Too scared? What are we, fifth graders in the school yard? My relatives designed the Chicago, Uptown, Oriental and many other of America’s great theatres. Our family takes pride in seeing these buildings continue to thrive. My issue is that I take it personally when it looks like a couple of hustlers are taking advantage of people involved in restoration efforts. As far as lurking in the shadows goes, what do you want me to do, give you my name and address? Call you, so that you get my phone number on your caller ID? Why? You seem like the kind of guy who might be dumb enough to stop by and try something.
Mike Novelli did not speak from the heart. Those words came from another part of the body.
At the end of it’s life, the Peoples was used by two different stores: one built into the lobby, another built into the auditorium. You entered the later by going through a fire door at the end of the cross-lobby, and taking a left through the aisle doors. The arch was cemented up, and I think there might have been a third business on the stage. The auditorium still had it’s 1919 design, although it was all painted light blue. So any Art Moderne remodeling must have taken place in the lobby (which couldn’t be viewed above the store’s false ceiling). I saw all of this around 1990.
Explain this to me: if you are so hesitant to display references in a public forum, why is your organization claiming to run the Wheaton Grand Theatre in a newspaper article dated May 25, 2005?
Are you kidding me Paul? You are claiming to run the Wheaton Grand Theatre in an article dated May 25, 2005? I think the Wheaton Grand would have a different take on that situation.
1) STATEMENT: Dear Life’s Too Short. Emotional debate is a good thing but those who complain must play the game before they are “experts.”
ANSWER: I am not sure what you are saying. If you don’t work in theater renovation, there is no way you can know anything about smart business at all? Is that what you are saying?
2) STATEMENT: By the way, who are you? Do you do theatre restorations? Do you stick your neck out?
ANSWER: I have been around architects, theatres and people trying to restore them my entire life. My relatives designed many of America’s movie palaces, including some you have been associated with. My family has provided historical information and, in some cases, blueprint copies to various restoration organizations. The most notable example is the Chicago Theatre (when it was being restored in the 80’s). I did volunteer electrical work in Chicago’s Uptown Theatre back in the early 90’s…as part of a small group of people trying to keep the building maintained. I drove from Chicago to Sioux City, IA to participate in the grand reopening of the Sioux City Orpheum while all planes were grounded after 9/11. I have many more stories.
3) STATEMENT: I do not think I need to provide references to you, however, go to our website: www.grandevenues.com
ANSWER: Your web site, like your postings here, contains no references…only vague mention of your work. You have pictures posted of theatres that you either haven’t been publicly involved with (as far as I know), or severed ties with under dubious conditions. I imagine the good people at the Wheaton Grand would like you to take the picture of their building off your web site, for instance. Legitimate businessmen post references. I have happy clients who allow me to give out their contact information. Web designers have work samples. Conrad Schmidt Studios, to take a theatre-related example, has a list of successfully completed projects posted on their web site. You offer nothing concrete…I suspect because you have nothing concrete, and you are defensive about the subject.
4) STATEMENT: Now that I have been brought back in: the Wheaton Grand is doomed to fail regardless of the Pollyannas on this website and on their board. Where are the theatre people on their board or volunteers? None. They do not have a grip on reality or maintain reasonable business models. Plain and simple: Multiple venues = success. ALL reports indicate that single theatres are failing at a rapid rate. Wheaton has NO parking for an 800 seat venue. The board is deluded thinking the public will roll out $8 million when they can have it all for $4.1 million. GVI has a great plan to preserve Wheaton’s architectural elements and still have the theatre be self sufficient.
ANSWER: So, you have ESP then? THAT should be posted on your web site. Your statement about single unit theatres being doomed to fail simply isn’t true. Look around on this web site: there are plenty of successful projects out there.
5) STATEMENT: GVI now has projects in Illinois, California and Connecticut. Certain Grand Theatre board members go out of their way to try and discredit us. We don’t care. Cities and arts organizations keep hiring us as we do the hard work before restoration begins. Other projects are on the way. At least we try and do not sit in an armchair and critcize everyone else. We are moving forward not looking backwards. Lots of theatres need help. We are on the way up.
ANSWER: A good salesman, as they say, can sell ice to Eskimos. I have met you Paul, and I know that you are a good salesman: enthusiastic and intelligent…and I think that is why you continue to find new projects. But are these going to end in failure, like all the other GVI projects I know of? Where are your successes? I am not a theatre professional. But I understand the business. Regardless of that debate, I know that doing business with a man who has no references, who appears to throw off a lot of sales hype, and who has nothing but failure and outstanding legal judgments behind him, is a dubious proposition.
