The Palace specialized in first run films for the Northwest Indiana area after they played their engagements in Chicago. Usually the first run film was doubled with a second, more grade b movie. I can remember a science fiction grade z film playing on a double bill with “Bonnie and Clyde”. As the area declined in the 60’s the theater became less safe and the crowds stopped coming. In 1972 a young woman was attacked in the ladies room and the Palace closed its doors that night. It seems to me they tried to reopen it in the early 80’s to little success. The theatre still stands on Broadway decaying away.
I went to the Paramount only once back in 1978 to see “Coma”. I remember most how big the auditorium was and that the balcony was closed off to the public. It appeared to still be in decent shape at the time but the area had become rundown and not very safe. Sadly both the Paramount and the Parthenon (which was down the road) are long gone with no signs that they ever existed. What’s more of a shame is that the area of Hammond where these beautiful theaters were is starting to be built up again and there isn’t a theater within miles. A real shame.
The Esquire was once the poshest theater in the city. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that they began to sell popcorn. Some classic films had their US premiere at the Esquire including “The Haunting” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Dr Strangelove”. In the 70’s the Esquire continued showing exclusive first run classics such as “Blazing Saddles”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “All the President’s Men”. Sadly the theater was closed and converted into a 6 screen with all six theaters on upper floors. The lobby and staircase still have signs of the great palace it once was but the auditoriums themselves are shoebox sized and not well maintained. My last two visits to the Esquire have been terrible. The first time the movie was 40 minutes late getting on screen. An usher was nowhere to be found for some time. I also had ordered a popcorn and was told by the counter girl that the size bag I wanted was being brought up and they would bring it to me. 20 minutes later I went back out and the concession girl was reading a book and said she forgot. The last time I was there I tried to use the bathroom and both men’s rooms were out of order. I had to leave the building and go to a neighboring business. I wrote to Loews and complained on their website and never got a response. Too bad they could care less about their theaters. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see the Esquire closed someday soon. Here’s hoping another company will take over and care about the theater and fix it up to the way it belongs.
Actually the theater opened as a triple in 1970 or 1971. It was a big deal because it was the first non-single screen downtown. The theatre played a mix of art films, first and second runs, exclusive first runs and even classic old movies. In September of 1976 one of the screens was closed due to the projectionist union’s demand that there be one projectionist per screen. The Marina wasn’t profitable and keeping all 3 screens running under that rule would have proved crippling. Despite that the theaters continued to lose money and finally closed in May of 1977. The Marina Cinema may have been most notable for an incident in 1972 when the young female manager was stabbed and killed in the lobby by an unknown assailant. Despite the fact that it was a Friday in the mid afternoon with many people nearby due to the other businesses in the tower, witnesses could provide very little about the assailant and, as of today, the case remains unsolved.
The Playboy opened in the late 60’s and, while popular, was never as popular as owners hoped. Like its name the Playboy was run by top management from the magazine who knew little about the film business. They preferred not to shell out a lot of money for an exclusive first run film in favor of “safer” product. I can remember in an article that the manager lamented the fact that they lost out on a successful run of “American Graffiti” to instead play a film called “Naked Ape” which happened to be a Playboy production. Every weekend the Playboy played midnight double features that proved very popular. Finally in 1976 the Playboy turned to first runs (though not exclusive) to try to keep up. I can remember them playing films such as “The Bad News Bears”, “Murder by Death”, and “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea” but the Playboy continued losing money and finally closed in 1977. It was reopened a few months later under new ownership as The Chelex, possibly the worst name ever for a theater. I can remember its first attraction was a film that happened to be made by one of the owners. The new owners knew nothing about running a theater. The late Gene Siskel once reviewed a film at the Chelex in the dead of winter and complained he had to wear gloves in the auditorium. The new owners also foolishly did not continue the double feature midnight movies. In late 1978 the Chelex closed and would re-open in its final incarnation as the Sandburg in 1979. The Sandburg became a first class art house like the Playboy once was. It’s most noted booking was “My Dinner with Andre” which ran for several months. The theater closed for good in 1982 and was torn down soon after. A Walgreens is in that location now.
The Cinema was another popular art house in the 60’s and 70’s along with the Carnegie and the Playboy. Films that played at the Cinema usually settled in for a long run. “Charly” played for a record 54 weeks. Mel Brooks once sat in the small balcony to watch his movie “The Twelve Chairs”. In the late 70’s redevelopement kept threatening the existence of the Cinema but it carried on. In late 1979 and early 1980 house records were broken with “Kramer vs Kramer”. Sadly just over a year later the Cinema fell victim to the redeveloper. The doors closed for the last time in September of 1981. Ironically the final movie was “Atlantic City” which told the story of redevelopement.
