Oakland Square Theatre
3947 S. Drexel Boulevard,
Chicago,
IL
60653
3947 S. Drexel Boulevard,
Chicago,
IL
60653
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Ascher Brothers Inc., Brotman & Sherman Theaters, Fox Theatres (Reading, PA), Stanley-Warner Theatres, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
Architects: Henry L. Newhouse
Styles: French Renaissance
Previous Names: Oakland Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The 1,525-seat Oakland Theatre was opened on March 4, 1916 with William S. Hart in “Hell’s Angels” & Mable Normand in “Bright Lights”. It was designed by Henry L. Newhouse for the Ascher Brothers circuit. It was equipped with a Weickhardt organ. By 1929 it had been taken over by Fox Theatres. In 1931 this theatre was one of several in Chicago taken over by Warner Brothers Circuit Management Inc., later Stanley-Warner. In the mid-1960’s, the theatre became part of the new Brotman & Sherman chain, initially mostly made up of former Warner theatres.
By the early-1970’s, both the surrounding neighborhood and the theatre itself fell into serious decline, and the Oakland Square Theatre closed not long afterwards. It became a hangout for gangs and illegal activities, and neighborhood leaders demanded the city of Chicago condemn the long-vacant building and have it razed, which finally occurred in 1990.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
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According to this blog post a spacious private residence has been built on the Oakland Square site.
Inside the auditorum while it was under gang control:
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Fort exterior, 1987:
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March 4, 1916 grand opening ad posted here.
I remember going to this elegant little theater when I was a child, back in the early ‘40s. We lived at 3702 Lake Park Avenue, and my parents would give my older brother (11 years old) money for our tickets, and he would run ahead to buy them before the prices changed. Oakland Square itself was a fascinating place to me then.
After closing as the Oakland Square, the theater was known for a while as the Afro-Arts.
Photo of it as the Afro-Arts in this article:
http://never-the-same.org/interviews/phil-cohran/
The opening description for this theater also needs to be amended. This was far more than a hangout for gang members. As the “El Rukn Fort” it was on the evening news frequently in the 1980’s. Documentary here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg_SHvTxfds
The El Rukn leader attempted to make a terrorism deal with Libya and ended up locked in Supermax somewhere.
As negative as it all is, this is a large chapter in Chicago’s history.
Uploaded a photo of the auditorium. Looks like this was one of Ascher’s oddball “cornerwise” theaters, with the screen off in a corner.
The theater must have gone back to screening movies as the Oakland Square after its days as the Affro-Arts (with a double f, circa 1968-69), as a February 28, 1971 story in the Tribune notes the arrest of two gang members for trying to shake down the theater manager. They allegedly wanted $75 a week not to stage demonstrations in front of the theater. The theater does not appear to have advertised in the Tribune at this time.
This description of the Oakland Square Theatre was featured in an article about the Ascher Bros. chain that appeared in the March 10, 1917 issue of Moving Picture World: