"Your Spirit Rises And Soars"

A reader points us to Chicagoist, which ran an item this week about the magazine that Balaban & Katz released for the inaugural of the Uptown Theatre in August 1925.  And who knew, it's free online from our friends at Compass Rose, who maintain the marvelous Uptown Chicago History blog.

It's a fun read, and Balaban & Katz were extremely proud of their creation:

Here is the Uptown Theatre.  It is beyond human dreams of loveliness, rising in mountainous splendor, achieving that overpowering sense of tremendous size and exquisite beauty -- a thing that comes miraculously seldom.

We also enjoyed perusing the ads, including one for the Loren Miller store (which space was later Goldblatt's, and later restored for Borders); Sheridan Trust and Savings Bank (now Bridgeview Bank), which boasts that its vaults are "strong as steel, concrete and human ingenuity can make them"; and The Alamo dance club at 831 West Wilson, featuring a cool 68-degree temperature and an invitation to "Get a New Thrill! Dance on the Glass!"

Check it out here... and see what was, and dream of what may still be.