Well here I am Again!I will be 75 in March so the Southtown was only 6 years old when I was born Like a new baby.To Think that they could build a theater like that in those times right after the depression.Such craftsmen.The buildings downtown and in Englewood were also fabulous and at this Christmas time of the year there was nothing like it.Marshall Fields especially.Nothing tinny and cheap in those days and it made the holiday season fantastic for all the children.Money was tight but things always seemed to work Out.
CharlesZirino
Well there it seems like everyone is abandoning this site. the postings are getting fewer.But,not me. I so loved this theater and the memories of the neighborhood that I took a photo I had of the Southtown enlarged it and with a little camera work put myself and my old 29 Ford into the parking lot entrance. Now in my home it will never be forgoten!
Chuckie Z.
Ah the30s,40s and 50s when a guy looked forward on the weekend to putting on his freshly starched shirt his suit and tie shined shoes and fedora Picked up his lady and went out for dinner at one of the many great restaurants and then off to the magical world of the cinema of which Chicago had many. But none surpassed the splendor and elegance of the Southtown theater made up of italian tile,plush carpets a well stocked pool of ducks swans fish and water falls in the lobby.Fabulous stairways plush seats well uniformed ushers and even a staffed nursery for the kiddies so you could enjoy the movies and live stage shows with a full orchestra in the pit all for a mere 25 cent admission.Shame on the city of Chicago for letting these fabulous places fall into disrepair and vanish to be replaced by no class cement structures they now call theaters where you are hearded like cattle and fleeced of your funds and expelled from them after the movie.To bad for the generation of today that does'nt know better!
Patrick c, I realize that this is a cinema treasure web site but I get so excited when I see a new Englewood person on board from my era.Gerry C. is well informed and a great person to communicate with.He has great stories.I also have postings on all the theaters in Englewood. check them out.
Chuckie Z.
Wasn’t that great! Stairs on one side and ramp on the other side.And there was big Jim The fat cop that had the beat there. he was such a tyrant sometimes.He used to chase us when we sat on the parking lot wall and watched the fights in the taverns across the street.And he would watch us when we tried to sneak in the theater. Other times he would take us in to see the movies free.If you read my early postings you know my feelings about Englewood.I’m so glad I was a kid there in that era. It was magical!!
Chuckie Z.
Patrick C. Ever spend any time at the Kershaw School Playground? I think every kid in the neighborhood went there occasionally to play some sports or the annual Holloween festival.
Chuckie Z.
Went to grammer school with a kid that lived in the Halwood Hotel. Mostly the well to do lived there and I remember a lot of them stored their autos at lindblatts garage on 63rd near Parnell. They really had some beautiful old Packards and Cadillacs and an occasional Duesenberg in there. Used to chase for coffee at White Castle for the owner. The tip got me into the theaters. My god am I old!
Chuckie Z.
Always good to read new postings from all the old kids that lived in Englewood and remember how great it was! I had a thought, Does anyone remember When you took your date to the Southtown and as you approached the ticket booth or walked past under the marquee there was a guy out there that took your pictures and handed you an envelope to order pictures? Seemed like he was always there summer or winter. I had some along with many great photos that were lost.My only memories left are some school pictures from Kershaw 1943 to 1950 and a few of my cherished toys mainly my Lone Ranger Atomic Bomb ring from Kix cereal 1946 priceless!!!!
Chuckie Z.
Well Folks I hate to tell you this but they eliminated that great gold statue from St. Martins. You always seen it when you rode the L train downtown.
Chuckie Z.
Barb-
Oh how well I remember that candy store. He had the best popcorn.It was a narrow little store with the popper in the front window. the doorman at the Stratford would give us a ticket stub so we could go out to get his popcorn and then re enter. I leaned on the popper one time and really burnt my arm.Nick rubbed butter on it and wrapped it up. he was such a nice person.I think the doorman new his was the better popcorn because he never hasseled us when we asked to go out.Another great place was the KarmelKorn in the middle of the block for the people with the sweet tooth. Im seventy and that is one great memory.Thanks!
Chuckie Z.
To all the old Englewood residents that lived there in its glory years when it was a mecca of entertainment and social standing about all we can do is remember it. Just like most good neighboorhoods in the big cities they have been reduced to slums and gettos of crime and filth except for a few that have been turned into condo cities with no personalities.Gone are the glorious movie houses and churches,parks and gathering places of the good citizens to meet and the children to play safely.Gone are the great movies and stars that entertained us.The ones that if they had faults they didn’t flaunt it.When celebrities were true celebrities and maintained their image in public.Sports figures had time for the kids to sign autographs and talk to them and realize they are the fans that make them. There was no high priced shoes or jerseys or other junk that was sold.I could keep going but I don’t have to because nothing will change. All the people that respond to this sight to remember the good old days know what Im talking about and are blessed to have lived in glorious Englewood a one of a kind place in a different time!
Chuckie Z.
Here’s another tale from the Southtown. When Dick Contino played there he came out into the east parking lot to toss a football around with some of the ushers before the first stage show of the day.His manager came out screaming and was so red I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I guess he didn’t want any jamed fingers to his star but Dick just laughed and stopped.He stayed out there for about half an hour signing autographs for the people. I have one somewhere in my memophelia from Englewood. A neighborhood that had it all,The Total Package!!!!! I seen Dick Contino in Las Vegas and he still is MR.ACCORDION.
Oh boy, the Paris theatre nestled in a little town known as the Edgar county seat in the heart of the Kikapoo farm country.A nice little town as many others with a town square around a court house.They had concerts in the park and a small fairground.On warm summer nights people would sit on the wall surrounding the courthouse lawn and converse. Mr. Papadokus the local sweet shop merchant pushed his popcorn and peanut wagon around selling his wares.And then there were the two theatres. I left Paris in 1943 to move to Chicago with my mom and brother.I went back to visit relatives many times and always headed for the theatres.I remember the sweet odor walking past them on a summer night that drew you in like a magnet. I am glad to hear that at least one is still operating there in a nice town from a nice era.
Chuckie Z.
Gerry, Skateland was on 60th and Halsted on the East side of the street. It closed and they turned it into a Schlitz beer warehouse in about 1950. Brucks bowling alley was at 61st.and Halsted about three doors south up on the second floor on the west side of the street. It had sixteen alleys and old hand rack pin spotters. It became Southtown Recreation and was still there When I moved in 1958.Spotted pins up there a few times as it was just another way of getting a little change to support my awfull habit of soda pop and theatres.We got Three cents a line as bowling was 20 cents a line.
Chuckie Z.
Ah yes, The bowling alley: 1951 I was a freshman at Tilden Tech.Mike Ryan sold the toy store and currency exchange/booking parlor in the back,Shush! and retired to Florida.Along came John Quealy who owned the Tumble Down Shack tavern up north on Halsted and had sold. He moved down to Englewood and opened that bowling alley,a little six alley house called the 700 Club.He operated it with his wife Marge and his sister.He was a little chubby irishman with a brouge and a heart of gold.That place was a gold mine.I went to work there after school sweeping down the alleys and polishing balls for the 7 o' clock leagues and working the shoe counter.The child labor board came in one day and caught me and fined john. I thought it was the end for me but John just said “ Keep your eyes open and if you see them come in again DUCK!! What a guy!!!He stayed and operated The place long after the neighborhood changed and finally sold it.Last time I seen him he was working at the Beverly Golf course and that was over thirty years ago.
Chuckie Z.
As I said to Gerry C.The movie a Christmas Story written by Jean Sheppard And with his uncanny Knack for detail in the forties could have been very easily shot in a home in Englewood at that time!
Chuckie Z.
