Great picture. This is a little off topic, but I’d completely forgotten about Hargrave’s Secret Service. The large neon with the eagle to the East of the Oriental. They had several other locations around Chicago.
One was over near Superior & Franklin as I recall. Some of those signs hung on buildings long after Hargrave’s had vacated.
I think it was some type of detective & guard agency that accompanied various businesses to banks with their deposits.
There currently are more live music events at the Wilmette. Various members of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals have had featured showcases there, as well as at the Skokie Theatre.
P.S. That Wilmette Chuck Wagon next door had great burgers also back in the day. I believe it may still be there.
Cool. I actually saw “Tron” at the Nortown.
And “Flashdance” co-starred Chicago's
own Kyle Heffner. Whom I worked with in Evanston just 2 years earlier. He was part of the Practical Theatre Company on Howard Street too.
Sally’s Stage was across the street from the Nortown. We covered this on one of the other CT pages. The organ they had in the restaurant/bar may or may not have come from the Nortown. I think someone said it was smaller.
Oh, how I miss those street lights.
It sure was a sight looking South down State Street from the “L” tracks.
All the vintage buildings with the “modern” `60’s street lights hanging over the traffic with their cold glow. Lower Wacker still had all the green lighting too.
In KenMc’s 04/11/09 post of the 1972 picture, “Diamonds Are Forever” is playing at the Woods down the street.
Me and a buddy saw that there multiple times. Jill St. John, Lana Wood, & a lengthy car chase through “old” Vegas with a Mustang ending up escaping on two wheels. A young man’s dreams fulfilled on a daily basis.
Both the Liberty and a theater called the Mint were captured in some B-Roll in an episode of “Snapped” on the Oxygen Network. It originally aired in 12/06.
The Mint was actually having it’s marquee letters changed from a ladder in the brief footage.
Though there seems to be no CT link to a Mint Theatre in Idaho.
Morton Grove is peppered with vintage buildings. Especially in the area North of Main St. where it becomes Lincoln Ave. and continues on Northwest.
The Bringer Inn is over 100 years old & Pequods Pizza appears to be some type of depression era structure at least.
There are also some vintage storefronts and a Moose Lodge etc. around town. But condos are/were springing up rather rapidly in the last few years.
What a great photo & strange coincidence. I saw “On Her Majestys Secret Service” when it first came out, with my father & brother at Chicago’s Granada Theatre.
I have since also read various back stories on the choice of George Lazenby playing James Bond. Apparently British actor Oliver Reed had at one time been considered as a replacement for Sean Connery.
But the studio didn’t think they could counter the varied legendary drinking escapades that Reed was then embarking on, in the press.
Although with Reed’s brooding delivery style, I think he would have been excellent as Bond. Much like Daniel Craig, the current Bond.
I’m not sure how this place ever got away with using a Wells Street address. When it is clearly located on North Ave.
I understand desiring the Pipers Alley tie in, but the original buildings this one replaced wasn’t even really connected to or part of Pipers Alley. It was behind it & next to it. Approximately where the rear of the Aardvark Theatre actually would have been. And that’s a stretch.
This strip of North Ave. had some older 3 flats with various taverns and shops in them before the current building was built. I guess Aardvark Mutiplex wouldn’t have really had the same punch. We should also be thankful they didn’t call it Second City Cinema. Which is even slightly further down Wells Street.
Well I guess that confirms my “Cat People” recollection. I just reread the very first post about this theater. I had no idea of the Herschell Gordon Lewis ownership/connection.
My late father briefly knew or worked with him in the `60’s. My father had worked at/with Vogue Wright, Wernecke, Joy Recording & Fred Niles Studios(now Harpo) back in the day. I wish I’d known of the connection when I lived above the Devon Theatre
Lewis is still alive. I think he released a CD called “The Eye Popping Sounds of Herschell Gordon Lewis.
I’m looking for a possible link with any exterior pictures of the Trianon Ballroom also on 63rd St.
