Lincoln Hall

The 3 Penny has recently switched to a "brew'n'view" program, similar to that at the Vic, which also features concerts.

can you tell me what theater was located at 2858-60 n milwaukee av.in chicago il. milwaukee and wolfram

The 3 Penny was originally called the Crest, and that name is still spelled out on the tiles in front of the theater's main entrance.

Ron,
The theater at 2858-60 N. Milwaukee Ave. was called the Rose in its early years, and ended its days and the Round-Up Theater. (See entry on this site for that theater for more information).

I remember the 3 Penny from when I lived in Chicago. It ran many offbeat films that you just couldn't see anywhere else. The theater was definitely lacking in frills. Often when we missed the start of a feature across the street at the Biograph we'd end up at the 3 Penny. Last film I saw there was Dawn of the Dead by George Romero. It's still one of my favorite zombie films. I guess that was 1978-79.
I can see it as a nickelodeon. At the time I figured it was a theater that somone just didn't spend much money on designing or building. Being from 1912 the theater design seems much more appropriate.

What's the overall interior decor of the 3 Penny? Does it have a heavy '70s vibe (i.e., the twinning of the auditorium space during that era) or does it bespeak something more current?

I'd be interested in how the 3 Penny looks now as well. Though I haven't been there in over 25 years I can tell you that during the 70's it didn't have a "70's" vibe. As I recall it the theater was little more than a big box. Seems it had those old wooden theater seats too. Or am I imagining that?

Ken, I haven't been there in about 2 years or so but the way you describe it sounds just about right. The seats are terribly uncomfortable. We had gone to see a double bill of "The Last Detail" and "Shampoo" and by the time the second feature was over we were numb from the pain. Hopefully they will take some profit money, assuming they are still profitable, and get new seats.

A chciago reader article on Jim Burrows indicates that it wasn't actually twinned until December, 1989

I went to see the 'Magical Mystery Tour' there in the mid-seventies. I didn't know anything about the theater at the time.

The thing I can’t understand is how can 3 Penny keep surviving but Biograph seemed unable to stay afloat? It is not like I want 3 Penny to close anything but the Biograph is across the street and people seemed like they just didn’t want to go to Biograph .

It seems as though the 3 Penny is showing first run as much as art house films (though it appears the art house films are second run). Currently they are showing "Layer Cake" which has been out for a few months and "Kontroll" which played at Landmark's Century Theater last month. Yet this Firday they will be playing "War of the Worlds" and "Mr and Mrs Smith." I certainly hope they don't abandon art house films altogether and would love to see them play more revivals as they have in the past. One interesting footnote: The 3 Penny was the theater that "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has its Chicago premiere (in first run) back in 1975.

In 1914, ads refer to the theater as 'Fullerton'. Perhaps the Crest name came later.

An article from the 12-11-1938 Chicago Tribune reads:

WILL REMODEL GARAGE INTO NEW THEATER

"Bids have been taken and work is expected to start soon on remodeling of the garage building at 2424 Lincoln Avenue into a 502 seat theater. Roy B. Blass is architect. Samuel Abraham has leased the property for a long term of years.
About twenty-five years ago, the building was opened as a moving picture theater. A few months later, it was converted into a garage. Now the building will revert to pictures. It will be known as the 'DePaul Theater'. The project will cost in the neighborhood of $20,000, the architect said."

This theatre is very claustrophobic! But it is nice to see a neighborhood place still in business.

Per Cinemajunkie's comment, I believe that Village (or whoever owned the building) received a good offer to sell the Biograph.

I went here to see NEIL YOUNG, HEART OF GOLD tonight. Unfortunatley, this theatre may not be around mcuh longer. I was talking to the owner and he said that they City of Chicago is trying to force him out of business. He is having trouble meeting the city amusement tax, which is gouging him.

When are cities like Chicago going to learn that if you want small businesses to succeed, you DON'T tax them to death? Chicago has become a place where only Starbucks and McDonalds can succeed and not some neighborhood coffee house or burger joint.

