This newsletter featured stories from behind the scenes of this great company. Read more about Chicago Scenic’s 30 years of excitement through the eyes of our clients and employees.

30 years of employee memories
Senior Project Manager Ross Hamilton joined CSSI in 1986. He recalls, “My first experience with Chicago Scenic started with (Bob’s) invitation for me to join the company. For me, the opportunity to be in a place that was building scenery all day, every day…a company with the ability to take on production of creative projects that were based on a napkin sketch, while being paid for it, was too good of an opportunity for me to turn down.”

Tom Ryan, design manager, on how the work environment & process has changed since he joined Chicago Scenic in 1987: “Our desks were smaller because our biggest work space was taken up by drafting boards and tools—this was pre-computers. When we wanted to do research, our ‘ask.com’ was the information desk at the Chicago Public Library. And the approvals process took a far greater period of time than it does today simply because we didn’t have the electronic advantages we do now. The fax machine was the fastest form we had to share information. We had to meet face-to-face or we used overnight delivery, couriers, and a lot of drop by visits.”

30 years of experience goes a long way
Ralph Concepcion, founder of Ravenswood Special Events, remembers working occasionally in Chicago Scenic’s shop some 30 years ago…“I was 18 or 19 years old when Bob opened the first shop. I remember working on a job for a radio station. We were building a money box, about the size of a phone booth. The door needed to be trimmed and then it needed paint touched up on the bottom of the door. I realized that if I did the touch up from outside the booth, I would get paint on the carpet. So, I stood inside the booth and closed the door so I could touch up the paint – and realized that I had to stay in there until the paint dried!”

30 years of supporting Chicago
Lowell Cantor, managing partner of Blue Chip Marketing & Communications, worked with CSSI in the early days and remembers Bob Doepel as a “hands-on guy involved with all the company’s projects.” Back then, (about 20 years ago), Cantor said, “It was pretty impressive that he owned his own successful business, and had it in that cool loft space on Fullerton.”

Cantor worked at the Mayor’s Office of Special Events then, and said, “I helped Chicago Scenic behind the scenes, with parade permits and services, police security details, things like that. Bob always had the good of the city in mind—he wanted the Christmas parade to be a strong event because he understood its economic impact on the city.”

30 years of symbiotic client relationships
In 1978, Jason Brett and Stuart Oken built the Apollo Theater, a lush new venue located in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Today, Brett is a veteran film and television producer who is currently developing the Chicago Comedy Fest. But back in 1978, he and Stuart were just getting started.

Brett recalled, “I remember Bob Doepel as being remarkably cool and collected under fire, he somehow had the grace and patience as a young guy to manage these two equally young guys who were off-the wall anxious because the truth is, we were making it up as we were going along. But Bob was really good at rolling with the punches, although there were times when we probably came dangerously close to actually throwing a few out of sheer fatigue and frustration and abject fear. Somehow it all got done, the Apollo opened and we were successful enough to employ Bob a second time, a third time, and forever thereafter.

“Bob was so good at what he did that he was able to learn how to manage clients as well as give them what they wanted—on time, on budget. Looking back, I think we probably helped him cut his teeth on managing clients. It’s no surprise that Chicago Scenic is 30 years old because it was never not going to succeed because Bob was behind it, and because he always hired great people to work with him. Congratulations to you guys!”

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