High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Harold Washington Cultural Center is a performance facility located in the Grand Boulevard community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It was named after Chicago`s first African-American Mayor Harold Washington and opened August 17, 2004 ten years after initial groundbreaking. In addition to the 1000 seat Com-Ed Theatre, the center offers a Digital Media Resource Center. Both Chicago City Council Alderman Dorothy Tillman and singer Lou Rawls take credit for championing the center, which cost $19.5 million. It was originally to be named the Lou Rawls Cultural Center, but Alderman Tillman changed the name without telling Rawls. Although it is considered part of the Bronzeville neighborhood it is not part of the Chicago Landmark Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District that is in the Douglas community area.