The Biograph was a hugely popular art house in the 1970’s. So much so that the owner decided to add two smaller theaters upstairs that he called the Ritz and the Roxy. For some reason people became confused by the names and it was soon just named the Biograph 1-3. Every year on the anniversary of Dillinger’s shooting the theater would play the same movie (Manhattan Melodrama) that was showing that night. The admission price was the same as it was that evening and customers were encouraged to dress in 1930’s clothing. The seat where Dillinger supposedly sat is painted a different color from the other seats and is quite easy to notice (left hand side about two thirds down, first seat off the aisle to the left).The Biograph was also the first place in Chicago to start the midnight showings of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” which lasted a few years. When the theater closed in late 2000 it was dark for over a year with the exception of the occasional film festival. They have since re-opened but one wonders for how long. There are no ads in the Chicago Sun-Times for the Biograph, only in the Tribune. The last time I was there I saw “Rules of Attraction” in one of the tiny theaters upstairs with 4 others. When checking out the big theater, which was showing “Sweet Home Alabama” there were only 2 people in the 7pm show.
The 900 N Michigan theater was a twin located on the bottom level of the 900 North Shopping Center. Both theaters were rather large and held around 600 each. They played a mixture of first run, exclusive first run, and art films. I saw such films as “Cobb”, “Best in Show”, and “Adaptation” in their exclusive showings at 900 North. There were rumblings for about a year before the theater closed that it was in danger. The manager told me it was a week to week operation. The theatre closed in February of 2003 with “Adaptation” as its final booking which was on both screens.
The Loop was known as the “little giant” in the area where 8 other palaces were within one block. The Loop only sat around 600 people but was always a big hit because of the ingenuity of co-owner Oscar Brotman, who always had some sort of gimmick to promote his features at the Loop. When “Flipper” played in the 60’s Brotman set up a giant tank on State street that had a dolphin inside. For a grade z thriller called “Equinox” he had staff parading around in ape costumes. The Loop really came into its own in the late 60’s with a 60 week run of Russ Meyer’s “Vixen”. Because of the popularity of the theater the Loop was able to outbid other palaces for some of the bigger film product. The most notable example was the Loop getting the exclusive rights to play “Dirty Harry” as their Christmas film for 1971. In the 70’s the Loop had continued success with different types of movies. The two biggest successes of the 70’s were the X-rated “The Stewardesses” which ran 42 weeks and “The Sting” which ran 27 weeks. The theater must have run into tough times in the late 70’s as the Loop finally closed its doors with no fanfare in 1978. It’s final presentation was the Dustin Hoffman film “Straight Time”.
Chestnut Station opened in December 1984 with the exclusive run of “Amadeus”. From then through the lte 80’s the theater provided a nice mix of art films and first run films. In the 90’s the area where the theater was located became notorious for gang activity and the quality of films went down. The last time I was there I saw “Halloween 6” with a fairly rough crowd. The site where the building once stood is now vacant with no sign a theater was ever there.
The Carnegie was a premiere art house in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s greatest success came with the showing of “A Man and a Woman” which ran an astounding 66 weeks. In the late 60’s the theater closed after a neighboring building caught fire and spread to the Carnegie. Almost 18 months later the theater re-opened. In the 70’s exclusive first run films would also be booked as well. “Young Frankenstein”, “Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother”, and “Silent Movie” had their exclusive Chicago premieres at the Carnegie. Late in its life, after Plitt theaters acquired it, the Carnegie was reduced to showing lousy first run films such as “Def Con 5”.
The Mc Clurg Court began its life in 1972 and for the first 18 months played only two movies (Fiddler on the Roof; Last Tango in Paris). In the mid 70’s they had exclusive premieres of movies much like the palaces located in the Loop did. I can remember seeing “Lenny”, “The Sunshine Boys”, and “Rollerball” there when there was nowhere else to see them. The theatre was amazing and it was a shame when they cut up the balcony level to make 2 other screens. But it had to be done as the Mc Clurg was hit and miss with its bookings. The big screen was still the place to see a movie and in its final years I was lucky enough to see “Apocalypse Now Redux”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and a reissue of “Vertigo” there. In its final year or so they ended up playing second and third run movies, foregoing any hope of being saved. A true beauty of a theatre is gone, probably forever.
