Illington Theatre
2118 W. Cermak Road,
Chicago,
IL
60608
2118 W. Cermak Road,
Chicago,
IL
60608
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Located in the Pilsen neighborhood, the Illington opened in 1916 on 22nd Street (now Cermak Road) at Hoyne Avenue.
After closing sometime in the 60s, the building was converted to retail use and today serves as a dollar store.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Actually, this theater operated into the mid-to-late 60s before closing. It was last run by the Goodman and Harrison circuit during the 50s and 60s.
This website has a photo of the dollar store located at this address today. Click on “View Property Picture”.
This was our theater. I grew up in this neighborhood, we could watch 100 cartoons for a quarter. why does Chicago tare down our beautiful theaters, Chicago is not Chicago anymore our theaters were so beautiful, look at what they did toi the Woods and Chicago Theater and all them closed and torn down. this is sad, now you have to go to a shopping mall and sit in a ugly building with no class at all. GC
A Kimball theater organ was installed in the Illington Theater in 1916. Note: Tubular Pneumatic Action.
A recent visit revealed that the original (and relatively plain) ceiling still exists behind the store’s added ceiling :
View link
View link
I suspect it looked much more elegant with proper paint application.
The “Y” symbol is known as the Chicago Municipal Device, a symbol of the city of Chicago.
Seems to me I learned in the Chicago Public Schools that the “Y” is the for the Chicago River that splits into the North and South Branch.
I grew up in Pilsen in the 50’s and 60’s. We used to go to the Illington on Saturday mornings or Saturday afternoons. I remember that when it closed one of the movies that were advertised in its Coming Attractions display was for “The Guns Of Navarrone”. We didn’t know the theatre was closing for good.and used to walk by waiting to see the movie. It was a great old neighborhood theater as was the Milo just off Blue Island and 18th. The neighborhood was not the same after it closed.
Saw “Land of the Pharaohs” there. My dad worked at The Little Flower Shoppe just around the corner at 21stbPlace and Leavitt. Wonderful memories just visiting this site!