I should say that the Target store will be at the corner of Broadway & Wilson, the site of a former CTA rail yard. The complex was to have been called “Wilson Yards.”
I should say that the Target store will be at the corner of Broadway & Wilson, the site of a former CTA rail yard. The complex was to have been called “Wilson Yards.”
Per a 2/28/06 article in CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS, Keresotas Theatres has abandoned its plan to build atop a new Target store. They cited the cost as being too high. Instead, the chain will try to acquire the City North 14 and the Webster Place from AMC/Loews.
Per a 2/28/06 article in CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS, Keresotas Theatres has abandoned its plan to build atop a new Target store. They cited the cost as being too high. Instead, the chain will try to acquire the City North 14 and the Webster Place from AMC/Loews.
Then this was not a part of Plitt or Essaness? I thought that at one point it was. I plan on getting over to the Chicago Public Library (Harold Washington Library) to research old movie ads between 1975 and 2005. That way, I can determine who owned what.
It’s a shame what Cineplex-Odeon and Loews-Cineplex did to once fine theatres such as the McClurg, the Biograph, Chestnut Station, the Fine Arts, etc in their final years (i.e. showing sub-standard fare).
I thought that you could call your chain “Cinemart”, a combination of “cinema” and “art.” But that sounds too much like the convience store on the SIMPSONS, “Kwik-e-mart.” However, you could split the words and call it “Cinema Art.”
Jim Rankin, if one tries finding the photos on the link you indicated, they are not on the website. To be specific, one actually has to go to the Theatre Historical Society in Elmhurst, IL (it’s in the same building as the York Theatre).
Thanks for the information. I have every other Friday off from work and I’ll be sure to visit the Society.
The comment above confirms what I’d rather suspected. As I recall, the theatre always did great business. Just what the community needed—another boring shoe outlet selling footwear that falls apart after a couple of months.
Per Jeff K’s comment above, this theatre can easily be seen from the Edens Spur (I-94), which connects the Edens Expressway with the Tri-State Tollway.
Getting back to the subject of actual movie theatres, and not just CDs about movie theatres, I recall reading that the basement or possibly the foundation of the Paradise Theatre was re-used in the construction of the supermarket.
Does anybody remember which chain (I.e. Jewel, National, A&P) the supermarket belonged to, if any?
I recently had the chance to “re-visit” Styx’s PARADISE THEATRE CD and I know I have the old LP lying around somewhere. While it was a great trip during memory lane—I was a senior in high school when it was released—I don’t think that the CD has aged well. This is in common with a lot of 70s album rock. But I do give Styx credit for what they were trying to say with the album and it certainly was an ambitious project for its time. I recall that the local music charts in late 1980 and early 1981 were dominated by just two albums, both by Illinois bands: PARADISE THEATRE and REO Speedwagon’s HI INFIDELITY.
I wish you a lot of luck if you can re-open a place like this. You will have some pretty stiff competition with a certain theatre a block away from the McClurg (one that bears the number “21”). For other mainstream fare, you would be in competition with the nearby 600 North theatre and for the “arty-er” fare, you’d be up against the Esquire.
I was in this theatre recently. I was stuck in the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton area because my Amtrak train to Chicago was almost 5 hours late. This is one of the best multiplexes I have ever been in! The auditorium I was in had terrific sightlines and one of the largest movie screens I have ever seen.
If you have any further information on this theatre, please contribute it!
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.
The L-V is in a very large building. It is located next to the North Shore Channel, which is a man-made canal (and known as the
“S – – t River” because it serves the Metropolitan Sanitary District). You can actually see the L-V from the Church Street bridge (if you look hard enough) over the channel. Church Street is some 3 ½ miles north of the L-V.
Also, does Village have any upgrades planned for this theatre as it does for the North Riverside?
The rapid transit station nearest to the Skokie/Niles Center Theatre was Oakton Street. To get a better idea of what the theatre’s nieghborhood looked like in the 1930s, click on the link below. This view of the only “population center” better illustrates my above point. By the 1930s, many of Chicago’s other “close-in” suburbs had been developed, yet Niles Center/Skokie was still sparse.
It is altogether conceivable that westerns and other movies could have been shot right outside the Skokie Theatre/Niles Center Theatre. I have a booklet, written by Graham Garfield, on the re-opening of the former Skokie/Dempster railway station. In it, Garfield says that Niles Center was originally plotted (sp?) in the early 1900s and that in the 1920s, the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee RR built a new route thru Skokie Valley. Service between Dempster Street and Howard Street was to be provided by the Chicago Rapid Transit Co, a predecessor to the Chicago Transit Authority.
The idea was for the CNSM to have a bypass around its original route and to start development in the area. Although the real estate lots had been sold and the streets planned and named, the Depression of the 1930s killed this idea. World War II further delayed the development of Niles Center, which by that time was re-named Skokie. The CTA took over from the CRT in 1947 and abandoned the rapid transit route in 1948 because of low ridership (the CNSM RR hung on until 1963). Development of the area began in earnest in the 1950s and 1960s and in 1964, the CTA revived the rapid transit route.
