Lincoln Village 1-6
6341 McCormick Boulevard,
Chicago,
IL
60659
6341 McCormick Boulevard,
Chicago,
IL
60659
6 people
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I miss this theater. It was pretty great in the early 90s and last half of 1989 when it opened.
Interesting to see its Yelp page chronicling how far it’s fallen by the aughts:
https://www.yelp.com/biz/lincoln-village-cinemas-1-6-chicago
Whatever they are doing to the building it is taking forever. Construction still continues. They are also using different colored brick to add on, which doesn’t seem like it will look very good.
Complete tour of the Lincoln Village 6’s projection booth during its final year of operation by an employee can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfXHovgb0dE
Interesting to note that this theater had dual ports and was designed for change overs in all 6 auditoriums but I’m not sure if it ever operated with out platters.
Passed by yesterday and saw the conversion underway. There is a large hole in the north wall. It is nice that something is finally being done with this property. It’s been an eyesore for quite some time. Uploaded three images to photos section.
Paul Fortini: Brotman & Sherman operated the original LV; which would later get triplexed by Essaness Theatres. The LV 1-6 was build by CO.
Interesting plan to convert this former movie house into a storage facility. It looks like the building’s basic shape will be retained. As I’ve said before, this was a theater that should have done well.
Alderman has OKd a plan to convert the theater into a storage facility and turn its parking lot into a park. DNAInfo story here.
The above states that the LV was previously operated by Brotman & Sherman Theaters. I thought Cineplex-Odeon built and originally operated this theatre.
June 29th, 1989 grand opening ad in photo section.
I don’t understand all the activity that took place around this property: it closing, the parking lot being closed off, the Jewish Center supposedly converting it. Somehow it all seems kind of weird. Hopefully something good will come out of all this. Right now it must be a mess inside.
LOOKS LIKE A NICE THEATER
For a while after it closed there was a way in. Since then the building is fairly well secured with VPS, however one flaw in VPS’s design is it doesn’t secure weak points in the actual structure. Like dry wall surrounding door ways. I took a peak last summer and it was pretty standard for a building that just sits. There’s tagging and general debris everywhere. Projection equipment is long gone. There is a 2nd floor window that was smashed at water/snow gets in. The roof is leaking very bad in theater 6 on the 2nd floor. This was an issue even when the theater was still open, I worked there. I’m still fascinated by this place, with all the potential it had. How various corporations can simply not care. I’m betting eventually it was just be torn down. From what I’ve heard from older industry friends Cineplex was in financial trouble as this theater was being finished from their massive expansion into Chicagoland from ‘84 on. They were over budget. One of the reasons it was originally planned to be an 8 screen, but never was. Corners were cut.
According to some photos I found elsewhere on the internet the place has been badly vandalized, at leat the exterior has.
David,
Wow, those movies were out about 4 years ago!
Just drove by it. Still looks like the profile picture. “Pineapple Express” & “Tropic Thunder” are still on the marquee.
Anything happening with this theatre building? I haven’t been on Cinema Treasres for awhile and it’s been years since I’ve been in the LV’s area.
It’s sad to think about the deterioration of this theater, since I agree this was a decent theater to see movies at years ago. (and like whaler, for a while this was my go-to first run theater, at least till the end of my teenage years) So much wasted opportunity that this never became a 2nd-run theater(Picture Show should’ve taken over this theater, a la Bloomingdale Court), but I know the parking lot issue with the Metropolitan Reclamation Water District would have to be resolved for this theater to be viable(and of course, for its parking lot to be totally repaved). Though I don’t know for sure, I wouldn’t be surprised if the parking lot issue it had(under Village Entertainment) did hurt its business.
I pass by here at least a few times a month, and I wonder if the Jewish school that I supposedly heard took out a lien to acquire this building will ever finally follow through and turn it into classrooms? I guess if the lien expires, Cinemark could consider taking over this theater, along with River Oaks. :) Too bad I remember reading here before I became a member here, that McClurg Court was gutted in early 2011.
“Rice Lake Square (opened Dec 1989) is now a Linens-n-Things.”
Who knows what it is now that Linens-n-Things went out of business?
Tlsloews,Have you ever read stories like that.Chicago can’t be that bad.
Interesting Reading.
Did “TWILIGHT ZONE,THE MOVIE ” ever play here? never ever read such strange and horrible things about a multi-plex.
I was over by the Lincoln Village the other day and it looks
awful. The marquee in back is broken in spots and the space
itself is covered up by these panels that have been totally defaced
by graffiti. That whole area around the theater has changed,
The shops that used to surround the theater in the back
by the box office are gone. A few upscale tenants have settled
into those spaces. It’s sad for me, the LV 1-6 was a big part of my adolescence. It was my spot back in the day. Is the plan still in place for that Jewish school to acquire the property?
The neighborhood is fine (Peterson Park to the south, West Rogers to the east, Lincolnwood to the north and west), but it’s a (1) large vacant building (2) on a busy street (3) in a shopping center, so it’s going attract vandalism regardless of the location. IMO, the marquee and signage should just be removed already and the walls aggressively painted to prevent further blight.
Thanks for the info Cinemark. I will definitely check out Rivertree as I live near Vernon Hills. I’m trying to figure out where in the Hawthorne Mall they’d put a theater? I had no idea AMC is buying Kerasotes. That’s a shame, because Kerasotes had a lot of nice theaters and AMC seems to run their theaters into the ground.
Just a small correction: Add Bricktown Square to the list of fitness centers. The sportmart is next door. I frequented Bricktown and North Riverside in my youth. Bricktown was a great theater until the neighborhood and mall started to decline and it’s good to see the North Riverside revitalized by Classic Cinemas. Too bad they couldn’t preserve many of the theaters you mentioned above.
Good luck in your quest to purchase River Oaks and Mcclurg! Have you heard anything on either?
Hey Cinemark, there was an article posted on the Broadway/Lakeshore page yesterday that it is now closing too.
It had been live theatre most recently.