Quixote, It went like this,going west from the Southtown, China clipper,Krogers,White Castle, then before they put Union through a parking lot then Wimpy;s then a small restaurant/bar,Then Mike Ryans Toy Store, a currency exchange,the old Ton of Fun restaurant and bar next Walter Powers cafeteria and bakery then an appliance store, barber shop and pool room in the back next another small tavern,than the Englewood than an alley and finally Sears.Funny when you mentioned the Defiant Ones at the Empress. The one thing that stood out to me was when Tony and Sidney were chained together they jumped down into the water to avoid the guards and dogs and had a hard time getting out.They were both soaking wet and finally climbed up and immediately sat down and leaned back on the tree.Then Tony pulled a dry cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with dry book matches.What? there’s one they let slip by.
Chuckie Z.
Well as a street kid of the forties and fifties I’ve probably been in every theatre on the south side includeing this one.It was kind of out of the way for me but occassionly I went there. It was a very nice theatre,but being from Englewood which had the Southtown as an example it did nothing for me! I remember taking a girl there to see A Walk in the Sun with Dana Andrews and God I hated that movie. War stories always seemed to give me a headache. It might of been the Flashing light of the cannon fire. That movie seemed like it went on for ever! She liked it.I felt like, somone please SHOOT ME!!!!
Chuckie Z.
Hi again, Now this is one theatre that I never knew how it survived so long.It was down the street on Harvard between 63rd.St. and 63rd.Pl.and anytime I went there it always seemed empty. It was way off the beaten path of the shoppers in the Halsted area and did not seem to have any spectacular movie criteria. I think it was mostly locals who wanted to get out of the house. The only movie I remember
seeing there was The Pit and The Pentulum with Victor Price, WHOOPEE!
Chuckie Z.
Ah, The Ace. This to was one of the smaller no frills theatres that was one of the main six in the Englewood area.My memories of this theatre is it was one of only two that as kids we never figured out how to sneak in! I remember seeing The Music Box the Laurel and Hardy academy winning comedy there but Thats about all. It always seemed a bit seedy and loaded with like Damon Runyan characters and besides why would I go there when I had a choice of some of the best movie palaces ever built. I know LAUREL AND HARDY!!!!!!
Chuckie Z.
Now here’s one I remember as being one of the six being in the 63rd and Halsted shopping area.It was my first movie experience as a kid when my mother took us there during the war years.I seen a western with Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson and bob Steel.The admission was two cents for a kid. I was hooked for life.I went there many times but I don’t remember anything spectacular about it. It just seemed to be an average neighborhood theatre that was lacking in the luxury and splendor of the Southtown and Stratford.
Chuckie Z.
Yikes Gerry, where do you get all this old stuff? here is what I remember about the Linden.Very small theatre,Lots of triple features mostly B westerns.seemed like forty coats of paint on everything. The weirdest washroom setup I ever seen. Cartoon shows on Saturday.small pamplets showing coming attractions for what seemed like the next twenty years.Cliff hanger serials.The haunting zither theme from The Third Man movie playing out front as you walked by. the music from the Jolson Story playing out front.Sticky floors and a horrendous odor kind of like a combination of pop corn, soda,candy and urinal cakes all mixed together God it was wonderfull!
Chuckie Z.
Ah,Here we go!
My memories of the Englewood are. This was the third of the classier theatres in the Englewood area. It had a much smaller lobby than the Southtown and Stratford and seemed to be affilliated with the Linden accross the street. I had a friend who was a doorman there and he would alternate between them.The Englewood had a broader selection of movies as I don’t think that they were associated with any few studios.I remember such films as State Fair with Dick Hames,The Outlaw with Jane Russell and Johnnie Belinda with Jane Wyman whichthe later being two racie films at the time and labeled adults only.They also had stage shows and as a kid I remember they had one curtain that they dropped which had a scene from a court yard and when I seen it I used to think Oh No because it was always the prelude to some opera singer or whistler that I considered a wasted act as I wanted to see something that would entertain or amaze me!After all this was radio days and live entertainment had to be spectaculer.They also had dish nite on Thursday where They had a wooden apple tree on stage and they would turn over the apples to reveal the winning numbers.Now that was spectacular,Free stuff!!!I don’t remember what happened to the theatre as it was still there when I left the area but it will never leave my memory bank.
Chuckie Z.
