Ending an entertainment drought that helped dry up a sense of hope on Chicago’s West Side, a new, 10-screen movie complex was christened in the Lawndale community Monday night.
A Hollywood-style debut marked the unveiling of the Cineplex Odeon complex at Roosevelt Road and Homan Avenue, the first of three new neighborhood movie houses in predominantly African-American communities in Chicago.
On Wednesday, the same day that the Lawndale complex will begin showing films to the public, two other Cineplex Odeon theaters will open on the South Side. They are located at 87th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chatham, a predominantly black, middle-class neighborhood, and 62nd Street and Western Avenue in the racially-mixed Chicago Lawn neighborhood.
The three theaters, city officials believe, are the first to be built in these areas in almost 30 years.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the $10 million Lawndale theater–actually, it was a snipping of a length of film–and a reception in white tents, about 600 guests, celebrities and politicians received a private screening of the much-awaited “Amistad.”
The film, the saga of a rebellion on board a Spanish slave ship and the trial that resulted, was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Morgan Freeman.
Among those on hand Monday for the black-tie event were Allen Karp, CEO and president of Cineplex Odeon; Mayor Richard Daley; Debbie Allen, co-producer of the film; and Djimon Hounsou, an actor in the movie. White-gloved ushers welcomed guests to the theater, and a laser light show danced in the sky.
“What we see today is the rebirth of a community,” said Daley, who repeatedly stressed that the city’s involvement in the form of a tax-increment financing district was crucial. “Without TIF this would not be here. That’s why for 50 years nothing was done in this community.”
Earlier, Ald. Michael Chandler (24th) said the theater, combined with renewed retail and housing development, has been a shot in the arm for neighborhood residents.
“Twelve years ago, we were called the permanent underclass, and the Tribune said we would never be able to lift ourselves up; we have lifted ourselves up,” Chandler said. ” `Amistad’ was shown in Lawndale Monday night. That clearly says people other than us are seeing the same (potential) we are.”
By the 1970s, in the aftermath of white flight and the riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., much of the real estate in the neighborhood had fallen into a dilapidated state. Many businesses shut down, including movie houses like the grandly designed Central Park, and moviegoers had to travel far from the neighborhood to see a film.
In recent years, however, there have been signs of a budding turnaround in Lawndale. And for some, there is hope that new development will one day overshadow the despair, which comes in the form of poverty, drugs, gangs and crime.
“I couldn’t believe it until they started building,” said Shanta Mathis, 16, as she stood recently on the steps of an apartment house on Douglas Boulevard.
When asked why, her friend, Sherman Ward, 17, chimed in: “Look at it. Just the environment. There are a lot of drug spots.”
The return of movie houses to the inner city of Chicago and elsewhere has been fueled by a recognition of the buying power of the black entertainment dollar as well as, in some cases, a partnership of corporations and black entrepreneurs.
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In this case, Cineplex Odeon worked closely with local entrepreneurs, Donzell and Alisa Starks, the owners of Inner City Entertainment. The movie houses are a partnership between the Starkses’ company and Cineplex.
This type of cooperation, Cineplex Odeon officials believe, will spark the revitalization of some neighborhoods.
“We were looking to expand, and they (the Starkses) were looking to open up in the inner city,” said Howard Litchman, executive vice president of marketing for Cineplex Odeon. “We said that’s a partnership made in heaven, because we have a similar goal in the mind. This is a great partnership, and the theaters will be as state-of-the-art as they come.”
At Monday night’s gala, Donzell Starks tearfully thanked his mother, noting that she never got past 8th grade but helped him get through college.
“We had a lot of bumps on the road, but we overcame,” Starks said. “We’re proud to be offering the people in this community such a wonderful place to see a movie in their own community. It’s been a long time coming.”
The Starkses said they have attempted to further aid neighborhood development in the way they hire. The theaters, they say, will generate some 200 new jobs, many going to local residents.
Paul McCarter, a 26-year-old Lawndale resident, is one of the new employees.
“It is going to be good experience, because it is going to be good for the community,” said McCarter, one of the assistant managers who lives about five minutes from the theater.
For Richard Barnett and his family, who live 10 minutes from Roosevelt and Homan, the opening of the theater is a relief. On Sunday, he had to travel to North Riverside, a west suburban community, to take his grandson and three of his classmates to see a movie.
But the next time the Barnetts go to see a movie, they may be able to walk.
“I feel very good,” said Barnett, a 66-year-old community activist who has lived in Lawndale for 44 years. “It is going to be great, especially for those of us who have children and grandchildren, because they have to go so far away for a show. Sometimes, we will have to drop them off and pick them up. And that is ridiculous.
“You shouldn’t have to run all the way to Timbuktu, whether it is the grocery store, the shoe story or whatever.”