The organ comments above make sense Jim. Never thought about it that way. You could certainly buy a good deal of dope by selling organ pipes for scrap. I would guess that it is not terribly difficult to remove them either. People…
Saw a comment on the 600 N. Michigan page stating that the Esquire is not being well maintained. I have not been there in about three years. But on my last trip I thought it seemed OK in all the usual respects: cleanliness, quality of presentation, prices, etc.
What a great design: unique and elegant but not overstated. Too bad it has ended up as it has. Any indication as to how much of the auditorium is intact?
I just took a look at Ken’s photos of the Ridgewood. It is a time capsule. It might not be a period movie palace fans like much. But there was a time when triplexed, quaded and five-plexed former movie palaces were common. I’m sure many people in the 70’s and 80’s created great memories in places like this. Hope it manages to stay open.
Gee that is unfortunate. I photographed the Kingsway around 1990, while passing through this section of the city. It lent excitement to the corner with it’s flashy facade and marquee. It sounds like it had been thoroughly chopped to pieces already. But I’m sorry they chose to modify the exterior. Other retail conversions have retained the marquee and facade, thereby retaining some of that excitement. Look at how drab that 2004 image is.
As I have in the past, I will ask you a straightforwad question and see if you can give me a straightforward answer:
What was dismissed?
Here is another:
What vintage theatre have you resotred and run successfully for a period of greater than six months?
Let me guess: “I don’t have to give that information to you! Who are you? Why don’t you come out of the shadows? Are you afraid of me?”
It certainly doesn’t impress me that you met with Brian and spun a colorful tale for him. You are a damn good salesman. A good salesman can sell ice to eskimos as they say.
As far as your involvement in the UTCA goes, I don’t think I ever mentioned that organization. You are most certainly putting words in my mouth. But, this is an interesting article (especially the part about how you were deposed from the Board):
April 9, 2003
Inside Online
UTCA good will short, funds shorter, as trouble erupts
by Ronald Roenigk, Publisher View link
Efforts to save the haggard Uptown Theatre, 4814 N. Broadway, have stalled now as supporters struggle with dwindling operating funds and discover battles within the Uptown Theatre and Center for the Arts (UTCA) Board of Directors.
Two years ago the not-for-profit UTCA was formed when Albert Goodman made a $1 million donation to the effort from the Edith Marie Appleton Foundation, named after his mother. According to financial statements, by the end of February the UTCA had less than $2,000 in cash on hand and over $160,000 in loans and accounts payable, with no clear means of meeting those obligations.
At the same time a battle within the Board of Directors broke out into the open. Now-deposed board member Paul Warshauer accused the UTCA of being “out of control” in a March 10 letter to Gov. Rod Blagojevich which calls for a formal investigation. He has since contacted several members of the media, including Inside, seeking to air his issues with UTCA management.
Also distracting the over-burdened UTCA staff is the status of a fateful fundraising idea gone bad: the raffling off of a new Jaguar automobile leased from Orloff Jaguar and now gathering dust in a garage. Nearly $30,000 worth of tickets were sold for the raffle, money which now must be refunded.
“That was a horrible mistake,” said Carol Jean Carlson, CEO of UTCA, of the raffle that caused the UTCA to be fined $1,000 by the city’s Department of Revenue for running a raffle without a license. “We sold about 300 tickets and now we’re contacting those people and giving them several options for restitution.” The status of those funds is unclear in the current financial statements.
Left in limbo are UTCA’s efforts to purchase the 4,381 seat, 46,000 square foot movie house. “We’ll know pretty soon if we’ll be purchasing itâ€"we’re closer than ever,” said Carlson. Indeed, a total of $250,000 in escrow payments has been released to the seller in two payments last June and July, funds which would presumably be lost if the deal falls apart.
“I don’t think the [current] owners want us to fail. We put that money down on good faith but haven’t been able to raise money as fast as possible,” said Carlson. She said that the UTCA kicked off their fundraising efforts one week prior to the 9/11 attack and that timing, along with a slumping economy, are the reasons that fundraising has been weak.
Warshauer claims to have another for-profit investment group with new plans and ideas ready to take up the effort if the deal does fail. UTCA staff doubt this and claim it would be “a direct conflict of interest and violation of his non-compete clause,” said Carlson. “He’s just trying to stir up trouble.”
“The bad part is that the building has had to wait so long,” said Warshauer. “They’ve spent $1.3 million and have nothing to show for it. I will not keep quiet any longer. Decay and damage occur inside and out every day.” Warshauer joined the UTCA board in July of 2002 and was named chairman in October; he resigned as chairman on Feb. 8 and was voted off the board on March 22.
