The Des Plaines Theatre Had a Roof Fire in the Middle of Its Repair Job. What's Still on the Fall Calendar?

At about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14, firefighters pulled up at Lee and Miner streets and found a light, smoky haze inside the Des Plaines Theatre. According to Journal & Topics, crews on the roof had been handling tar about 90 minutes earlier when some of it caught fire. The fire was put out but kept smoldering. Firefighters cut a hole in the roof to make sure it hadn't spread. Lee and Miner were closed briefly for a ladder truck, and crews from Niles, North Maine and Park Ridge also responded.

Damage was minimal. The Gipsy Kings show that night was canceled, and theater officials said a new date would be announced. In that report, Chief Matt Matzl said the official cause was still under investigation.

That evening is worth understanding before you buy tickets for anything at 1476 Miner St. this fall. The fire happened in the middle of a repair the city planned to run alongside a full concert calendar. The repair is probably still going on, and the calendar is still full.

A city roof under a private stage

The building belongs to the City of Des Plaines. It opened in 1925 as a vaudeville and movie house. The city bought it from a private owner in 2018 for about $1.3 million, spent three years and $6.7 million renovating it, and reopened it in 2021. Today it mostly hosts live music.

Because the city owns the building, the roof is a public works job. In September the city council hired L. Marshall Roofing & Sheet Metal, a Glenview company, to install a new layer of material over the existing roof. The Daily Herald reported that the firm's $94,000 bid was the lowest of four, and the highest came in at $184,800. Tim Watkins, the city's public works and engineering director, told the paper that work should begin in September, take about 60 days, and not affect theater events.

If the work started on schedule, 60 days takes it into November, the same weeks as the lineup below. Matzl confirmed to Journal & Topics that workers were on the roof making repairs on Oct. 14. That puts the fire inside the repair window. The September plan was for the roof crew and the stage crew to never get in each other's way. On one Wednesday they did.

As of the Oct. 15 report, the city had given no new completion date and no post-fire update on the contract. So the most useful thing a ticket holder can do is look at the theater's event page the afternoon of the show. Checking the week before isn't enough.

What the calendar lists from Oct. 22 through Nov. 14

The theater's own calendar still shows a busy stretch. These dates come straight from that calendar, and a listing is not a guarantee that the show will go on. The main listing for each date comes first. Smaller shows listed for the same night, many of them upstairs at the Bourbon 'N Brass Speakeasy, are in the right column.

The calendar is heaviest from Nov. 11 to Nov. 14, with four nights of touring acts in a row. Halloween weekend is the other busy run, with The Vampire Circus on Oct. 31 and Sincerely Sinatra the next afternoon. Each event page has its own door times and ticket prices. Some of the speakeasy listings mention an entertainment fee. Casey Myles & The Bootleggers on Oct. 23, for example, lists $10.

The Gipsy Kings don't appear in this window. Journal & Topics has said only that a rescheduled date would be announced, so anyone holding tickets from Oct. 14 should watch the theater's site for that notice.

The building runs three rooms, and the roof covers all of them

The theater is more than one auditorium. That's why one canceled night reaches past a single headliner. Onesti Entertainment, the operator, describes Bourbon 'N Brass as a speakeasy on the theater's second floor that usually opens during and after most concerts for drinks and light bites. Its page for Big Al's Tavern says the tavern is open before, during and after theater concerts. Des Pizza also lists 1476 Miner St. as its address and says it opens on theater event days, with hours that vary.

That's why the right-hand column in the table matters. The upstairs room books its own acts, and on several nights in late October it is the only thing on the calendar. All three spaces keep their hours around the theater's event schedule, and all three sit under the roof the city is repairing. If you're planning a pizza and a speakeasy set without a ticket to the main show, check the same theater calendar the afternoon you go.

Parking and the Algonquin closure

The theater's Plan Your Visit page, dated February 2026, says several lots and garages within walking distance offer free parking, including a garage just north of the theater. It also notes the Des Plaines Metra station is just south of the building.

The city's downtown visitor page lists three public structures by address:

• Metropolitan Square Garage, 660 Metropolitan Way
• Civic Center Deck, 606 Lee St.
• Library Deck, 1448 Prairie Ave.

The same page lists Metra-adjacent lots and street parking.

Plan more time for the drive than usual this fall. On Oct. 16, Journal & Topics reported that water-main work would close parts of Algonquin Road and Deane Street to through traffic for about four weeks, starting the following week. On Algonquin, the work runs from Center Street to Lee Street. Parking is prohibited on both roads during the work, and the schedule could change with weather or materials.

A four-week closure starting the week of Oct. 19 lasts roughly through mid-November. That covers almost the whole table above. Anyone who usually takes Algonquin to Lee on the way to a show will need a different route for most of this lineup.

On the city's southeast side, the Journal & Topics Des Plaines news feed reported that the Pratt Avenue rail crossing between Mannheim Road and Greco Avenue would close Oct. 24 through Oct. 30 for Canadian National track and pavement repairs, with detours recommended. That closure overlaps the Lights Out show, Rocky in Concert and the Oct. 29 screening.

Dinner within a block of the marquee

The theater's Plan Your Visit page only points visitors to the spots inside its own building. Within a block on the same side of Miner Street, several restaurants list their own addresses:

1. Miner Street Tavern, 1492 Miner St., the closest neighbor to the east.
2. Uncork, Unwind, 1440 Miner St., a wine spot that posts its hours and 2026 wine features on its site.
3. Pho Dung Gia, 1436 Miner St., next door to Uncork, Unwind.

Uncork, Unwind and Pho Dung Gia share a building near City Hall. In June the Daily Herald reported that the city was pursuing it for possible redevelopment and that both tenants could stay at least until their leases expire. For this season, both are on the walk between the parking decks and the theater door.

For a typical evening show, you can park in the garage north of the theater, eat on Miner Street, and walk a few doors to the theater. None of that needs Algonquin Road.

A roof overlay on a 1925 building costs less than a full replacement and causes less disruption, and the work still has to be done while the building is in use. Homeowners getting ready to list face the same choices about overlay or tear-off, sequencing and timing, and those choices show up later in an inspection report. If you're weighing roof work on your own home before a sale this winter, Jake Kubota can walk through what buyers and inspectors in Des Plaines tend to focus on. Schedule a Consultation.