Wednesday, January 2, 2019

"In 2019, Uptown Is Rising"

In an article in the Trib, theater critic Chris Jones made his wish list for 2019 and Uptown features prominently:

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"Hard hats appear at the Uptown Theatre: The long-awaited Uptown Theatre renovation — as I reported several times this year — now is a done deal.

But skeptics want to see the actual crews in action before they believe. This is understandable, given the intensity of feeling about this particular theater and all the false starts of the past.

So let's all hope that, once the weather improves, we'll see hard-hatted workers, painters and plasters all walking through the door ready to go to work.

The Uptown Entertainment District continues to grow: I'm applying capital letters to the Uptown Entertainment District to make the point that huge development progress was made in 2018 on this neighborhood on Chicago's North Side.

The pieces are coming together for a vibrant place to experience Chicago nightlife, and theaters must be a part of that, along with the storied music venues in the neighborhood.

That's already happening — TimeLine Theatre Company has plans to move to the corner of Broadway and Argyle Streets, the drag venue known as The Baton is headed Uptown, and other creative entrepreneurs are looking at space.

Instead of the artificiality of the Lincoln Yards neighborhood — theaters never do well in fake 'hoods — let's hope for a vibrant cultural impact in, and on, what already is a district teeming with artistic history.

In 2019, Uptown is rising."

The entire article is here.

5 comments:

  1. Don't forget the Double Door is moving in to the old bank building at Wilson and Broadway.

    Also, are there any plans or conversations about a face-lift for the Rivera or the Aragon? That Coorslite banner at the Rivera has been up forever and it could really use a fresh power wash or paint. Same with the Aragon. It really has declined the past several years. The store frontage and the main sign are really starting to show age. I would love to hear investments into those properties, so when the Uptown is completed everyone on the block will look shinny and new!

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  2. Lots of great news for Uptown!

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  3. There was a ton of work behind the scenes to get to this place, but I knew that if we followed the plans that had been laid out, it would happen. I'll admit it's happening more quickly than I thought..... but I'll take that.

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    1. Will the ownership of both the Rivera and Aragon begin investing in some needed face lifts of their venues in 2019 or 2020? With new shiny venues opening up, the Riv and Aragon are going to quickly look worse and worse

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    2. Jam Productions owns the Uptown and the Riv. Live Nation owns the Aragon. I don't think either corporation runs this blog, Mike.

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