Well here I am Again!I will be 75 in March so the Southtown was only 6 years old when I was born Like a new baby.To Think that they could build a theater like that in those times right after the depression.Such craftsmen.The buildings downtown and in Englewood were also fabulous and at this Christmas time of the year there was nothing like it.Marshall Fields especially.Nothing tinny and cheap in those days and it made the holiday season fantastic for all the children.Money was tight but things always seemed to work Out. CharlesZirino
Well there it seems like everyone is abandoning this site. the postings are getting fewer.But,not me. I so loved this theater and the memories of the neighborhood that I took a photo I had of the Southtown enlarged it and with a little camera work put myself and my old 29 Ford into the parking lot entrance. Now in my home it will never be forgoten!
Chuckie Z.
Ah the30s,40s and 50s when a guy looked forward on the weekend to putting on his freshly starched shirt his suit and tie shined shoes and fedora Picked up his lady and went out for dinner at one of the many great restaurants and then off to the magical world of the cinema of which Chicago had many. But none surpassed the splendor and elegance of the Southtown theater made up of italian tile,plush carpets a well stocked pool of ducks swans fish and water falls in the lobby.Fabulous stairways plush seats well uniformed ushers and even a staffed nursery for the kiddies so you could enjoy the movies and live stage shows with a full orchestra in the pit all for a mere 25 cent admission.Shame on the city of Chicago for letting these fabulous places fall into disrepair and vanish to be replaced by no class cement structures they now call theaters where you are hearded like cattle and fleeced of your funds and expelled from them after the movie.To bad for the generation of today that does'nt know better!
Patrick c, I realize that this is a cinema treasure web site but I get so excited when I see a new Englewood person on board from my era.Gerry C. is well informed and a great person to communicate with.He has great stories.I also have postings on all the theaters in Englewood. check them out.
Chuckie Z.
Wasn’t that great! Stairs on one side and ramp on the other side.And there was big Jim The fat cop that had the beat there. he was such a tyrant sometimes.He used to chase us when we sat on the parking lot wall and watched the fights in the taverns across the street.And he would watch us when we tried to sneak in the theater. Other times he would take us in to see the movies free.If you read my early postings you know my feelings about Englewood.I’m so glad I was a kid there in that era. It was magical!!
Chuckie Z.
Patrick C. Ever spend any time at the Kershaw School Playground? I think every kid in the neighborhood went there occasionally to play some sports or the annual Holloween festival.
Chuckie Z.
Went to grammer school with a kid that lived in the Halwood Hotel. Mostly the well to do lived there and I remember a lot of them stored their autos at lindblatts garage on 63rd near Parnell. They really had some beautiful old Packards and Cadillacs and an occasional Duesenberg in there. Used to chase for coffee at White Castle for the owner. The tip got me into the theaters. My god am I old!
Chuckie Z.
Once upon a time many years ago I had a beautiful little girl friend that went to Lorreto Academy at 65th and Stewart. Remember?
Chuckie Z.
Always good to read new postings from all the old kids that lived in Englewood and remember how great it was! I had a thought, Does anyone remember When you took your date to the Southtown and as you approached the ticket booth or walked past under the marquee there was a guy out there that took your pictures and handed you an envelope to order pictures? Seemed like he was always there summer or winter. I had some along with many great photos that were lost.My only memories left are some school pictures from Kershaw 1943 to 1950 and a few of my cherished toys mainly my Lone Ranger Atomic Bomb ring from Kix cereal 1946 priceless!!!!
Chuckie Z.
Well Folks I hate to tell you this but they eliminated that great gold statue from St. Martins. You always seen it when you rode the L train downtown.
Chuckie Z.
Barb-
Oh how well I remember that candy store. He had the best popcorn.It was a narrow little store with the popper in the front window. the doorman at the Stratford would give us a ticket stub so we could go out to get his popcorn and then re enter. I leaned on the popper one time and really burnt my arm.Nick rubbed butter on it and wrapped it up. he was such a nice person.I think the doorman new his was the better popcorn because he never hasseled us when we asked to go out.Another great place was the KarmelKorn in the middle of the block for the people with the sweet tooth. Im seventy and that is one great memory.Thanks!
