Lido Theater
622 S. 5th Avenue,
Maywood,
IL
60153
622 S. 5th Avenue,
Maywood,
IL
60153
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Is it a habit for the Chicagoland area to always use “ The World’s xxxx ?
XXXX can mean beautiful, biggest etc.
This opened as the World’s Most Beautiful Suburban theatre on November 25th, 1925. I uploaded its grand opening ad in the photo section for this cinema.
My mom—Audrey Kunes and her friend, Marilyn “Cussy” Cussimano worked at the Lido in 1946 and they were paid $0.50 cents per hour. Cussy was 15 and only earned only $0.45 cents. They worked at the candy and popcorn counter. Back then, Cussy said you could take home any unsold popcorn at the end of the evening. They always had plenty to take home!
The Kunes family lived at 1839 South 10th Avenue Maywood, IL 60153. Audrey’s father had a Deli store on 5th Avenue in Maywood. It was Deli with a soda fountain and they also sold newspapers, cigars, cigarettes, candy and other stuff.
What memories!!! As a teenager I worked at the Lido theatre from 1965 to 1968 and also Wallins dime store. The movies I had seen and the friends that I have met there will never be forgotten. I was sad to hear it was torn done for a strip mall. It was a beautiful theatre. The owners at the time were Mr. and Mrs. Bakus a lovely Greek couple. . Coworkers: Martie, Bill, Mary, Jesse, Lupe, Maria and others that I remember their face, but not their names.
What ever happened to the Bataan National Guard Photograph/Mural that was in the Lido? I remember it well as well as going to the Lido every Saturday afternoon while my parents went to the grocery. I do have pictures of the Lido (c 1926) and of the Picture/Mural if anybody wants a copy.
Here is a partial account of a New Year’s Day fire at the Lido in 1933, from the Chicago Tribune:
THEATER BURNS IN MAYWOOD; 75 PATRONS ROUTED
Fireman and Attendant Hurt in $50,000 Fire.
Fire broke out yesterday in the Lido theater at 622 South 5th Avenue, Maywood, seventy-five patrons who were in the lobby waiting to enter, and causing injuries to a fireman and an attendant. There were two other large New Year’s day fires in the metropolitan area.
I moved to Maywood when I was a little kid, c. 1964. We lived a stone’s throw away from the Lido at the time, at 4th and Washington, directly across 4th Ave. from Emerson School. I remember that Mary Poppins was playing at the Lido when we moved in, and it was the first film I saw there. Between then and 1974 when we moved out of Maywood, I spent countless Saturday afternoons at the Lido. Kids admission was 65 cents, and an ice cream sandwich was 15 cents, so I’d still have some change left over from my $1 allowance to walk down to Wallin’s 5 & 10 at 5th and Madison and load up on penny candy after the show! In all the time I spent there, I don’t recall the balcony ever being open, although I occasionally would sneak up there anyway. Memorable times: when Jane Fonda spoke at an anti-war rally at the Lido in the late ‘60s (I didn’t attend, but I remember the crowds), and also the biggest crowd I ever saw there, when the Batman film was shown there c. 1966 – there was a line of people waiting to get in that went around the corner down Walnut St. and down past the alley. Actually, I think they DID have the balcony open for that one :)
The Lido was actually located one block south of Washington, on the NW corner of 5th Ave. and Walnut St.
Does anyone have a photo of the Lido and/or the Yale?
Reading Lowell’s post brings back the memory of that WWII photo of the Bataan Death March in the lobby. I used to go to this theater in the late 1950s when I was a kid and visiting my aunt in Maywood. I remember that the price was 25 cents for a kid for a double feature with included cartoons and newsreels. It was a great theater and remember seeing some of the Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin classics and some of the early science fiction movies like Earth versus Flying Saucers and The Day the Earth Stood Still. I always loved when they had the balcony open.
When visiting my maternal grandparents in Maywood, I was often sent to the movies, either to the elegant Greek-temple-like 1865-seat Lido or the tiny (500 seat) Yale. Both theaters were on Fifth Avenue, about a mile’s walk from my grandparents’ home. It was at the Lido that I saw Technicolor Lassie and Roy Rogers movies. I once waited for an hour in line at the Lido for a paw-print-signed photo of Lassie!
The Lido was a beautiful theater, much like the Marbro but smaller in scale (1,865 seats vs. the Marbro’s 3,931). It lobby featured a blown up photograph of the local National Guard unit, which was caught up in action in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II. Several of the men had died in action there or on the infamous Bataan Death March.
Lido opened on 25 Nov 1925 but have not been able to establish the name of the architect.
atmos.
It was located on 5th Ave. and Washington Blvd. The theater was demolished in the mid 70’s. In the late 80’s it became a strip mall.
Where were they located in maywood?…