As for the Jaguar, it was one of a number of bad fiscal decisions made by the board while Michael Morrison was UTCA’s CEO. (Morrison has since left the state and is reportedly now living in Kentucky after being indicted by the Attorney General of Illinois.) The board had given him approval to lease the Jaguar for his own use using UTCA funds to pay for it. Morrison and the board also hired Mark Zipperer as an outside consultant for $2,000 a week; Zipperer took over the CEO’s post on an interim basis when Morrison fled the state. It was Zipperer’s idea to raffle off the car, unaware that a license was required to do so. “We’re looking for someone who would like to buy the lease, if you know anyone,” offered Carlson.
“Michael Morrison had no business sense,” said Warshauer. “Nobody ever wrote a business plan and there were no theater professionals with any experience in the organization…There still isn’t,” he said. “I pleaded with them to stop spending money, regroup and ask for help. They refused, hoping against hope that a miracle would occur. No miracle is coming.”
The UTCA is “insolvent in part due to [Warshauer] and we have our own lawyers working with us on him,” said Carlson, who says nevertheless that their vendors, their supporters and the community still want them to succeed.
Hey Rich: what was the Terminal like on the inside? I have never seen a good picture of the outside, let alone the interior. Also, do you remember when it was demolished?
I get the feeling that this current “glass wall” idea has hit a snag of some kind. Seems like things are up in the air.
I guess my question is: how bad is the auditorium? The New Amsterdam was open to the sky and pretty thoroughly decayed at the point when the started restoration.
I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Portage Park the other day. He related a story to me. As he heard it, the owner of the Patio really pissed off the city. So they closed him down. The story goes that the city will not allow the theatre to reopen as long as this gentleman owns it.
Of course this is all word of mouth. Impossible to verify. But if it is true, it is certainly a shame that a power struggle is keeping one of Chicago’s restored movie palaces shuttered.
It is not libel. Libel involves lies and the judgments against you are a matter of public record, available on the Circuit Court of Cook County web site. All I am doing is quoting information that anyone can find with a web browser. Here are the case numbers.
Case Number Plaintiff Defendant Date Filed
2005-M2-000785 PALES CAROL WARSHAUER PAUL 04/11/2005
2004-M1-719354 MID AMERICA MANAGE WARSHAUER PAUL 08/06/2004
2003-M1-731056 MID AMERICA MGMT WARSHAUER PAUL 12/04/2003
2003-M1-164392 ANNOYANCE PRODUCTI WARSHAUER PAUL 10/06/2003
This article describes the Uptown Theatre-related financial actions which led to a court judgement against you:
How can you possibly say that all of this is a lie and that you have never been involved with the legal system? If you have a way of explaining to me why the government would enter false court judgments against you I will be willing to listen. Is the Cook County government trying to ruin you? Maybe your attorney should contact them…or the daily newspaper that wrote the article above…or the authors of the countless other negative articles about you available in print and on the internet.
Paul: I can’t believe you had the nerve to go and see a movie about one theatre that you were run out of under a cloud of controversy BEING SHOWN AT another theatre that you were run out of under a cloud of controversy, THEN post critical remarks about how the movie didn’t include a section about you. It boggles the mind.
And no, frankly, you started it by posting here again. I think “goaway” summed it up nicely when noting that conversation remains pleasant on Cinema Treasures as long as you are not around.
Uptown Advisor: I don’t think the business of theatre restoration is always nice, nor are the conversations surrounding it. Look at how heated things have gotten in Richmond surrounding the John Eberson Loews theatre there. A movie is fine and good. Historical research is fine and good. Talking about how the Uptown would be a good concert hall is fine and good. But the REAL business of restoring a large theatre, as Paul is fond of saying, is not pleasant.
The legal system has found that Paul committed financial crimes related to the Uptown Theatre. Do you want me to sit here, Uptown Advisor, and let him try to make people believe that he is a champion of the Uptown Theatre just so that Cinema Treasures remains NICE? How does that make sense? If you want to bring Martin Luther King into this, I would like to point out that Dr. King certainly didn’t ignore a ridiculous situation just in the name of keeping things pleasant. The actions he took during the 1960’s were highly aggressive.
The front wall of the lobby stood for what seemed like a month while they removed decorative elements to sell. The rest of the building was gone at that point. So how rotten could it have been? LOL.
Charles: am I to understand from the comments above that the senior center on the corner bought the Granada and redeveloped the land? I hadn’t realized that. Very interesting.
