Linda and Ronald Thisted said they have driven past the Avalon Regal Theater “hundreds” of times over the years as they’ve headed home on Stony Island Avenue.
While they’ve long admired the building from the outside, their curiosity of what was behind its doors was finally satiated Saturday when they got a tour through Open House Chicago — an annual, self-guided history and architecture festival that spans the city.
The intricate tile work and mosaics amazed the couple and made them feel like they were “looking through a window.”
“We’ve never been inside,” Linda Thisted said. “The amount of artistry that has gone into that building is incredible.”
The couple said the opportunity to poke around the Bronzeville theater was the highlight of their day.
“It’s like nothing else in Chicago,” Ronald Thisted said.
The Hyde Park residents of more than 40 years also visited some of the other sites participating in the open house, eventually ending their tour at Artists on the Nine, an art studio in Chatham.
Works from several artists hung above the studio’s original terra cotta flooring, but the main attraction was Candice Pope — an artist tasked with paying homage to famed Chicago gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
Pope performed a rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer” as it was once performed by Jackson and later took questions about Jackson’s life and work.
She said she didn’t feel singled out as a singer amid the physical pieces of art.
“Art is art to me,” the 40-year-old South Sider said. “I hope I make her proud.”
Music also was a highlight at The Forum, a former social hall that once held performances by Nat King Cole and meetings for civil rights groups, just steps away from the CTA’s 43rd Street Green Line L station.
Bernard Loyd, founder and president of Urban Juncture, Inc., a Bronzeville community development firm, addressed visitors while the hall came back to life through a performance by the One City Jazz Band.
Loyd said he prefers the title “steward” of The Forum, which he’s overseen the restoration progress of since his group bought the property in 2011. He hopes to reopen it in the coming years and return it to its original purpose as a meeting and social hall with as much of the original structure as possible.
“By coming in here, you’re seeing what people saw 125 years ago,” Loyd said. “You can make connections in this space that you can’t make anywhere else.”
While large portions of the retail space are still being prepared for future use, Loyd was excited to share artwork and backdrops that dated back to its 19th century roots that the restoration group had been able recover.
“It’s a unique link to our past and to our future,” he said.