All that seems to ever come up is postcards of the same interior shots.
Exterior shots of the Trianon have proved quite elusive. Thanks.
CT wonders never cease. I had no idea that this hotel was ever part of a theater. I was at a giant garage sale in this very rear parking lot in the early `80’s.
You entered through the tunnel/Clark St. entrance under the hotel. You could tell by the design that something odd had been done. Dumpsters lined the tunnel.
There was a guard rail across the back of the lot, that people from the alley and the then Post Office next door stepped over to access the sale. The alley behind was almost like a street. And about as wide as the side street were around there.
I also moved someone into that hotel about 5-6 years ago. The interior was like something out of “Paper Moon” or “The Sting”. There was a stairwell office with a glass partition that the on-duty hotel staff sat in/behind.
The tall hallways were old hardwood with carpet runners up the centers. The rooms all had operational transom windows above each door. The rooms however were all of about 8 feet wide by 10 feet deep, if that. An old metal frame bed & waterfall dresser were included. The window overlooked the rear lot.
The Post Office next door has since closed to the public, but is maintained as a sorting station. Next to that going South is a twice built McDonald’s with drive thru. Next to that is a condo building that replaced the Playdium Bowling Alley. Where my grandfather sanded the lanes in the 60's. It was open into the70’s.
Did you click on the word “here”?
The link still works for me, and I only have a WebTV server.
QuillHill is only an e-mail address.
The link is above that in the word “here”.
Great picture. This is a little off topic, but I’d completely forgotten about Hargrave’s Secret Service. The large neon with the eagle to the East of the Oriental. They had several other locations around Chicago.
One was over near Superior & Franklin as I recall. Some of those signs hung on buildings long after Hargrave’s had vacated.
I think it was some type of detective & guard agency that accompanied various businesses to banks with their deposits.
So should Happy Hour Theatre be an AKA?
That spire in the `50’s was something else. I wonder why they chose to remove the cork screw design & replace it with bands.
Wow, I had no idea this place existed.
Thanks to CT & everyone whose posted pictures.
This place was definately where the new multi level parking structure is that served the Genesse when I was there.
There currently are more live music events at the Wilmette. Various members of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals have had featured showcases there, as well as at the Skokie Theatre.
P.S. That Wilmette Chuck Wagon next door had great burgers also back in the day. I believe it may still be there.
Cool. I actually saw “Tron” at the Nortown.
And “Flashdance” co-starred Chicago's
own Kyle Heffner. Whom I worked with in Evanston just 2 years earlier. He was part of the Practical Theatre Company on Howard Street too.
Sally’s Stage was across the street from the Nortown. We covered this on one of the other CT pages. The organ they had in the restaurant/bar may or may not have come from the Nortown. I think someone said it was smaller.
Oh, how I miss those street lights.
It sure was a sight looking South down State Street from the “L” tracks.
All the vintage buildings with the “modern” `60’s street lights hanging over the traffic with their cold glow. Lower Wacker still had all the green lighting too.
Brief shot of the Tivoli blade on the NBC Nightly News this evening.
A report from a Chattanooga jobs fair by the late Tim Russert’s son Luke.
In KenMc’s 04/11/09 post of the 1972 picture, “Diamonds Are Forever” is playing at the Woods down the street.
Me and a buddy saw that there multiple times. Jill St. John, Lana Wood, & a lengthy car chase through “old” Vegas with a Mustang ending up escaping on two wheels. A young man’s dreams fulfilled on a daily basis.
Both the Liberty and a theater called the Mint were captured in some B-Roll in an episode of “Snapped” on the Oxygen Network. It originally aired in 12/06.
The Mint was actually having it’s marquee letters changed from a ladder in the brief footage.
Though there seems to be no CT link to a Mint Theatre in Idaho.
Thanks for the Trianon info. I’ll hunt down a copy.
Morton Grove is peppered with vintage buildings. Especially in the area North of Main St. where it becomes Lincoln Ave. and continues on Northwest.