So why isn’t the theatre open, you oh so studly rainmaker?
That’s all very cute. But you are like a salesman making excuses to his district manager about lack of production:
“but I did this, but I did that.”
You haven’t restored, reopened and successfully run a single theatre. Meanwhile people far and wide have accused you of crimes, and the court system has agreed with them. Everybody hates you Paul. Did that happen for no reason? Of course not. The human race doesn’t work that way.
You have balls Paul. But one day you are going to go too far with this behavior. Then somebody is going to chop them off.
How about that. Yes they are. I have always wondered why the grand window was painted over. I guess the setting sun might have been an issue. But it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.
I don’t know Geo. I love old theatres. What’s more I think there is a place for many of them in the modern world. I don’t know about the Granada. It had an oddball stage because of the curving elevated embankment just behind. More importantly that same embankment would have kept any developers from adding a modern stage. It’s a similar problem to that facing the Uptown, which backs directly up to Lawrence Avenue.
Should the taxpayers of a given municipality be saddled with a building that can’t sustain itself just because a few of us love it? As off the wall as some of the people are who argue against the Dupage Theatre renovation, I think the point they make is a valid one. It’s not enough to say, “it would be a good concert hall.” You need estimated cash flows that support such a notion.
The only possible arts center solution I could have envisioned here involved Loyola. But, obviously, they had every opportunity to investigate the idea and did not.
I could see getting really out of joint if this had been Chicago’s last vintage theatre. But, at least for the time being, Chicago is lucky enough to have several well-maintained vintage theatres.
I’m not trying to rattle anyone’s cage. I simply feel strongly that preservation efforts need to have a realistic component to them, or they are doomed to fail. I would have been happy if the grand lobby had been turned into a restaurant, with a multiplex or maybe a Century-type mall retaining the auditorium ceiling. That way the building would have lived on.
The organ comments above make sense Jim. Never thought about it that way. You could certainly buy a good deal of dope by selling organ pipes for scrap. I would guess that it is not terribly difficult to remove them either. People…
That is a great one! I just wish the rail car was not in the way.
I think that somebody had better take a second look at the “Official” web site above.
That 2004 photo does not make theatre operation seem like it would have been a realistic option.
Saw a comment on the 600 N. Michigan page stating that the Esquire is not being well maintained. I have not been there in about three years. But on my last trip I thought it seemed OK in all the usual respects: cleanliness, quality of presentation, prices, etc.
Anyone been there recently who cares to comment?
What a great design: unique and elegant but not overstated. Too bad it has ended up as it has. Any indication as to how much of the auditorium is intact?
I just took a look at Ken’s photos of the Ridgewood. It is a time capsule. It might not be a period movie palace fans like much. But there was a time when triplexed, quaded and five-plexed former movie palaces were common. I’m sure many people in the 70’s and 80’s created great memories in places like this. Hope it manages to stay open.
Gee that is unfortunate. I photographed the Kingsway around 1990, while passing through this section of the city. It lent excitement to the corner with it’s flashy facade and marquee. It sounds like it had been thoroughly chopped to pieces already. But I’m sorry they chose to modify the exterior. Other retail conversions have retained the marquee and facade, thereby retaining some of that excitement. Look at how drab that 2004 image is.
No, not actually aware Ed. Just inferring from the actions I see taking place (or lack thereof). I think your theory makes sense.
Paul:
Sigh…
As I have in the past, I will ask you a straightforwad question and see if you can give me a straightforward answer:
What was dismissed?
Here is another:
What vintage theatre have you resotred and run successfully for a period of greater than six months?
Let me guess: “I don’t have to give that information to you! Who are you? Why don’t you come out of the shadows? Are you afraid of me?”
It certainly doesn’t impress me that you met with Brian and spun a colorful tale for him. You are a damn good salesman. A good salesman can sell ice to eskimos as they say.
As far as your involvement in the UTCA goes, I don’t think I ever mentioned that organization. You are most certainly putting words in my mouth. But, this is an interesting article (especially the part about how you were deposed from the Board):
April 9, 2003
Inside Online
UTCA good will short, funds shorter, as trouble erupts
by Ronald Roenigk, Publisher
View link
Efforts to save the haggard Uptown Theatre, 4814 N. Broadway, have stalled now as supporters struggle with dwindling operating funds and discover battles within the Uptown Theatre and Center for the Arts (UTCA) Board of Directors.
Two years ago the not-for-profit UTCA was formed when Albert Goodman made a $1 million donation to the effort from the Edith Marie Appleton Foundation, named after his mother. According to financial statements, by the end of February the UTCA had less than $2,000 in cash on hand and over $160,000 in loans and accounts payable, with no clear means of meeting those obligations.
