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Sep. 10th, 2010 12:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI finished plotting all five hundred and forty-plus theatres onto Google Earth this evening, after I don't know how many hours of work. Huzzah! If anyone would like a copy of the .kmz file, I'd be happy to provide one for you to poke at. It would be really nice if you gave me credit if you happen to do anything with it. They are color-coded: Green for theatres that are open as theatres, blue for buildings that still stand (in whole or in part) but are not performance or presentation venues any longer, red for theatres that have been torn down, and yellow for ones I'm not quite sure of the status of. (I think there are a couple browns, too, which are theatre spaces that are inside of other buildings.)
I wish the Google Earth interface was a little more flexible and could hold meta-data. I'd love to plug building, closing, and demolition dates into it and then step through, year by year, and see what happened when. But it's really not made for that. I had a hard enough time getting it to list the theatres the way I wanted them and not crash!
So stage one is done. Now I begin stage 2; plotting out my routes around the city and hitting the street to take pictures. I'd like to use public transit as much as possible, though I think that won't be workable in some cases. We'll see how it looks for each area as I get to them. I'm starting in Rogers Park, of course, and will probably do a lot of walking to get the nearest ones; say, within a mile or so.
After finishing that up, Posi gave me a call, and on a whim I agreed to his suggestion we connect and get dinner. We met at a *really* good Chinese buffet in Wheeling, which happens to be next to a laser tag place. It seems a group outing is in order at some point.
We ate dinner and spent an hour or so chatting in the parking lot before I drove home. My phone took me right by the Ba'hai temple, which I'd never seen up close before. It's even more gorgeous than I thought! I drove around it a couple times looking for a place to park, but was not sucessful. I may drive up pre-dawn sometime and park in a residential area an walk the few blocks over. That white dome must look amazing in dawn light.
Here's a sneak preview as I begin stage 2 of my Chicago Theatres project!
The Howard Theatre was a beautiful and ornate movie palace that stood just a few blocks from my apartment here in Rogers Park.
She opened her doors in 1917 with over 1600 seats. She showed first run films all the way through the '70s, when changing conditions nationwide and in the neighborhood lead to the closing of her doors.
Vacant for decades, the auditorium was leveled in the late '90s. Her terra cotta bedecked facade and her lobby, though, were saved from the wreckers and converted into the beautiful front of a residential building and a retail store which you can see under the gentle arch that once held her marquee.
The Howard's page on Cinema Treasures is here: cinematreasures.org/theater/989/
There are some pictures from her interior, including the auditorium, from before the demolition here: www.mekong.net/random/theatres.htm Look for Set 12: The Howard, the Southtown, and the Englewood.
The Howard Theater Facade
© Stormdog 2010
And now to bed! It's late!
I wish the Google Earth interface was a little more flexible and could hold meta-data. I'd love to plug building, closing, and demolition dates into it and then step through, year by year, and see what happened when. But it's really not made for that. I had a hard enough time getting it to list the theatres the way I wanted them and not crash!
So stage one is done. Now I begin stage 2; plotting out my routes around the city and hitting the street to take pictures. I'd like to use public transit as much as possible, though I think that won't be workable in some cases. We'll see how it looks for each area as I get to them. I'm starting in Rogers Park, of course, and will probably do a lot of walking to get the nearest ones; say, within a mile or so.
After finishing that up, Posi gave me a call, and on a whim I agreed to his suggestion we connect and get dinner. We met at a *really* good Chinese buffet in Wheeling, which happens to be next to a laser tag place. It seems a group outing is in order at some point.
We ate dinner and spent an hour or so chatting in the parking lot before I drove home. My phone took me right by the Ba'hai temple, which I'd never seen up close before. It's even more gorgeous than I thought! I drove around it a couple times looking for a place to park, but was not sucessful. I may drive up pre-dawn sometime and park in a residential area an walk the few blocks over. That white dome must look amazing in dawn light.
Here's a sneak preview as I begin stage 2 of my Chicago Theatres project!
The Howard Theatre was a beautiful and ornate movie palace that stood just a few blocks from my apartment here in Rogers Park.
She opened her doors in 1917 with over 1600 seats. She showed first run films all the way through the '70s, when changing conditions nationwide and in the neighborhood lead to the closing of her doors.
Vacant for decades, the auditorium was leveled in the late '90s. Her terra cotta bedecked facade and her lobby, though, were saved from the wreckers and converted into the beautiful front of a residential building and a retail store which you can see under the gentle arch that once held her marquee.
The Howard's page on Cinema Treasures is here: cinematreasures.org/theater/989/
There are some pictures from her interior, including the auditorium, from before the demolition here: www.mekong.net/random/theatres.htm Look for Set 12: The Howard, the Southtown, and the Englewood.
The Howard Theater Facade
© Stormdog 2010
And now to bed! It's late!