What little development there was in Niles Center/Skokie at the time was centered around Oakton Street, not far from the theatre. Again, it is possible that the area could have been used as a movie lot. To get a good view of what Niles Center/Skokie looked like in the 1920s, click on the following link and then scroll 2/3rds the way down:
Other than to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I’d been to the Biograph only once. It was in 1984 and it was to see the full-length version of “Once Upon A Time In America.” The Biograph was the only theatre in the Chicagoland Area to show this version—the other cinemas showed the chopped-up 2 hour version. Right before the show, the usher walked up on stage to warn people that this was a 3 ½ hour movie and that there would be an intermission.
The Biograph was, for a time, the Near North’s “Art” house. As time went on and as Cineplex-Odeon gained control, the Biograph showed more and more general fare and abandoning all “Art” films all together. “Rocky Horror” eventually ceased playing there as well. And if memory serves me correctly, towards the end of Cineplex/Loews-Cineplex ownership, the Biograph was actually showing lousy fare.
Per BW’s comment above, it would have been, well, interesting to see how they might have pulled off that “Shopping Mall/Theatre-In-The-Round” scheme. Per my posts under the Roosevelt Theatre, the Oriental/Ford Center and the Cadillac Palace and the Goodman were all in a zone designated to be re-developed, i.e. “obliterated.” The Goodman uses the facades of the Harris/Selwyn a.k.a. Michael Todd/Cinestage a.k.a. Dearborn Cinemas and the Oriental and Cadillac Palace are restorations.
It is good that the North Loop Redevelopment Plan did not go thru. The City of Chicago has discovered that there is room for the performing arts in this area. Theatre is alive and well in these former cinemas and many of the patrons eat at nearby restaurants or stop for a drink afterwards. This would not happen if the proposed office buildings had gone in and it shows the economic benefits of having a busy theatre district.
Before these theatres (and the Chicago Theatre) were restored, most Broadway Plays went to the Arie Crown Theatre, located in McCormick Place. The Arie Crown had the worst acoustics and sightlines of any theatre (this is not an exaggeration—true theatre lovers hated the place) and offered no economic benefit because afterwards, people usually got in their cars and went home.
I should say that the Target store will be at the corner of Broadway & Wilson, the site of a former CTA rail yard. The complex was to have been called “Wilson Yards.”
I should say that the Target store will be at the corner of Broadway & Wilson, the site of a former CTA rail yard. The complex was to have been called “Wilson Yards.”
Per a 2/28/06 article in CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS, Keresotas Theatres has abandoned its plan to build atop a new Target store. They cited the cost as being too high. Instead, the chain will try to acquire the City North 14 and the Webster Place from AMC/Loews.
Here is the article
View link
Per a 2/28/06 article in CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS, Keresotas Theatres has abandoned its plan to build atop a new Target store. They cited the cost as being too high. Instead, the chain will try to acquire the City North 14 and the Webster Place from AMC/Loews.
Here is the article
View link
Then this was not a part of Plitt or Essaness? I thought that at one point it was. I plan on getting over to the Chicago Public Library (Harold Washington Library) to research old movie ads between 1975 and 2005. That way, I can determine who owned what.
It’s a shame what Cineplex-Odeon and Loews-Cineplex did to once fine theatres such as the McClurg, the Biograph, Chestnut Station, the Fine Arts, etc in their final years (i.e. showing sub-standard fare).
So there were two theatres on Clark Street named “Adelphi!”
Cinemark Fan,
I thought that you could call your chain “Cinemart”, a combination of “cinema” and “art.” But that sounds too much like the convience store on the SIMPSONS, “Kwik-e-mart.” However, you could split the words and call it “Cinema Art.”
Yet another good article
http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05216/548357.stm
Found an article on this place
View link
And an article with a photo
View link
Does anybody have photos of this place or know of any photos? I’d like to see what it looked like when it was in business and as it is now.
Jim Rankin, if one tries finding the photos on the link you indicated, they are not on the website. To be specific, one actually has to go to the Theatre Historical Society in Elmhurst, IL (it’s in the same building as the York Theatre).
Thanks for the information. I have every other Friday off from work and I’ll be sure to visit the Society.
From JAZZ AGE CHICAGO, here is an interesting article about a black dentist who sued the owners of the Tivoli.
View link
The comment above confirms what I’d rather suspected. As I recall, the theatre always did great business. Just what the community needed—another boring shoe outlet selling footwear that falls apart after a couple of months.
Per Jeff K’s comment above, this theatre can easily be seen from the Edens Spur (I-94), which connects the Edens Expressway with the Tri-State Tollway.
Getting back to the subject of actual movie theatres, and not just CDs about movie theatres, I recall reading that the basement or possibly the foundation of the Paradise Theatre was re-used in the construction of the supermarket.
Does anybody remember which chain (I.e. Jewel, National, A&P) the supermarket belonged to, if any?