The Three Penny has character, reasonable prices, inexpensive concessions and plays great films. Sigh! I guess this means that we must get rid of it immediately!

When it was converted to a garage and machine shop in 1918, it was apparently called the Lincoln Theater.

The Three Penny is closed, at least temporarily. Large stickers reading 'Business Closed By Order of City of Chicago 6-20-2006 Office of Business Affairs and Licensing' are on the doors. The website says the closing is temporary.

According to Cranes Business Magazine, the owner, Mr. Burrows allegedly owes $100,000 in City of Chicago amusement taxes.http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=21117

Please refer to my above comment about the city's tax structure. The 8% amusement tax from the city simply makes it hard for the little guy to stay in business. Why can't these taxes be on a sliding scale? The full amount for larger corporations like AMC and Keresotas, less for smaller chains like Village and for the indy guys.

But according to the Crain's article in the above post, the opening of Landmark's Century Cinema really put a dent into this guy's business, although I wonder whether or not the 3 Penny saw an increase in patronage after the closure of the Biograph.

An interesting take on the 3 Penny:

http://www.chicagoist.com/archives/2006/06/26/oh_the_shark_bites_with_its_teeth_dear.php

This is from the Chicagoist website.

The 3 Penny Cinema did not have the Chicago premiere of "DEEP THROAT". That distinction goes to the Town theatre (aka Park West). The 3 Penny did show- I think first run- "THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES" , another notorious -and wildly popular- X rated film.

A correction: "DEEP THROAT" had its Chicago premiere at the Admiral theatre on Friday, May 19, 1972. Months later, it played the Town theatre.

I'm sorry but the 3 Penny was a dump. Lack of parking also played a major part in this venue's inability to do a decent business. There are several smaller theaters in the area (like the Davis) that seem to be able to meet their tax obligations just fine.

who owns the theatre and what will be its fate and can it be bought for a cheap price??

Here are photos of this theatre.

Here is an interesting review of this theatre:
http://theplacewherewelive.blogspot.com/2006/06/three-penny-cinema-is-spent.html

The 3 Penny is now apparently being gutted for retail use of some sort

The 3 Penny is down to the bare walls. It looks like the plaster ceiling must have been removed before as there are ceiling fans suspended. However, surprisingly, the proscenium is still mostly intact, as are the surrounds to the screen-side exit doors. Presumably these features will be retained, ironically making the 3 Penny better-preserved than the Biograph. The former snack shop space next door has been totally gutted, with the roof off, and multiple window and door openings have been cut into the 3 Penny's north wall. This should be a very interesting project to watch.

I was there when the 3-PENNY ran Woody Allen's "Melinda & Melinda" and the film jammed in the projector gate (during Bach's beautuful Prelude #1, IIRC), and (naturally) I had to be the doofus walking over to snack counter telling them "pardon me but in theatre #3.....". Apparently their machinery didn't incorporate auto-shutdown if film breaks, and they never ran that title again. At least they gave me a free return pass, which I used there later for Spielbergs "War Of the Worlds".

I admit over the years I only went to the 3-Penny because sometimes they were the only place ('art house') in town showing a particular film I had to see. I.E., "The Beach Boys - An American Band", "Animal Crackers" (a very poor 16mm print I believe), "Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World".

This place was only re-opened as a theatre (the 3-PENNY) around 1972(?), probably because business at the BIOGRAPH directly across Lincoln Ave had been better than average in the few yrs leading-up to that time; before that it had been many years since it showed films as the CREST. Under any name, it was a small venue, and that was B4 they 'plexed' it.

This is a photo dated May 2007.

In early 1972 it operated as a porn house called the Capri Theater

I only saw a few films at the 3 Penny Cinema. Even back then it was in varied states of disrepair. Buckets on some of the seats, no concessions, etc. I seem to remember they too had a cat at one time.

I want to say "Zandy's Bride", "The Immigrants", "Freebie & The Bean" and some Marx Bros. double features were among those I'd seen there.

