The New Regal Theater (originally Avalon Theater) is located at 1641 East 79th Street, in Chicago, Illinois. The theater opened as the Avalon Theater in 1927. The design is an "atmospheric" Moorish Revival movie palace designed by John Eberson, who was nationally known for the atmospheric design. It is said that the theater's design was inspired by a Persian incense burner that Eberson found in an antique market. The Avalon Theater was in business until the late 1970s.
Afterward, the building served as the home of the Miracle Temple Church until becoming a performing arts venue once again in 1987. At that time, the theater was renamed in honor of the old Regal Theater, a cultural center for Chicago's African American community that was demolished in 1973. The old Regal Theater was located at 4719 S. King Dr.
It received Chicago Landmark status on June 17, 1992.
The former owners of the New Regal Theater, Edward and Bettianne Gardner, closed the theater in 2003 after losing money for several years. In 2008, the building was purchased by a group that included Ron and Regina Evans with the hope of reviving it as a cultural venue. However, it has seen little use. The site did hold a party to celebrate Barack Obama's presidential nomination acceptance speech in August 2008.
Read more about New Regal Theater: Notable Performers
Famous quotes containing the words regal and/or theater:
“A monarchy is the most expensive of all forms of government, the regal state requiring a costly parade, and he who depends on his own power to rule, must strengthen that power by bribing the active and enterprising whom he cannot intimidate.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theater that only one man in it can count on steady work—the night watchman.”
—Tallulah Bankhead (1903–1968)