On a Sunday morning in mid-October, a line begins to form on North Broadway in Uptown. It snakes past a post office and car wash before curving down a side street. It grows to more than half a mile long—so long that it has moved into a neighboring ward. Folks break out foldable stools and nibble on pastries from a nearby Vietnamese bakery.
What’s at the end of this line isn’t some brand activation or viral food trend but architecture. Specifically, it is the Uptown Theatre, an unrestored vaudeville-era movie palace closed since 1981. For one weekend only, people will be allowed inside for Open House Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center’s annual free festival. Had I not been asked to volunteer to help with crowd control, I would be one of the thousands of people in line. Despite three-hour waits and a “no photography” policy, the atmosphere is spirited. “I saw Santana here in ’81,” a bearded man in a Chicago Bears windbreaker exclaims. At 10:00 a.m. the theater opens for tours. The line moves up a block, and people cheer.