At the same time a battle within the Board of Directors broke out into the open. Now-deposed board member Paul Warshauer accused the UTCA of being “out of control” in a March 10 letter to Gov. Rod Blagojevich which calls for a formal investigation. He has since contacted several members of the media, including Inside, seeking to air his issues with UTCA management.
Also distracting the over-burdened UTCA staff is the status of a fateful fundraising idea gone bad: the raffling off of a new Jaguar automobile leased from Orloff Jaguar and now gathering dust in a garage. Nearly $30,000 worth of tickets were sold for the raffle, money which now must be refunded.
“That was a horrible mistake,” said Carol Jean Carlson, CEO of UTCA, of the raffle that caused the UTCA to be fined $1,000 by the city’s Department of Revenue for running a raffle without a license. “We sold about 300 tickets and now we’re contacting those people and giving them several options for restitution.” The status of those funds is unclear in the current financial statements.
Left in limbo are UTCA’s efforts to purchase the 4,381 seat, 46,000 square foot movie house. “We’ll know pretty soon if we’ll be purchasing itâ€"we’re closer than ever,” said Carlson. Indeed, a total of $250,000 in escrow payments has been released to the seller in two payments last June and July, funds which would presumably be lost if the deal falls apart.
“I don’t think the [current] owners want us to fail. We put that money down on good faith but haven’t been able to raise money as fast as possible,” said Carlson. She said that the UTCA kicked off their fundraising efforts one week prior to the 9/11 attack and that timing, along with a slumping economy, are the reasons that fundraising has been weak.
Warshauer claims to have another for-profit investment group with new plans and ideas ready to take up the effort if the deal does fail. UTCA staff doubt this and claim it would be “a direct conflict of interest and violation of his non-compete clause,” said Carlson. “He’s just trying to stir up trouble.”
“The bad part is that the building has had to wait so long,” said Warshauer. “They’ve spent $1.3 million and have nothing to show for it. I will not keep quiet any longer. Decay and damage occur inside and out every day.” Warshauer joined the UTCA board in July of 2002 and was named chairman in October; he resigned as chairman on Feb. 8 and was voted off the board on March 22.
As for the Jaguar, it was one of a number of bad fiscal decisions made by the board while Michael Morrison was UTCA’s CEO. (Morrison has since left the state and is reportedly now living in Kentucky after being indicted by the Attorney General of Illinois.) The board had given him approval to lease the Jaguar for his own use using UTCA funds to pay for it. Morrison and the board also hired Mark Zipperer as an outside consultant for $2,000 a week; Zipperer took over the CEO’s post on an interim basis when Morrison fled the state. It was Zipperer’s idea to raffle off the car, unaware that a license was required to do so. “We’re looking for someone who would like to buy the lease, if you know anyone,” offered Carlson.
“Michael Morrison had no business sense,” said Warshauer. “Nobody ever wrote a business plan and there were no theater professionals with any experience in the organization…There still isn’t,” he said. “I pleaded with them to stop spending money, regroup and ask for help. They refused, hoping against hope that a miracle would occur. No miracle is coming.”
The UTCA is “insolvent in part due to [Warshauer] and we have our own lawyers working with us on him,” said Carlson, who says nevertheless that their vendors, their supporters and the community still want them to succeed.
Hey Rich: what was the Terminal like on the inside? I have never seen a good picture of the outside, let alone the interior. Also, do you remember when it was demolished?
I get the feeling that this current “glass wall” idea has hit a snag of some kind. Seems like things are up in the air.
I guess my question is: how bad is the auditorium? The New Amsterdam was open to the sky and pretty thoroughly decayed at the point when the started restoration.
maher: is that because there is an ordinance that prohibits construction of a large vertical sign nowadays?
What an unfortunate story. I do not really know much about organs. Is this a common chain of events?
I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Portage Park the other day. He related a story to me. As he heard it, the owner of the Patio really pissed off the city. So they closed him down. The story goes that the city will not allow the theatre to reopen as long as this gentleman owns it.
Of course this is all word of mouth. Impossible to verify. But if it is true, it is certainly a shame that a power struggle is keeping one of Chicago’s restored movie palaces shuttered.
