Lakeside Theatre

The former Lakeside Theatre is now the home of Alternatives, a youth center serving children and young adults in the Uptown, Edgewater and Rogers Park neighborhoods. See their website for more information.
http://www.alternativesyouth.org

The Lakeside was a fairly small, but very comfortable theatre just a few blocks directly east of the Riviera theatre, on Sheridan Rd. In the late '50s, would sometimes show second run double features for a full week, after they played downtown. I remember seeing "THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN" plus "CAT GIRL" also "THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE" plus "ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU". But, for the most part,the Lakeside had a 3 change a week policy:Fri. and Sat. ,Sun. and Mon., and Tues. Wed. Thurs. Triple features on the weekend, and a double feature midweek. In the early '60s, really enjoyed going to the Lakeside Tuesday or Wednesday for the more adult fare:third run showings (after they played downtown and the Uptown or Riviera) of "LOLITA", "LADY IN A CAGE" ,"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?" and a real find for a teenage guy: Lola Albright in "A COLD WIND IN AUGUST". A nice variety of movies- for 50 cents admission,as I recall.One of the last movies to play the Lakeside was "MISTER MOSES". Theatre closed in late '65 or early '66.

It originally opened for Ascher Brothers, but was sold two years later to L&T after they opened their new Pantheon a short distance away, probably to avoid pricing wars. Good old anticompetitive practices!

An extremely colorful tile mural has been applied across the first story of the building. Out of keeping with the architecture but all in all not bad.

A Kimball theater organ was installed in the Lakeside Theater in 1915.

Recent photos of this theatre are HERE. It shows the theater both before and after installation of the mural.

The very first photo you posted, BW, really brings back nice memories. The four line marquee; above it the name LAKESIDE, was in orange neon, if I remember correctly. This I know for sure: under the letter E in LAKESIDE was the box office. Look closely and you'll see the box office was on a slight angle. It faced south. The entrance doors were also on an angle, facing east. Just to the side of the box office,facing south (not visible in the photo) was space for two 28x22 posters advertising movies coming in a few days...TUES. WED. THURS., for example. Sometimes, management would display posters on the entrance doors...inserts, those 14 by 36 posters. Just past the southern most entrance door...looking left at the photo...was the mens washroom. If you were standing outside the theatre, you could see people going in and out of the washroom, and a small part of the room. Not a very big lobby! Just past the box office, you came to the ticket taker. Past him, and to the right, was the concession stand(facing south).Getting to the auditorium was just a few steps west. Although the lobby was relatively small, the auditorium was fairly large for a neighborhood theatre. Patrons watching movies faced west;the screen faced east. The theatre was super comfortable... in the winter, it was toasty warm; in the summer I remember it being VERY cool. My earliest memory of the Lakeside: I was 8 or 9, my parents dropped me off to see "DAY THE WORLD ENDED", "PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES", and "BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES". A great triple feature for a kid. A great theatre.

The auditorium did seem large. You could have told me there were more than 960 seats in there and I would have believed it. I was inside in 1993 for a show when it was the Columbia College Dance Center. It seemed to be more or less intact at that point. Who knows what it is like now.

From the Chicago Tribune: June 19, 1955:

BEAUTY QUEEN TO BE
SELECTED BY POST
OF JEWISH WAR VETS

Uptown Edgewater post,
Jewish War Veterans, will
sponsor a motion picture party
and the selection of a beauty
queen, to be crowned Miss Up-
town Edgwater, June 28 in
the Lakeside theater, 4730
Sheridan rd.
Entrants in the queen con-
test must be between 18 and
25 years of age. Ben Goldblatt
is in charge of registration.
Judges will include radio
performer Marty Faye, Patri-
cia Vance, Ald. Freeman [48th],
and Theodore Pickard, past de-
partment commander, J.W.W.

In my post from 9-15-04, I was off by about a year re: the closing of the Lakeside. From the Chicago Sun Times movie directory dated Monday Oct. 24, 1966: LAKESIDE 4730 N. Sheridan Road "VISIT to a SMALL PLANET" "AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA". I'm pretty sure the Lakeside closed by late '66 or early "67.

Here's one of my pictures of the Lakeside from yesterday morning:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce_theatres/3758857984/