General Discussion Forgotten Chicago Forum
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Chain Reaction
Posted by:
querencia
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Date: January 01, 2010 10:28PM
One discovery leads to another. I collect old Chicago postcards and ephemera and in this way learned that the Hotel Plaza seems to have stood where the Chicago Latin School is now, North & Clark. The hotel's brochure directed me to Marigold Gardens, Broadway & Grace, so I googled it and found on a website called Jazz Age Chicago a list of beer gardens that mostly opened around 1895 and continued for years, then sometimes changed to other forms. One seems to have metamorphosed into Riverview Park, while Rainbo (Beer) Gardens became Rainbo Skating Rink and now Rainbo Condominiums. I don't know whether there's still an apartment building on Diversey near Broadway called Rienzi Plaza, but it stood (or stands) on the site of the Rienzi Beer Gardens. BTW you can view a lot of these disappeared places by going to eBay and searching "postcard chicago".
Re: Chain Reaction
Posted by:
seod
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Date: January 04, 2010 03:40PM
I have an old mug from the Reinzi Gardens/cafe, Emil Gasch Propietor. Did this turn into the Reinzi Hotel that the northside gang hung out in the 1920's? More info please!!!!
Re: Chain Reaction
Posted by:
captain54
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Date: January 04, 2010 07:13PM
seod Wrote:
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> I have an old mug from the Reinzi Gardens/cafe,
> Emil Gasch Propietor. Did this turn into the
> Reinzi Hotel that the northside gang hung out in
> the 1920's? More info please!!!!
according to the publication "That Toddlin Town, Chicago White Dance bands from 1900-1950", the Rienzi Hotel occupied the site of Reinzi Gardens. On the second floor of the Reinzi, was a dance club that went thru a series of name changes in three decades. In 1923, a former manager of the Green Mill opened the Rendezvous. In 1928, the Rendezvous was padlocked by Federal Agents and shut down for a year. The Rendezvous reopened as the Alladin, and then in the late 30's became the Famous Door. It became the Paddock Club in the 40's, and then the building was torn down in the late 80's to make way for the high rise condo.
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have an old mug from the Reinzi Gardens/cafe,
> Emil Gasch Propietor. Did this turn into the
> Reinzi Hotel that the northside gang hung out in
> the 1920's? More info please!!!!
according to the publication "That Toddlin Town, Chicago White Dance bands from 1900-1950", the Rienzi Hotel occupied the site of Reinzi Gardens. On the second floor of the Reinzi, was a dance club that went thru a series of name changes in three decades. In 1923, a former manager of the Green Mill opened the Rendezvous. In 1928, the Rendezvous was padlocked by Federal Agents and shut down for a year. The Rendezvous reopened as the Alladin, and then in the late 30's became the Famous Door. It became the Paddock Club in the 40's, and then the building was torn down in the late 80's to make way for the high rise condo.
Re: Chain Reaction
Posted by:
SuperCFL
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Date: January 09, 2010 01:20AM
I recall reading a published history of the Uptown Theater many years ago, which stated that the theater was built on the former site of a beer garden.
Re: Chain Reaction
Posted by:
adgorn
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Date: January 09, 2010 09:44PM
That would be the Green Mill (nightclub/lounge by that name still there) Garden. Garden part became converted to the theater and other buildings on the block.
Re: Chain Reaction
Posted by:
querencia
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Date: January 27, 2010 09:31PM
To seod: All I've been able to find out so far is that there was a Rienzi Hotel and it was next door to the Diversey Arms Hotel at Diversey and Clark, now a Day's Inn. If you google Rienzi Hotel you will get the same material I read. In the 1920's a lot of big music names more or less started out there in the hotel's Rendezvous Cafe---Glenn Miller played with Ben Pollack's orchestra, Mugsy Spanier got his start, Bix Beiderbecke was a resident, and Louis Armstrong recorded in the back room. BTW last week there was a postcard for sale on ebay (expensive and from a vendor in Europe) that showed the big elaborate restaurant dining room of the Rienzi Arms so there was more going on there than a beer garden.
How amazing this is. I have passed that Day's Inn a zillion times and had no idea of this history. Also there was a Commonwealth Hotel at 2757 Pine Grove, and the old Brewster apartment building at Diversey and Pine Grove (built in 1893 and originally called Lincoln Park Place).
How amazing this is. I have passed that Day's Inn a zillion times and had no idea of this history. Also there was a Commonwealth Hotel at 2757 Pine Grove, and the old Brewster apartment building at Diversey and Pine Grove (built in 1893 and originally called Lincoln Park Place).
Re: Chain Reaction
Posted by:
seod
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Date: January 30, 2010 04:32AM
Was this the same Rendezvous cafe that Joe E Louis went to from the Green Mill and was almost killed by Machinegun Jack McGurn? Also did the northsiders have intrests in the Reinzi/Rendezvous?
