I worked here too, briefly, after Kerasotes bought it. Marquette always felt more like a real theater than the Dunes.
In 1991, I was driving to work at the Dunes and noticed that someone changed the letters on the marquee on Franklin Street from ‘City Slickers’ to ’St L**s'. I could not believe my eyes!
What fond memories – I worked at the Dunes for nearly 4 years.
Some other facts about this theater:
It was frequented by Chicago Movie Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who both had vacation houses near by. Gene was soft spoken and nice. Roger..not so much.
The second floor where the projectors were housed was entirely open. It was a huge room. On the west-facing wall, a giant closet that store the letters for the 4-story marquee.
The east side of the second floor had two rooms for the projectors for theaters 5 & 6. Between them was the stock room.
The second floor also had the giant dual-kettle popcorn machine. You could fill up a 25+ gallon bag every 15 minutes. Woe be the person who got suck on popping duty…for a 7 hour shift! We would throw stale popcorn on each other’s cars and watch as the seagull would attack.
In 1989, the interior was renovated and the lobby had a new popcorn machine installed. I was the first person to clean it. What a pita.
In 1990, a terroristic threat was made upon the theater. The FBI came in and set up cameras and watched everyone for a coupe of weeks, but nothing ever happened.
After Light House Place opened, we saw a resurgence in attendance. Before retreating back to Chicago, day-trippers would often stop by and catch the 3 or 4 pm showing of something. 95% of the Diet Coke we sold were to people from Downtown Chicago.
I worked here too, briefly, after Kerasotes bought it. Marquette always felt more like a real theater than the Dunes.
In 1991, I was driving to work at the Dunes and noticed that someone changed the letters on the marquee on Franklin Street from ‘City Slickers’ to ’St L**s'. I could not believe my eyes!
What fond memories – I worked at the Dunes for nearly 4 years.
Some other facts about this theater:
It was frequented by Chicago Movie Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who both had vacation houses near by. Gene was soft spoken and nice. Roger..not so much.
The second floor where the projectors were housed was entirely open. It was a huge room. On the west-facing wall, a giant closet that store the letters for the 4-story marquee.
The east side of the second floor had two rooms for the projectors for theaters 5 & 6. Between them was the stock room.
The second floor also had the giant dual-kettle popcorn machine. You could fill up a 25+ gallon bag every 15 minutes. Woe be the person who got suck on popping duty…for a 7 hour shift! We would throw stale popcorn on each other’s cars and watch as the seagull would attack.
In 1989, the interior was renovated and the lobby had a new popcorn machine installed. I was the first person to clean it. What a pita.
In 1990, a terroristic threat was made upon the theater. The FBI came in and set up cameras and watched everyone for a coupe of weeks, but nothing ever happened.
After Light House Place opened, we saw a resurgence in attendance. Before retreating back to Chicago, day-trippers would often stop by and catch the 3 or 4 pm showing of something. 95% of the Diet Coke we sold were to people from Downtown Chicago.