Berwyn Theatre
6404 W. Cermak Road,
Berwyn,
IL
60402
6404 W. Cermak Road,
Berwyn,
IL
60402
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 45 comments found
In the 40s and 50s, this was a second round house, that is, movies played in downtown Chicago, (1st run) then to places like the Berwyn and Olympic. Eventually they made the 3rd run shows. To compete,Berwyn, like others,had low prices until 5pm when they were increased..hey…a family of 4 could save a dollar just by going early.
In the 40s and 50s, this was a second round house, that is, movies played in downtown Chicago, (1st run) then to places like the Berwyn and Olympic. Eventually they made the 3rd run shows. To compete,Berwyn, like others,had low prices until 5pm when they were increased..hey…a family of 4 could save a dollar just by going early.
The Woolwoth’s like store between Ridgeland and Culyer avenues was Neisner’s 5&10 cent store.
From Berwyn, a close up showing some of the remarkable detail on the since demolished Berwyn Theatre building.
Douglas Deuchler’s book Berwyn has a larger black-and-white version of the picture of the Parthenon Theatre at the top of this page, and identifies it as a 1924 postcard. That’s probably correct.
Another Arcadia Publishing Company book, Czechs of Chicagoland by Malynne Sternstein, identifies another view of the Parthenon as one of a series of photos depicting Czech communities around Chicago published by photographer by E.F. Macha in 1925.
The architectural style of the building would have been retardataire for the late 1920s. I’d guess that the Parthenon opened in the early twenties, or maybe even the later 1910s.
I remember going to the Berwyn Theater many times as a young boy in the late 50’s and early 60’s. As I recall, kids could get in for 25 cents in those days. You actually got to see a double feature with cartoons! How about that!
From the early 1920s a picture postcard view of the Parthenon Theatre before it became the Berwyn in Berwin IL.
That theatre is intereating. Reminds me sort of the Ra,mova Theatre. In Bridgeport.
Cool theatre.
Roxy Theatre, Berwyn, Illinois
Once upon a time located on Grove Avenue at 32nd Street next to Beranek Pontiac.
Visited there many times in the fifties.
Does anyobody have pictures?
I guess they won’t let me download pictures at this time. Any interested drop me a line.
I grew up in Berwyn, lived there from 1976-1995. My mom & grandma took me there when I was a boy to see Star Wars. I can remember your feet sticking to the carpet which was red.
In 1990 when they were tearing it down, my little brother & I snuck in and took several pictures. I was going through a stack of old & found them.
GREAT SHOTS OUT OF BERWYN. IT SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY. DO YOU HAVE MORE?
Here are photos from 1982, 1983 and 1984:
http://tinyurl.com/cvdc7x
http://tinyurl.com/d5c4tc
http://tinyurl.com/c7rqw3
reply to Michael Kuecker :
The mayor’s idea to turn the bulding into a mini-mall – a cluster of retail stores in order to save Cermak Road as a retail center – was dead on arrival. The city had no money to do it and there were no business establishments willing to put money into it.(They all had gone already into the Riverside Mall)
And the cinema? Well, once there were cinemas in the Harlem/Cermak Plaza with all the free parking the Berwyn cinema was doomed also. So the LaSalle Bank seemed like a feasable ventureat the time.
RE THE CORRECTION: You’re right. That was Park’s Pharmacy – another beautiful terra-cotta treasure the victim of the Cermak Corner Firebug. :( Hosek’s was closer to Lombard I think.
My mum seems to think it was called Carmel Corn or something. It was a little black & white design sign, but she remembers it well. :) She thinks it may have been a chain of stores. Ah the fire that destroyed ONLY the apartments above the theatre and a few of the shops below. All the same prevented it from being declared a landmark. The then mayor gave into the almighty greenback of ABN AMRO now known as LaSalle Bank. :( The theatre itself suffered no more than minor smoke damage. Nothing a fresh coat of Highland Rose colour paint couldn’t have cared for.
My November 1987 image of the stately Berwyn Theater with the top half of the “B” not cut off of the vertical sign as in my original posting.
The caramel popcorn shop near the Berwyn theatre? That one goes back many many years ago, much farther back than the fire that destroyed the theater. It was sometime in the early sixties, if I recall correctly, it was forced to close simply by the law of competition – the theater opened its own caramel popcorn stand in its vestibul that became frequented by people passing by. And that put the old shop out of business.
By the way, the owner of the popcorn shop was an old Greek who died and it may also have been the reason for the shop’s closing.
Does anyone remember the little shop near the Berwyn where they made that wonderful caramel popcorn? It was almost impossible to walk past the place without turning in the door — you could smell it from 100 feet away and it was heavenly. My dad used to take me to Saturday matinees at the Berwyn, wonderful memories.
the lettering and color combo on the berwyn marquee in later shots looks just like remaining lettering on the uptown theatre in chicago. perhaps the balaban and katz connection?
CORRECTION: The pharmacy at the south/east corner of Ridgeland and Cermak was PARKS Pharmacy. His former employees, husband and wife, MR and Mrs Subka split away in the early 60’s and opened a pharmacy of their own across the street, at the north/east corner.
CORRECTION: That was HOSEK Pharmacy. Nosek Pharmacy was on the corner of Austin and Cermak in Cicero. it’s an Hispanic Medical Centre now. I used to live in the flats above the Central Federal S&L :) It’s funny because when I moved into my current flat, the refrigerator was so old there was a 1967 Calendar in the back of it from HOSEK Pharmacy. LOL – But the Neumode Hosiery and the Singer Sewing Centre is correct. A 1957 Ad for Singer Sewing machine said: Put $12 down, and make time payment for as little as $1.27 a week.
WOW! Times have changed. :)
Hello, My aunt was the manager of the Fannie Mae Candy store on the corner of the Berwyn Theater building up until the building closed after the restaurant fire. She had worked there for decades and I can remember another aunt or my mom taking me into that store as a child to see her and getting a free piece of candy…and her children, my cousins, used to go to the theater with a bag of Fannie Mae candy instead of the cheaper stuff sold on site…this also seems so long ago…I now live in Wisconsin, but Berwyn and the Berwyn Theater were a big part of my younger years…
The Pharmacy across the street(south/east corner) in the 3 story building complex that burned out in 1985 was Nosek Pharmacy.
Across the street from it (north/east corner) was also a pharmacy, husband and wife business, Subka Pharmacy. Next door to it was Neumode Hosiery and next door to it Singer Sewing Center (it was there since 1929, changed to a dealership in 1975 and that went out of business in 1979. Was later replaced by a currency exchange. Next door to it was Neisner Department store later replaced by Womens Exercise Studio. To the north of Subka Pharmacy was Mr Lee’s Shanghai Chop Suey; he actally owned at one tome the entire complex all the way to Cuyler Avenue on the east. The restaurant next to the Berwyn Theater (to the west side) was Ridgeland restaurant, a family owned bohemian restaurant that went out of business when the Berwyn Theater closed.