AFC Center Dinner & Show, Chicago

When the AFC Center originally opened, it was 1926, and the space on South Ashland Avenue was called the Highland Theater. It drew crowds with a mix of vaudeville shows and films, or, as they called them back then, "motion pictures." For decades, its lightbulb-studded marquee towered over its neighborhood—until, one day, it closed down.

This left Chicago with a problem: the building was too beautiful to leave dormant. Its details ranged from terra cotta work on its facades to marble walls and glittering chandeliers. So, eventually, entrepreneurs re-opened it, this time as an event space. Today, the building hosts shows as well as lavish private events in its turn-of-the-century proscenium theater.