I lived right across the street from the Garden Theatre until 1951. It was owned by two Italian men (old, I thought at the time). I now believe that it was named after the major opera diva of the time, Mary Garden. I’d go there to see the cowboy double features. Also, there was a basketball court on one side which is where I got to first play and a cinder strewn baseball field on the other side extending to Racine.
The theatre was mostly surrounded by the Jane Adams housing projects with only the Racine Street side being part of ‘Little Italy’ (which in the day wasn’t called that). Taylor St had its own street car line and was the boundry for the segregation of the projects with the Garden actually being on the African American side. The theatre itself was segregated. I remember there was once a sit-in (unknown of at the time) where it was filled up with AAs. I don’t remember how it all got settled.
For those interested in this part of the area’s history an AA couple (Tina and Rocky) with two children did move in to my building, but not my entrance, in about 1949-50. They had all of their windows broken the first night they moved in and the police were there every night for about a year, I think.
I lived right across the street from the Garden Theatre until 1951. It was owned by two Italian men (old, I thought at the time). I now believe that it was named after the major opera diva of the time, Mary Garden. I’d go there to see the cowboy double features. Also, there was a basketball court on one side which is where I got to first play and a cinder strewn baseball field on the other side extending to Racine.
The theatre was mostly surrounded by the Jane Adams housing projects with only the Racine Street side being part of ‘Little Italy’ (which in the day wasn’t called that). Taylor St had its own street car line and was the boundry for the segregation of the projects with the Garden actually being on the African American side. The theatre itself was segregated. I remember there was once a sit-in (unknown of at the time) where it was filled up with AAs. I don’t remember how it all got settled.
For those interested in this part of the area’s history an AA couple (Tina and Rocky) with two children did move in to my building, but not my entrance, in about 1949-50. They had all of their windows broken the first night they moved in and the police were there every night for about a year, I think.