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Video Arcades
Posted by:
bowler
(---.chipublib.org)
Date: December 07, 2010 05:06PM
I just finished watching a few documentaries about arcade Video Games and the rise and fall of video arcades throughout the late 1970's to the middle 1980's. It got me thinking about some of the arcades around Chicago. Do you have any fond memories of any video arcades?
Here on the SW side of Chicago we had our share of "Fun-Zones" particularily one located at Archer and Harlem and another one across the street from Curie HS at Archer and Pulaski. And I also remember the Mall Arcades such as the one in Ford City Mall located in the famous underground passageway "Peacock Alley" and "Aladin's Castle" in the Chicago Ridge Mall.
Here on the SW side of Chicago we had our share of "Fun-Zones" particularily one located at Archer and Harlem and another one across the street from Curie HS at Archer and Pulaski. And I also remember the Mall Arcades such as the one in Ford City Mall located in the famous underground passageway "Peacock Alley" and "Aladin's Castle" in the Chicago Ridge Mall.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Chipast
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: December 08, 2010 01:39PM
Many I guess closed because of gang activity, etc.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Deejo
(---.pools.spcsdns.net)
Date: December 12, 2010 03:13AM
I remember a very busy one downtown, maybe on Wabash? I'm sure someone will recall this one. It was in the early '80's when I went there.
A lot of bowling alleys had arcades. I remember going to Gateway Lanes on North Avenue and Narragansett and to Stryker Lanes in Berwyn on Harlem just south of Roosevelt.
A lot of bowling alleys had arcades. I remember going to Gateway Lanes on North Avenue and Narragansett and to Stryker Lanes in Berwyn on Harlem just south of Roosevelt.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
davey7
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: December 13, 2010 04:16PM
What was the name of the small chain (I think) of arcades in Rogers Park that were reputedly burned by their competitor?
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Johnny Sauganash
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: December 16, 2010 10:40PM
davey7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What was the name of the small chain (I think) of
> arcades in Rogers Park that were reputedly burned
> by their competitor?
There was a Dennis' Place for Games on Clark a couple-three blocks north of Devon. (The Dennis' location near the Belmont Ave Howard/Ravenswood L Station was a more memorable location because it lasted much longer.)
No idea if Dennis was the burner or the burnee.
-------------------------------------------------------
> What was the name of the small chain (I think) of
> arcades in Rogers Park that were reputedly burned
> by their competitor?
There was a Dennis' Place for Games on Clark a couple-three blocks north of Devon. (The Dennis' location near the Belmont Ave Howard/Ravenswood L Station was a more memorable location because it lasted much longer.)
No idea if Dennis was the burner or the burnee.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
abbyworld
(---.dsl.mindspring.com)
Date: December 19, 2010 03:33PM
There was also a Fun Zone at the Century Mall on Diversey & Clark, and nearby an arcade called Times Square on Broadway.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Tim
(---.sd.sd.cox.net)
Date: December 20, 2010 02:49PM
On the south side of Randolph between State and Dearborn there was "Treasure Chest." The front of the store was loaded with gag gifts/novelties and the back had quite a few arcade games.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Cannibal
(---.lv.lv.cox.net)
Date: August 09, 2011 04:50PM
This is in Niles, but there was The Name is Games.
There was also an arcade, forget the name, at the mall near the Palwaukee Airport.
There there was Sally's Stage that had a small arcade.
There was also an arcade, forget the name, at the mall near the Palwaukee Airport.
There there was Sally's Stage that had a small arcade.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Cannibal
(---.lv.lv.cox.net)
Date: August 09, 2011 04:55PM
This is in Niles, but there was The Name is Games.
There was also an arcade, forget the name, at the mall near the Palwaukee Airport.
There there was Sally's Stage that had a small arcade.
Par-King in Morton Grove (Dempster and Waukegan)
It's been a while so I'm forgetting the names, but there was the other mini golf place on Lincoln next to The Bunny Hutch that had an arcade I was always at.
I beleive that the decline of arcades is for 2 reasons:
1) home game systems are amazing
2) the types of games kids play are different. The "cute and fun" games, no one wants to play. Pinball machines sit there untouched. Everyone wants to play those silly fighting games and that does atrract the wrong crowd. The days of Donkey Kong, Ms. PacMan, Galaga, Pinball, etc.... are over. (Unfortunately)
There was also an arcade, forget the name, at the mall near the Palwaukee Airport.
There there was Sally's Stage that had a small arcade.
Par-King in Morton Grove (Dempster and Waukegan)
It's been a while so I'm forgetting the names, but there was the other mini golf place on Lincoln next to The Bunny Hutch that had an arcade I was always at.
I beleive that the decline of arcades is for 2 reasons:
1) home game systems are amazing
2) the types of games kids play are different. The "cute and fun" games, no one wants to play. Pinball machines sit there untouched. Everyone wants to play those silly fighting games and that does atrract the wrong crowd. The days of Donkey Kong, Ms. PacMan, Galaga, Pinball, etc.... are over. (Unfortunately)
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Cannibal
(---.lv.lv.cox.net)
Date: August 09, 2011 05:20PM
There was another arcarde I remember going to that was near the Loyola campus on Sheridan, I think around the 6500 block of N. Sheridan.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Mornac
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 09, 2011 11:44PM
Cannibal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was another arcarde I remember going to that
> was near the Loyola campus on Sheridan, I think
> around the 6500 block of N. Sheridan.