Chuckie Z.
To all the old Englewood residents that lived there in its glory years when it was a mecca of entertainment and social standing about all we can do is remember it. Just like most good neighboorhoods in the big cities they have been reduced to slums and gettos of crime and filth except for a few that have been turned into condo cities with no personalities.Gone are the glorious movie houses and churches,parks and gathering places of the good citizens to meet and the children to play safely.Gone are the great movies and stars that entertained us.The ones that if they had faults they didn’t flaunt it.When celebrities were true celebrities and maintained their image in public.Sports figures had time for the kids to sign autographs and talk to them and realize they are the fans that make them. There was no high priced shoes or jerseys or other junk that was sold.I could keep going but I don’t have to because nothing will change. All the people that respond to this sight to remember the good old days know what Im talking about and are blessed to have lived in glorious Englewood a one of a kind place in a different time!
Chuckie Z.
Make that Vincent Price.WHOOPEE again!
Here’s another tale from the Southtown. When Dick Contino played there he came out into the east parking lot to toss a football around with some of the ushers before the first stage show of the day.His manager came out screaming and was so red I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I guess he didn’t want any jamed fingers to his star but Dick just laughed and stopped.He stayed out there for about half an hour signing autographs for the people. I have one somewhere in my memophelia from Englewood. A neighborhood that had it all,The Total Package!!!!! I seen Dick Contino in Las Vegas and he still is MR.ACCORDION.
Oh boy, the Paris theatre nestled in a little town known as the Edgar county seat in the heart of the Kikapoo farm country.A nice little town as many others with a town square around a court house.They had concerts in the park and a small fairground.On warm summer nights people would sit on the wall surrounding the courthouse lawn and converse. Mr. Papadokus the local sweet shop merchant pushed his popcorn and peanut wagon around selling his wares.And then there were the two theatres. I left Paris in 1943 to move to Chicago with my mom and brother.I went back to visit relatives many times and always headed for the theatres.I remember the sweet odor walking past them on a summer night that drew you in like a magnet. I am glad to hear that at least one is still operating there in a nice town from a nice era.
Chuckie Z.
Gerry, Skateland was on 60th and Halsted on the East side of the street. It closed and they turned it into a Schlitz beer warehouse in about 1950. Brucks bowling alley was at 61st.and Halsted about three doors south up on the second floor on the west side of the street. It had sixteen alleys and old hand rack pin spotters. It became Southtown Recreation and was still there When I moved in 1958.Spotted pins up there a few times as it was just another way of getting a little change to support my awfull habit of soda pop and theatres.We got Three cents a line as bowling was 20 cents a line.
Chuckie Z.
Ah yes, The bowling alley: 1951 I was a freshman at Tilden Tech.Mike Ryan sold the toy store and currency exchange/booking parlor in the back,Shush! and retired to Florida.Along came John Quealy who owned the Tumble Down Shack tavern up north on Halsted and had sold. He moved down to Englewood and opened that bowling alley,a little six alley house called the 700 Club.He operated it with his wife Marge and his sister.He was a little chubby irishman with a brouge and a heart of gold.That place was a gold mine.I went to work there after school sweeping down the alleys and polishing balls for the 7 o' clock leagues and working the shoe counter.The child labor board came in one day and caught me and fined john. I thought it was the end for me but John just said “ Keep your eyes open and if you see them come in again DUCK!! What a guy!!!He stayed and operated The place long after the neighborhood changed and finally sold it.Last time I seen him he was working at the Beverly Golf course and that was over thirty years ago.
Chuckie Z.
As I said to Gerry C.The movie a Christmas Story written by Jean Sheppard And with his uncanny Knack for detail in the forties could have been very easily shot in a home in Englewood at that time!
Chuckie Z.
