Granada Theatre
6427 N. Sheridan Road,
Chicago,
IL
60626
6427 N. Sheridan Road,
Chicago,
IL
60626
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Had the pleasure of visiting the theater on a THS tour . Met a new owner who seemed very upbeat on its future. Chicago always had the most ornate theaters in the country. In our throwaway society,we toss something aside when we deem it is no longer needed. Sadly we will be remembered by what we destroy instead of what we retain.
Of all the major theaters that have been razed in Chicago, the loss of the Granada might be the most unfortunate. The theater would have needed restoration to become a first class performance space, but it was in very good condition at the time of closing in 1986. And the Rogers Park neighborhood was, and is, fairly solid, certainly when compared to the other Chicago neighborhoods that have lost deluxe movie houses. It was a great building in a good location, which would have made it a solid candidate for restoration. So to me, its demise is the saddest of all the destroyed Chicago movie palaces since it could have worked as a restored theater.
This beautiful theater should never ever have been torn down! A real beauty in every detail… Short sided from the people in Rogers Pk. This beauty should have been saved as an arts center for the north side.. I blame Loyala for this. It was intact and needed minor improvement. It had history and was a beautiful building! Could have remained as a showplace for the university!!!!
http://loyolaphoenix.com/2017/11/remembering-rogers-parks-iconic-granada-theatre/
Another from Mark Susina, circa 1976.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mss2400/33086339194
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mss2400/33923347596/in/pool-464579@N20
Chicago lost something lovely and very historic when this was disposed of. A tragedy.
11-19-75 photo added. Photo and copy courtesy of Tim O'Neill.
40 years ago tonight, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST had its world premiere at the Granada Theatre; presented by the Chicago International Film Festival. I wasn’t there but I heard the house was rocking. A packed auditorium in a giant 3400-seat North Side movie palace, Irv Kupcinet appeared on stage and introduced Jack Nicholson to the audience. Milos Forman was there as well. The audience loved the movie. This movie would go on to box-office success and 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1975. It is a 1970s classic. I wish I was at the Granada Theatre on that historic night. It must have been epic.
“MASH” at the Granada. Source unknown.
Markg-Please get in touch. I am anxious to learn what you know about the Lincoln sculpture. I think I know where it is. staff@alincolnbookshop.com
I’m wondering if the Three Stooges festival I attended in March, 1986 was on the last night the Granada was open. It was cold in the Granada although the heat was on, but the large audience remained throughout. In the poster cases outside, there were announcements of new ownership and presentations to come, yet I never read of anything else ever offered at the Granada.
An interior photo of the Granada’s audtorium probably taken not long before the theater’s demolition can be seen here.
Who remembers or has pictures of the sculture in the lobby of Abe Lincoln as boy in the Granada
September 18th, 1926 grand opening ad is in the photo section for this theatre.
Here is a nice early lobby view
I heard once that it was the building owner who removed the decorative glass from the center of the grand window. The story goes that he did a poor job of packing and the window was destroyed in transit to another part of the U.S.
I had the pleaure of being in the theater in 1986 when a new owner full of high hopes took over. Reality than set in. It was an experience. Only in the US do we destroy our architectural treasures in the name of progress, Very sad.
I believe some of the glass doors now reside at the Portage.
Nice find Brian. I’ve never seen a good shot of the box office and entrance.
View link
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PS, I hope to bring the oldgranadatheatre.com website back soon. :)
Hey Everyone, this is the Michael Kuecker that used to have the website oldgranadatheatre.com :) I lost my original account on this site, and after months of trying to contact the webmasters – because I dumpped DSL for Cable and no longer can access the emails (long story) they never were able to assist me.
When Comcast came to install my internet, they reset all my settings to default before I could stop them which erased all my saved passwords.
Now I’m back, and please get in touch with me about my Granada Theatre love. :)
Thanks LTS for posting those. I’d completely forgotten about Aphrodite’s, the restaurant in the foreground of the 1st pic. A girl I knew called there about a job. Whoever answered the phone told her to come in person. Unfortunately it was just a dishwasher who wanted to meet girls. Management was none too happy with him.
In the 2nd B/W photo it looks like there is a miniature version in the foreground, of the then Granada blade.
I wonder if that was some type of restaurant that was tied to the Granada. Like say the Artist’s Snack Shop down by the Studebaker Theatre.
Never seen these before:
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This is a lttle off topic but not really. I toured the Sanfillipo Mansion near Barrington in 2005. Had I been up on my CT reading back then, I would have known to asked the more than gracious host to point out the various architectual gems saved from the Granada. There were numerous pipe organs, Victrola’s & kaliopies throughout. Even a fully equipped retro diner.
The grounds had an outbuilding that had a reconstructed 1890’s indoor fairgrounds with a working carousel from the era.
Their was white terra cotta stone work that adorned some of the building’s interior. So I wonder if that was some of it.
It was an all day affair celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Ford Thunderbird. They even allowed the number 50 to be spelled out on the sprawling lawn in parked Thunderbirds. Photographed from a helicopter no less.
Hauntingly, a playerless pipe organ that rose from a stage floor in the house gave us a concert at the end. We also toured the pipe organ mechanicals room. Like the Granada, it’s fascinating what men could build.