Mercury Theater
7210 W. North Avenue,
Elmwood Park,
IL
60707
7210 W. North Avenue,
Elmwood Park,
IL
60707
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 37 of 37 comments
Update to Cineplex Odeon proposal:
Theaters
The Mercury Theater was built in the late 1940s by a Mr. Beck and owned and operated by him until its sale to B & K in 1957. It originally had a single screen and over 1200 seats. It was my neighborhood theater.
I seem to remember that the bricktown theatre was to replace the shuttered Montclare.What a shame to lose that one and the Mercury.I still have memories of seeing pee wee herman’s big adventure in the fall going back to school time in the early 1980’s.Both those theatres were awesome.
To Paul Fortini: probably the same things that did in GCC in the late 90s. Poor decisions on signing leases, and a film dept that didn’t coordinate with Real Estate in what kind of volume business would be necessary to turn a profit.
I can say that for #15 Mercury, the owners must have gotten a sweet offer for the land to build the strip mall. Residents behind the current strip mall protested, but the $$ spoke louder.
As for Bricktown, the gangbangers killed it.
Brian and Bryan:
Thank you for posting that Tribune Article. It is interesting to see how Cineplex-Odeous (I mean Odeon)proposed and constructed all of these theatres. I did a little research and found out what happened to these. All of them opened (or were proposed) circa 1987-1989
1) Burnham Plaza—To be closed 9-2005
2) Rivertree Court—Now operated by Keresotas
3) Orland Square—closed
4) Lincolnwood—probably the newer section of Lincoln Village, which is operated by Loews-Cineplex.
5) Ridge Plaza—closed
6) Grove—closed and demolished
7) Oakbrook Plaza—closed
8) One Schaumburg Place—replaced by Streets of Woodfield.
9) Old Orchard—most likely the present Gardens at Old Orchard.
10) Renovation of the McClurg Court—closed.
11) Renovation of the Chestnut Station—closed.
12) Renovation of the Golf Glen—now operated by Village.
13) Renovation of the Esquire—done.
14) Renovation of the Town and Country—demolished.
15) Replacement of the Mercury—never done.
16) Bricktown—closed. This could have been the replacement for the Mercury.
It is truely amazing how many of these theatres didn’t last. What killed these nearly new and newly renovated places to close?
Great picture, Brian!! Brings back lots of memories of the “old days”.
Here is the new URL for Bryan’s link. This Trib article states that the Mercury was to be replaced by six-screen Cineplex.
I remember going to the movies for the first time at the Mercury in the early 80s; I think it was a Smurfs movie. There’s a Blockbuster Video store on the site where the theater used to be—a poor replacement for a big-screen movie house, if you ask me. The nearest theater now is down North Avenue in Melrose Park.
One of the last times I was in this theater was in the 80’s, I saw the movie “My Bodyguard”. They didn’t pop their own popcorn at that point, sneaked it in in big plastic bags. I think the owners must have gotten an offer on the land they couldn’t refuse. They could probably make more on the land than they did running the theater. Too bad because there still aren’t any good movie theaters in the area. There would be a market now.
The reasons were lack of business and they did not have a bargin matinee price. It was full admission at all times.
The last time I was in this theater was in 1987, I saw the movie “MANNEQUIN” there.
Of what I can remember; this theater was pretty worn down but nothing they couldn’t fix. I don’t know why they closed it down??…