United Artists Theatre

[Gistok]

Was the Adams structurally unsound? What was Illitch's logic with destroying that property and doing "something" to this one? I would love to see this district be filled with more performances, making Detroit almost a "little Broadway" with plenty of first-run or replica performances similar to Chicago.

Lincoln Center, in many respects is a disaster. The acoustics and artistic venues that we have here in Detroit are absolutely remarkable, something I didn't realize until I spent a bit of time on the east coast.

Detroit500, I wish I knew what Ilitch was thinking right now... The 1700 seat Adams was always the "ugly duckling" of the Grand Circus Park theatres. It was built in 1917 [[well before movie palaces were in full bloom), built in a very tame style as a legitimate theatre, and became a movie house within a year of its' opening. Much of anything resembling ornate plasterwork was removed decades ago during several unsympathetic remodelings. So it was more likely a question of "is it worth the bother", rather than "can it be restored"?

Is the Adams the sacraficial lamb so that the United Artists can one day be reborn? I don't know... only the Ilitch family knows the answer to that.

But there is one member of that family... Atanis Ilitch, who was sidetracked for many years with a serious form of cancer, who is now back at the family company. He's known as "the creative Ilitch"... and may be the the inspiration behind doing something with the United Artists. And Atanis Ilitch is a close friend of Quicken owner Dan Gilbert.

But we really don't yet know what the future holds...