Browsing secondhand racks comes with a little extra drama at Andersonville’s Brown Elephant. Inside the former Calo Theatre at 5404 N. Clark St., clothing and home goods share the spotlight with curved ceilings, ornate terracotta figures, and the unmistakable bones of an old movie house.
It’s not every day your thrift-shopping trip doubles as a peek inside Chicago history. Here, the building is as much of a find as anything on the shelves.
A thrift shop with a theatrical past
Step inside, and a wide, sloping floor—originally designed for theater seating—leads into the sprawling former auditorium. Look beyond the racks, and you can still make out where the stage and screen once stood.
The details are worth slowing down for. Partially peeling murals frame the shopping floor, while sculpted classical figures sit beneath elaborate upper moldings. Rather than hiding its age, the space puts those surviving flourishes on display.
From movie house to bowling alley to Brown Elephant
The Calo Theatre opened in 1915, and its name still stretches across the building’s exterior archway. But its current chapter as a Howard Brown Health resale shop isn’t its first reinvention: the former theater also spent time as a bowling alley.
Through those transformations, the building held onto its historic facade and key interior features. Today, that means an ordinary afternoon of secondhand shopping unfolds against a decidedly extraordinary backdrop.
Go for the vintage finds—just remember to look up.
Location: 5404 N. Clark St., Andersonville