If you have a list of happy clients and successful projects, tell us about it. I will be the first to admit that I was wrong about you. All I have heard (in the press, on this site, from people I know in the business community) is negative examples.
I hope you are tragically misunderstood Paul. But I have a growing suspicion that you go from community group to community group, taking advantage of good-intentioned people associated with historic theatres. It looks an awful lot like you are thinking about working over young Brian Wolf here. If that is the case, and you are using this web site to look for potential targets, you should be ashamed of yourself.
That photo posted by the Assessor’s Office is of the Armitage Theater building, with the modernized exterior. You see that raised portion to the left of the Dollar Day? That is the entrance to the theater lobby (or at least was when I saw the building in ‘89). Looks safe to say that this one is still around, at least in some form.
I think it lasted into the 80’s…pretty sure I remember the ads in the paper. The building stood at least until the end of the 80’s, and appeared to have been upgraded with a new exterior (in the 80’s from the looks). When I last saw the place around ‘89 the lobby was being used for storage. The auditorium still stood, and was probably being used in the same manner. All the store fronts were occupied. I took photographs at that time, which were later donated to THS. Are we sure this one is gone? The fact that someone invested in it makes me wonder if at least part of it is still there.
In response to comments of June 1, I don’t think it is a bad thing to have heated discussion on this web site. Emotional debate is part of the preservation landscape. Take a look at some of the comments on the Crocker Theater in Elgin, if you think this is bad. There’s a guy over there that calls himself: “ELGINsucks*****”. I think the answer is to not visit Cinema Treasures sections that you find distasteful.
I don’t see that you have posted any references, as I mentioned on May 22, Paul.
Well…I have to admit that the “n” might not have been there. But, I think it was. I took several pictures of the theater at this time. Perhaps “Vincenete Fernandez” is an accomplished local businessman or something? Whatever the outcome of that discussion is, this was certainly the theater’s name (rather than an attraction). It was mounted above the backlit attraction boards on either side of the marquee.
Well…to some extent I brought this on myself by calling you a dirt bag. That was certainly not a cool-headed thing to do.
But, the fact that I am not active in restoration activities does not negate my opinion. A man with a string of angry people following him does not end up in that situation for no reason. While it is true that Donald Trump has dealt with his share of legal trouble, I know that the activities of GVI are not even close to being on the same scale of complexity. There is a world of difference between running an international real estate empire and managing one suburban theater.
The nature of your statements makes me suspect that you deal in emotion, rather than logic. If you are interested in defending your reputation, why don’t you post a list of your successful theater renovation projects…with references (names and phone numbers). Certainly if there is substance behind your sales pitch, that should not be a problem.
By the way, it doesn’t appear to me that your comments are being sanitized. It looks to me like you are being allowed to speak your peace.
What does any of this one theater stuff matter, Paul? You have been fired. Your office contains a stack of soft drinks now. Furthermore, I am more likely to believe several paragraphs of events presented along a timeline that can be verified than your vague accusations (stated in an inflammatory manner) based on conceptual differences.
I know that Paul has been involved with the Portage, the Uptown, and the Wheaton. None of these projects went anywhere, and there seems to be a string of accusations, some of which have escalated to the point where the judiciary system was involved.
Paul is good salesman…enthusiastic and intelligent. I have observed that a good salesman can usually create another opportunity, even if the previous one was a dismal affair.
I would be cautious, Patsy. I really can’t say anything for certain. But the information has piled up to the point where I would conduct extensive due diligence before becoming financially involved with this gentleman.
I thought you had a pretty good thing going out there, Paul. I am sorry that your intentions now appear to be dubious.
That’s about what I thought. I went to the Uptown once in the 90’s. Has Loews closed all of their palaces? If so, it is too bad that they did not save one as a show place. Unfortunately, accountants and managers often don’t see the value of such things.
I am almost certain that the Plaza operated into the 90’s. What a dump…it very well might be the worst theater ever built in Chicago. I know that Cineplex Odeon was the last to run the Plaza, and it was Cineplex (not Plitt) that built the new Lincoln Village Cinemas across the street. The K-Mart went out when K-Mart went through bankruptcy recently. The newer Lincon Village Cinemas are now the only theater left at that corner.
I remember walking by the Woods when that last movie was on the marquee, on my way to Marshall Fields one day. What you fail to mention is that it was a double feature with, “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka”. While I am a fan of the Wayans Family, I suspect that could be called a fall from grace. I find it interesting that the relatively small Woods and United Artists Theaters were demolished, while the significantly larger Oriental and Palace Theaters were refurbished. I am grateful that the later two are still around, but I often wonder if the former wouldn’t have been more viable. The Woods even seemed to still have a working stage at the time it closed. One more thing…it passed to Cineplex from Plitt. I believe the entire Plitt chain passed to Cineplex.
My mother and her brothers saw films at the Wilmette as children. My father was a project manager for EB during the time you speak of. He recalls working on film production in the Wilmette Theater when all the seats were removed. There were EB offices in a building around the corner on Wilmette Ave, which was also a theater at one time long ago (that building is also still there). You lived there in ‘55 Paul. You might even remember the electric train that used to run down Greenleaf Avenue a short distance away. I remember seeing Pulp Fiction at the Wilmette with a bunch of teenage friends after it had been twinned (in the 90’s). There was still some decoration at that time…it wasn’t quite down to concrete walls in the auditorium. Amazing how that building has spanned the generations.
What a fabulous discussion. My mother, Carolyn Rapp, grew up on the North Shore & went to the Teatro. My uncle Bill tells me that he played on that lot on the border with Kenilworth. But, by the time I came around No Man’s Land was much less exciting…basically a row of apartments. One of them has an old-fashioned entrance that I believe once led to the ruins you speak of. I actually worked at that Jewel in high school. The thing that blows me away is that Leo was still at the Linden Avenue El station into the 90’s…still hassling the kids about magazines. He moved into a new retail stall when they rebuilt the El terminal building, but disappeared soon after that. I imagine he must be gone now…rest his soul.
Oh my god. That is awful. Going by the information posted by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, it looks like there are three outstanding judgments against this guy, from three plaintiffs, worth a total of about $10,000. And to think…I made comments supporting this dirt bag.
As I was driving up Western Ave recently, I noticed a protective walkway in front of the Nortown. Don’t know if they are getting ready to tear it down, getting ready to maintain it, or just protecting people from falling building fragments. Don’t know how much it matters at this point, as the building sounds thoroughly neglected.
It shows that you ripped off too many people in the Chicago market and have been forced to look for business in rural Illinois.
Too scared? What are we, fifth graders in the school yard? My relatives designed the Chicago, Uptown, Oriental and many other of America’s great theatres. Our family takes pride in seeing these buildings continue to thrive. My issue is that I take it personally when it looks like a couple of hustlers are taking advantage of people involved in restoration efforts. As far as lurking in the shadows goes, what do you want me to do, give you my name and address? Call you, so that you get my phone number on your caller ID? Why? You seem like the kind of guy who might be dumb enough to stop by and try something.
Mike Novelli did not speak from the heart. Those words came from another part of the body.
At the end of it’s life, the Peoples was used by two different stores: one built into the lobby, another built into the auditorium. You entered the later by going through a fire door at the end of the cross-lobby, and taking a left through the aisle doors. The arch was cemented up, and I think there might have been a third business on the stage. The auditorium still had it’s 1919 design, although it was all painted light blue. So any Art Moderne remodeling must have taken place in the lobby (which couldn’t be viewed above the store’s false ceiling). I saw all of this around 1990.
Uncle Paul? Cub scout stories? Give me a break.
I don’t see what that would accomplish Paul.
Explain this to me: if you are so hesitant to display references in a public forum, why is your organization claiming to run the Wheaton Grand Theatre in a newspaper article dated May 25, 2005?
/theaters/5744/
Are you kidding me Paul? You are claiming to run the Wheaton Grand Theatre in an article dated May 25, 2005? I think the Wheaton Grand would have a different take on that situation.
/theaters/1712/
1) STATEMENT: Dear Life’s Too Short. Emotional debate is a good thing but those who complain must play the game before they are “experts.”
ANSWER: I am not sure what you are saying. If you don’t work in theater renovation, there is no way you can know anything about smart business at all? Is that what you are saying?
2) STATEMENT: By the way, who are you? Do you do theatre restorations? Do you stick your neck out?
ANSWER: I have been around architects, theatres and people trying to restore them my entire life. My relatives designed many of America’s movie palaces, including some you have been associated with. My family has provided historical information and, in some cases, blueprint copies to various restoration organizations. The most notable example is the Chicago Theatre (when it was being restored in the 80’s). I did volunteer electrical work in Chicago’s Uptown Theatre back in the early 90’s…as part of a small group of people trying to keep the building maintained. I drove from Chicago to Sioux City, IA to participate in the grand reopening of the Sioux City Orpheum while all planes were grounded after 9/11. I have many more stories.
