Niles Square Cinema

Oakton Street and Waukegan Road,
Niles, IL 60714

Unfavorite No one has favorited this theater yet

Additional Info

Previously operated by: Kohlberg Theaters, M & R Theatres

Architects: Patrick Perretti

Previous Names: Lawrencewood Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Niles Square Cinema

The Lawrencewood Theatre was located at the Lawrencewood Shopping Center at Oakton Street and Waukegan Road. The theatre was opened in June 10, 1966 with Debbie Reynolds in “The Singing Nun” & Roau in “Tiko and the Shark”. It was operated by the Kohlberg Theatres chain. The architect was Patrick Perretti.

It was closed for a while, then reopened in June 1984 by M & R Amusements as the Niles Square Cinema with “Star Trek III - The Search for Spock”. The cinema operated at least into the 1980’s. The shopping center and theatre were later razed and replaced in the mid-1990’s by “big box” retail stores and the new Niles Civic Center.

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Recent comments (view all 18 comments)

kimfaith
kimfaith on February 20, 2009 at 6:20 am

The Lawrencewood Theaters were owned and run by my family a.k.a. Kohlberg Theaters. We also owned and ran The Morton Grove Theater. I managed it for many years and we ran mostly family films. We had a very strong “Disney” following.

balabankatz
balabankatz on October 23, 2009 at 10:15 pm

It was great as Kohlberg Theaters but that was when Goldbatt’s was the anchor and S&H green stamps was a big draw there. Cineplex, Loews, and the like did the buy all then go bankrupt plan on the industry then run away with your pockets full of money. Chicago lost…

floont
floont on November 18, 2010 at 3:21 pm

I remember my parents dropping us off at the Lawrencewood theater to see some of the worst kiddie matinees on weekends in the late 1970s. This was rock bottom schlock too—not the movies that were playing the other normal theatres in town. These were the K Gordon Murray movies you now see for sale in the Something Weird Video catalog. Anyone else remember these movies or titles?

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on November 18, 2010 at 5:29 pm

Yes, we played those cheapie Kiddie shows for the Kids on Summer break,Daycare,Kids in the neighorhood,summer camps.Film rental went with cheap kid shows.Did get on Charlton Heston’s “PLANET OF THE APES”.What bunch of upset parents. We also played one of the first music clips from a late show,“WE’RE AN AMERICAN BAND” by Grand Funk.It was always adventure with me at Regency Mall I,II,and III and National Hills theatre.I think the Daycare folks liked it!

Paul Fortini
Paul Fortini on February 11, 2011 at 7:09 am

Floont

I don’t remember any of the titles (and nor had I ever heard of K. Gordon Murray until now) but here’s what the Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com has to say about him:

“Towards the end of his life Murray got in tax trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, which seized all his films and took them out of circulation. Before the case could come to a conclusion, Murray died of a heart attack.

He is buried in Ottawa, Illinois."

So because of that litigation is probably why no one has seen his movies in recent years.

Here is a list of his films. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0615096/ If you click on a few of them, you’ll notice they’re shown as “lost”. He did other shlock too, including one with Mickey Rooney called “Thunder Country”.

RiisPark
RiisPark on March 12, 2013 at 3:36 pm

I just uploaded above a shot of the Lawrencewood when it was shuttered

BobbyS
BobbyS on July 27, 2013 at 9:59 pm

I went to the Lawrencewood when it opened..Soon after they twined the Portage Theater in Chicago..M&R were on a buying spree. Must have been a diaster for those theaters didn’t last long.

Broan
Broan on October 14, 2013 at 1:13 pm

Actually opened June 10, 1966.

Paul Fortini
Paul Fortini on July 20, 2016 at 7:03 am

I remember seeing “Time Bandits” here.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 24, 2020 at 4:56 am

Grand opening ad posted.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.