Piper's Alley Theatre
1608 N. Wells Street,
Chicago,
IL
60614
1608 N. Wells Street,
Chicago,
IL
60614
10 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: AMC Theatres, Loews Cineplex, Sony Theatres
Firms: Gelick Foran Associates
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jul 25, 2014 — Second City taking on Piper's Alley
The Piper’s Alley movie theater located inside the mall of the same name. It opened in the trendy Old Town neighborhood May 24, 1991 and has four screens. The Piper’s Alley, originally operated by Sony Theatres, then became a Loews Cineplex theater. The Piper’s Alley screened mainly independent films. Inside the same mall is the legendary Second City Theatre, as well as a smaller Second City stage, called Second City, Etc.
Interestingly, the entrance to the Second City on N. Wells Street uses a large fragment of the facade of the long-razed Garrick Theatre from the Loop, designed by Louis H. Sullivan. Another part of the entrance parodies the Garrick facade, which depicts busts of famous Germans (the Garrick was originally the Schiller Theatre), showing famous members of the Second City company from the past.
Last operated by AMC Theatres, it was still a popular movie house, though the Piper’s Alley began to show its age. It was closed on May 27, 2011.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 47 comments)
AMC does it again. They starved another theater that they had no use for into oblivion. They took out the Esquire and now the Pipers Alley, and I guess the Norridge is next on the hit list. Just like the Esquire….. they stocked it with films nobody wanted to see and then the revenues dropped to the point where they have enough leeway to be rid of the property. Shame on you AMC.
Hopefully another chain will take over like The Picture Show Entertainment, Classic Cinemas or Regal Entertainment. One time they were showing classic films (like the 600 North Michigan) and movies just out of first-run theatres.
There are rumblings. http://chicago.racked.com/archives/2011/06/02/whats-playing-at-pipers-alley-this-weekend-nothing-is-a-new-theater-looking-at-the-space.php
Had to do a double take tonight, while driving by Piper’s Alley Theatre. The marquee was fully on, with most of it’s moving lights in tact. Yet as we know, no movie names, just blank spaces. It appears Piper’s Alley is just using the marquee as a way to attract attention to the other businesses within the complex.
The marquee could still be on a timer and it just automatically goes on and off.
Is anything happening with this theater?
The Second City is expanding into the theater space, using most of it for their training programs. DNAInfo Chicago story here.
May 24, 1991 grand opening ad in the photo section.
My photo was actually taken on July 17, 2021.
Piper’s Alley Movie Theater to Close its Doors After 20 years by Steven Pate
May 26, 2011 3:40PM
Rumblings bubbling up on twitter this morning seem to be true, tonight may be the last time for you to catch a movie at Piper’s Alley Theatre. 20 years after Sony signed the original lease in the then-new mall at North and Wells, the theater’s four screens will showcase their familiar art house fare from their digs behind Second City for the last time, at least under the AMC-Loews name. After Loews closed the McClurg Court Cinema and merged with AMC soon afterwards, it had long been assumed that Piper’s was on borrowed time.
Despite a perpetually moribund vibe and a space somewhat past its prime, Piper’s Alley remained consistent as a centrally-located venue for independent, art house and foreign cinema that gets squeezed out of the bigger Loews-AMC locations. The theater’s very last films slated are Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre at 7:10 pm, The Conspirator at 7:30 pm, the Ed Helms/Rob Courddry comedic vehicle Cedar Rapids at 7:35 pm and documentary I Am at 7:45 pm.
We’ve seen so many great movies at Piper’s Alley that it’s hard to pick a favorite memory from the place, but we’ll never forget watching The Blair Witch Project there, if only for the zombie-like demeanor of the spooked crowd filing out down those elevators together. We’ll miss the theater, and the city will miss having those screens, but we hold out hope that a new tenant might make a fresh start at the location.
re: http://archive.today/2024.07.23-233216/https://chicagoist.com/2011/05/26/pipers_alley_movie_theater_to_close.php