That concession stand was cursed. On a Sunday afternoon in ‘76 the Chicago area was hit with a heavy downpour.
A roof drain above the stand plugged up with leaves and stuff. It literally rained inside until I was able to get to the offending roof drain to open it. I got soaked to save that stand.The things we did in the name of our theatres.
Another time a pipe in the dressing rooms under the stage split during an extreme cold snap. It was a Saturday. Ed Konradt was the DM. Rather than pay a plumber the Saturday rates, he went home picked up his wrenches and between the two of us we repaired the offending pipe before losing the first show. We were a little late going on screen but got all shows in that day even with having to turn off the water for awhile.Fortunately it was an easy repair.
Oh, La Grange was such an old place. I’m glad it is still around.Does anyone remember cleaning plenum chambers in the old theatres?
With the theatre facing west, the late afternoon Sun would shine directly into the very small auditorium when someone would open the door. Prior to the theatre opening no one had thought about ordering lobby drapes. It was at least a month, maybe more, before they were installed. Had the cinema remained a duplex there would have been no or just a minor problem to correct.
The first picture in this set is the lobby of the South Park after Lowes vacated the building.
An independent eventually came into the cinemas renaming the theatre the Reel Deal Cinemas at South Park. The concession stand was replaced prior to re-opening. The existing stand was rotting away. The Pepto
Pink color scheme was eliminated, lobby carpeting replaced and the theatre continued for a few more years.
The theatre was torn down by the landlord, Kimco, in January of 2008.
For the record the location had ample parking but was located behind the SouthPark strip mall.
Sorry, about the double upload of the lobby after
the remodel.
It was rumored that this theatre was built to make a developer happy so Plitt could pursue more advantageous
opportunities with that developer. The Bolingbrook was beset with problems from the outset. A partially completed exterior wall collapsed or was blown out by a wind storm and had to be completely rebuilt. The theatre was originally slated to be a duplex. At the last minute the decision was made to carve another auditorium out of a larger one. That auditorium was ridiculously narrow with just over 100 seats. Scope on that screen looked awful, flat wasn’t much better.
The building was sited lower than the K-Mart next door. There were potential water drainage issues. The front of the theatre faced west, over looking at a water retention area. Prior to opening it had rained. Standing water had created a pond. Some smarty made an impromptu sign naming the retention pond as “LAKE NEWELL” in honor of Frank Newell, concession manager for Plitt at the time. Mr. N got quite a kick out of the gesture.(RIP Mr. Newell, it was an honor to have known you.)The Bolingbrook had a large deep sump hole with a large pump attached to an alarm that would soound if the pump failed and/or the water level in the sump rose too high. Heavier snow and wind created entrance and egress problems if plowing was not done promptly. The road leading to the theatre was a downward grade going in, upward going out. The concession stand was nice but was surrounded by tile that could become deadly with a buttered popcorn or cola spill. The marquee was located at the stop light at the entrance off 53, high wind would easily rearrange the marquee.
Julius Conely, veteran manager, at the Hillcrest
in Joliet tagged Bolingbrook as a mistake from the start. I believe he put it this way, “I could retire comfortably on what is being wasted at Bolingbrook.”
(RIP, Julius)
As a side note the surround speakers in the stereo houses were Radio Shack Realistic 3-ways. The sound was actually quite good. It was a hard theatre to manage. The projection booths were spread out all over, with separate entrances. Moving films from one auditorium to another was difficult and sometimes fatal when moving prints alone. The platters could sometimes give you fits. But, the larger auditoriums were very nice.
The manager’s office had a private bathroom with a shower. There was, also, a fair size apartment upstairs
next to the projection booth. When I was there it was used as storage. It no private entrance. The story I had was that the original owner lived there for a while after he built the theatre. Imagine that today…
I managed this theatre for extended periods in 1975-76.
After many years in exhibition, I have never managed a nicer venue. In so many ways it was the perfect auditorium. Too bad it was ruined by the splitings. You folks who worked this theatre after it was split don’t have any idea what a magnificent presentation the Oak Brook provided. Breath taking presentation from start to finish.
I was managing this treasure when DAL arrived to rescue me. Plitt was operating it at the time. In fact, Plitt was operating the Paramount as well. There was only one manager for both locations. While I was there I had to open the Tivoli or the Paramount first,then, run down the block to open the other. It kept you in shape. It was also excellent training in the fine points of show scheduling. I was the last Plitt manager at the Paramount. Here is a tidbit that I suppose someone might remember. Shortly before DAL took over the Tivoli a projectionist named Carl died in the booth during a show on a Saturday night in the spring. Wasn’t that fun? I had to practically physically push the projectionist from the Paramount down the street to get the show running again after Carl had been taken away by the EMT’s. I think we were running “The Omen” at the time.
The last season for the Starlie was 1986.
