Chicago’s Entertaining: Uptown and Down
If you consulted a cartographer about Chicago, he would map out some 215 neighborhoods and 77 community areas within the city’s limits. From Albany Park to Wrigleyville, each district is unique unto itself.
One North Side area is known as Uptown, with well-defined bordering districts of Foster to the north. Lake Michigan to the east, Montrose and Irving Park to the south, and Ravenswood and Clark to the west. Uptown is also generally considered Chicago’s entertainment district. The neighborhoods within Uptwon are Buena Park, Sheridan Park, Little Vietnam, Margate Park, and Andersonville Terrace, also known as North Uptown.
Once the Northwestern Elevated Railroad constructed a terminal near Montrose and Broadway in 1900, downtown residents came calling in search of fun. Film stars including Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson even worked on projects at Argyle Street’s Essanay Studios. Soon enough, the Uptown Theatre, Aragon Ballroom, Riviera Theater, and Green Mill Jazz Club would all spring up.
In addition to silent film works, Uptown Chicago has long been cited as being influential in various emerging art movements such as the jazz age, the Gilded Age, the swing era, the Lyceum Movement, the big band era, and more.
At the center of the action is Uptown Square which received designation as a National Historic District in 2000. Despite its longevity, the district as a whole has been enjoying a great revival of late with new restaurants and shops taking up residence.
Among Uptown’s attractions, the Aragon Ballroom continues to be a thriving venue for live music. On the marquee, legends the likes of Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, and Lawrence Welk have given way to contemporary giants such as U2, The Smiths, and Metallica.
Where once the Riviera offered live jazz performances alongside movies, now it is also a concert venue; and the Uptown Theatre, once an ornate movie palace, is currently undergoing a transformation toward the same ends.
At the Green Mill Gardens, which was fashioned after the Moulin Rouge in Paris, the Green Mill Jazz Club once claimed Al Capone’s right-hand man “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn as its proprietor. The club is still a proud host for jazz greats, as well as a Poetry Slam founded by Marc Smith.
An Asian influence is very strongly felt in Uptown, with Argyle Street boasting a variety of ethnic restaurants and groceries including Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian, among others.
On the opposite side of Chicago is the downtown theater district which boasts historic theaters such as Cadillac Palace and the Majestic Theatre (now Bank of America Theatre). When it opened in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was dubbed “the Wonder Theatre of the World.” The architexture and themes of its sections were inspired by the Paris Opera House and Royal Chapel at Versailles.
Also in the area is the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (originally known as the Oriental Theatre). Once a tribute to Asian art replete with turbaned ushers and a “hasheesh-dream décor” consisting of Indian mosaics, elephant-throne chairs, and glazed Buddha statues, the Chicago landmark was restored to its original glory in the mid-1990s after a period of disrepair.