The Roosevelt began to cater to the African American audience in the early 1970’s and, unfortunately, a stigma became attached to the theater. “Shaft” opened in 1971 and played a staggering 24 weeks, a feat not repeated in the rest of its lifetime. Still the Roosevelt drew crowds up to the very end. In the year that it closed (1978) they had a very successful run of “Richard Pryor Live in Concert”.
Actually the Yorktown opened sometime in the 1960’s as a single screen. I am not sure when it was twinned but it became a 4 screen in 1976 (the opening attractions on the 2 new screens were “Murder by Death” and “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea”). Two more screens were added in the early 80’s. The new 18 screen building stands on the same sight as the original screen from the 60’s.
The original 4 screen theater was located on the second floor of Water Tower Place. It opened in December of 1976 with its premiere attractions being the exclusive openings of “Rocky” and “The Seven Percent Solution” (on 2 screens each). The auditoriums were nice but very small and it was easy to sell out a movie. In the 70’s and early 80’s WT 1-4 played a mixture of first run and art films. I remember seeing the long forgotten “Sunday Lovers” there. By the late 80’s it was all first run but with the opening of other theaters in the vicinity (the 600 North and 900 North Michigan theaters) getting good films first run became more difficult at Water Tower. Their last hurrah was getting the exclusive Chicago premiere of “Schindler’s List”. Now a department store there is no evidence that the theaters were ever there.
Actually, the original Oakbrook theater (which is the same building that was doubled and then tripled) opened sometime in the early to mid 60’s. My first visit there was the only midwest showing of “Jaws” at a sneak preview in March of 1975. It was twinned in the early 80’s and tripled in the mid 80’s.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Cascade for the first time this summer. It was the first time I had been to a drive-in in over ten years and I loved it. The speakers (yes they still use speakers but also offer the radio sound) blasted music from the 50’s and the 60’s and an old cartoon was shown before the first movie. The double feature was a bit odd (Spy Kids 3-D plus Freddy vs Jason) but the place was packed which was a beautiful sight. The concession area is huge and offers all the classic drive-in foods I had remembered plus more. It was a great experience and I hope to return next year.
The Palace specialized in first run films for the Northwest Indiana area after they played their engagements in Chicago. Usually the first run film was doubled with a second, more grade b movie. I can remember a science fiction grade z film playing on a double bill with “Bonnie and Clyde”. As the area declined in the 60’s the theater became less safe and the crowds stopped coming. In 1972 a young woman was attacked in the ladies room and the Palace closed its doors that night. It seems to me they tried to reopen it in the early 80’s to little success. The theatre still stands on Broadway decaying away.
I went to the Paramount only once back in 1978 to see “Coma”. I remember most how big the auditorium was and that the balcony was closed off to the public. It appeared to still be in decent shape at the time but the area had become rundown and not very safe. Sadly both the Paramount and the Parthenon (which was down the road) are long gone with no signs that they ever existed. What’s more of a shame is that the area of Hammond where these beautiful theaters were is starting to be built up again and there isn’t a theater within miles. A real shame.
The Esquire was once the poshest theater in the city. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that they began to sell popcorn. Some classic films had their US premiere at the Esquire including “The Haunting” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Dr Strangelove”. In the 70’s the Esquire continued showing exclusive first run classics such as “Blazing Saddles”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “All the President’s Men”. Sadly the theater was closed and converted into a 6 screen with all six theaters on upper floors. The lobby and staircase still have signs of the great palace it once was but the auditoriums themselves are shoebox sized and not well maintained. My last two visits to the Esquire have been terrible. The first time the movie was 40 minutes late getting on screen. An usher was nowhere to be found for some time. I also had ordered a popcorn and was told by the counter girl that the size bag I wanted was being brought up and they would bring it to me. 20 minutes later I went back out and the concession girl was reading a book and said she forgot. The last time I was there I tried to use the bathroom and both men’s rooms were out of order. I had to leave the building and go to a neighboring business. I wrote to Loews and complained on their website and never got a response. Too bad they could care less about their theaters. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see the Esquire closed someday soon. Here’s hoping another company will take over and care about the theater and fix it up to the way it belongs.