3) STATEMENT: I do not think I need to provide references to you, however, go to our website: www.grandevenues.com
ANSWER: Your web site, like your postings here, contains no references…only vague mention of your work. You have pictures posted of theatres that you either haven’t been publicly involved with (as far as I know), or severed ties with under dubious conditions. I imagine the good people at the Wheaton Grand would like you to take the picture of their building off your web site, for instance. Legitimate businessmen post references. I have happy clients who allow me to give out their contact information. Web designers have work samples. Conrad Schmidt Studios, to take a theatre-related example, has a list of successfully completed projects posted on their web site. You offer nothing concrete…I suspect because you have nothing concrete, and you are defensive about the subject.
4) STATEMENT: Now that I have been brought back in: the Wheaton Grand is doomed to fail regardless of the Pollyannas on this website and on their board. Where are the theatre people on their board or volunteers? None. They do not have a grip on reality or maintain reasonable business models. Plain and simple: Multiple venues = success. ALL reports indicate that single theatres are failing at a rapid rate. Wheaton has NO parking for an 800 seat venue. The board is deluded thinking the public will roll out $8 million when they can have it all for $4.1 million. GVI has a great plan to preserve Wheaton’s architectural elements and still have the theatre be self sufficient.
ANSWER: So, you have ESP then? THAT should be posted on your web site. Your statement about single unit theatres being doomed to fail simply isn’t true. Look around on this web site: there are plenty of successful projects out there.
5) STATEMENT: GVI now has projects in Illinois, California and Connecticut. Certain Grand Theatre board members go out of their way to try and discredit us. We don’t care. Cities and arts organizations keep hiring us as we do the hard work before restoration begins. Other projects are on the way. At least we try and do not sit in an armchair and critcize everyone else. We are moving forward not looking backwards. Lots of theatres need help. We are on the way up.
ANSWER: A good salesman, as they say, can sell ice to Eskimos. I have met you Paul, and I know that you are a good salesman: enthusiastic and intelligent…and I think that is why you continue to find new projects. But are these going to end in failure, like all the other GVI projects I know of? Where are your successes? I am not a theatre professional. But I understand the business. Regardless of that debate, I know that doing business with a man who has no references, who appears to throw off a lot of sales hype, and who has nothing but failure and outstanding legal judgments behind him, is a dubious proposition.
If you have a list of happy clients and successful projects, tell us about it. I will be the first to admit that I was wrong about you. All I have heard (in the press, on this site, from people I know in the business community) is negative examples.
I hope you are tragically misunderstood Paul. But I have a growing suspicion that you go from community group to community group, taking advantage of good-intentioned people associated with historic theatres. It looks an awful lot like you are thinking about working over young Brian Wolf here. If that is the case, and you are using this web site to look for potential targets, you should be ashamed of yourself.
That photo posted by the Assessor’s Office is of the Armitage Theater building, with the modernized exterior. You see that raised portion to the left of the Dollar Day? That is the entrance to the theater lobby (or at least was when I saw the building in ‘89). Looks safe to say that this one is still around, at least in some form.
I think it lasted into the 80’s…pretty sure I remember the ads in the paper. The building stood at least until the end of the 80’s, and appeared to have been upgraded with a new exterior (in the 80’s from the looks). When I last saw the place around ‘89 the lobby was being used for storage. The auditorium still stood, and was probably being used in the same manner. All the store fronts were occupied. I took photographs at that time, which were later donated to THS. Are we sure this one is gone? The fact that someone invested in it makes me wonder if at least part of it is still there.
What does stripped out mean? Is there anything left of the interior, or did they gut the place to the four walls?
In response to comments of June 1, I don’t think it is a bad thing to have heated discussion on this web site. Emotional debate is part of the preservation landscape. Take a look at some of the comments on the Crocker Theater in Elgin, if you think this is bad. There’s a guy over there that calls himself: “ELGINsucks*****”. I think the answer is to not visit Cinema Treasures sections that you find distasteful.
I don’t see that you have posted any references, as I mentioned on May 22, Paul.
Well…I have to admit that the “n” might not have been there. But, I think it was. I took several pictures of the theater at this time. Perhaps “Vincenete Fernandez” is an accomplished local businessman or something? Whatever the outcome of that discussion is, this was certainly the theater’s name (rather than an attraction). It was mounted above the backlit attraction boards on either side of the marquee.
The real question is: who is Vincente Fernandez?!?! I would say the theater had this name out front around 1988.
A toll booth…that’s funny. The government cracks me up! I wonder what the official justification was for doing that.
Vincente Fernandez was the name on the marquee, actually.
