Granada Theater – Lost in Chicago: A Glimpse of a Bygone Era
Okay, Chicago history buffs, let’s talk about a place that’s more legend than landmark these days: the Granada Theater. If you lived in the Rogers Park neighborhood back in the day, chances are you have some memories tied to this place. Sadly, it’s no longer with us, but its story is worth remembering.
A Palace for the People
Picture this: It’s 1926, the Roaring Twenties are in full swing, and the Granada Theater throws open its doors at 6427 N. Sheridan Road. This wasn’t just any movie theater; it was a movie palace, seating a whopping 3,400 people! The Marks Brothers, big players in the theater biz, were behind it. Edward E. Eichenbaum from Levy & Klein was the main architect, and he designed it to be a versatile venue for both live stage shows and movies.
Location-wise, it was prime real estate. Right by the ‘L’ train stop, bus lines galore, and even a big parking lot for those fancy new automobiles. The building itself was a sight to behold: three stories tall, with a 93-foot wide marquee covered in thousands of lights, practically screaming "Come on in!"
Inside the Granada: Pure Opulence
Walking into the Granada was like stepping into another world. The auditorium was the main attraction, a massive, column-free space with a huge balcony overlooking the back third of the seats.
To get there, you could either take the marble staircase up from the ticket lobby to the mezzanine or stroll through the grand lobby on the main floor. This lobby was HUGE—153 feet deep and 59 feet wide, with a vaulted ceiling soaring 59 feet high. The floors? Pink Tennessee marble, buffed to a shine, with marble baseboards to match. On one side, doors led to the main floor seating, and at the end, a marble staircase swept up to the second floor and the lower balcony. Marble, marble everywhere!
And the ceiling? Forget about it. A massive dome over 80 feet across, with smaller domes all around the edges, dripping in ornamentation and gold leaf. Three arched vaults on each side of the balcony were filled with glass and backlit with blue lights to look like the night sky. The main dome had a rosette design with a smaller dome in the center. And to top it all off, four enormous crystal chandeliers lit the whole place up. Talk about making an entrance!
Opening Night and Beyond
The Granada officially opened on September 18, 1926, with a stage show called "Eastern Nights" starring Jack Haskell. The organist, Alfred F. Brown, played the Wurlitzer organ, which had four manuals and 20 ranks. The stage itself was 32 feet deep and 98 feet wide—plenty of room for some serious performances.
Fast forward a few years to 1932, and the Publix/Balaban & Katz chain, a big name in Chicago theaters, took over. They closed it briefly for some sprucing up and reopened in 1933 with a double feature: John Barrymore in "Reunion In Vienna" and Laurel & Hardy in "Me and My Pal."
Publix/Balaban & Katz was connected to Paramount Pictures, and eventually, the theater became part of ABC-Great Lakes Theaters, who owned it until 1973.
Changing Times
By 1940, things were starting to change. The original marquee was replaced with a smaller, trapezoidal one. The giant "Granada" sign that stretched almost 130 feet high was also taken down. By this point, the Granada was primarily showing movies, not live shows.
But the Granada wasn’t just a place for old classics. On November 19, 1975, it hosted the world premiere of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest," with Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher themselves showing up!
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the Granada had a brief stint as a rock concert venue and even hosted midnight showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for a few years.
The End of an Era
For the most part, the Granada held up pretty well until the late ’80s. But by 1988, vandalism and water damage started to take their toll. Despite efforts to save it, the Senior Life Styles Corporation bought the property and tore it down in 1989-90 to build an apartment/commercial building.
The new building, a 16-story apartment tower with a shopping arcade, was completed in 1991 and named "Granada Center." Later, Loyola University bought it and turned 12 floors into student apartments, renaming it "Fordham Hall." The retail and office part of the building still goes by "Granada Center."
A Legacy Preserved
While the Granada Theater is gone, it’s not entirely forgotten. The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago have some archival materials, including photos taken by the "Save Granada Theatre Committee." So, even though you can’t walk through its doors anymore, you can still catch a glimpse of its former glory through these historical records.
The Granada Theater may be lost to time, but its story lives on as a reminder of Chicago’s rich cultural history and the grandeur of the movie palace era.