Actually the theater opened as a triple in 1970 or 1971. It was a big deal because it was the first non-single screen downtown. The theatre played a mix of art films, first and second runs, exclusive first runs and even classic old movies. In September of 1976 one of the screens was closed due to the projectionist union’s demand that there be one projectionist per screen. The Marina wasn’t profitable and keeping all 3 screens running under that rule would have proved crippling. Despite that the theaters continued to lose money and finally closed in May of 1977. The Marina Cinema may have been most notable for an incident in 1972 when the young female manager was stabbed and killed in the lobby by an unknown assailant. Despite the fact that it was a Friday in the mid afternoon with many people nearby due to the other businesses in the tower, witnesses could provide very little about the assailant and, as of today, the case remains unsolved.
The Playboy opened in the late 60’s and, while popular, was never as popular as owners hoped. Like its name the Playboy was run by top management from the magazine who knew little about the film business. They preferred not to shell out a lot of money for an exclusive first run film in favor of “safer” product. I can remember in an article that the manager lamented the fact that they lost out on a successful run of “American Graffiti” to instead play a film called “Naked Ape” which happened to be a Playboy production. Every weekend the Playboy played midnight double features that proved very popular. Finally in 1976 the Playboy turned to first runs (though not exclusive) to try to keep up. I can remember them playing films such as “The Bad News Bears”, “Murder by Death”, and “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea” but the Playboy continued losing money and finally closed in 1977. It was reopened a few months later under new ownership as The Chelex, possibly the worst name ever for a theater. I can remember its first attraction was a film that happened to be made by one of the owners. The new owners knew nothing about running a theater. The late Gene Siskel once reviewed a film at the Chelex in the dead of winter and complained he had to wear gloves in the auditorium. The new owners also foolishly did not continue the double feature midnight movies. In late 1978 the Chelex closed and would re-open in its final incarnation as the Sandburg in 1979. The Sandburg became a first class art house like the Playboy once was. It’s most noted booking was “My Dinner with Andre” which ran for several months. The theater closed for good in 1982 and was torn down soon after. A Walgreens is in that location now.
The Cinema was another popular art house in the 60’s and 70’s along with the Carnegie and the Playboy. Films that played at the Cinema usually settled in for a long run. “Charly” played for a record 54 weeks. Mel Brooks once sat in the small balcony to watch his movie “The Twelve Chairs”. In the late 70’s redevelopement kept threatening the existence of the Cinema but it carried on. In late 1979 and early 1980 house records were broken with “Kramer vs Kramer”. Sadly just over a year later the Cinema fell victim to the redeveloper. The doors closed for the last time in September of 1981. Ironically the final movie was “Atlantic City” which told the story of redevelopement.
The Biograph was a hugely popular art house in the 1970’s. So much so that the owner decided to add two smaller theaters upstairs that he called the Ritz and the Roxy. For some reason people became confused by the names and it was soon just named the Biograph 1-3. Every year on the anniversary of Dillinger’s shooting the theater would play the same movie (Manhattan Melodrama) that was showing that night. The admission price was the same as it was that evening and customers were encouraged to dress in 1930’s clothing. The seat where Dillinger supposedly sat is painted a different color from the other seats and is quite easy to notice (left hand side about two thirds down, first seat off the aisle to the left).The Biograph was also the first place in Chicago to start the midnight showings of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” which lasted a few years. When the theater closed in late 2000 it was dark for over a year with the exception of the occasional film festival. They have since re-opened but one wonders for how long. There are no ads in the Chicago Sun-Times for the Biograph, only in the Tribune. The last time I was there I saw “Rules of Attraction” in one of the tiny theaters upstairs with 4 others. When checking out the big theater, which was showing “Sweet Home Alabama” there were only 2 people in the 7pm show.
The 900 N Michigan theater was a twin located on the bottom level of the 900 North Shopping Center. Both theaters were rather large and held around 600 each. They played a mixture of first run, exclusive first run, and art films. I saw such films as “Cobb”, “Best in Show”, and “Adaptation” in their exclusive showings at 900 North. There were rumblings for about a year before the theater closed that it was in danger. The manager told me it was a week to week operation. The theatre closed in February of 2003 with “Adaptation” as its final booking which was on both screens.
