Adelphi Theatre
7074 N. Clark Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
7074 N. Clark Street,
Chicago,
IL
60626
11 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 94 comments
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/df4fzc
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Here is a link to the story:
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Recap: The news piece that aired last night on NBC, basically covered the neighborhood’s frustration over the giant unfinished hole in the ground that was once the Adelphi Theater.
They ran a quick clip with a vintage pic of the building and marquee. And did mention the Adelphi by name.
Then it went into the various political donations that the developer had made to the current Alderman, and those in the ward’s of their other past developments. A practice the current Alderman apparently previousy frowned upon.
The story further implied that various re-zoning (to a 5 story structure in the Adelphi’s case), and other permit issues were suspect due to ANY donations given to a ward’s Alderman.
Didn’t quite catch what happened to cause the developer work stoppage at the Adelphi site.
But it apparently has left an in-ground foundation with rusting steel beams, and a chain link fence around the entire site for two years.
As well as exasperated neighbors who just refer to it as “the hole”.
hah. Thanks.
FYI. I believe there is a Carol Marin news piece about the Adelphi property on tonight’s, (March 18th) 10 pm NBC Channel 5 newscast.
It’s titled “Hole In The Nieghborhood” or something similar.
Thanks, Got it! Great Pic. I see now that it was actually three ushers inlaid on the sidewalk, standing at the ready.
A unique design feature that should have been harvested before the demolition. Thanks again.
Look through the Flickr links I put up last year. There are some pictures of the sidewalk in one of those galleries. Can’t remember which one.
Does anyone have a link to an old picture of the foyer sidewalk out front?
The name Adelphi & an inlaid image of a uniformed theater usher, adorned the sloped, terazzo floor out front.
The usher resembled the old Phillip Morris cigarette character.
I worked at the Adelphit starting in 1958, were I met my wife to be.
We are still married today. I started as an usher & she was a candy girl. We both worked are way up the corporate ladder to assistant manager & head casher. The manager at the time was Howard Lambert.
I still remember the dark & spooky basement. I would have to go down there & stoke the furance in the winter. Also the candy was stored down there in the tin lined ice room ( ice was stored there for the air conditioning before central air). We even found a stalk of popcorn growing out of a crack in the floor, with little or no light.
One of my jobs as an usher waqs to change the canopy for the new movies. It took a 14' step ladder and a lot of streching in rain, snow, & ice. OSHA would not have approved.
We still keep in touch with several of our coworkers. We have many found menories of the Adelphi. Would love to hear from any customers are former employees from 1958 – 62
Mike & Joan Williamson McGovern
This just keeps getting better:
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Here is a second cool Adelphi photo on Flickr:
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Two years on now, and we still have a pit. BRAVO JOE MOORE!
any condos up yet?
White Castle would be good there (mmmmmm! Sliders!)
I’d be surprised to see so much as a White Castle on the spot in 5 years…
lol not quite what i meant but i would much rather have that than a condo like they planned! I think the best Idea would be a museum on the spot that is a tribute to all fallen theaters in and around chicagoland
I know that I previously stated that I was not all that fond of the Adelphi. But let’s face it. It did provide some form of culture to the Rogers Park neighborhood. It was something unique, which could have been saved as a small peforming arts venue, or it could have been successfully put into adaptive re-use.
So I say, I agree with the above statements. I hope that the “developer” goes bankrupt! I hope that the pit, which now occupies the site, remains for a very long time as a reminder to those who “greased the wheels” to get this theatre demolished. The same goes for the DuPage, the Esquire, et. al.
Or, how ‘bout what redrobedmage says above? Let’s make it into a “park-n-ride” lot for the nearby METRA station!
That is true, lets go for the lot then!
A vacant lot would be an improvement. What we have now is a pit in the ground.
There probably wont be anything up for awhile. From what I hear about the developer, he has some skeletons which might prevent this from happening soon. Also, those idiots decided to do this just as the real estate bubble burst! Its not quite a good market and wont be for years, we might be looking at an empty lot for a few years…..
There is still nothing going on here. They have taken down the heavy barricare which surrounded the property until recently and erected a much smaller fence.
I try not to be controversial on this site. So please read my entire post before you form your opinions. And this is at the risk of being ridden off this website at a rail. But I used to live in the area for many years (I still am a Northsider). And quite frankly, I wasn’t all that upset to see the Adelphi go. It had become an eyesore and I never really thought that the exterior was all that great either.
BUT…
What upsets me more is what will replace the theatre. I thoroughly agree with Paul F’s post about McMansions and blandness taking over. I saw the “artist’s concept” on the link to the READER. That new condo complex looks just like every other condo complex being built! It is totally out of scale with the rest of the area. But the wonderful alderman says in the READER article, “Current zoning permits a four-story building, this is only ‘one’ story taller.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but if a building is only “one” story taller than zoning laws permit, then doesn’t it still exceed the zoning limits?
I realize that not everything can or should be saved. Those interested in preservation should pick battles carefully. But why couldn’t the Adelphi at least have been replaced by something worthwhile?
News Item:
Chicago Evening Post, Saturday, November 10, 1917, p. 8:
ASCHER BROTHERS OPEN ANOTHER NEW THEATER
One of the seven new theaters in Chicago is the Adelphi, the newest and most beautiful of the whole splendid Ascher string of motion-picture theaters. Located on North Clark street near Estes avenue, it is, with its straight lines and artistic interior decorations in pastel colorings, a monument worthy of the fifth largest industry of the country.
address given is 7070 North Clark, cor. Estes Ave; opened at 6 pm on the date given. The film was Metro’s, “Outwitted,” with Emily Stevens