Lincoln Village 7-9
6101 N. Lincoln Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
6101 N. Lincoln Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Brotman & Sherman Theaters, Cineplex Odeon, Essaness Theaters Corp., Plitt Theatres
Previous Names: Lincoln Village Theatre, Lincoln Village 1-3
Nearby Theaters
Opened as part of the Lincoln Village shopping center. Wieboldt’s department store anchored the plaza from it’s opening until the 1980’s. Some say that this was the first modern shopping center built in Chicago.
Like many theatres of it’s time, the Lincoln Village Theatre started off as one large theatre on August 2, 1968 with Rod Steiger in “No Way to Treat a Lady”. It was operated by Brotman & Sherman Theaters. It had 1,440-seats in its plain stadium style auditorium. But it had an attractive, spacious lobby and plenty of parking. It was split into three cinemas on December 16, 1983 and operated by Essaness Theaters Corp.. This is how I came to know the buildling, going with my friends and family to enjoy such great films as “Back to the Future”.
In 1986 it was taken over by Cineplex Odeon and they added six more screens in a new building on the north end of the plaza, as part of their wave of Chicago construction. At this point the building took on the “7-9” name. At some point in the 1990’s the 7-9 was closed and demolished during a remodeling of the entire plaza.
The plaza as a whole is doing well now. There is an Office Depot taking the anchor store that was long-vacant after Wieboldt’s went bankrupt. But the only remaining cinema operation is the “1-6” constructed by Cineplex Odeon (though it is no longer associated with Cineplex or any of it’s merger-related successors). By most accounts it is poorly managed.
In the near future it is likely that the long history of movies at Lincoln Village will come to an end. Ironically, with it’s stadium seating, the 7-9 might have fared better today than the 1-6 had it survived. The traditional seating found in the newer building is certainly not a selling point to modern movie audiences.
Contributed by
Eric Ellis
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Recent comments (view all 25 comments)
I like the artists' rendition shown here.
I’d love to see photogaphs of this place.
New photo uploaded. Circa 1992.
Anyone know specifically why this theater closed? was it simply to renovate the area?
The theater was demolished in early 2002 during a remodeling and reconfiguration of the shopping center. Along with the theater, a Peterson Bank branch, the original What’s Cooking restaurant, and a few other nearby buildings were torn down and replaced with new storefronts that were placed closer to Lincoln Ave. The two main strips in Lincoln Village were remodeled. In its final years, the theater had fallen into disrepair, and the shopping center needed new life. The addition of a Borders, Starbucks, Panera, etc. certainly helped out.
This opened on August 2nd, 1968 with one screen. Its grand opening ad can be found in the photo section.
3 screens on December 16th, 1989.
This theatre was divided into three auditoriums in 1983.
Grand opening ad:
Once operated by Essaness Theatres, and was taken over by Cineplex Odeon in 1986.
The $6 million Lincoln Village Shopping Center opened formally on November 15, 1951. In 1967 during the suburban luxury theatre era of exhibition, Brotman & Sherman Theaters Circuit announced and celebrated a ground breaking for its 1,440 seat Lincoln Village Theatre. It featured luxury suburban amenities including a 70mm Cine-Focus projector, six-channel stereo sound, “all dimension” screen, wider aisle seating than traditional pre-War movie houses, and free parking at its August 2, 1968 launch.
Packed houses saw the Jerry Quarry - Cassius Clay and Muhammed Ali - Joe Frazier fights on closed circuit on October 26, 1970 and March 8, 1971. A Russian film, “Letters of Love,” had its world premiere on 70mm there on November 15, 1971 at the 7th Annual Chicago Film Festival. An opening shot of “Siskel and Ebert’s Sneak Previews” movie review series - with a ticket being ripped by an usher - was shot at the Lincoln Village Theatre. In 1981, Brotman and Sherman exited the film industry. Essanes Theatres Circuit took on the Lincoln Village venue on June 25, 1981.
Essanes closed temporarily on October 27, 1983 to triplex the venue. One auditorium opened with a benefit screening of Yentl on December 9, 1983 and the other two auditoriums opened the next week. Cineplex Odeon acquired Plitt Theatres effective on November 26, 1985. Cineplex Odeon then bought all but two of the Esseaness Chicago locations on May 12, 1986 assigning them to Plitt Theatres operationally here as the Plitt Lincoln Village. The Lincoln Village would officially gravitate to Cineplex Odeon / Plitt and then solely to Cineplex Odeon by 1988.
On Jun 30, 1989, Cineplex Odeon opened the Lincoln Cinemas 1-6 toward the end of the multiplex era and just prior to the megaplex era. The original Lincoln Village was renamed that same day as the Lincoln Village 7-9. And, in a batpunch, its largest grossing film then - “Batman” - is moved to the 1-6 and replaced with “Getting it Right.” (That’s just not right.) In October 1997, Sony / Loews and Cineplex Odeon entered into a merger. The venue became the Loews Cineplex Lincoln Village 7-9 in 1998. Only screen 8 was handicapped accessible which by the year 2000 ADA Enforcement Report was no longer acceptable (with some exceptions) for a chain theatre.
The Lincoln Village closed on January 6, 2002 with “Kate and Leopold,” “TLOTR: TFOTR,” and “Joe Somebody.” In the megaplex era, there was little reason to upgrade the triplex to ADA standards and Loews Cineplex was undergoing major financial upheaval and in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 along with some of the other theatre chains all of whom had overbuilt in the megaplex era. The Lincoln Village Shopping Center would soon announce a major 50th year redevelopment plan to modernize that part of the plaza. That project would have undoubtedly taken the 7-9, regardless. In December of 2002, it was announced the property would be demolished imminently as part of a $25 million redevelopment project designed for Borders Book Store that opened in 2003. The Borders would survive to that chain’s initial 2011 Chapter 11 bankruptcy closing April of 2011 narrowly missing the chain’s Chapter 7 demise just three months later.
The Lincoln Village was dropped by Loews Cineplex on October 6, 2005. Village Theaters took on that venue independently operating it until November 9, 2008 and the end of its leasing agreement after 40 years with “Saw V,” “Tropic Thunder,” “Pineapple Express”, “The Longshots,” and “Star Wars: Clone Wars” ending that venue’s run. It was converted to a storage facility after a prolonged vacancy.