Vintage Chicago Tribune: Your favorite classic, local movie houses — including Pickwick Theatre

Kori Rumore, Marianne Mather, Chicago Tribune
·11 min read

A variety of movie houses in the city and suburbs were born to show films and continue to do only that, Chicago.

These special places have survived despite the coronavirus pandemic and endless at-home streaming options. Though there seems to be a growing trend to preserve our historic movie palaces — Chicago’s Logan Theatre, the Des Plaines Theatre in Des Plaines and Lyric Theater in Blue Island have benefitted from owners willing to spend what it takes to restore these beloved cinemas — many become entertainment venues that host concerts, comedians and other special events, too. Movies are no longer their focus.

That’s why this week’s bombshell story by Tribune reporter Caroline Kubzansky that the landmark Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge could close in January sent many of us scrambling to show our support — and talk about our favorite movie theaters, many of which are listed below.

While there’s a possibility that the Pickwick, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, could keep movies rolling for years to come, it’s put us all in a nostalgic mood for the smell of popcorn, the ticking sound of a movie reel revolving on a vintage projector and the dimming of the lights before a feature presentation begins.

A colleague knows the Pickwick well — he worked there. I asked him to share his recollections.

John Chase, a Tribune deputy metro editor, on the Pickwick

Don’t tell my bosses at the Chicago Tribune, but the best job I ever had was when I was in high school and worked as an usher at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge.

It was a perfect job for a high schooler. I worked with other teens (I met my first girlfriend there). I could see movies for free on my days off. And, more than once, the free popcorn and pop I’d grab between busy periods would serve as my excuse for dinner.

But what really was special about working there was that, unlike some random McDonald’s or other franchise in a strip mall, the Pickwick was a unique place in the center of a town that everyone knew and most everyone had a connection with.

I think that connectivity was the energy we witnessed this week when news broke that the owners of the Pickwick – my first boss, Dino Vlahakis, and co-owner Dave Loomos – were looking to close the theater.

Stories quickly poured in from across the Chicago area and beyond from people who had experienced the uniqueness of the theater or shared one of the millions of memories that were created there since it first opened in 1928. The Pickwick building is a national landmark. It’s been used as a backdrop many times, including for the opening credits of Siskel and Ebert’s movie-review show, “At the Movies.”

My sister, Carey, who worked at the Pickwick before I did, recalled running the candy counter in the early 1980′s before the theater had a cash register.

“We had to add up all the sodas, candy and popcorn items in our head and then count inventory every night,” she said. “Working there in the ‘80s, we were lucky enough to take in some classics of the era: ‘Flashdance,’ ‘Risky Business,’ ‘War Games.’ But one movie stands out — the re-release of ‘Rear Window.’ To be able to watch this breathtaking and suspenseful film for the first time on that huge screen was a memory I’ll treasure always.”

Amid the sentiments, perhaps more importantly, some business leaders heard the news and stepped forward less than 24 hours later to express their interest in making sure the Pickwick isn’t shuttered. Here’s hoping those talks are followed by action.

But it begs the question: What is it about places like the Pickwick that give rise to such emotion?

The simple beauty of old movie palaces is one thing. As a structure, the Pickwick’s grand and gorgeous Art Deco architecture stood out even compared to others in Chicago. For me, the theater gave me a real-life appreciation for style and a sense of history for a time when cities in America were booming and suburbs like Park Ridge were blossoming out of the prairies.

But it is also the sense of community that these old structures helped create. People gathered there with 1,000 strangers and shared an experience, if only for two hours. It could have been watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Rear Window” or “The Apartment.” While I worked at the Pickwick, I subconsciously memorized all the lines to “Hoosiers,” a fact I had forgotten until this week when I was reminded by an old Pickwick colleague.

It’s because of that sense of community and shared experience that I think people appreciate the importance of places like the Pickwick. These places filled with history and memories connect us to each other and to generations that preceded us. We’re better for it when we find ways to keep them open and alive.

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— Kori Rumore, visual reporter

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Pickwick Theatre (Park Ridge)

The Pickwick has enjoyed many notable moments over its 94 years. It was ready for its closeup when film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert filmed the intro to their television show there. Filming for the Chicago Fire television show took place there over the summer. Park Ridge Native Hillary Clinton visited and spoke in 2019, and the movie house runs a classic film series curated by Matthew Hoffman.

Its owner, Dino Vlahakis, told the Tribune his family will close the vintage movie theater in January, but his phone has been ringing off the hook ever since.

  • From 1927: $500,000 movie theater rising at Park Ridge

One we wish were still open: Biograph Theater (Chicago)

Yes, the 31-year-old Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger was shot and killed by FBI agents on July 22, 1934, outside the “air cooled” theater after watching “Manhattan Melodrama” starring William Powell and Clark Gable. But did you also know the Biograph was home to a long-running midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” that had a cult following? Even Tribune’s movie columnist Gene Siskel went to see it — and described how fun it was “to throw rice at the screen, and to scream every time dumb Brad Majors did something stupid.”