The Bringer Inn is over 100 years old & Pequods Pizza appears to be some type of depression era structure at least.
There are also some vintage storefronts and a Moose Lodge etc. around town. But condos are/were springing up rather rapidly in the last few years.
What a great photo & strange coincidence. I saw “On Her Majestys Secret Service” when it first came out, with my father & brother at Chicago’s Granada Theatre.
I have since also read various back stories on the choice of George Lazenby playing James Bond. Apparently British actor Oliver Reed had at one time been considered as a replacement for Sean Connery.
But the studio didn’t think they could counter the varied legendary drinking escapades that Reed was then embarking on, in the press.
Although with Reed’s brooding delivery style, I think he would have been excellent as Bond. Much like Daniel Craig, the current Bond.
BWChicago, unfortunately the 11/10/08 link reverts back to the CT/Wilson Avenue Theater page. Is there another link perhaps?
What are the other Water Tower Theatre’s, that were located upstairs and inside of the Water Tower Place Mall listed under on CT?
I’m not sure how this place ever got away with using a Wells Street address. When it is clearly located on North Ave.
I understand desiring the Pipers Alley tie in, but the original buildings this one replaced wasn’t even really connected to or part of Pipers Alley. It was behind it & next to it. Approximately where the rear of the Aardvark Theatre actually would have been. And that’s a stretch.
This strip of North Ave. had some older 3 flats with various taverns and shops in them before the current building was built. I guess Aardvark Mutiplex wouldn’t have really had the same punch. We should also be thankful they didn’t call it Second City Cinema. Which is even slightly further down Wells Street.
I like the tag line on that vintage ad. A “Safe” Place for Your Family.
Reactivate Notification Status.
Well I guess that confirms my “Cat People” recollection. I just reread the very first post about this theater. I had no idea of the Herschell Gordon Lewis ownership/connection.
My late father briefly knew or worked with him in the `60’s. My father had worked at/with Vogue Wright, Wernecke, Joy Recording & Fred Niles Studios(now Harpo) back in the day. I wish I’d known of the connection when I lived above the Devon Theatre
Lewis is still alive. I think he released a CD called “The Eye Popping Sounds of Herschell Gordon Lewis.
I’m looking for a possible link with any exterior pictures of the Trianon Ballroom also on 63rd St.
All that seems to ever come up is postcards of the same interior shots.
Exterior shots of the Trianon have proved quite elusive. Thanks.
CT wonders never cease. I had no idea that this hotel was ever part of a theater. I was at a giant garage sale in this very rear parking lot in the early `80’s.
You entered through the tunnel/Clark St. entrance under the hotel. You could tell by the design that something odd had been done. Dumpsters lined the tunnel.
There was a guard rail across the back of the lot, that people from the alley and the then Post Office next door stepped over to access the sale. The alley behind was almost like a street. And about as wide as the side street were around there.
I also moved someone into that hotel about 5-6 years ago. The interior was like something out of “Paper Moon” or “The Sting”. There was a stairwell office with a glass partition that the on-duty hotel staff sat in/behind.
The tall hallways were old hardwood with carpet runners up the centers. The rooms all had operational transom windows above each door. The rooms however were all of about 8 feet wide by 10 feet deep, if that. An old metal frame bed & waterfall dresser were included. The window overlooked the rear lot.
The Post Office next door has since closed to the public, but is maintained as a sorting station. Next to that going South is a twice built McDonald’s with drive thru. Next to that is a condo building that replaced the Playdium Bowling Alley. Where my grandfather sanded the lanes in the
60's. It was open into the70’s.Did you click on the word “here”?
The link still works for me, and I only have a WebTV server.
QuillHill is only an e-mail address.
The link is above that in the word “here”.
That combined with the vintage rooftop signage is a true throwback to another era. Thanks for posting that.
Complete with an AMC Hornet moved twice, into a fire lane. Enough said.