some money I'd buy it and do what the Music Box does - show a mix of contemporary (maybe 2nd run for costs) and classic movies and also rent it out for events (LaGrange theater does this).

Ward Up

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:25:47 -0600

I've been in two of those places, the Ramova and the Colony. For those of you who have seen old movies at the Music Box Theater on the North Side, The Ramova is the sister theater of the Music Box, with the same architect and some similar features. By the way, Chicago's first Lithuanian community was in Bridgeport centered just southwest of 31st and Halsted and the name "Ramova" means something like "good times" or "fun" in Lithuanian. For you sticklers, the Providence of God parish in Pilsen, a Lithuanian parish, started AFTER the Lithuanian parish of St. George's in Bridgeport.

ndrewpetersen

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:53:03 -0600

These are incredible landmarks, and I know that there is more than one person who feels this way. In the past, I have discussed doing something in the style of a McMenamins theatre. Pipe dreams really, especially with the archaic liquor laws in Chicago, but truly, if you have never seen a McMenamins, check out the bagdad website http://mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=9&category=Location%20Homepage Yeah, it is in Portland Oregon, so it is a hell of a lot easier to get a liscense to brew, but still. The Patio on a warm fall night with a fresh Pint and a good movie? Perhaps even making the "Patio" a reality on one of the rooftops. Hell yeah!