I'd forgotten "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" from my Biograph post. I'm pretty sure it was there and not the 3 Penny. Gene Wilder, the original Willy Wonka was the draw at the time.

I'm surprised it took as long as it did to finally close it's doors. Whether forced to or not.

I drove by the old 3 Penny Cinema this afternoon. The entire first floor has been boarded over with a white painted plywood box enclosure. A developer's sign & logo is mounted in the center.

Next time I'm down there, I'll try and see if there's any indication yet of what type of build-out is occuring.

I was never in the 3 Penny when it was a single-screener. The two times I was in there, I was very uncomfortable. I was getting claustrophobia in there--something that normally never happens to me.

I swung by there tonight. Apparently it will be a music venue and bar called Lincoln Hall run by the owners of Schubas. Should be cool.

Excerpt from 2-5-09 Chicago Tribune, article "Director Ken Kwapis talks about the blizzard of '79 and Gene Siskel"

-

Director Ken Kwapis, a Belleville native, took time while promoting "He's Just Not That Into You," starring Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and a host of others, to talk to the Tribune about his formative years in Chicago and directing the late Gene Siskel on "The Larry Sanders Show."

"For quite a while, I managed the Three Penny Theater on Lincoln Avenue, right across from the Biograph," Kwapis said. "I managed the theater during the blizzard of 1979. We were running John Carpenter's film 'Halloween,' and like many theaters during the blizzard, we didn't change the feature, because there was no point.

"So I could basically set my clock to 'Halloween.' Sitting in the lobby, I would play a game with myself. Without looking at my watch, I'd say, 'Jamie Lee Curtis is just about to scream,' then I'd open the door and she'd scream. I knew the film down to the quarter of the minute."

Kwapis said the management running the Three Penny couldn't make up its mind about the theater's focus.

"The schedule was absurd. One week we'd show a new art film, say a Werner Herzog film, and the next week we'd run a porno feature. And the owner could never understand why we couldn't develop an audience. I said, 'Well, they're totally confused, nobody knows what we're showing.' "

-via David E. Zornig

I just remembered the 3 Penny Cinema opened it's doors as a cooling station, during the annual "Taste Of Lincoln Avenue" street festival maybe 10 years ago. They allowed people to stp into the A/C, and to utilize the restrrom facilities.

It would have been difficult to operate normally as a theater during those 2-3 days. As Lincoln Ave. is blocked off for only those paying a hefty "donation". And multiple band stages are set-up throughout the fair at street ends. The main entrance stage a mere 25 feet or so from the 3 Penny. People would actually scale the 3 Penny's rooftop to see the last band of each night. Usually a big name band like Wilco, Cowboy Mouth or Big Head Todd.

Still surrounded by scaffolds.

1982 Photo

Scaffolds are now down. The front of building's first floor is still covered up during whatever remodling is ongoing. However there are new Marvin windows installed on the second floor overlooking Lincoln Ave. Shouldn't be much longer.

Here's one of my pictures of the 3 Penny from June 8, 2008:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce_theatres/3552231403/

If I remember correctly, they had the 3 Penny outfitted to look like a hotel for the filming of "Public Enemies. They hung a retro distressed neon HOTEL sign over the doorways in DarkRefrain's above picture.

Here's one of my picture of the 3 Penny from last week:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce_theatres/3759433646/

Shaping up nicely. Good to see they tore off that ugly wood facade.
Must be big money into it by now.

http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/music/77879/lincoln-hall-preview
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/08/schubas-owners-to-open-new-midsized-concert-venue-lincoln-hall/

Looks like the lost the proscenium and terrazzo somewhere along the way, too bad. Otherwise it looks like an awesome venue

The 3 Penny Cinema is now called Lincoln Hall. Here's the link to their website:

http://www.lincolnhallchicago.com/

Another article about the former 3 Penney's conversion to a concert venue:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-1007-lincoln-halloct07,0,6988485.story

A recent article about events, including free movie showings (probably video or digital projection) at Lincoln Hall, including a picture of the exterior as it is now:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-live-0130-lincoln-hall-movies-20100129,0,5587818.story