Lincoln Village 7-9
6101 N. Lincoln Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
6101 N. Lincoln Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Lincoln Village Theatre, Lincoln Village 1-3
Nearby Theaters
Opened as part of the Lincoln Village shopping center. Wieboldt’s department store anchored the plaza from it’s opening until the 1980’s. Some say that this was the first modern shopping center built in Chicago.
Like many theatres of it’s time, the Lincoln Village Theatre started off as one large theatre on August 2, 1968 with Rod Steiger in “No Way to Treat a Lady”. I would estimate original seating around 1,000-1,100. It was a plain stadium style auditorium. But it had an attractive, spacious lobby and plenty of parking. It was split into three cinemas on December 16, 1983. This is how I came to know the buildling, going with my friends and family to enjoy such great films as “Back to the Future”.
In the late-1980’s Cineplex Odeon added six more screens in a new building on the north end of the plaza, as part of their wave of Chicago construction. At this point the building took on the “7-9” name. At some point in the 1990’s the 7-9 was closed and demolished during a remodeling of the entire plaza.
The plaza as a whole is doing well now. There is an Office Depot taking the anchor store that was long-vacant after Wieboldt’s went bankrupt. But the only remaining cinema operation is the “1-6” constructed by Cineplex Odeon (though it is no longer associated with Cineplex or any of it’s merger-related successors). By most accounts it is poorly managed.
In the near future it is likely that the long history of movies at Lincoln Village will come to an end. Ironically, with it’s stadium seating, the 7-9 might have fared better today than the 1-6 had it survived. The traditional seating found in the newer building is certainly not a selling point to modern movie audiences.
Contributed by
Eric Ellis
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
This was a GREAT place to watch movies in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It was not very ornate like the older movie palaces – it was very modern.
Back then, it was just one theater with a main floor and a balcony. The stage was very nice and I remember the golden-colored curtains that would open and close for each show. It definitely added something.
Whoever owned it must have been a film buff and also part showman. They always had something extra going on. When they ran Saturday Night Fever, I remember a HUGE sign they put up on the outside of the building with a 30' tall John Travolta poster. Not to mention, the mini disco in the lobby with the dance floor just like the one in the movie.
It was ALWAYS very clean – in a Disney theme park kind of way. Also, nicely air-conditioned in the summer and they had TONS of free parking. It was not unusual for the place to be full back then.
My daughter, Eleanor, who is now at successful Hollywood make-up artist, was a “candy girl” at the Lincoln Village theater. I think she told me that the introductory setting for “Sneak Previews” the original movie review TV program with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel on WTTW, was shot at the Lincoln Village.
I like the artists' rendition shown here.
I’d love to see photogaphs of this place.
New photo uploaded. Circa 1992.
Anyone know specifically why this theater closed? was it simply to renovate the area?
The theater was demolished in early 2002 during a remodeling and reconfiguration of the shopping center. Along with the theater, a Peterson Bank branch, the original What’s Cooking restaurant, and a few other nearby buildings were torn down and replaced with new storefronts that were placed closer to Lincoln Ave. The two main strips in Lincoln Village were remodeled. In its final years, the theater had fallen into disrepair, and the shopping center needed new life. The addition of a Borders, Starbucks, Panera, etc. certainly helped out.
This opened on August 2nd, 1968 with one screen. Its grand opening ad can be found in the photo section.
3 screens on December 16th, 1989.
This theatre was divided into three auditoriums in 1983.
Grand opening ad: