Varsity Theater
1710 Sherman Avenue,
Evanston,
IL
60201
1710 Sherman Avenue,
Evanston,
IL
60201
21 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 95 comments
After reading about this historical theatre it is a shame that the interior was gutted….Evanston’s loss!
Just saw on FB an interior photo of this theatre under After the Final Curtain. Will this theatre be restored as it has an awesome exterior.
You would have to copy and paste it into your browser, starting from the end of the link so my sentence above it doesn’t highlight. Or just scroll back to 08/06/07 in the comments, and click on the link HowardBHass posted originally that says Behind The Gap.
Link won’t open on this site.
This link was posted back in 2007. It has photo’s of the dormant balcony area.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/secretagentmartens/sets/72157594487763344/
I drove by yesterday with a friend from Chicago. I wonder how much was left upstairs in the balcony? From the alley, you can see that all the fire escapes have been removed, and many of the exits are bricked up. You can still see a few metal doors just begging to be opened by us urban explorers. No way for the employees of that Gap store to explore. From what I recall, the stairs leading up to the balcony were just inside the front doors in the lobby. And those are gone as well. All retail space, except maybe far back, the stage area is still there. No need to dismantle it. Too expensive. Just wall it up. It was a grand place to see movies!
Discussion continues. This has been tossed around for enough years now that I think they’ll eventually make something happen. As long as I’ve been alive Evanston has had a large arts contingent.
http://evanston.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/could-northlight-theater-return-to-evanston
Here is a report prepared for the city by some consulting firm in July, 2011. In it they discuss reactivating the balcony space for theater use while keeping stores in the ground floor:
http://www.evanston1stward.org/sites/default/files/IL_Evanston–Evaluation_of_the_Varsity_Theatres_potential_use_as_a_performing_arts_center–final_report.pdf
The YouTube is now my second Varsity Theater. Because of the YouTube, there are now perhaps millions of younger people who are eagerly rediscovering the Golden Age. Thus, it would seem that the Varsity Theater could be reopened, showing only Golden Age motion pictures. Sample list:
Casablanca, Funny Face, You Were Never Lovelier, The Red Shoes.
It seems like there’s been consistent interest in restoring the Varsity over the last few years. Every time I think the subject has died down I hear from someone that it is being dicussed again by people who seem to matter. I’d love to see the project come to pass. But what would they do with it?
Such a sad story.
Wow, seeing those pics of The Varsity brought a tear to my eye. I worked at The Varsity, The Valencia, and The Coronet theatres from 1974 to 1978. I would love to see the glorious Varsity open it’s doors once again! Big thanks to my friend Dave Zornig for calling this site to my attention.
Northlight spent a good deal of money to remodel the Coronet. It was a very nice facility. They even put blue neon “Northlight” panels on either side of the marquee. I’m not sure why they eventually left. My best guess is parking.
Tribute from The Golden Age:
The Varsity Theater wasn’t made for Hollywood. Hollywood was made for the Varsity Theater.
That is pretty neat about that guy that took all those images, I never knew it was one guy.
Anyway, as for the Varsity, this is very similar to what happened with the RKO Madison Theater in Ridgewood, NY, in which the theater survives above a fake ceiling and the orchestra level used for retail. The Gaumont Theater in Manchester England also had a smilar fate, with a nightclub opening on the main level, and a fake ceiling put in. That one however was completely demolished in the end.
The Coronet did become the home of Northlight for a few years.
I don’t know why I remember this, but I think NorthLight Theatre had something to do with trying to resurrect the Coronet Theatre at one time too. I seem to remember their name on the marquee.
Hopefully more will come out of this venture than sadly didn’t, over there.
It will be interesting to see how they are able to reconfigure some type of entrance on Sherman Ave. And not just some side door in the alley.
Since the stage is towards the back.
Some of the previous pictures posted showed that the back half of the auditorium, ceiling, and possibly balcony space had all been encapsulated. Awaiting just this type of project.
Looks like it might be reopening…
View link
I was also surprised to learn that all those pics were taken by one guy. To even have COLLECTED that many photos would be an accomplishment… and to have actually TAKEN them is absolutely incredible.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t looking for anything about American Classic Images when I found that article. Just stumbled across it when I was searching for something else on Google News.
It reminds me of the German guy that flies to LA every year to take the you-are-here photos. No one really understands why he does this, regarding the particular city.
That’s a very nice story. A dedicated guy, for sure.
There’s a really excellent article about the guy who took the photos on American Classic Images, here:
View link
P.S. The Coronet’s on that site too.
Great photo source LTS!
I just pulled up one of the 3 Penny Cinema. Alas, no Playboy/Sandburg/Chelex pic to be found.
I might now just have to go back through all my CT theatres, and repost my notification status again.
Something I was avoiding.
A 70’s photo of the Varisty. This is exactly how I remember it looking:
View link