Montclare Theatre
7133 W. Grand Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60707
7133 W. Grand Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60707
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 47 of 47 comments
It opened with little newspaper fanfare March 1, 1929 with a 14 piece symphony orchestra directed by Max Greenfield.
1977 Not 1997!!! Typos!
We heard the 3/10 Barton organ during the CATOE (Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts) hosting of the ATOS convention in 1977.
Ron Rhode played a very nice program on the organ. The theatre was tired in 1997, but still intact and worthy of preservation. It seems to me even the organ has since been broken up for parts after going to a restaurant somewhere.
The theater was announced March 9, 1928 (with a rendering on April 1, wherein the caption mocks the prominent water tank on the stagehouse) as a 1,400 seat theater with provision to add a 500 seat balcony later, with 7 stores and 29 two and three room apartments. William P. Whitney, who had designed an unbuilt, gigantic theater in 1921 at Howard and Marshfield, an incredible unbuilt oriental opera house in Chinatown, as well as the Symphony on Chicago Ave. was the architect.
Also notable is that the organ here was one of the first restored by CATOE.
And another, this one from 1999.
“His other early passion was movies.
“There is no way to underestimate the effect movies had on me as a boy,” Hefner says. “My dreams came alive at the Montclare Theater on Grand Avenue.” He remembers, as a child of the Depression, watching cinematic depictions of the roaring ‘20s, “all those images of the Jazz Age, the flappers … And thinking that I’d missed the party.”"
Here’s another, from an article where Hef was visiting the old neighborhood in 1992:
“Another one of Hefner’s stops was not far away, at the Montclare Theater. Hefner climbed out of his bus and looked uneasily at the sign on the marquee, which read, "For Sale: Two acres.” He looked around and said, “This was Woolworth’s, where I bought all the Big Little Books. Keith still has all of his. Over there is where Betty used to work behind the soda fountain.”
“No it wasn’t,” said Betty Conklin. “It was on the other corner, Hugh.”
“Was it?”
“I remember the day I got off work with my $11 paycheck for 44 hours and lost it at the movies.”
“I got $9.50 a week ushering at the Rockne,” Keith said.
“Remember those uniforms?” Hefner said. “You had a stiff shirt front, but it was cardboard. No shirt underneath, but cardboard cuffs showing beneath your jacket. Gee, maybe that’s where I got the idea for the cuffs on the Bunny uniforms.”
“Keith! Remember me?” asked an attractive blond woman walking past on the sidewalk. “We starred in the senior play together!”
“My God, we did,” said Keith. It was Eleanor Schmider. “I still live in the same house,” she said.
“The man who owns the theater is going to unlock it for us,” Hefner’s secretary told him. We all walked across the street, and the man unbolted the doors, and we walked inside. He found the light switch, and the theater sprang back into life, surprisingly well-preserved. We walked through the tall old lobby. “There was a little fish pond here, with a mermaid sitting next to it,” Betty remembered. We walked into the empty auditorium, where the screen was torn but the seats still waited for another audience.
“Look at this place,” Hefner said. “All the dreams were there on the screen.” He stood in front of the stage and looked back at the vast empty palace. “This is the only thing that is larger than I remember it.”"
Montclare had closed 12 years ago
Judge OKs demolition of theater
Chicago Sun-Times
October 4, 1996
Author: MARK BROWN
Ald. William J. P. Banks (36th) took his wife to the Montclare Theater on their first date more than 27 years ago, and on Thursday he helped persuade a Housing Court judge to tear it down.
These were not related events.
After more than a decade of watching the once-bustling movie house at 7133 W. Grand slip into decay, however, there was no room for sentimentality from Banks and dozens of Mont Clare neighborhood residents who came to the Daley Center to make sure the community eyesore finally would be demolished.
“Unfortunately, its time has come,” Banks said after Supervising Judge Edward H. Marsalek put an end to delays sought by the building’s owners and cleared the way for city wrecking crews to begin.
Opened in 1929 at the onset of the Depression, the Montclare was a neighborhood theater with shops on the first floor, apartments above and a distinctive ornamental terra-cotta front. Local moviegoers who once sat in its 1,200 seats included Hugh Hefner, who hung out there while attending Steinmetz High School. There was no balcony and no stage.
Banks can still remember the fresh-popped popcorn and the meticulous upkeep the theater enjoyed for decades, but the big screen went silent at least 12 years ago, and the building had become a magnet for illicit activity.
At least seven fires have been reported there since the first of the year, Banks said. Assault victims had been accosted on the street and dragged inside. There were even reports of prostitution, he said.
“The owners have ignored us,” complained Banks, who identified Chicago businessmen Victor and Joseph Cacciatore as among the partners. “They haven’t secured the building. Enough is enough.”
A lawyer for the owners told Marsalek they had encountered problems with their plans to rehab the property and were looking for a buyer.
Banks, who supplied buses that took the neighbors to court, said the building is holding back commercial development on a stretch of Grand Avenue, which is otherwise improving both east and west of the theater.
“You’ll find developers clamoring to buy that parcel once the theater is down,” Banks said.
Richard Sklenar, executive director of the Elmhurst-based Theater Historical Society of America, said there was nothing to distinguish the Montclare from dozens of other neighborhood theaters that once filled Chicago.
“It was a loss 10 years ago or 12 years ago when it stopped showing movies and stopped being a community asset, not now,” Sklenar said.
Mont Clare residents now can see their movies at the multiplex theater in the Bricktown Square shopping center.
Caption:
The Montclare Theater, 7133 W. Grand, opened in 1929. The once-bustling 1,200-seat movie house featured a distinctive ornamental terra-cotta front.
