How the Crocker could have been saved
April 27th, 2006Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden - T.S. Eliot
The below picture diagrams how the River Park Place condominium did not require the destruction of the landmark Crocker Theater. The condominium’s footprint could have been moved south, and Dupage Street could have been extended to enable access to the riverside parking lot.
Extending Dupage Street would have required the destruction of this building, which is far more dispensible than the landmark Crocker.
And it would have been a perfect chance to get rid of this nasty, nasty, Jack-the-Ripper corridor.
But somehow our councilmen thought the Crocker was a blight, not this.
I remember that “Jack the Ripper” corridor well. When I took music lessons at Bell-Morford (sic?) Piano and Organ, my grandmother would pick me up on Riverside Drive, and I used that corridor to get there.
I spent many an afternoon at the Crocker. Saw “Thunderbirds Are Go” there, one of the films that made me want to go to Hollywood to be a professional model-maker in the special effects biz. It sat for so long unused, it’s a sad thing to see such a landmark single-screen movie palace bite the dust.
Believe it or not, there are actually some of those surviving here in Los Angeles.
*sigh*
Dale Thelander, Bandit Eng. & EFX
Posted May 30th, 2008 at 2:08 pmSo you’re still in LA, Dale? From your comments, I’d thought maybe you’d move back.
Thanks for all the extra information. It’s very interesting.
Posted May 31st, 2008 at 9:13 pmYeah, still in L.A.
Posted June 1st, 2008 at 9:56 pmCan’t beat the winters. But, part of me still belongs to Elgin.