Melrose Theatre
121 Broadway,
Melrose Park,
IL
60160
121 Broadway,
Melrose Park,
IL
60160
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Nice Marquee and entrance photo ken mc.
Here is a photo circa 1946:
http://tinyurl.com/yckbe65
I remember when the Melrose Theater used to have live stage acts-circa 1964. I was in a teen band back then and we used to perform onstage before & in-between movies. We went under the name of “Mark and the Nomads”. There were other acts that performed there as well. One in particular was a group of kids from Maywood that did rolling skating stunts. It had sort of a vaudvillian feel which was a little strange considering it was 1964. The theater manager’s name was “Ruby”,I think, and he had high hopes for all this. Anyway we had fun doing it. Does anyone else remember this. Mark Smith at
I remember reading about it in the Star Sentinel (no longer published) about the demolition of the theater in 1972. There is some information in the centennial book: Melrose Park 1882-1982 book. It took almost three decades to have a theater return to Melrose that is Cinemark Melrose Park.
I was wondering when this theatre was going to be finally listed!As a lifelong resident of this town ,I can tell you that after it closed,it was used as a furniture store in the sixties before demolition.Just to the south of it was the Woolworth store,which after IT closed,took half of the land ,and the other half of the theatre land,as well as the diner next door[venus],is still vacant to this day…FYI…
Originally opened as the 1,000 seat Melrose Park Theatre in 1917. The name was shortened to Melrose Theatre in 1936. The recent book ‘Historic Movie Theatre in Illinois – 1883-1960’ by Konrad Schiecke gives a closing date of 1964. It was demolished in 1972.
Converted in the 1950’s to a McCrory Dept. Store.