This theatre was retrofitted for stadium prior to the opening of the Regal at Hamburg Place.
That concession stand was cursed. On a Sunday afternoon in ‘76 the Chicago area was hit with a heavy downpour. A roof drain above the stand plugged up with leaves and stuff. It literally rained inside until I was able to get to the offending roof drain to open it. I got soaked to save that stand.The things we did in the name of our theatres.
Another time a pipe in the dressing rooms under the stage split during an extreme cold snap. It was a Saturday. Ed Konradt was the DM. Rather than pay a plumber the Saturday rates, he went home picked up his wrenches and between the two of us we repaired the offending pipe before losing the first show. We were a little late going on screen but got all shows in that day even with having to turn off the water for awhile.Fortunately it was an easy repair.
Oh, La Grange was such an old place. I’m glad it is still around.Does anyone remember cleaning plenum chambers in the old theatres?
I forgot something.
With the theatre facing west, the late afternoon Sun would shine directly into the very small auditorium when someone would open the door. Prior to the theatre opening no one had thought about ordering lobby drapes. It was at least a month, maybe more, before they were installed. Had the cinema remained a duplex there would have been no or just a minor problem to correct.
The first picture in this set is the lobby of the South Park after Lowes vacated the building.
An independent eventually came into the cinemas renaming the theatre the Reel Deal Cinemas at South Park. The concession stand was replaced prior to re-opening. The existing stand was rotting away. The Pepto Pink color scheme was eliminated, lobby carpeting replaced and the theatre continued for a few more years.
The theatre was torn down by the landlord, Kimco, in January of 2008.
For the record the location had ample parking but was located behind the SouthPark strip mall.
Sorry, about the double upload of the lobby after the remodel.
It was rumored that this theatre was built to make a developer happy so Plitt could pursue more advantageous opportunities with that developer. The Bolingbrook was beset with problems from the outset. A partially completed exterior wall collapsed or was blown out by a wind storm and had to be completely rebuilt. The theatre was originally slated to be a duplex. At the last minute the decision was made to carve another auditorium out of a larger one. That auditorium was ridiculously narrow with just over 100 seats. Scope on that screen looked awful, flat wasn’t much better.
The building was sited lower than the K-Mart next door. There were potential water drainage issues. The front of the theatre faced west, over looking at a water retention area. Prior to opening it had rained. Standing water had created a pond. Some smarty made an impromptu sign naming the retention pond as “LAKE NEWELL” in honor of Frank Newell, concession manager for Plitt at the time. Mr. N got quite a kick out of the gesture.(RIP Mr. Newell, it was an honor to have known you.)The Bolingbrook had a large deep sump hole with a large pump attached to an alarm that would soound if the pump failed and/or the water level in the sump rose too high. Heavier snow and wind created entrance and egress problems if plowing was not done promptly. The road leading to the theatre was a downward grade going in, upward going out. The concession stand was nice but was surrounded by tile that could become deadly with a buttered popcorn or cola spill. The marquee was located at the stop light at the entrance off 53, high wind would easily rearrange the marquee.
Julius Conely, veteran manager, at the Hillcrest in Joliet tagged Bolingbrook as a mistake from the start. I believe he put it this way, “I could retire comfortably on what is being wasted at Bolingbrook.” (RIP, Julius)
As a side note the surround speakers in the stereo houses were Radio Shack Realistic 3-ways. The sound was actually quite good. It was a hard theatre to manage. The projection booths were spread out all over, with separate entrances. Moving films from one auditorium to another was difficult and sometimes fatal when moving prints alone. The platters could sometimes give you fits. But, the larger auditoriums were very nice.
The manager’s office had a private bathroom with a shower. There was, also, a fair size apartment upstairs
next to the projection booth. When I was there it was used as storage. It no private entrance. The story I had was that the original owner lived there for a while after he built the theatre. Imagine that today…
I managed this theatre for extended periods in 1975-76. After many years in exhibition, I have never managed a nicer venue. In so many ways it was the perfect auditorium. Too bad it was ruined by the splitings. You folks who worked this theatre after it was split don’t have any idea what a magnificent presentation the Oak Brook provided. Breath taking presentation from start to finish.
I was managing this treasure when DAL arrived to rescue me. Plitt was operating it at the time. In fact, Plitt was operating the Paramount as well. There was only one manager for both locations. While I was there I had to open the Tivoli or the Paramount first,then, run down the block to open the other. It kept you in shape. It was also excellent training in the fine points of show scheduling. I was the last Plitt manager at the Paramount. Here is a tidbit that I suppose someone might remember. Shortly before DAL took over the Tivoli a projectionist named Carl died in the booth during a show on a Saturday night in the spring. Wasn’t that fun? I had to practically physically push the projectionist from the Paramount down the street to get the show running again after Carl had been taken away by the EMT’s. I think we were running “The Omen” at the time.