CHICAGO
TRIBUNE SPECIAL SECTION 7 questions about: The Catlow Theater and Boloney's Sandwich Shop
Multiplex cinemas and restaurants abound in the suburbs, but there's only one place you can order a meal and eat while watching the biggest screen in the northwest suburbs. Barrington's single-screen Catlow Theater, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the adjacent Boloney's Sandwich Shop offer a novel way to spend an entertaining evening close to home. It's the brainchild of co-owners Roberta Rapata and Tim O'Connor, who give their customers much more than food and a movie. They talked with freelance reporter Verla Gillmor about the concept. What prompted you to get into the restaurant and theater business? Rapata: "We started out in 1981 just owning the restaurant. I've worked in a restaurant my whole life. My first job was cashiering at Ponderosa, then I waitressed at the local Big Boy restaurant. I tried working in an office, but it was just a job. This, on the other hand, is like having people come to my house. It's not work." Was Tim equally enthusiastic? Rapata: "Tim is an outgoing guy who people instantly love. He should have been a politician. He's quite a movie buff, too, which makes him a natural for this business. He does more of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the menus, the movie lineup and our Web site." How did you decide on this particular location? Rapata: "We came here once to see a movie. There was a kid marching up and down the aisle during the movie driving me crazy, so I stepped into the lobby to chill out. I saw this cute little empty sandwich shop next to the lobby and later said to Tim, `Let's find out if we can rent it.' I was 22, Tim was 28. We were engaged. We were looking for a little business to buy. It was crazy. People thought we were nuts, but it worked out. We love it so much we've only taken off one day since 1981." A lot of places sell sandwiches. Why do people come to Boloney's? Rapata: "First, people come for our food. Restaurants today are more about pre-cut, done-ahead food, but everything here is made fresh. Our combination deli sandwiches are huge and some are quite unusual--like our `world-famous' turkey salad sandwich made with peas and celery or our `Bat-Man-Wich' [ham, Muenster cheese, tomato, sprouts and Italian dressing]. Our reuben [`the Reubenesque'] is a big favorite. Plus, we have a generous assortment of other sandwiches, soups, salads, Polish sausage and hot dogs. Secondly, people come for the experience. At lunch we set up tables in the theater lobby so they can eat either in the sandwich shop or in the lobby. We can seat about 60 people during the day. Then around 4 p.m. we take down the lobby tables to prepare the theater for the evening theater crowd. Our restaurant capacity shrinks at night to about 30 people. We serve mostly business people during the day. At night a lot of people come to both eat and see the movie." O'Connor: "Where else can you come to a show, order a meal at Boloney's or at The Catlow counter, then take your meal on a tray into the theater to eat during the show? Plus, we offer all the usual theater snacks like popcorn and candy." How did the theater attain its national historic landmark status? O'Connor: "It was through the efforts of one of our loyal customers, Linda Grubb. She's an architect who loved to come here. ... Linda offered to fill out all the application papers for us." What was it about the architecture that qualified you for landmark status? O'Connor: "The theater, which opened in 1927, was an architectural design rejected by the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge. The building is of Jacobean design, ornamented to portray a medieval English hall. Its main historical feature is the interior design by renowned sculptor and designer Alfonso Iannelli, a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright. Iannelli was a very interesting man. He designed the Rock of Gibraltar relief on the exterior of the Prudential Building and constellation reliefs at the Adler Planetarium. He designed some of the pavilions for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. He was head of the design department at the Art Institute for a time and has been compared to those in the Bauhaus movement." Do you feature first-run movies, and how do you compete with the multiplexes? O'Connor: "We feature mid-run movies, and we let people vote on our Web site for which movies they want to see. Our customers know that if they have a suggestion, we'll pay attention. We can't compete with the big guys so we've carved out our own niche. We have very loyal customers." Rapata: "Our customers know we care. We had one little old man we befriended who used to always come alone to the movie on Saturday nights. When it reached a point where he couldn't drive anymore, we sent a taxi for him every Saturday night so he could still see a movie. He saw `My Big Fat Greek Wedding' 17 of the 19 times it showed because he loved it so much. We think of our customers as family." Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune |