Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
I'm quite amazed at the steady stream volume of big name performances that the Genesee Theatre lands.
Waukegan is your typical rust belt suburb with good bones that has fallen on harder times. Countless old suburban and city movie palaces have been torn down, and in suburbia there are many newer venues closer to the highway, in more affluent areas, and with way more easy parking. In addition, you have competition with Chicago itself which has plenty of music venues.
Yet somehow the Genesee is not only surviving, it's a big draw. How did they pull it off?
I would love to see something like this happen with the Uptown Theatre in Chicago
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No great mystery here. Performers go where (they think) their fans are. Looking at the lineup, it seems most of the acts are popular with people in their 40s/50s. Those performers probably assume that their fans are white, middle-class, middle-aged, and largely live in the suburbs - places like Waukegan, or at least the towns around it.
Waukegan has the extra advantage of being a midpoint between Chicago and Milwaukee, so it can draw from both markets. And the Genesee is a historic movie palace with some ambience, unlike pretty much every other venue in Lake County, and it sits in a little Main Street ecosystem of bars and restaurants for people to eat and drink before/after the show.
There are similar lineups at the Arcada in St Charles and the Paramount in Aurora, for many of the same reasons.
It's too bad Waukegan can't parlay this into more downtown development. As you mention, it's got good bones, commuter train service to Chicago and a lakefront location. Unfortunately I think it's a little too far for regular commuters to Chicago, and the downtown has totally been co-opted by Lake County government with a massive cancer of parking lots and ugly buildings. Even the lakefront is still heavily industrial, polluted, and not easily accessible from downtown.