It was inside the Biograph where former Chicago Bulls public address announcer Tommy Edwards heard “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project for the first time and thought it might work as part of the team’s pre-game player introductions.

The Biograph, which was designed in 1914 by architect Samuel N. Crowen, was designated a landmark on March 28, 2001. It was purchased by Victory Gardens Theater in 2004, and undertook a $11.3 million rehab of its exterior and interior. After turmoil earlier this year, however, Victory Gardens stopped producing its own shows and dismissed its staff. No productions are currently planned at the theater.

Davis Theater (Chicago)

If neighbors didn’t stick up for it, then this building might have become condos. The Lincoln Square theater, originally opened in 1918 and known as the Pershing, needed an overhaul. Carpet was tearing in some spots, seats were uncomfortable and even the floor was wonky. Three partners — Tim Ryll, Tom Fencl and Ben Munro — stepped up. The theater, which also showed movies in German into the 1980s, was closed in January 2016, for the major renovations. Today, the Davis Theater includes three screens and Carbon Arc Bar & Board.

Glen Art Theatre (Glen Ellyn)

Art imitated life when the characters from the 1986 film “Lucas” went to this west suburban theater to load up on popcorn and candy before watching “The Fly.” Its had the same owners since then with just a few minor changes — now there are four screens instead of just one.

Music Box Theatre (Chicago)

Opened on Aug. 22, 1929, it was nearly named the New Blaine Theatre, in honor of Blaine Elementary School across Southport Avenue and slightly to the north. The theater was squarely in the exhibition vanguard then, designed and equipped as a boutique-sized 750-seat alternative to the massive Balaban & Katz auditoriums of the day (the Chicago Theatre was the flagship). The Music Box wasn’t a vaudeville house with movie capabilities. Rather, its shallow stage and newfangled technical facilities supported this new fad called “the talkies.”

Almost 100 later, they’re still talking, Tribune critic Michael Phillips says.

Yet, like so many other independent theaters, the Music Box had become a rundown, sleazy place in the 1970s. The last Hollywood film to play there was “The Exorcist” in 1979. Three partners stepped in to renovate the movie palace and reopened it in 1983, running classic American films exclusively.

  • From 2021: Music Box’s Ryan Oestreich: How to run a movie theater in a pandemic

New 400 Theater (Chicago)

The theater at 6746 N. Sheridan Road in Rogers Park claims to be the longest continually operating movie house in the city. Opened in 1912, as the Regent Theatre, it has had a variety of owners and names — including 400 Theater and Village North Theatre — ever since. During the 1970s and 1980s it was a “ma-and-pa” operation owned by Jim Burrows and his wife Jane who sold tickets for just $2 to films that had premiered in other theaters four or more months prior. “The Rocky Horror Picture” show was a late-night staple here for more than 20 years, despite the film’s 1991 release on video.

A new owner renovated the seats, carpeting, curtains, screens, concession area and air-conditioning heating system in 2009, and now shows first-run movies on four screens.

  • From 2009: Movie palace legacy fades to black in Rogers Park

Tivoli Theatre (Downers Grove)

When the Tivoli Theater opened in west suburban Downers Grove on Christmas 1928 — as only the the second theater in the country showing exclusively sound movies — 4,000 people lined up to get a glimpse of one of the first “talking movie” theaters in the country. With sculpted griffins on the ceiling, a large plaster dome and a Wurlitzer organ, the 1,000-seat auditorium was as much a part of the movie-going experience as what film happened to be playing that week.

Today, the Tivoli is the flagship of the Classic Cinemas chain, which owns 16 theaters. While the Tivoli is fully restored and added a 31-seat screen during the coronavirus pandemic, it still offers pre-movie organ music on Friday nights.

  • From 2021: Chris Johnson, Classic Cinemas CEO: representing Illinois movie theaters, while working through his own reopening timeline

One we hope will be renovated: Uptown Theatre (Chicago)

The city announced a $75 million plan to restore the 1925 movie palace four years ago, yet no work has begun. Jam Productions, which owns the facility, recently partnered with a Los Angeles-based investment group, but no new details about the Uptown’s timeline for restoration have been announced.

Despite its dilapidation, Tribune theater critic Chris Jones is still marveled by its beauty.

“When you see inside the Uptown for the first time, or after a long time, you feel like you’ve landed in some Aladdin’s cave, the last great hidden crown-jewel of the middle west. You tend to proselytize thereafter,” he wrote in 2018.

The last public event at the enormous Uptown was a concert played by the J. Geils Band on Dec. 19, 1981.

The Uptown was built specifically to show off all it had achieved, Jones said, and Chicagoans will be floored by it — if they ever get the chance to step inside it and take in a renovated version of it.

“There’s a view to be had from an upstairs vista that reveals so much space and visual affectation, you feel like you’re inside Notre-Dame de Chicago. For many Chicagoans it will be a deeply emotional sight. For there is something incomparably special about this place and this city. The Uptown understood both the aspirations and the painful realities of its home. Maybe more than any other building now standing.”

  • Lost treasures of the Uptown Theatre have been hiding safely in Barrington Hills for decades. Take a look.

  • Uptown Theatre: Polishing an old jewel

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