It is not libel. Libel involves lies and the judgments against you are a matter of public record, available on the Circuit Court of Cook County web site. All I am doing is quoting information that anyone can find with a web browser. Here are the case numbers.
http://198.173.15.34/
Case Number Plaintiff Defendant Date Filed
2005-M2-000785 PALES CAROL WARSHAUER PAUL 04/11/2005
2004-M1-719354 MID AMERICA MANAGE WARSHAUER PAUL 08/06/2004
2003-M1-731056 MID AMERICA MGMT WARSHAUER PAUL 12/04/2003
2003-M1-164392 ANNOYANCE PRODUCTI WARSHAUER PAUL 10/06/2003
This article describes the Uptown Theatre-related financial actions which led to a court judgement against you:
http://www.annoyanceproductions.com/readerart.gif
How can you possibly say that all of this is a lie and that you have never been involved with the legal system? If you have a way of explaining to me why the government would enter false court judgments against you I will be willing to listen. Is the Cook County government trying to ruin you? Maybe your attorney should contact them…or the daily newspaper that wrote the article above…or the authors of the countless other negative articles about you available in print and on the internet.
Paul: I can’t believe you had the nerve to go and see a movie about one theatre that you were run out of under a cloud of controversy BEING SHOWN AT another theatre that you were run out of under a cloud of controversy, THEN post critical remarks about how the movie didn’t include a section about you. It boggles the mind.
And no, frankly, you started it by posting here again. I think “goaway” summed it up nicely when noting that conversation remains pleasant on Cinema Treasures as long as you are not around.
Uptown Advisor: I don’t think the business of theatre restoration is always nice, nor are the conversations surrounding it. Look at how heated things have gotten in Richmond surrounding the John Eberson Loews theatre there. A movie is fine and good. Historical research is fine and good. Talking about how the Uptown would be a good concert hall is fine and good. But the REAL business of restoring a large theatre, as Paul is fond of saying, is not pleasant.
The legal system has found that Paul committed financial crimes related to the Uptown Theatre. Do you want me to sit here, Uptown Advisor, and let him try to make people believe that he is a champion of the Uptown Theatre just so that Cinema Treasures remains NICE? How does that make sense? If you want to bring Martin Luther King into this, I would like to point out that Dr. King certainly didn’t ignore a ridiculous situation just in the name of keeping things pleasant. The actions he took during the 1960’s were highly aggressive.
I disagree Uptown Advisor.
And as far as sharing my phone number with Paul goes, I would sooner send it to every telemarketing firm in the greater metro area.
The front wall of the lobby stood for what seemed like a month while they removed decorative elements to sell. The rest of the building was gone at that point. So how rotten could it have been? LOL.
Charles: am I to understand from the comments above that the senior center on the corner bought the Granada and redeveloped the land? I hadn’t realized that. Very interesting.
So why isn’t the theatre open, you oh so studly rainmaker?
That’s all very cute. But you are like a salesman making excuses to his district manager about lack of production:
“but I did this, but I did that.”
You haven’t restored, reopened and successfully run a single theatre. Meanwhile people far and wide have accused you of crimes, and the court system has agreed with them. Everybody hates you Paul. Did that happen for no reason? Of course not. The human race doesn’t work that way.
You have balls Paul. But one day you are going to go too far with this behavior. Then somebody is going to chop them off.
How about that. Yes they are. I have always wondered why the grand window was painted over. I guess the setting sun might have been an issue. But it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.
I don’t know Geo. I love old theatres. What’s more I think there is a place for many of them in the modern world. I don’t know about the Granada. It had an oddball stage because of the curving elevated embankment just behind. More importantly that same embankment would have kept any developers from adding a modern stage. It’s a similar problem to that facing the Uptown, which backs directly up to Lawrence Avenue.
Should the taxpayers of a given municipality be saddled with a building that can’t sustain itself just because a few of us love it? As off the wall as some of the people are who argue against the Dupage Theatre renovation, I think the point they make is a valid one. It’s not enough to say, “it would be a good concert hall.” You need estimated cash flows that support such a notion.
The only possible arts center solution I could have envisioned here involved Loyola. But, obviously, they had every opportunity to investigate the idea and did not.
I could see getting really out of joint if this had been Chicago’s last vintage theatre. But, at least for the time being, Chicago is lucky enough to have several well-maintained vintage theatres.
I’m not trying to rattle anyone’s cage. I simply feel strongly that preservation efforts need to have a realistic component to them, or they are doomed to fail. I would have been happy if the grand lobby had been turned into a restaurant, with a multiplex or maybe a Century-type mall retaining the auditorium ceiling. That way the building would have lived on.
Instead we have “Granada Plaza.”
Small fee is good idea if it makes for a better site.
Sure:
“Closed for Renovation”
Famous last words.
Yup.
They take older theatres…and close them.