I grew up and lived in that neighborhood for over 20 years. The Google map is definitely wrong if it says it’s in EP, it is (was) in Chicago in the Montclair neighborhood. The north to south dividing line between Elmwood Park and Chicago is Harlem Ave. the whole way from Belmont to North Ave. and there is no cross over. The mistake probably comes from the fact that Elmwood Park and part of Chicago share the same zip code.
And yes, it’s also not a “vacant lotâ€. The last time I was around that way was about a year ago and the Auto Zone was still there.
jefF
I worked in Elmwood Park for several years, and am pretty sure the site is an Auto Zone today (not vacant).
It was actually demolished in December 1996.
I saw the inside of the theatre not long before it was demolished. The owners were creeps! I wanted to try and rent it out, and make a go of it, but they basically wanted to “unload” the place. Unfortunately, I lacked backing and couldn’t write them a cheque for $1,175,000. Here’s a tidbit though: The interior of the theatre was seen in the movie Back Draft. The owners were amazed that I recognised it. :) The interior was intact, with it’s beautiful white, and blue marbled lobby. Full working stage. They wanted to take out the first 9 rows to build the stage out further as they had dreams of a concert hall type thing, or live venue. Most shows now require a larger stage depth. The whole thing was just beautiful. Now it stands no more. Just a vacant lot where a beautiful movie palace once stood. It’s truly a sin!
I thought the building complex of the Montclare was interesting with its white trim terra cotta and apartments and small store fronts. However though I have great memories as a kid seeing Blackboard Jungle, Rebel Without a Cause and Help! just to name a few, I never thought the interior was anything special like the Patio or Will Rogers was. I should be noted that as a kid Hugh Heffner went to and ushered at this theatre. However, no theatre should ever be demolished.
Yes. Thanks so much, Bryan. That’s what I was thinking of. I just remembered it myself today and found the listing on the site. This is an AMAZING website, by the way. Great for people like me who happen to be suffering from severe if not terminal nostalgia. It even linked me to a picture of another movie “palace” that was a second home for me when I was a kid: the Rose Theater in Franklin Park, which was actually a Quonset hut, converted into a movie theater.
I lived on Nordica, about a block south of Belmont, from when I was born until we moved to the suburbs when I was around 5 or 6 years old. The first movies I remember seeing were at the Montclare. “Peter Pan” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” were just a couple of the movies I remember seeing there. Even when we were in the burbs, we’d often hop a bus to Grand and Harlem and see movies there. I think the last film I remember seeing there was in 1967 when they were showing “The Sound of Music”, a couple of years after the movie was released.
I’m no longer in Chicago. Can anyone in the Chicago area help with the name of a tiny movie place that used to be in Piper’s Alley down in Old Town? We used to hang out there during the 60s and they’d show things by Andy Warhol. The name just escapes me. Anyone who can help, just email me at Thanks
corvetteguy1963: I’ve been waiting to find a theatre post from you as we’re Corvette folks, too….Bloomington Gold, Special Collection! Glad to see another Corvetter interested in old movie palaces along with old Corvettes! Do you have a ‘63 split window or convertible? LOL!
Corvetteguy, I agree, it was abandoned for so long, if the owners didn’t want to run it, they should have made an effort to sell it to someone who would have renovated it. It was an eyesore for so many years. The last time I went there in ‘79 or '80, they did try to make the place look presentable. The marquis was all lit up, but so many missing/broken lights and the musty smell was very sad and depressing. They did a half-way job of renovating which did not draw any customers back for a second time, I’m sure.
I just recently discovered this site ,I was a big fan of the Montclare theatre .It was just SO beautiful ,and many memories.It was a real sad day as I watched it being torn down.I did go inside and grab some momentos and look around.It was also sad to see it linger on for 15 years or so of abandonment & get so run down and ruined.The slumlord who did this should join city officials and be locked up ,for they have no pride.
They used to show cartoons, my mom took us there all the time. The last time I was there was about 1979 or 1980, saw Saturday Night Fever in it’s second run. Also the Exorcist. At that point they had closed and reopened several times with new owners. They tried to fix it up a little, but the place was musty and smelly and the rumors of rats and roaches didn’t do much for its reputation in the neighborhood. With all the development around here now, it might have done well if it had managed to hang on. Too bad someone didn’t buy it and fix it up like they did the Lake Theater.
Kind of a second home for me. I saw every late sixties early seventies John Wayne western, Patton, The Good The Bad and The Ugly,
The Magnificient Seven there. Just to name a few. My brother and I would go there saturday morning, for the cartoon/raffle,stay for the double feature, and get home around dinner time. It was a big theater with a big screen. Especially when your 10. I miss the place, sticky floors and all.
It’s a shame that they demolished this theater, they should of fixed it up and re-opened it.
They have built an auto zone store where the theater used to sit.
I was never in the Montclare and unfortuately never saw the inside. I do know that it changed owners at least twice since its closure. One owner had tried to sell if for a long time and finally resorted to public auction (the reserve was way too high) and I don’t think it was sold. It did however change owners at least one time after the failed auction. The current owner of the Patio told me he had considered buying it for conversion to banquet facilities but decided against it because of lack of parking. I do remember the theatre complex had several attached apartments which is why the market value was way beyond my price range. I asked my bother-in-law what he remembered about the theatre. He replied “Great popcorn”. I might have an exterior shot of the theatre which I’ll submit when its back online
It is a damn shame the owner had to let this theater become what it had. I saw Star Wars there during its original second run in the 70’s (double featured with Avalanche!), it was the first place I ever saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and remember many Saturday afternoon cartoon and movie fare showings as a kid. If the theater didn’t completely turn its back on the public, it may have been able to still be here to be a renovation candidate / recipient. Unfortunately, the owner was as oblivious and turned as much of a deaf ear to its patrons when it was even still open, which was essentially the reason it was shut down in the first place.