Evergreen Theater
9730 S. Western Avenue,
Evergreen Park,
IL
60805
9730 S. Western Avenue,
Evergreen Park,
IL
60805
3 people
favorited this theater
Was in the Evergreen Plaza Shopping Center in Evergreen Park.
Contributed by
phickey
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
Thank you so much Joe! I’ve always wanted to see pictures of it as a twin. And for the first time, I was able to see the outside in its entirety.
When we would go there, we would enter via the second level of Carson’s, and walk up a flight of stairs to the box office. And when leaving, go down stairs to the bus stop.
That exterior was really nice and dare I say it, better than any of these new AMC/Regal complexes.
I used to work at the Evergreen, in 1983. M&R converted a section of the huge lobby into a smaller 550 seat auditorium in 1978. In 1983, they twinned what used to be called Theatre 2 and they became Theatres 3 and 4. The theatre closed in 1999 as a Loews Cineplex theatre.
Tim,
Since #2 was the one that was twinned, does this mean that #1 retained a seating capacity of 1000+ throughout its 35 year run? I remember seeing movies (notably “Pulp Fiction” & “Waiting to Exhale”) in there, and I remember it being a big auditorium, but I don’t remember it being THAT big. Do you or anyone else think the capacity of #1 was reduced to 900+ when it got new seats in the 80s?
CinemarkFan,
Okay, let me first give a little history on the Evergreen Theatre because I think I might have caused some confusion. The theatre opened in 1964 as a two-plex. When you walked into the building back in it’s early days, there was an enoromous lobby. On the right side (the southern end of the lobby) was Theatre 1. It had roughly 1200 seats (blue in color); on the left side (northern end of lobby) was Theatre 2, approx. 950 seats (orange in color). When I first went to the Evergreen Theatre in December, 1977, to see CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND in 70mm, I watched it in Theatre 1. About 6 months later, M&R added a new screen, constructed in the huge lobby area. It was called Theatre 3 and they cramned in 550 seats. In the early 1980s, the general manager decided to change the number order. The 1200 seat remained known as Theatre 1; however, the small theatre between the orginal two auditoriums became known as Theatre 2 and the 950 seat theatre became known as Theatre 3. In the fall of 1983, Theatre 3 (formerly 2) got a wall built down the middle; henceforth, they became Theatre 3 (440 seats) and Theatre 4 (470 seats). The last time I saw a movie there was in 1986. Theatre 1 was still the same and as far as I know it remained that way unti the theatre closed in 1999.
Thanks for the info Tim. Now I can kinda remember #1 now. That auditorium, along with River Oaks’s screen 9 were probably the biggest auditoriums of the south suburbs in their day. And sadly, both went down due to changing times and rough audiences.
CF If you get a chance check out Colony Theatre facebook page and become a fan.
I very vaguely remember this theater, if just for seeing its name in newspaper ads. Does anyone remember if this was a Cineplex Odeon, or a Loews theater? I thought it did get into the hands of one of those chains, and wouldn’t be surprised if they chose to close this theater, as a result of their merger in the late 90s.
It was originally an M&R Theatre, then it became a Loews Theatre in the late 1980s. And then………with the big merger; it became a Loews Cineplex Theatre and closed in the summer of 1999. It later got demolished.
Ah, okay. For whatever weird reason, I was thinking it was C-O that eventually took control of this theater, but I see it wasn’t. Thanks for answering.
Wow, sad to hear about this. I saw the first run of Up In Smoke in this theater.