Esquire Theatre
58 East Oak Street,
Chicago,
IL
60611
58 East Oak Street,
Chicago,
IL
60611
25 people
favorited this theater
Originally the 1938 movie house had a single auditorium with over 1,400 seats, but the Esquire Theatre underwent a conversion to a six-plex in 1988.
Most recently operated by the AMC Entertainment chain after many years under the Loews Cineplex chain, the Esquire Theatre was closed in September 2006.
In 2011, the Esquire Theatre was gutted and its marquee removed, and will become retail space. The vertical sign and part of its facade will be retained.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 200 comments)
That’s what the original caption on the photo says…the image came from a Sun-Times archive.
The marble looks like the Esquire though.
There’s a larger version of the picture here right now. Using a zoom function to examine the sign above the admission price, I’m pretty sure that it says “CARNEGIE THEATRE”. The turnstile could be a relic of the Carnegie’s brief early existence as a newsreel theater just a couple years before. What the 12-year-old is doing on Rush Street in the dark is another matter.
Hmmm. You’re right, it does look like it might say Carnegie. Perhaps the eBay seller got it wrong, or the original newspaper photographer? (The actual caption says the Esquire on Rush, so something is wrong.)
I purchased images from this seller before, and he told me his negatives came from the Sun-Times or the Detroit News.
Here is a 1955 photo of the topiary at the Esquire
http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2011/08/25/construction-of-esquire-retail-complex-underway.php
A view of the interior of the gutted Esquire Theater can be seen here.
The letters spelling out ESQUIRE from the marquee are currently for sale at Urban Remains Chicago.
A 1974 view of Oak Street and part of the Esquire can be seen here. The theater was part of the Walter Reade chain at that time.
A similar view as in my previous comment but from the late 50s can be seen here.