Quixote, It went like this,going west from the Southtown, China clipper,Krogers,White Castle, then before they put Union through a parking lot then Wimpy;s then a small restaurant/bar,Then Mike Ryans Toy Store, a currency exchange,the old Ton of Fun restaurant and bar next Walter Powers cafeteria and bakery then an appliance store, barber shop and pool room in the back next another small tavern,than the Englewood than an alley and finally Sears.Funny when you mentioned the Defiant Ones at the Empress. The one thing that stood out to me was when Tony and Sidney were chained together they jumped down into the water to avoid the guards and dogs and had a hard time getting out.They were both soaking wet and finally climbed up and immediately sat down and leaned back on the tree.Then Tony pulled a dry cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with dry book matches.What? there’s one they let slip by.
Chuckie Z.
Well as a street kid of the forties and fifties I’ve probably been in every theatre on the south side includeing this one.It was kind of out of the way for me but occassionly I went there. It was a very nice theatre,but being from Englewood which had the Southtown as an example it did nothing for me! I remember taking a girl there to see A Walk in the Sun with Dana Andrews and God I hated that movie. War stories always seemed to give me a headache. It might of been the Flashing light of the cannon fire. That movie seemed like it went on for ever! She liked it.I felt like, somone please SHOOT ME!!!!
Chuckie Z.
Hi again, Now this is one theatre that I never knew how it survived so long.It was down the street on Harvard between 63rd.St. and 63rd.Pl.and anytime I went there it always seemed empty. It was way off the beaten path of the shoppers in the Halsted area and did not seem to have any spectacular movie criteria. I think it was mostly locals who wanted to get out of the house. The only movie I remember
seeing there was The Pit and The Pentulum with Victor Price, WHOOPEE!
Chuckie Z.
Ah, The Ace. This to was one of the smaller no frills theatres that was one of the main six in the Englewood area.My memories of this theatre is it was one of only two that as kids we never figured out how to sneak in! I remember seeing The Music Box the Laurel and Hardy academy winning comedy there but Thats about all. It always seemed a bit seedy and loaded with like Damon Runyan characters and besides why would I go there when I had a choice of some of the best movie palaces ever built. I know LAUREL AND HARDY!!!!!!
Chuckie Z.
Now here’s one I remember as being one of the six being in the 63rd and Halsted shopping area.It was my first movie experience as a kid when my mother took us there during the war years.I seen a western with Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson and bob Steel.The admission was two cents for a kid. I was hooked for life.I went there many times but I don’t remember anything spectacular about it. It just seemed to be an average neighborhood theatre that was lacking in the luxury and splendor of the Southtown and Stratford.
Chuckie Z.
Yikes Gerry, where do you get all this old stuff? here is what I remember about the Linden.Very small theatre,Lots of triple features mostly B westerns.seemed like forty coats of paint on everything. The weirdest washroom setup I ever seen. Cartoon shows on Saturday.small pamplets showing coming attractions for what seemed like the next twenty years.Cliff hanger serials.The haunting zither theme from The Third Man movie playing out front as you walked by. the music from the Jolson Story playing out front.Sticky floors and a horrendous odor kind of like a combination of pop corn, soda,candy and urinal cakes all mixed together God it was wonderfull!
Chuckie Z.
Ah,Here we go!
My memories of the Englewood are. This was the third of the classier theatres in the Englewood area. It had a much smaller lobby than the Southtown and Stratford and seemed to be affilliated with the Linden accross the street. I had a friend who was a doorman there and he would alternate between them.The Englewood had a broader selection of movies as I don’t think that they were associated with any few studios.I remember such films as State Fair with Dick Hames,The Outlaw with Jane Russell and Johnnie Belinda with Jane Wyman whichthe later being two racie films at the time and labeled adults only.They also had stage shows and as a kid I remember they had one curtain that they dropped which had a scene from a court yard and when I seen it I used to think Oh No because it was always the prelude to some opera singer or whistler that I considered a wasted act as I wanted to see something that would entertain or amaze me!After all this was radio days and live entertainment had to be spectaculer.They also had dish nite on Thursday where They had a wooden apple tree on stage and they would turn over the apples to reveal the winning numbers.Now that was spectacular,Free stuff!!!I don’t remember what happened to the theatre as it was still there when I left the area but it will never leave my memory bank.
Chuckie Z.