Loop Theater

A 1978 photo showing the construction of the State Street Mall, with the marquee of the shuttered Loop Theater visible can be seen here.

I do not know when you were there last, chicagomike, but there have been substantial improvements both along Hollywood Boulevard and in the surrounding area. I would not call it a slum anymore.

The Chinese, while still a revered institution, has had some challenges over the last few years. Take a look at its page here on CT and you will see what I mean.

Finally, the Egyptian really is not what I would call a first run theater; as the home of the American Cinemathéque, it shows a mix of classics, themed retropectives, documentaries, and other films not often seen in commercial theaters, Depending on the day of the week in a particular month, it might be closed.

What I long for is full restoration of the Hollywood Pacific.

A true chicken-or-the egg question! I am sure that many, if not most of the patrons of the Loop Palaces of the time were just there to see a movie. Based on my experience (I saw quite a number of films in Loop area the late 1960’s and 70’s), the threat of violence was exaggerated, but as they say, perceptions are reality. The Loop theaters, given their proximity to CTA bus and train lines made it easier for the less affluent to have access to a movie theater, as the neighborhood theaters were disappearing in Chicago as they were in other metropolitan areas.

From the theater operators' perspective, these films were what brought people in at the time. During the period in question, parts of the Loop became very downtrodden and there was decreasing foot traffic, as many stores and restaurants were closing and the malls were proliferating in the suburbs. Under such conditions, crime tends to increase, and many Chicagoans who were Loop patrons now went to the suburban theaters both for convenience and due to perceptions of danger. But Chicago was hardly unique with regard to what happened in its central core retail and entertainment area.

In a way, it was fortunate in that in showing some kind of film – any kind of film – the result was that the owners had to do at least some basic maintenance and repair and in doing so, kept the wrecking ball away long enough so that when things got better economically, at least a few palaces were left to restore. The reason that the Oriental and the Chicago survived is at least partially due to what the then-owners did to keep the doors open.

It might be one of the reasons, but not the only or even the most important. The downtown Chicago palaces, like those in many other cities, started their decline as cinemas with the advent of television and the Paramount Consent decree.

With the exception of Michael Todd and Cinestage theaters (which at the end were the Dearborn Cinemas) and perhaps one or two others, none of the really big houses in the Loop went to anything really like soft porn.

Many did go to cheaper horror, kung-fu and exploitation features in the 1960’s and 70’s. But what lead to the demise of so theaters in the Loop was a steep decline of patronage, some of it due to fear of street crime, and a city administration at the time that tended to look at the palaces as desirable parcels of real estate for commercial redevelopment

Congratulated in this 1971 trade article: Boxoffice

Here is a 1949 view

Nice photos.

From the Sun Times movie directory dated Friday,May 7. 1971: The Stewardesses 3D OPEN LETTER TO LOOP THEATRE MANAGER Dear Sir, We saw ‘THE STEWARDESSES’ at the Loop Theatre. WOW! Are all stewardesses like the ones in the movie? (signed) John and Mary Dear John and Mary, I don’t know. I haven’t met every stewardess. Max Milstein, Mgr. Loop Theatre. (Mr. Milstein was a real person-real name. He worked for Balaban & Katz for years; I remember him from the United Artists theatre in the mid 60s. A short guy with glasses and a dry- sometimes wicked- sense of humour. As managers go, a nice guy.)

Great story KenC.

Thanks for listing all those movies.

tim – I have seen the ads for THE STEWARDESSES and he actually used that same ad base for Russ Meyer’s VIXEN which played for almost a year there. Sadly I never got to enter the Loop, Carnegie or Cinema though I saw them all from the outside once or twice.

In my collection of reviews and such that I saved as a kid I have an interview Gene Siskel did with and about Oscar Brotman. Others interviewed were not fans of Brotman’s but admired what he did with the Loop Theater having to compete with the palances all around it. From 1969-71 the Loop was the most profitable of ALL the downtown theaters (an AMAZING feat) and the theater was nicknamed “The Little Giant.”

Tim – the story you tell is included in the article. It also talks about how he had a dolphin in a large fish tank on State Street during the run of FLIPPER and had an usher dressed as a gorilla when they ran the horrible film EQUINOX. For the movie BUCK AND THE PREACHER Brotman created place mats for restaurants all over the city. The studio refused to pay for even part of this so Brotman paid for it himself and the Loop had the highest grosses for BUCK AND THE PREACHER in the entire country. Then the studio came back and begged him to create this mats for other markets and not only paid for it all but reimbursed Brotman for the original batch.