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Funds To Restore 'Blues Brothers' Filming Site Nixed by Gov. Rauner

By Sam Cholke | March 17, 2015 6:06am | Updated on March 17, 2015 12:43pm
 The South Shore Cultural Center was a filming site for
The South Shore Cultural Center was a filming site for "The Blues Brothers."
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

SOUTH SHORE — The columns along the main promenade at the South Shore Cultural Center now are likely to continue to crumble after the state pulled back on nearly $2.5 million in grants.

There is a hole the size of a Labrador retriever now where Elwood and Jake Blues hid from police behind the pillars in “The Blues Brothers” while sneaking into the cultural center, repurposed in the movie as the Palace Hotel and Ballroom.

The columns were to be fixed with concrete through a state grant, but Gov. Bruce Rauner has canceled $28 million in grant funds from the Illinois Department of Natural Resource for the Chicago Park District. About $2.5 million of that money would have gone into the cultural center, at 7059 S. South Shore Drive.

 A theater expected to be restored for the South Shore Cultural Center's 100th anniversary next year will now no longer be repaired at all.
A theater expected to be restored for the South Shore Cultural Center's 100th anniversary next year will now no longer be repaired at all.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

“Every single dollar of that grant was needed,” said Andrea Adams, director of the cultural center. “Those columns outside are truly an eyesore, but there is nothing we can do.”

The grant money also was scheduled to pay for restoration work on the landmark building and to restore an outdoor theater that is crumbling.

“You wouldn’t even notice it because it’s in decay,” Adams said of the theater.

The theater, once restored, was expected to seat nearly 300 people for outdoor concerts and plays and was to be the centerpiece of the summer 2016 celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the cultural center, which originally was a country club.

The Chicago Park District was expected to kick in some funds of its own, and $3.3 million in restoration work was to be done at the cultural center.

“Right now, it’s all on hold,” Adams said.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has publicly pushed the governor to restore the funding.

“The governor talks about a shared sacrifice, but his budget and decisions to freeze previously awarded grants ask the children and families of Chicago to do all of the sacrificing,” Emanuel said on Sunday.

The governor has held firm on the cuts.

“Many state programs are running out of money because majority party legislators knowingly voted for a budget that intentionally left our state with a $1.6 billion hole,” said Catherine Kelly, a spokeswoman for the governor.

“The child care assistance program is already out of state money, and state prisons soon won’t have funds to make payroll. As a result, the governor’s budget office is taking actions necessary to address the fiscal crisis that the governor inherited,” Kelly said.

Adams said some of the work on the cultural center has been overdue for more than five years, and officials said they would continue waiting, hoping the governor has a change of heart.

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