4812-4836 North Clark Street
Opened ca. 1920
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Host
to a variety of amusements and some of the early twentieth century's
best-known celebrities, Fred Mann's Rainbo Gardens was one of Chicago's
premier entertainment venues. Located at 4812-36 North Clark Street,
Rainbo Gardens lured patrons from across the city with its eclectic mix
of traditional vaudeville acts, trendy jazz bands, extreme sports
events, and easy-going dance and liquor policies.
The Rainbo Gardens site had long been used for recreational
purposes. As early as 1894, the site was occupied by a small roadside
restaurant that likely enjoyed a robust business. After all, the
roadhouse had a prime location. It was situated alongside what was then
still the main road between Chicago and the northern suburbs, Clark
Street, and stood across the street from one of the city's largest
cemeteries, St. Boniface. Like many of the other
picnic groves that operated
across the city's northern periphery during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, the Clark Street roadhouse would have offered
weary travelers and cemetery visitors a welcome place to stop and
refresh themselves before continuing their journeys or returning to the
city. There was food in the restaurant, drinks in the tavern, and a
spacious picnic grove out back. Two lengthy horse sheds provided
visitors a place to hitch their horses and park their carriages.
During the next twenty years, urban growth gradually engulfed the
Clark Street roadhouse. As the area grew, the roadhouse changed. By
1905, its owners had added a second floor to the restaurant and erected
a two-story beer hall, a bowling alley, an outdoor dance floor, and
several stand-alone refreshment stands. These new amenities helped
transform the old roadhouse into an urban amusement center. Whereas the
old nineteenth-century roadhouse had catered to travelers and cemetery
visitors whose dining options were limited by the remoteness of the
site, the enlarged twentieth-century eatery and outdoor pleasure ground
competed with other urban amusements for the business of young,
pleasure-seeking urbanites. By the summer of 1917, the pleasure spot had
come to be known as the Moulin Rouge Gardens, with D'Urbano's Eccentric
Italian Band heading the bill of entertainers.
Shortly after the end of the First World War, Chicago restaurateurs
Fred and Al Mann took over the Moulin Rouge Gardens. The pair changed
the name of the place to Rainbo Gardens, reportedly in memory of Al's
wartime service in the 42nd "Rainbow" Division of the American
Expeditionary Forces. After a visit in July 1921, a Variety
correspondent reported that the Rainbo Gardens was "running an easy
first with the money-getters. The gardens are beautifully decorated,
cool and inviting. Stunts are proving drawing cards, and at present a
toddle contest is very popular. An automobile is to be given to the
winners."
But owner Fred Mann had bigger ideas. In 1921, he set about giving
the old pleasure spot a million-dollar make-over. Plans called for a
redesigned outdoor gardens for summertime events and the construction of
a two-story structure to house a cocktail bar and dining room that would
remain open year round. The rebuilt gardens opened in June 1922.
According to a promotional pamphlet, the gardens were "surrounded
by a wall with tall trees planted at intervals to provide an illusion of
complete remoteness from city life." Four months later, the Rainbo
Casino, housing the cocktail bar and dining room, opened for business.
The dining room, known as the Rainbo Room, could accommodate as many as
2,000 diners at a time—plus an additional 1,500 dancers if need be.
Variety said it was "probably the largest cafe in America
conducted strictly on a dine and dance basis." Indirect,
multi-colored lighting gave the Rainbo Room a romantic glow and a
revolving stage ensured that the entertainment—be it vaudeville,
ballet, or dance music—never stopped.
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Rainbo Gardens, Auditorium, February 1925 |
Some of the biggest names in Chicago night life performed at Rainbo
Gardens during the early twentieth century. During the late 1910s,
singing sensation Ruth Etting performed there after having made a name
for herself as a costume designer at Chicago's Marigold Gardens. She
wowed audiences at the Rainbo Gardens with her deep singing voice and
her eye-catching chorus-line costumes. Before leaving for Hollywood,
many Chicagoans had come to know her as "Chicago's Sweetheart."
Musicians were also an important part of the Rainbo Gardens during these
years. Renowned saxophonist Isham Jones led one of many so-called Rainbo
Orchestras while performing at the Gardens during the early 1920s.
Jones' Orchestra thrilled the Rainbo's dancers with snappy jazz pieces
like "Dance-O-Mania" and "Jing-A-Bula-Jing-Jing-Jing,"
as well as more romantic tunes like "I Love You Sunday" and "Sahara
Rose." Among the other band leaders to perform at the Gardens
during the 1920s were Frank Westphal, Ralph Williams, and Sam Wagner.
Despite the top-flight entertainers, Rainbo Gardens, like many of
the city's other night spots, struggled during the years of Prohibition.
The ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages took much of the excitement
out of the place. Patrons responded by smuggling their own flasks of
liquor into the Gardens and sharing with one another. Rainbo's managers,
not unlike their counterparts at other Chicago night clubs, usually
turned a blind eye to the surreptitious liquor consumption, not willing
to risk driving away patrons. Federal prohibition agents, however, were
not so tolerant. One of the first big raids came in October 1920, when
federal agents stormed the Rainbo, along with the nearby
Green Mill Gardens, and
seized a large supply of liquor at both establishments. The raids
continued, off and on, for the next eight years.
Mann looked to protect his investments against the uncertainties of
Prohibition by diversifying the Rainbo's range of amusements. In 1927,
he converted the outdoor gardens into an indoor sports arena with 1,726
permanent seats. Initially known as the Rainbo Fronton, the arena pushed
the Manns' total investment in the property to over $2 million. At
first, the Fronton was used for jai alai matches, the novelty of which
attracted the interest of many Chicagoans. For a time, the sports pages
of the city's daily newspapers were filled with jai alai scores and
profiles of various Rainbo Fronton players. As the novelty of the sport
wore off, however, the Fronton began to be used primarily for boxing and
wrestling matches. The facility could accommodate as many as 2500 for
the matches by setting up an additional 800 seats on the main floor of
the arena.
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Rainbo Room, advertisement, 1927 |
The Rainbo, meanwhile, remained a
top target of law enforcement officials. Prohibition agents intensified
their efforts in 1927 and 1928. During the wee hours of the morning of 5
February 1928, agents raided the Rainbo and at least ten other Chicago
night clubs without the use of search warrants. As Variety
reported, "For the first time in the history of local prohibition
enforcement, no search warrants were used, and every guest that had a
highball glass, ice, ginger ale, or charged waters at their tables were
given the once over. Names and addresses were taken and verified before
the people were permitted to leave." Law enforcement officials
contended that night clubs functioned as public spaces and could be
entered by law enforcement officials without search warrants--even
though search warrants had always been used in the past. Fred Mann and
other Chicago night club owners, however, challenged such tactics by
forming a local trade association and taking prohibition officials to
court. They contended that raids conducted without search warrants were
unconstitutional and that local enforcement of Prohibition targeted
outlying night clubs, like the Rainbo, while ignoring widespread liquor
consumption at prestigious downtown hotels.
Following the February 1928 raid, federal authorities ordered
Rainbo Gardens closed. Soon thereafter, Mann was arrested on gambling
charges. Authorities alleged that Mann sponsored illegal pari-mutuel
betting at the Rainbo Fronton. In February 1929, with the Rainbo still
padlocked, Mann fell into bankruptcy. The Rainbo did not reopen until
November 1929, with the Charley Straight Band providing the
entertainment. Shortly after reopening, a fire forced the Rainbo to
close yet again. It reopened in December 1929, after a month of
reconstruction and redecorating, but by then many Chicagoans had found
other places to enjoy themselves.
The Rainbo's struggles continued during the Depression. Most
activity during the 1930s centered in the Rainbo Fronton, where jai alai
tournaments and other sporting events continued to draw crowds. By
contrast, the old Rainbo Casino remained fairly quiet. For a few months
in 1934, the second year of the Century of Progress exposition, it
reopened as the "French Casino." A few years later, in 1939,
theatrical producer Michael Todd and a group of investors purchased the
Rainbo Gardens complex. After spending an estimated $60,000 on repairs
and new decorations, Todd reopened the old Rainbo Casino, calling it the
Theater Café. The new café and its spectacular stage show
proved very popular. Disagreements between Todd and his backers, some of
whom may have been associated with the notorious Nitti gang, led to the
former's ouster in May 1931. Following Todd's departure, police raided
the café and discovered employees selling liquor to minors. The
city subsequently revoked the night club's licenses, forcing it to close
yet again.
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Rainbo Gardens Building, March 2002 |
After the Second World War, new operators reopened the Rainbo,
holding wrestling matches in the Fronton. A bowling alley was also built
on part of the property. An ice skating rink was installed in 1957.
Since then, rock concerts and roller skating have been the main
attractions at the Rainbo. In 2002, local newspapers reported that a
real estate development firm had purchased the Rainbo property and
planned to demolish the historic structures in preparation for the
construction of a new condominium complex.
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Sources: Variety, 28 April 1917, 34; 8 October 1920, 9; 22 July 1921, 9; 5 April 1923, 47; 19 Jan. 1927, 43; 19 Oct. 1927, 58; 8 Feb. 1928, 55; 15 Feb. 1928, 54, 62; 29 Feb. 1928, 56; 21 March 1928, 72; 20 Feb. 1929, 71; 30 Oct. 1929, 84; 25 Dec. 1929, 56; 3 June 1941, 15; Chicago Sunday Tribune, 29 Sept. 1957, pt. 3, pg. 2; Rainbo Gardens, "Mann's New Rainbo Gardens Magnificent," promotional brochure (Chicago: Rainbo Gardens, n.d.), 1-4.
Illustrations: Rainbo Room advertisement, Chicago Sunday Tribune, 18 Sept. 1927, pt. 7, pg. 2; author's collection.
Page authored: 15 May 2000
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