"It'll look like the lobby lounge of a boutique hotel," filled with comfy chairs and loveseats, with a view of the downtown skyline, he says. "It won't look like anything else I've ever done,"The other good news is that the name of the bar won't be StarBar (as previously thought).
For those of you not familiar with Kleiner he is the mind behind some eccentric Chicago and South Loop eateries like Opera, Gioco, Marche, Red Light, Carnivale.
16 comments:
Should be great for gang fights.
Yeah, because Kleiner's other businesses (in the same general area) are hotbeds of violence.
I'll gladly support this business while the dissenters stay at home, which I doubt they actually will.
LOL- I will support it too. We are going to have the hottest movie theatre in the city. Those afraid of the "gangs" can stay at home, while we are watching movies in luxury.
Totally agree. I am 100% supporting the theatre & bar. Where are people getting this gang stuff from ? Even in the worst of the worst area's of the South Loop (Near South Side) there are no true gangs here. I have lived in the area for the past year and have not seen ONE TRUE REPRESENTITIVE except for some young kids who should be at home or some poor folks hanging out & the occassional issue of theft or car damage. Near West Side or South Side - sure.
Gang members don't have cars? I remember people bitching about the theaters at 9th and State including Powell's books and this place will certainly be a lot more hopping. But I appreciate you guys being a bunch of boosters for Jerry "Room 21" Kleiner!
Read Mary Mitchell's article in today's Sun-Times. Coupled with her usual biased, racist banter (she is easily the biggest racist in the media today), you will find some interesting information about Lucky Strike Lanes at the AMC River East Theater. This place is AMC's version of Kliener's "upscale movie theater dining lounge." Take note of the extreme measures that have been implemented at this lounge regarding the dress code. This dress code did not always exist. It had to be implemented due to a huge influx of gang-banger types that started to congregate all over this theater and lounge and caused severe violence to ensue.
If any of us were boosters, Room 21would still be open. FGFM - I am glad you raised these issues now as I hope AMC does implement some form of dress code. I honestly would rather have extra security to avoid loitering.
On Yo Chicago - Kerasotes response sounds like this will be high-class theatre:
Brian 10/20/09 at 11:54 AM
Thanks Joseph. I sent a message to Kerasotes and it looks like they plan to open December 18, 2009. Quoted reply below:
“Thank you for coming to Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres and for your interest in the Kerasotes ShowPlace ICON in Chicago. We anticipate this location will be open on or about December 18, 2009. This location will be a premium location with a restaurant and bar as well as reserved seating in all auditoriums. We will be offering a specialized member’s club for the ICON locations which will enable card holder’s to attend special events and premieres. At this point, we do not anticipate the ICON locations will be part of the Five Buck Club. We are hoping to have the ICON section of our website up by mid November and further information about all the benefits will be detailed at that time.”
Sorry, I just don't see this as some huge contentious issue.
Burham and the Fine Art Theaters were pits but I went there all the time. When they closed, the area became less vital IMO.
I'm looking forward a movie theater in the immediate area again and don't give two beans about what problems may or may not potentially arise.
Of course gang-bangers have cars, isn't a car a rather important cog in a "drive by"?
Coupled with [Mary Mitchell's] usual biased, racist banter (she is easily the biggest racist in the media today)
Interesting case of projection, but I really doubt that Kerasotes will be turning away paying customers for casual dress. And anyone that Kleiner keeps out of his clip joints is actually being done a favor.
I thought Lucky Strike always had a dress code to promote the lame well-dressed/high class atmosphere of its bowling alley? A couple of years ago our company outings went there during the afternoon and I wear crappy clothes, but I did notice at night they became more formal with a rent-a-bouncer wearing cheap suits. I go to AMC East a lot and like everything else in the city, it's quite segregated. Horror films usually have 90% black audience while dramas have a white audience. It's not like Landmark where it’s always white people. Fortunately, most city movie audience is pretty civilized as opposed to suburban audiences like those found in Barrington's AMC 30 where people of all races are quite annoying.
I'm definitely going to check out ICON and I expect the audience to be African American and Hispanics just for the mere fact that 90% of all red/orange/bus riders that commutes through this area are minority. It's so predicable that it’s uncomfortable. At 5PM stand on a loop El stop and it's quite funny how all white people get on the purple/brown north line and all black/Hispanic get on the red/orange south line.
It's not so funny when you look at the huge disparity in violent crimes that take place in those "white" hoods along the brown/purple lines as opposed to those which take place in the "non-white" hoods along the green/orange/red lines.
Another topic totally shanghaied!
It's not that I don't care about area crime or social/class/racial unrest but this seems like a very toothless forum for such diatribes.
The racist anon should have seen what the area looked like 30 years ago or even 20. The Dearborn Park II area which now literally has million dollar homes was eighty acres of fly-dumping.
20+ years ago I came up here for the first time. My boss at the time had purchased some old lithography equipment from a company going out of business in "Printing House Row". We were told not to stay in this area after dark and for good reason. It hardly seems like the same place as virtually every structure has changed for the better. State Street was completely dead at that time too.
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