Berwyn Theatre
6404 W. Cermak Road,
Berwyn,
IL
60402
6404 W. Cermak Road,
Berwyn,
IL
60402
11 people
favorited this theater
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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.
My grandfather passed away on January 4th, 2007 at the age of 82. He leaves behind a long legacy, having been a major pioneer in the in-house, as well as drive-in, motion-picture movie theater industry, having owned LaGrange, Milford, Des Plaines, and Berwyn Theatres 1983-2000, residing as general manager of Kohlberg Theatres 1963-1983, as well as managing and supervising Schoenstadt Theatres 1946-1962. I loved him greatly, and will miss him dearly.
View link
My photograph showing some of the remarkable detail of the BERWYN theater building.
www.flickr.com/photos/lastpictureshow/315473566
mr.DuPont… no actually that was in the Rockney and the Adrimal theaters where trench coats were worn by the patrons!!
mr.DuPont… no actually that was in the Rockney and the Adrimal theaters where trench coats were worn by the patrons!!
And your shoes will remain forever glued to the floor. :)
An earlier post mentioned the Ridgeland—a Bohemian restaurant near (next door to?) the Berwyn. What memories that brings back! I’d forgotten about the restaurant. My dad and I went there often after a movie at the Berwyn. We also used to go across the street and down the block to a pizza place called Sorrento’s. Best pizza in town! I drive down Cermak to get to work most mornings. All those old haunts are gone. Only the Olympic (yeah, I know, it’s called the Concordia—but it’ll always be the Olympic to me) still stands.
My photograph of the BERWYN View link
Paul :)
You make the rounds of all my favourites. The Berwyn tried to rise from the ashes of the fire that destroyed it’s lovely apartments. Kris Kristofferson did play there. Other acts were booked, but cancelled due to something not being up to fire code – Those political fingers, in the political pies again. The Berwyn stood empty for about 10 years, and in 1985 I think it was finally razed to give way to The LaSalle Bank. – Arcitecural Preservationists (me) tried to get it declared a landmark, but unfortunately – with the apartments and shops destroyed in the fire – more than 50% of the building was gone, and therefore the request to give it landmark status was (rubber stamp sound) DENIED! :(
A friend of mine who has lived most of his life in Cicero told me that after the Berwyn closed as a film theatre, its owners tried to use it as a concert hall. He vaguely remembers Kris Kristofferson playing there.
Yes chitownguy, the little “RIDGELAND” restaurant next to the Berwyn theater was a Bo-Hunk rest. It was very small with excellent cheap meals. My wife and I ate there many times before we moved from Berwyn to Villa Park in 1977. We still miss the good restaurants and great shopping that was along Cermak RD. in those years. Good old days! PLACES & THINGS ARE A WHOLE LOT DIFFERENT THERE NOW!!!
I posted my comments on the Olympic site….I’m not sure if the restaurant next to the Berwyn was a Bohemian restaurant per se (such as Old Prague or Pilsner) but they definately had Bohemian food like roast pork and such. Thanks, Charles, on the name of the Troy Store!
Don, I sent you a picture of The Olympic – It was in the middle of the Sokol Slavsky building. It is now called “The Concordia” and is serving the Latin culture that now lives in Cicero.
The store across the street from The Berwyn Theatre was called “Troy Store” (Now a McDonald’s) I can’t remember the pharmacy on the other corner, but it burned down. I can’t recall the restaurant either, but I don’t think it was a Bohemian restaurant. In the theatre building was a couple of ladies shops, and a Fanny Mae Candy.
Hello chitownguy. Can you describe the Olympic….I think I may have old photographs of it?
Thanks!!
Don Lewis………………..
Having grown up in Berwyn in the late 60’s/early 70’s I saw a lot of movies here; however, I spent more time down the street at the Olympic. I remember that the Berwyn showed more first or second run films. The Olympic had great double bills. The Berwyn played more single features and was more expensive. I remember it being very dark inside. You really couldn’t get a good look at the interior features. As stated above, the floors were sticky and I remember the lobby as being very red. There was a very small Bohemian restaurant next door that I used to go to. Across the street was a store like a Woolworths (the name fails me). And on either side of Ridgeland was a drug store.
Memories of The Berwyn Theatre :) Your shoes used to stick to the floor in the auditorium. The LaSalle Bank that stands there now has a beautiful mural painted on it showing the original “Parthenon” marquis.
The Berwyn Theatre was a regal gem. It had beautiful royal red carpeting adoring the lobby, and the interior was painted a dusty rose colour.
Truly a great loss to the area. The bust of a Greek goddess that adorned the building was apparently sold at auction, and now adorns a Mexican restaurant in California.
If anyone has any information on that, please let me know.
I took a couple of pictures several years ago when there was still a huge vertical “BERWYN” sign if anyone is interested.
-Don L.
The destruction of the Berwyn Theatre was a major loss to the area. I met my husband there in 1981 when my boyfriend at the time was an usher. There was a fire in 1980 or 1981 that was on the stage and destroyed the screen and some of the stage. It was repaired and the theatre reopened with no problems. A year or two latter, a large fire occured in a restaruant below the apartments. This fire gutted the restaruant and many of the apartments. It was then that the theatre closed. The apartment block was rehabbed and many of us who worked or hung out at the theatre helped get the theatre ready to open. (without pay) Something went wrong with the permits and they were pulled with the result that the theatre was not allowed to reopen. It was vandalized again and sold.
The new owners repainted and tried to reopen the theatre, but were not successful. It was during this time that the apartment / store section was demolished. I do not know why. In 1989, the marquee was removed. A few years after that, the rest of the building was demolished and the area turned into a TIF by the City of Berwyn.
There were rumors that the city wanted the building torn down, but they were never proven. The last time I was inside, there was NO fire damage to the “house”. The only part of the building that had been fire damaged was the apartment/store block- but that had been reparied. The theatre itself was intact, except for a few spots where mops and film had been set on fire and obviously went out before they could cause any damage. The large mirrors in the lobby and most of the bathroom fixtures had also been broken. As for the remodeling that the previous post refers to, it was unfoutunate, but not un-repairable. Frescos could be seen where paint was flaking off in the lobby, and if one looked closly at the plaster work in the theatre, one could see it was just buried under countless layers of paint. If one looked closly enough, one could actually see where cobwebs had been painted over!
Kim Novak worked as a cashier at this theater.
When the Berwyn (Parthenon) was demolished about a decade ago, it was replaced by a bank facility (Savings of America?). The lending institution had a corporate policy that called for incorporating some sort of artwork relevant to the locality on the facade of the new structure. In the case of the Berwyn site, the new building included a mosaic depiction of the original Parthenon Theatre facade, complete with marquee. Although the original bank was sold to another owner, the mosaic (circa 1989 or so) can still be seen on the facade facing Cermak Road. It is a pretty faithful depiction of the Parthenon in the late ‘20’s or early '30s. As a child in the '60’s I recall that the interior had been remodeled (probably in the late '40’s or early '50’s) in a “modern” style. The interior held virtually no traces of the former, no doubt classically-inspired decor. As a child, I always thought the Berwyn interior suffered in comparison to its near neighbor, the Olympic in Cicero, which still retained a classic interior. If I can locate the photos I took prior to demolition, I will post one.