The Loop was known as the “little giant” in the area where 8 other palaces were within one block. The Loop only sat around 600 people but was always a big hit because of the ingenuity of co-owner Oscar Brotman, who always had some sort of gimmick to promote his features at the Loop. When “Flipper” played in the 60’s Brotman set up a giant tank on State street that had a dolphin inside. For a grade z thriller called “Equinox” he had staff parading around in ape costumes. The Loop really came into its own in the late 60’s with a 60 week run of Russ Meyer’s “Vixen”. Because of the popularity of the theater the Loop was able to outbid other palaces for some of the bigger film product. The most notable example was the Loop getting the exclusive rights to play “Dirty Harry” as their Christmas film for 1971. In the 70’s the Loop had continued success with different types of movies. The two biggest successes of the 70’s were the X-rated “The Stewardesses” which ran 42 weeks and “The Sting” which ran 27 weeks. The theater must have run into tough times in the late 70’s as the Loop finally closed its doors with no fanfare in 1978. It’s final presentation was the Dustin Hoffman film “Straight Time”.
Chestnut Station opened in December 1984 with the exclusive run of “Amadeus”. From then through the lte 80’s the theater provided a nice mix of art films and first run films. In the 90’s the area where the theater was located became notorious for gang activity and the quality of films went down. The last time I was there I saw “Halloween 6” with a fairly rough crowd. The site where the building once stood is now vacant with no sign a theater was ever there.
The Carnegie was a premiere art house in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s greatest success came with the showing of “A Man and a Woman” which ran an astounding 66 weeks. In the late 60’s the theater closed after a neighboring building caught fire and spread to the Carnegie. Almost 18 months later the theater re-opened. In the 70’s exclusive first run films would also be booked as well. “Young Frankenstein”, “Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother”, and “Silent Movie” had their exclusive Chicago premieres at the Carnegie. Late in its life, after Plitt theaters acquired it, the Carnegie was reduced to showing lousy first run films such as “Def Con 5”.
The Mc Clurg Court began its life in 1972 and for the first 18 months played only two movies (Fiddler on the Roof; Last Tango in Paris). In the mid 70’s they had exclusive premieres of movies much like the palaces located in the Loop did. I can remember seeing “Lenny”, “The Sunshine Boys”, and “Rollerball” there when there was nowhere else to see them. The theatre was amazing and it was a shame when they cut up the balcony level to make 2 other screens. But it had to be done as the Mc Clurg was hit and miss with its bookings. The big screen was still the place to see a movie and in its final years I was lucky enough to see “Apocalypse Now Redux”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and a reissue of “Vertigo” there. In its final year or so they ended up playing second and third run movies, foregoing any hope of being saved. A true beauty of a theatre is gone, probably forever.
The Roosevelt began to cater to the African American audience in the early 1970’s and, unfortunately, a stigma became attached to the theater. “Shaft” opened in 1971 and played a staggering 24 weeks, a feat not repeated in the rest of its lifetime. Still the Roosevelt drew crowds up to the very end. In the year that it closed (1978) they had a very successful run of “Richard Pryor Live in Concert”.
Actually the Yorktown opened sometime in the 1960’s as a single screen. I am not sure when it was twinned but it became a 4 screen in 1976 (the opening attractions on the 2 new screens were “Murder by Death” and “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea”). Two more screens were added in the early 80’s. The new 18 screen building stands on the same sight as the original screen from the 60’s.
The original 4 screen theater was located on the second floor of Water Tower Place. It opened in December of 1976 with its premiere attractions being the exclusive openings of “Rocky” and “The Seven Percent Solution” (on 2 screens each). The auditoriums were nice but very small and it was easy to sell out a movie. In the 70’s and early 80’s WT 1-4 played a mixture of first run and art films. I remember seeing the long forgotten “Sunday Lovers” there. By the late 80’s it was all first run but with the opening of other theaters in the vicinity (the 600 North and 900 North Michigan theaters) getting good films first run became more difficult at Water Tower. Their last hurrah was getting the exclusive Chicago premiere of “Schindler’s List”. Now a department store there is no evidence that the theaters were ever there.
Actually, the original Oakbrook theater (which is the same building that was doubled and then tripled) opened sometime in the early to mid 60’s. My first visit there was the only midwest showing of “Jaws” at a sneak preview in March of 1975. It was twinned in the early 80’s and tripled in the mid 80’s.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Cascade for the first time this summer. It was the first time I had been to a drive-in in over ten years and I loved it. The speakers (yes they still use speakers but also offer the radio sound) blasted music from the 50’s and the 60’s and an old cartoon was shown before the first movie. The double feature was a bit odd (Spy Kids 3-D plus Freddy vs Jason) but the place was packed which was a beautiful sight. The concession area is huge and offers all the classic drive-in foods I had remembered plus more. It was a great experience and I hope to return next year.