Well…to some extent I brought this on myself by calling you a dirt bag. That was certainly not a cool-headed thing to do.
But, the fact that I am not active in restoration activities does not negate my opinion. A man with a string of angry people following him does not end up in that situation for no reason. While it is true that Donald Trump has dealt with his share of legal trouble, I know that the activities of GVI are not even close to being on the same scale of complexity. There is a world of difference between running an international real estate empire and managing one suburban theater.
The nature of your statements makes me suspect that you deal in emotion, rather than logic. If you are interested in defending your reputation, why don’t you post a list of your successful theater renovation projects…with references (names and phone numbers). Certainly if there is substance behind your sales pitch, that should not be a problem.
By the way, it doesn’t appear to me that your comments are being sanitized. It looks to me like you are being allowed to speak your peace.
What does any of this one theater stuff matter, Paul? You have been fired. Your office contains a stack of soft drinks now. Furthermore, I am more likely to believe several paragraphs of events presented along a timeline that can be verified than your vague accusations (stated in an inflammatory manner) based on conceptual differences.
I know that Paul has been involved with the Portage, the Uptown, and the Wheaton. None of these projects went anywhere, and there seems to be a string of accusations, some of which have escalated to the point where the judiciary system was involved.
Paul is good salesman…enthusiastic and intelligent. I have observed that a good salesman can usually create another opportunity, even if the previous one was a dismal affair.
I would be cautious, Patsy. I really can’t say anything for certain. But the information has piled up to the point where I would conduct extensive due diligence before becoming financially involved with this gentleman.
I thought you had a pretty good thing going out there, Paul. I am sorry that your intentions now appear to be dubious.
That’s about what I thought. I went to the Uptown once in the 90’s. Has Loews closed all of their palaces? If so, it is too bad that they did not save one as a show place. Unfortunately, accountants and managers often don’t see the value of such things.
I am almost certain that the Plaza operated into the 90’s. What a dump…it very well might be the worst theater ever built in Chicago. I know that Cineplex Odeon was the last to run the Plaza, and it was Cineplex (not Plitt) that built the new Lincoln Village Cinemas across the street. The K-Mart went out when K-Mart went through bankruptcy recently. The newer Lincon Village Cinemas are now the only theater left at that corner.
Did I mention that the Plaza was a dump?
I remember walking by the Woods when that last movie was on the marquee, on my way to Marshall Fields one day. What you fail to mention is that it was a double feature with, “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka”. While I am a fan of the Wayans Family, I suspect that could be called a fall from grace. I find it interesting that the relatively small Woods and United Artists Theaters were demolished, while the significantly larger Oriental and Palace Theaters were refurbished. I am grateful that the later two are still around, but I often wonder if the former wouldn’t have been more viable. The Woods even seemed to still have a working stage at the time it closed. One more thing…it passed to Cineplex from Plitt. I believe the entire Plitt chain passed to Cineplex.
My mother and her brothers saw films at the Wilmette as children. My father was a project manager for EB during the time you speak of. He recalls working on film production in the Wilmette Theater when all the seats were removed. There were EB offices in a building around the corner on Wilmette Ave, which was also a theater at one time long ago (that building is also still there). You lived there in ‘55 Paul. You might even remember the electric train that used to run down Greenleaf Avenue a short distance away. I remember seeing Pulp Fiction at the Wilmette with a bunch of teenage friends after it had been twinned (in the 90’s). There was still some decoration at that time…it wasn’t quite down to concrete walls in the auditorium. Amazing how that building has spanned the generations.
What a fabulous discussion. My mother, Carolyn Rapp, grew up on the North Shore & went to the Teatro. My uncle Bill tells me that he played on that lot on the border with Kenilworth. But, by the time I came around No Man’s Land was much less exciting…basically a row of apartments. One of them has an old-fashioned entrance that I believe once led to the ruins you speak of. I actually worked at that Jewel in high school. The thing that blows me away is that Leo was still at the Linden Avenue El station into the 90’s…still hassling the kids about magazines. He moved into a new retail stall when they rebuilt the El terminal building, but disappeared soon after that. I imagine he must be gone now…rest his soul.
Oh my god. That is awful. Going by the information posted by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, it looks like there are three outstanding judgments against this guy, from three plaintiffs, worth a total of about $10,000. And to think…I made comments supporting this dirt bag.
Another great picture.
As I was driving up Western Ave recently, I noticed a protective walkway in front of the Nortown. Don’t know if they are getting ready to tear it down, getting ready to maintain it, or just protecting people from falling building fragments. Don’t know how much it matters at this point, as the building sounds thoroughly neglected.