Patio Theatre
6008 West Irving Park Road,
Chicago,
IL
60634
6008 West Irving Park Road,
Chicago,
IL
60634
39 people
favorited this theater
Opened on January 29, 1927, Patio Theatre was one of just a few classic moderately-sized single-screen neighborhood movie houses in Chicago not to have been carved up into multiple screens.
The Patio Theatre is located at the corner of Irving Park Road and Austin Avenue in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood.
The Patio Theatre auditorium has a great Atmospheric style effect with twinkling “stars” and drifting “clouds” in a night “sky”. The theater remained unused since it closed in 2001, but work began on restoration in the summer of 2010, and the Patio Theatre reopened on June 3, 2011.
Contributed by
Cheryl Powell, Alan Van Landschoot, Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 252 comments)
I think that city amusement tax is a dinosaur from a bygone era. Back in the day running a movie theatre was lucrative. Nowadays assessing this tax is like trying to get blood from a stone. Not surprisingly it is taking government officials many decades to catch up to this fact.
I think the amusement tax is helpful for the city when it concerns ball games, rock concerts etc. They probably can’t exempt classic movie theaters because it is for profit as well as the movie theaters located in the city. That is why a first-run movie house costs more in the city vs.suburbs. I hope the crowds keep up the attendence.
I think it would be possible to exempt four screens or less since they’re at a competitive disadvantage to the larger screens, or exempt second run, or a combination of the two
Brian and I are thinking alike on this one. The theatre clearly adds something to the city. But it is also clearly not a highly lucrative operation. Little is gained and much is lost by taxing it to death.
I’m sad to report that Alex Kouvalis has passed away http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/8021778-418/alexander-kouvalis-remembered-as-savior-of-patio-theater.html
Darn, that’s sad to hear the man who brought this theater back to decent shape up till 2001 passed away. I’m glad his son chose to reopen it, and will hopefully keep it going for years and years to come.
Heck, I remember the recorded answering machine greetings that I believe he probably recorded each week, back when Alex ran the theater.
See the attached letter from Demetri Kouvalis on rogerebert.com;
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111129/LETTERS/111129984
It would be a shame to lose the Patio at this point. We’ve been out to see Thor, Drive, Fast Five, Crazy Stupid Love, Puss in Boots, Back to the Future, Pirates and Columbiana since the Patio reopened, and we don’t even live in Portage Park. It would be a shame to lose the theater again.
Go Patio!
An ad in the 1/29/27 dated Chicago Tribune placed by the Mandel Brothers department store reads:
“We congratulate the owners on the completion of the beautiful PATIO THEATER, Irving Park Blvd. and Austin Ave., which opens tonight.
All decorations, carpets and draperies were executed by experts from our hotel and contract department".
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1911305952/save-the-historic-patio-theater
Rather than requesting donations, perhaps the owner of the theater should incorporate and sell shares to raise the funds to purchase digital equipment. Donations work best when there is a tax write-off from a non profit.