I recently had the chance to “re-visit” Styx’s PARADISE THEATRE CD and I know I have the old LP lying around somewhere. While it was a great trip during memory lane—I was a senior in high school when it was released—I don’t think that the CD has aged well. This is in common with a lot of 70s album rock. But I do give Styx credit for what they were trying to say with the album and it certainly was an ambitious project for its time. I recall that the local music charts in late 1980 and early 1981 were dominated by just two albums, both by Illinois bands: PARADISE THEATRE and REO Speedwagon’s HI INFIDELITY.
Cinemark Fan,
I wish you a lot of luck if you can re-open a place like this. You will have some pretty stiff competition with a certain theatre a block away from the McClurg (one that bears the number “21”). For other mainstream fare, you would be in competition with the nearby 600 North theatre and for the “arty-er” fare, you’d be up against the Esquire.
I was in this theatre recently. I was stuck in the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton area because my Amtrak train to Chicago was almost 5 hours late. This is one of the best multiplexes I have ever been in! The auditorium I was in had terrific sightlines and one of the largest movie screens I have ever seen.
If you have any further information on this theatre, please contribute it!
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.
The L-V is in a very large building. It is located next to the North Shore Channel, which is a man-made canal (and known as the
“S – – t River” because it serves the Metropolitan Sanitary District). You can actually see the L-V from the Church Street bridge (if you look hard enough) over the channel. Church Street is some 3 ½ miles north of the L-V.
Also, does Village have any upgrades planned for this theatre as it does for the North Riverside?
The rapid transit station nearest to the Skokie/Niles Center Theatre was Oakton Street. To get a better idea of what the theatre’s nieghborhood looked like in the 1930s, click on the link below. This view of the only “population center” better illustrates my above point. By the 1930s, many of Chicago’s other “close-in” suburbs had been developed, yet Niles Center/Skokie was still sparse.
http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/oakton.html
It is altogether conceivable that westerns and other movies could have been shot right outside the Skokie Theatre/Niles Center Theatre. I have a booklet, written by Graham Garfield, on the re-opening of the former Skokie/Dempster railway station. In it, Garfield says that Niles Center was originally plotted (sp?) in the early 1900s and that in the 1920s, the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee RR built a new route thru Skokie Valley. Service between Dempster Street and Howard Street was to be provided by the Chicago Rapid Transit Co, a predecessor to the Chicago Transit Authority.
The idea was for the CNSM to have a bypass around its original route and to start development in the area. Although the real estate lots had been sold and the streets planned and named, the Depression of the 1930s killed this idea. World War II further delayed the development of Niles Center, which by that time was re-named Skokie. The CTA took over from the CRT in 1947 and abandoned the rapid transit route in 1948 because of low ridership (the CNSM RR hung on until 1963). Development of the area began in earnest in the 1950s and 1960s and in 1964, the CTA revived the rapid transit route.
What little development there was in Niles Center/Skokie at the time was centered around Oakton Street, not far from the theatre. Again, it is possible that the area could have been used as a movie lot. To get a good view of what Niles Center/Skokie looked like in the 1920s, click on the following link and then scroll 2/3rds the way down:
http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/crawford.html
And here’s a 2003 photo from the Cinematour website. The carpet definitely says “1980s Cineplex-Odeon.”
View link
Other than to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I’d been to the Biograph only once. It was in 1984 and it was to see the full-length version of “Once Upon A Time In America.” The Biograph was the only theatre in the Chicagoland Area to show this version—the other cinemas showed the chopped-up 2 hour version. Right before the show, the usher walked up on stage to warn people that this was a 3 ½ hour movie and that there would be an intermission.
The Biograph was, for a time, the Near North’s “Art” house. As time went on and as Cineplex-Odeon gained control, the Biograph showed more and more general fare and abandoning all “Art” films all together. “Rocky Horror” eventually ceased playing there as well. And if memory serves me correctly, towards the end of Cineplex/Loews-Cineplex ownership, the Biograph was actually showing lousy fare.
Per BW’s comment above, it would have been, well, interesting to see how they might have pulled off that “Shopping Mall/Theatre-In-The-Round” scheme. Per my posts under the Roosevelt Theatre, the Oriental/Ford Center and the Cadillac Palace and the Goodman were all in a zone designated to be re-developed, i.e. “obliterated.” The Goodman uses the facades of the Harris/Selwyn a.k.a. Michael Todd/Cinestage a.k.a. Dearborn Cinemas and the Oriental and Cadillac Palace are restorations.
It is good that the North Loop Redevelopment Plan did not go thru. The City of Chicago has discovered that there is room for the performing arts in this area. Theatre is alive and well in these former cinemas and many of the patrons eat at nearby restaurants or stop for a drink afterwards. This would not happen if the proposed office buildings had gone in and it shows the economic benefits of having a busy theatre district.
Before these theatres (and the Chicago Theatre) were restored, most Broadway Plays went to the Arie Crown Theatre, located in McCormick Place. The Arie Crown had the worst acoustics and sightlines of any theatre (this is not an exaggeration—true theatre lovers hated the place) and offered no economic benefit because afterwards, people usually got in their cars and went home.