Olympic Theater

As stated on my other posts I am so glad I found this site!!! I have enjoyed reading all and I mean all the post about several of the theaters that I have looked up.

I grew up in the area near the Olympic theater in the 80’s and 90’s and I cant tell you how many 2nd showings of movies I saw here too many to count. I know I saw Predator there for sure. I remember the place being hot the AC there wasn’t the best compared to the other big name theaters in the area. I remember going to this theater once with my friend and his dad and for what ever reason he made us sit under the balcony for the movie and it was annoying because there was a small light hanging from the ceiling under the balcony that never went off… who can get into a movie when there is light on in the theater.
In the mid 90’s the Olympic stopped showing movies and was turned into a venue for live performances. I remember one of my teachers at the high school being very excited for this to happen as she remembered the theater form its heyday and was glad that the wrecking ball didn’t find its way there.
The first performance to happen there was called the Metropolis. As part of the high school theater department we got to take a tour of the Olympic it was amazing what the then owner and his crew did to the place. They cleaned everything from top to bottom as best they could with the budget they had. There was a lot of fresh paint and the ceiling had started to be cleaned and restored along with the mural around the proscenium. Kind of state of the art for the time but the orchestra was housed in one of the dressing rooms and there was a video monitor at the foot of the stage that the cast would use to see the conductor give musical direction. The lighting system was very rock and roll looking. It was flown above the house seats and the spotlight operator would climb a wire rope ladder shortly before doors opened to the top of the lighting truss and operate from there. Again a budget thing the director/owner was doing a lot with little. The PA (or sound system) was installed by my old boss and it was very rock n roll stacks and racks were on the deck (stage) and dressed with some fabric but not as you would expect for a theater. As part of the class trip we took we got to search a storage room in the lower level where a few dozen beautiful canvas backdrops were stored. We sorted through them for “keepers” for the high school production of Bye Bye Birdie. Man that was a great time
The actual production of Metropolis was great a real high caliber performance.
I heard the financial issues caused the operation to fold and a judge but a lockout on the place which I guessed caused my old boss to lose his audio gear… but what ever like say its what I heard.
I am glad to see the Olympic is open again for live performance. Whish I would have had the capital to make it happen years ago. As dumb as it sounds the Olympic has one thing in its favor parking not lot of its own per say but a lot on the street and in the old “L” strip.

The rumor is that old owner prior to 1994 lived in the theater as some of the techs working the renovation and production of the Olympic found a shower rigged up in the slop skink in the upstairs area

“LIVE AND LET DIE” was PG can’t understand why they would not let you see it.

My mom was a pretty happening woman, culture-wise, during the two years we lived in Chicago in the ‘60s. On the Monday morning of our spring break away from school in 1968, she said she had a surprise for us: the matinee of a movie that had just opened at the Olympic Theatre in Cicero called 2001: A Space Odyssey. We filed into the car for the short hop over from Oak Park, and she let us off at the curb before going off shopping. I’m talking about me and six brothers, all of whom were under 18; I’m surprised the theater management let our little ensemble in. Once inside, though, we found that the grand hall was deserted, so where did we decide to sit? In the balcony, of course! The viewing of cinematic masterpiece at the Olympic remains one of the greatest experiences of my life. The film was so crisp looking and the sound was pretty glorious for the time. Seeing 2001 at the Olympic, I feel, established it as my favorite movie of all time. I’ve viewed it many times since, including a remastered 70-millimeter print at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, Calif back in 1995. All pale in comparison to my remembrances of being at the Olympic on that one Monday in April 1968. I tell my wife that I’m overdue for a visit back to Chicago, with or without her. When I go, I’ll definitely swing by the Olympic. As for my memories, if only there was some time machine I could step into…

This venue has been closed at least since last year.

The website is showing events, including classic films, beginning May 7 2023 forward. Looks like it’s re-opening.