Lawndale Theatre
4015 W. Roosevelt Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
4015 W. Roosevelt Road,
Chicago,
IL
60624
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: William P. Whitney
Firms: R. Levine & Co.
Previous Names: Rena Theatre, New Rena Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Lawndale Theatre opened October 19, 1927 with Carmel Myers in “The Girl From Rio” plus acts on the stage. It was located in the North Lawndale community on W. Roosevelt Road at S. Pulaski Road. It was a rather large neighborhood movie house, seating 2,000, which later featured burlesque, and after that, movies once more, before it was closed in 1963. It was known as the Rena Theatre in its later years. Most recently, the former theatre had housed a church.
It was demolished in July 2014.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 48 comments)
they punched just one hole in a theatre wall that i could see, one gets the impression they’re hesitating now
I talked to one of the guys with the demolition company last week. Their main problem is the basement. The structure right next to what is left, has a basement of 10 feet high! So, he told me that they need to bring more wood to cover/fill it… Also, he said that they are expecting another wrecking machine. Have not been easy to demolish it at once.
Why (aside from neglect perhaps?) is this theater being demolished?
watching more demolitiom first they wiped away the part of the Lawndale/Reno building that was integral storefronts w/ offices apartments upstair, which was finished before they started on any part of the theatre per se. but now with that they have and are demolishing the first flr theatre lobby area. it looks like the huge auditorium with its watertank tower waits to be the last to go.
the wrecking ball’s made headway into the theatre auditorium the last day or two. it’s horrible and heartbreaking to look at even in passing. there’s a positively huge old steel beam exposed that no doubt was integral to balcony support
IT is not 100% down yet! A very long demolition…
just gone are the very last traces of the gold ol' RENA theatre with the demolition finishing up on the southern auditorium wall as I saw yesterday
Very sad. I used to drive down Roosevelt Road up until a year or so ago. Took pictures of this block. It could have been renovated and reused, as well as the storefronts and apts adjoining it. Didn’t the alderman care? Look at the neighborhood! What does he actually do to earn his salary? Seriously. I’d like to know, cause driving by, I still see plenty of empty lots and boarded up buildings.
This opened on October 19th, 1927. I uploaded its grand opening ad in the photo section.
1931 Yiddish poster added courtesy Noach Hoffman.