Regal Theater getting an influx of cash

Regal Theater getting an influx of cash
Regal Theater getting an influx of cash

Regal Theater getting an influx of cash

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A Kickstarter campaign is underway by the new owner of the New Regal Theater on the South Side to help bring back arts, entertainment and much needed economic development to the African-American community after the theater’s doors were shuttered five years ago. The theater —which became a Chicago landmark in 1992 —was originally the Avalon Theatre that sat on 79th and South Stony Island. The Avalon was bought in 1985 and re-opened two years later as the New Regal Theater, referencing its Bronzeville ancestor, the Regal Theater which opened in 1928 and boasted icons such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, among others. It was the go-to place for black music from the 1920s to the ‘50s. The Bronzeville building was destroyed by a fire and torn down. The 2,250-seat New Regal on Stony Island changed ownership and went into foreclosure in 2010. Jerald Gary of Community Capital Investment Partners purchased the theater last year and is in studio to tell us about the rebirth campaign of the New Regal Theater. (Flickr/reallyboring)