Park Art Theatre
5723 N. 2nd Street,
Loves Park,
IL
61111
5723 N. 2nd Street,
Loves Park,
IL
61111
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: Myles E. Belongia, Urban F. Peacock
Firms: Peacock & Belongia
Styles: Quonset Hut
Previous Names: Park Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Park Theatre was converted out of an Army surplus Quonset hut and opened on May 20, 1948 with Yvonne De Carlo in “Slave Girl”. It showed mainly second run movies until the late-1960’s or early-1970’s. Around that time, it became an adult movie house and operated for a few years until public pressure caused it to close in 1978.
In the 1960’s it was a great place for a date. You could see a double feature for 75 cents. It later became an adult theatre, renamed Park Art Theatre. It became a craft resale shop and by 2020 was in use as a CD/DVD store.
It was destroyed by fire on September 20, 2022.
Contributed by
Jim Gutshall
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
how much would it cost to purchase the theatre and what would the terms of use and service be?
The seats and screen are gone, the floor is leveled, and the whole interior is essentially one big room. Also, as the description states, the building itself is an old Quonset hut; except for the marquee, there isn’t a hint that this was ever a theater. It also happens to be functioning as a successful antiques/crafts mall.
A woman who works in the antiques mall said it was called the Loves Park Family Theater, though I can’t verify that.
I have uploaded an interior photo as well as the grand opening ad for this cinema in the photo section of this theatre.
I worked for nearby WLUV radio in 1970 and it had already been renamed the PARK ART Theatre with an adult format. Its management insisted on sponsoring WLUV’s Noon News, but the station refused to announce anything but the double-entendre film titles and times. In an attempt to assuade community objections, the PARK ART offered G-rated matinees on weekends.
I remember seeing “My Fair Lady”, the classic Audrey Hepburn film, here with my parents in the 1960s. I never went into this place after it became an adult theater, but I do remember people making jokes about it.
The theatre has been repurposed to a music shop called CD Source, buying and selling CDs, DVDs, and the like. The marquee has been retained. Website: https://cdsourcerockford.com/
The former Park Theater was destroyed by a fire on September 20th.
https://www.rrstar.com/story/news/fire/2022/09/20/cd-source-in-loves-park-destroyed-by-early-morning-fire/69505696007/
Also an AKA for this theater’s name should be added of Park Art.
LOVES PARK MUSIC STORE DESTROYED BY EARLY MORNING FIRE North 2nd Street was closed from Grand Avenue to Riverside Boulevard while firefighters battled the blaze. The building is a total loss and will be demolished, Evans said. The 3,500-square-foot structure was built in 1947 and is one of Loves Park’s oldest buildings, according to Evans. The building was originally a movie house called Park Theater. CD Source sells used compact discs, records, stereo equipment, video games and gaming systems. The business relocated from Rockford to Loves Park about four years ago. Calls and messages to the business were not returned Tuesday morning. (See photos.)
Crusader closes X-rated movie (May 3, 1979)
LOVES PARK. II. (AP) - An X-rated theater that a city anti-obscenity ordinance, legal maneuvers and attacks by church and parents groups could not close, finally has had to toss in the towel.
The building was sold out from under the movie house by a crusading real estate man who tracked down the owner.
But Linda Miller, 35, the operator. said Wednesday that the people of Loves Park have not heard the last of her.
She said she has a book full of names of persons who belonged to her Park Adult Motion Picture Club - “names of ministers, judges, attorneys, police officers, doctors, people who wanted me to get out.” she said. “And they are not just names of local persons.” Asked if she were going to release some of the more prominent names, or if she plans to go to court to try to stay open, she said “no comment but I have called a news conference for Thursday (today).”
Keith Iverson, a real estate man with strong religious convictions, says he spent years trying to search out the owner of the quonset hut-type building that seats about 650 persons. He recently found that it was in a Rockford trust and was being rented out to Miller and her truck-driver husband, Don, 40.
Iverson attributed the sale to “the Lord and the power of prayer.” “This is the start of Jesus and me and our venture to eliminate such places,” said Iverson after completing the sale. “I have a personal spiritual conviction to get rid of that theater and other businesses associated with pornography.”
SHOWMEN’S TRADE REVIEW, November 6, 1948
A 1948 Quonset at $120 Per Seat
DESIGNED BY PEACOCK & BELONGIA, ALBERT JOHNSON’S PARK THEATRE, ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, SEATS 664, COST 580,000 TO BUILD AND $25,000 TO FURNISH AND EQUIP
A Quonset-type theatre costing $120.00 seat to build - $158.00 a seat complete with furnishings and equipment - has been erected at Loves Park, near Rockford, Illinois, according to a design by Myles E. Belongia and Urban F. Peacock, Milwaukee architects and members of STR’s Architects Advisory Council.
Core of the 664-seat structure is a Stran-Steel Quonset, completely insulated with rockwool bats and Sisalcraft insulating paper.
Despite its relatively low cost, the theatre is air conditioned, it has a cry room and a party room, and its equipment and furnishings are all of high quality.
The facade above the marquee is limestone, and below the marquee porcelain-enameled steel panels. Front lighting is by clear incandescents, with blue and rose neon trim. Marquee letters are Wagner’s, poster cases Universal alumilited aluminum. The glass-panel entrance doors are framed in wood.
Rubber tile, tan in color, constitutes the flooring of the lobby; its lower walls are finished in natural birch, and its upper walls in tan figured washable wall paper,
It is illuminated with recessed, colored fluorescent tubing. The foyer is similarly decorated, but lighted by recessed neons in selectively switched colors.
Auditorium color scheme features several shades of rose, including the upholstery of the Kroehler push-back chairs, and the rose-and-tan figured Thomas Leydham carpet. The entire surface above the plaster line, which begins five feet from the floor, is covered with 16"x22" Celotex blocks. An air duct runs down the center of the auditorium, with a false ceiling below it that extends 18" beyond each side of the duct. The two lighting troughs thus created are lamped in rose and blue neon.
The ventilating system provides either cold or warm air, according to whether the water coils carry well water, or boiler water from an oil-burning furnace. The equipment is located in a basement under the stage.
Projectors are Simplex KE-T; sound Simplex dual channel 4-Star; generators Hertner; screen Walker Plastic Moulded Washable; lamps Peerless Magnarc; speakers Altec Voice of the Theatre.
Construction was carried out by Ben B. Poblocki and Sons under the guidance of Walter G. Tolan as Supervising Architect. Equipment and furnishings were installed by the Chicago branch of National Theatre Supply.
FACADE of the Park Theatre is limestone above and porcelain-enameled steel below the marquee, with aluminum poster frames, incandescent soft lighting and rose and blue with neon trim. Entrance doors are wood with large glass panels. Small changeable letter attraction boards and Wagner letters are used below the marquee (just above the entrance doors) in addition to the larger ones associated with the name sign AUDITORIUM is decorated in several shades of rose. It is isolated from the foyer by doors at the head of each aisle. The cry room is at the rear of the central bank of chairs, between the aisle doors; the party room is above, adjacent to the projection suite. Crу room accommodates 16 patrons; party room 12: each is air conditioned and each has 12 Jensen speakers with its own volume control. Trane climate changer for winter and summer air conditioning is located under the stage; a small, separate steam heating system is installed in a front basement to heat the lobby, foyer, office, projection room and wash rooms. PROJECTION ROOM was equipped by National Theatre Supply.