Plaza Theatre

I show that this theater was actually originally operated by Essaness Theatres prior to Plitt.

I am almost certain that the Plaza operated into the 90's. What a dump...it very well might be the worst theater ever built in Chicago. I know that Cineplex Odeon was the last to run the Plaza, and it was Cineplex (not Plitt) that built the new Lincoln Village Cinemas across the street. The K-Mart went out when K-Mart went through bankruptcy recently. The newer Lincon Village Cinemas are now the only theater left at that corner.

Did I mention that the Plaza was a dump?

Per Life's Too Short comment, the Plaza was okay when it was new, though certainly of no aesthetic merit, but it did get rundown very quickly. It really wasn't needed, due to the Lincoln Village being right across the street. When I went to see "The Lost Boys" there, I was on a date and we were the only two people in that particular auditorium (and the movie had started already by the time we arrived!).

In the early 1980s the K-mart mentioned above was a Zayre Department Store. The whole lot on which all this sat has been completely razed, and it is how a 1 1/2 year old Home Depot and parking lot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46901841@N00/64022789/

I hope to scan and post links to photos of the theatre itself soon.

The K-Mart went into the space that was once the Plaza Theatre. The Zayre was further to the south. Not sure what has been demolished at this point.

The Zayre was in operation into 1987, which would have been concurrent with the theatre's operation. It may have been in the same structure as the theatre. I'm not sure if this Zayre was one of those taken over by Ames during that company's first failed attempt to enter the Chicagoland market.

And per LTS's comment above, I think that the whole location was eventually taken over by K-Mart (I'm really stretching the old memory here).

As I recall, the Community discount store was originally on this property. It was an odd purple brick building. When this store closed, the property was redeveloped and opened as the Zayre/Plaza Theater. Zayre was on the south side of the property and the Plaza was to the north. The Zayre eventually became an Ames (I believe around 1992). The Ames store only existed for another couple of years. The Plaza remained open into the mid 1990's. A friend who worked there snuck us in to see Beavis and Butthead Do America! I also recall seeing Pee Wee's Big Advanture, Superman II, and Superman III there in the 80's. I'm not sure which was worse, Superman III or the Plaza Theater (It indeed was a dump!). The theater eventually closed in the mid 90's and at this point extensive work was done on both the Zayre/Ames building and the Plaza to convert them into a Super Kmart. I believe the Super Kmart opened around 1997-98. During construction some of the original purple brick from the Communtity was exposed (pretty cool!). The Super Kmart then closed when the company went into bankruptcy. As noted above a Home Depot now stands on the property along with a Chase bank on the outlot.

There's lots of retail/local history in this area considering all the stores that occupied Lincoln Village (Wiebolt's, Kiddieland, Golden Bear, Diversions, Sizzler, Eric's North, Shadows, Flip Side, etc.........). It would be great to see vintage pictures of this area as all I've got are memories!

I went to the Chicago Public Library today to do some research on local theatres (see, fellow cinema lovers, as good as Cinema Treasures is, sometimes we still have to use books and libraries!). In researching movie ads, I discovered that the Plaza made it into the Loews/Cineplex chain and was open until at least late 1998. Ads for 12/24/1999 do not show the Plaza.

When I lived in Rogers Park from 1996-1998, I went to the K-mart mentioned above and I don't recall seeing the theatre there. Obviously, it lasted a lot longer than I thought it did!

When the Loews/Cineplex merger intially went through, it gave the new chain some 44 theatres in the Chicagoland Area! The three Inter-City Entertainment cinemas--Lawndale, Chatham, & 62nd & Western--were included. Obviously many, many theatres were divested and/or shuttered and as I recall, the merger was a mess.

Ok guys i need a little help. Yesturday a friend of mine and i decided to see The Breakup at The Webster theatre but they were all sold out. It was around 10:10 and we dicided to call moviefone. You know 444-film. The only showing for The Breakup that was later than 10:30 was at cineplex odeon plaza at 3343 w devon. Now mind you I live about 25 minutes from there and the next showing was at 11:20 plenty of time to make it there. Well need I say more that i could not find the theatre. Nothing but Home depot an Chase bank now. I was relly upset because i wasted gas and my time going over there, and i did not get to see the breakup. So now im sitting at my desk at work and i can not find any where to complaing to the moviefone people, so they can get that listing off. I thought that it was really strange to have a listing for a theatre that is non existant. Maybe its a ploy so that people can go to the village. Well i would like to complain to the masses. Does anyone know how i can contact someone live on movifone. There website wasn't very helpful either.

Community was originally Shopper's World. My brother was an original usher at the Lincoln Village Theater. I believe the first movie was "Green Berets" w/John Wayne

Per Rivest's website, this theatre was opened by Essaness in 1981, then operated by Cineplex-Odeon, then finally by Loews-Cineplex. His site says that it was closed in 1998, which would coincide with Paul F.'s comment above.

Oddly enough, Essaness also operated another Plaza Theatre in Chicago which closed in 1951--thirty years prior to this place opening.

Was this place ever remodeled into the Cineplex-Odeon design (ie. with the zig-zags)?

Has this theatre actually been demolished to build Home Depot? If so, then this place should be listed as "Closed/Demolished."

I think that me and my brother went here a couple of times when we were much younger. I do recall it being opposite where the present Lincoln Village Cinema went in. I vaguely recall it being small and non-descript, but not much else.

Counting the number of theatres that were in the immediate area (Plaza, LV 1-6, LV 7-9)circa 1997, the Devon-Lincoln-McCormick "triangle" will have gone from 12 screens to soon zero!

Paul: Every time I went to the Plaza it was totally non-descript. No Cineplex zig-zag remodeling to be found. I think the last time I was there wasn't too many years before it closed. So it seems unlikely that any investment took place.

Not to beat the Zayre thing to death, but didn't Zayre start out as a store called Venture? They had several Chicago locations, but two were North and close to each other.
The one mentioned above and one on Peterson Ave. East of Western, where the Target is now.

I saw the first run of "Robocop" at the Plaza. Thanks BWChicago for steering me towards the Plaza's name.

David Z

Zayre and Venture were two different stores. I don't believe they were ever related. Venture lasted until the late 1990s, I believe. Most Zayres were purchased by Ames in the mid- to late-1980s, however I believe this Zayre lasted a little longer. If you'd like more information, try this website www.deadmalls.com or this site www.labelscar.com

This theatre should be updated. Originally it did open as an Essaness (one of the last), then passed to Cineplex-Odeon. It was briefly known as a Plitt.

The Plaza 1,2,3 opened December 12th, 1980. First films to play here were "Stir Crazy" on two screens. "Any Which Way You Can" took over one of those screens on 12/17, and the the third opened on Christmas Day. Roy Leonard of WGN attended the grand opening ceremony.

Actually, the sequence would briely be Essaness, Plitt (briefly),
then C-O. Not positive whether or not it made it into Loews.

Oh, and C-O opened the newer section of Lincoln Village around 1988. The Plaza lasted until late 1998, so they did operate concurrently.

Paul is correct with regard to Zayre and Venture.

I remember when all three sites around this intersection were operating. It seemed like they valued this market and were trying to create a "megaplex" by combining them. Judging by the large crowds I remember at the original Lincoln Village in the 80's it was probably a good judgment call at the time.