Nortown Theater
6320 N. Western Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
6320 N. Western Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
19 people
favorited this theater
Opened on April 4th, 1931, the Nortown was an atmospheric theater which was known for it striking sea horse, mermaid, and zodiac motifs. It was designed by J.E.O. Pridmore. The Nortown was located in the West Ridge neighborhood on Western Avenue near Rosemont Avenue.
It once featured a 3/15 Wurlitzer theater organ.
The theater closed in 1990 after an unsuccessful triplexing in 1984 and was afterward used as a community center and still later, as a church.
Unfortunately, the Nortown was demolished in June-August 2007. A great deal of the theater’s decorative terra-cotta and plaster was salvaged before the building was torn down. Condominiums and two small cinemas (which will cater to Pakistani and Indian audiences), along with retail space, will be replacing the Nortown.
Contributed by
Ray Martinez
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Recent comments (view all 230 comments)
I don’t think anything has been built on the site yet. I saw it from Peterson Ave. not long ago.
Google Street View shows the Nortown half-demolished. You can see into the balcony from Western Avenue.
A 3/15 Wurlitzer was installed in the theatre in 1931
Lot is vacant. No coming soon signs for the development project. The theatre seemed so big, but the vacant lot seems so small. It’s amazing how much they fit onto a limited piece of property.
Too little public parking (only a small lot across the street), and changing neighborhood demographics.
Yeah, all of the above.
Plus I’m sure the cost of heating & cooling such a large structure year round took it’s financial toll.
The basic overhead of such utilities was less of an issue back in the day when these old palaces had full houses.
I mentioned this of some of the downtown theater pages as well.
Life, yeah I was there in ‘09, stopped by to see the old place on my way back from checking out Le Cordon Bleu and I was surprised at how small the lot was. I remember the building being HUGE and then the stores next to it went up to Woolworth, or at least it seemed like it. It’s funny that I don’t even remember that alley access, growing up.
I took a few pictures with my cell phone of the lot and the ads that were painted on the buildings, hidden away for close to a century. The pictures are on facebook right now but can upload them to flickr if anyone’s interested.
Cool Site.Worked at Nortown from 1978-1982 thru High School. Lied about my age at 15 and worked as an usher. The first movie for me was The Black Hole.Had a mickey mouse trailer to begin flick. I can tell you there are catacombs underneath which I explored. I think it was part of old ac process. We would go under and freak out patrons by moaning loud. Met alot of fun people there. When I was 13 I walked 3 miles to see Star Wars in 77. Anyhow see you all later Ian
There is still no new development on this property. Can anyone say: Pop goes the bubble?
In all fairness I’m not sure what future an aging, run down movie palace had in a middle class ethnic neighborhood. The end was probably just sped up by the real estate frenzy.
Whatever the eventual outcome it was sad to see it go.
Yes, very sad to see it go. :(
At least there’s hope for other aging theater palaces. The Genesee theater was fully restored several years ago and is absolutely beautiful! I saw a concert there last year and because I had volunteered to run the merch tables (got me in for free), I was in the lobby during the opening act. I was talking to the workers and a guy that works there knew of Nortown. I forget if he said he worked there too, but he was telling me how they fought to save the Genesee from the wrecking ball and literally managed it as the wrecking ball was outside, waiting to take a swing the next morning.