BoxOffice® Pro - October 2012

MARQUEE
AWARD
THE CROWN OF CHICAGO
A 97-YEAR-OLD MOVIE PALACE CONTINUES TO BE AN INDUSTRY LEADER
by Inkoo Kang
■ Chicago isn’t the first place that most Americans
associate with the movies, but the Windy
City was the site of the first commercial picture
house. At the 1893 World’s Fair, where Buffalo
Bill Cody set up his Wild West Show alongside
the original Ferris wheel and a young pianist
named Scott Joplin, film pioneer Eadweard
Muybridge exhibited images of animals in motion
using an early movie projector called the
zoopraxiscope.
The World’s Fair gave new life to Chicago,
which was still recovering from the Great
Fire of 1871. The fair’s triumphant success
preceded—and predicted—the economic and
cultural boom of the 1910s and 1920s that
would make Chicago one of the most important
cities in the nation. Naturally, dozens of
movie palaces sprouted up in the city during
those two heady decades, including the small
Logan Theatre, built in 1915, in northwestern
Chicago.
For nearly nine decades, the Vaselopolis
family ran the Logan, and generations lived
above the store, so to speak. Chris Vaselopolis,
now in his 80s, was born in the building
and dedicated most of his life to keeping his
family’s legacy alive. In September 2010, Mark
Fishman purchased the nearly century-old
theater. A prominent local entrepreneur and a
self-described “movie freak,” Fishman wanted
to retain the historical elements of the Logan
Square area, where his property management
firm owns several buildings, while contributing
to the up-and-coming neighborhood’s artsy,
youthful milieu.
After a year in business, Fishman closed the
theater for six months for renovations. He set
out to “give it some TLC,” but soon discovered
that a simple facelift wouldn’t do the antique
theater justice. What lay underneath the old
walls and decades of paint was much more
opulent and stately than what Fishman had
dreamed: marble walls, stained-glass windows
and original light fixtures, all in near-perfect
condition.
After those discoveries, Fishman was all in.
The simple remodeling job became his “own
little private art project.” “I built it as I saw it in
my head,” he says, finding inspiration in the art
deco theaters he had frequented as a child. He
rebuilt the theater lobby to resemble a 1930s
hotel lobby, renovating the ticket booth, installing
art deco water fountains, even importing
from Canada a Depression-era telephone booth
with the kind of two-piece phone last seen in
Humphrey Bogart movies.
But nostalgia was counterbalanced by
sleek modernity. Fishman’s team expanded the
theater’s space by a couple of thousand feet to
make room for a full bar, a lounge area and
a larger concession stand. Seat capacity was
downsized by a third, scaled back from 900 to
600 chairs, to offer patrons more legroom. All
four auditoriums boast brand-new digital projectors
and sound systems. And the remodeling
wasn’t just cosmetic—the ceilings and floors
were redone completely, and the outdated ventilation,
plumbing and electrical systems were
all updated. By the time the Logan reopened in
March 2012 with a $1 admission, $1 popcorn
and $1 fountain drinks deal, Fishman had
spent $1.5 million on renovations.
It isn’t just the Logan that enjoys a new lease
on life these days but its devoted, hopelesslyin-love
owner as well. The 55-year-old Fishman
explains that his previous theater industry experience
consisted of “buying a ticket and watching
the movie.” He learned virtually everything
20 BOXOFFICE PRO OCTOBER 2012