New Regal Theater, Chicago

New Regal Theater, Chicago

Built in 1927 as one of the South Side's most impressive movie palaces, done up in ornate Moorish Revival style, this theater was in operation well past the riots and up into the late 1970s.

Built in 1927 as one of the South Side's most impressive movie palaces, done up in ornate Moorish Revival style, this theater was in operation well past the riots and up into the late 1970s. Since then, the theater has served as a church, and then a performance venue, before finally shuttering its doors in 2003. In 2008, however, the building caught a glimmer of new hope with a purchase by new owners hoping to turn the building into a new cultural venue. The idea hasn't quite taken hold yet, but there is reason to feel optimistic about this Chicago Landmark's long-term future. If you are not getting in for an event in the meantime (and believe it, the interior is in fabulous shape and incredibly beautiful), check out the cool mural on the side and ponder the building's incredible musical history; the venue's performers truly include every single world class blues, jazz, rhythm & blues, funk, and soul musician you can think of: John Coltrane, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr, Earth Wind & Fire, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, the Supremes, Gladys Knight, the Isley Brothers, Billie Holiday, Isaac Hayes, B.B. King, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and so on, and so on, and so on.