I remember that one Cannibal. It was called "King Cash". (The owners name was King. I can only guess what he was getting at with the "Cash"). That was the first place I ever saw a Donky Kong machine. As a matter of fact, I posted a photo of the very building on the "Marquis Lunch" thread. King Cash was directly across the street from the Marquis Lunch.
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was another arcarde I remember going to that
> was near the Loyola campus on Sheridan, I think
> around the 6500 block of N. Sheridan.
I remember that one Cannibal. It was called "King Cash". (The owners name was King. I can only guess what he was getting at with the "Cash"). That was the first place I ever saw a Donky Kong machine. As a matter of fact, I posted a photo of the very building on the "Marquis Lunch" thread. King Cash was directly across the street from the Marquis Lunch.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Vern H
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 10, 2011 03:18AM
There was an Aladdin's Castle at the HIP too. There was an arcade at Harlem & Foster in the shopping center, I can't remember the name. This was back in the late 70's and early 80's. There was one on Western just north of Belmont that always had the newest pinball games. I believe that was because of the Bally factory that was nearby.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
HOLTANEK
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 10, 2011 12:11PM
I remember the Treasure Chest on Randolph in the late 60s-early 70s. It's here in the front of the place where I bought "sneezing powder", "Red-Hot Gum",(fool your friends!!!), and various other gags. The game area in back used to be pretty harmless, but eventually it became a little scary. Remember "Shoppers Corner" on State and Randolph? Where else could you buy cheap electronic knock-offs for practically nothing? And there were the cheap "Steak" places,the numerous movie theatres, Walgreens restaurant downstairs, the Greyhound bus station. Yeah, it was all funky, but it had character back then. I HATE downtown nowadays, there's too much yuppieised crap and no soul. And how about the Clark theatre, where every day they would have 2 different movies. But it's like the man said, you cant go back.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 10, 2011 09:17PM
[b]Right you can't go back but we can remember. I go back when they were called Penney Arcades. There was one on the southwest corner of congress and State street, There were several under Michigan avenue also. Sailors fron Great Lakes Training Center went there for there tatoos.[/b]
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
BTRIPP
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 11, 2011 11:49AM
I spent a lot of time (and a LOT of quarters) at the 2-story arcade that used to be at 1160 N. State St. (half a block south of Division, currently home to TeaGschwendner) ... I don't recall the name, however.
As suggested above, I also think the main "nail in the coffin" for these places was the rise of computer games and the home game systems. While the initial "buy in" on these was high, you didn't have to keep pumping in quarters (which was for me to the tune of $10-20.00 each visit to the arcade). And as the price of these options kept dropping (in 1985 you could get a Tandy CoCo2 for about $250) it eventually became more cost-effective to sit at home working a joystick than standing around the arcade.
I do miss pinball machines, however ... there is something so "organic" to that physical interface (as long as you didn't get TOO physical and tilted!).
As suggested above, I also think the main "nail in the coffin" for these places was the rise of computer games and the home game systems. While the initial "buy in" on these was high, you didn't have to keep pumping in quarters (which was for me to the tune of $10-20.00 each visit to the arcade). And as the price of these options kept dropping (in 1985 you could get a Tandy CoCo2 for about $250) it eventually became more cost-effective to sit at home working a joystick than standing around the arcade.
I do miss pinball machines, however ... there is something so "organic" to that physical interface (as long as you didn't get TOO physical and tilted!).
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
logansquare60647
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: August 20, 2011 06:50AM
We had two that'd we'd frequent in my neighborhood, Bunny Hutch (which is still in operation surprisingly, and Diversions, behind Lincoln Village. The first Diversions was two stores down from the Super Gap (now a chinese buffet) and next to FlipSide record shop. Then a few years later after opening there they moved to the old Sizzler building (right before that it was a short lived retro kinda restaurant called "Johnny Angels" which really had awesome food.)
I remember also when Subway opened a few stores down from there, one of the first ones around, and I remember a sign on the wall that said something like "We're hoping to have 5,000 stores by 1990 or something, whatever the year was, and here they are years later, having more stores than McDonalds. Quite the feat.
I kind of grew up going to Diversions, met girls, kind of felt like thats where I came into my own. Made me a hardened Chicagoan, all the characters and stories. Gangbangers, cops, girls, video games. I owe a lot to that joint. And of course Bunny Hutch too, with the twin brothers who own it, lots of great memories there too.
If we felt like venturing out of the hood, we'd hit up Dennis's on Belmont, back when the area was still a lil sketchy. Always was an adventure to head up that way and hang out there for the night.
I remember also when Subway opened a few stores down from there, one of the first ones around, and I remember a sign on the wall that said something like "We're hoping to have 5,000 stores by 1990 or something, whatever the year was, and here they are years later, having more stores than McDonalds. Quite the feat.
I kind of grew up going to Diversions, met girls, kind of felt like thats where I came into my own. Made me a hardened Chicagoan, all the characters and stories. Gangbangers, cops, girls, video games. I owe a lot to that joint. And of course Bunny Hutch too, with the twin brothers who own it, lots of great memories there too.
If we felt like venturing out of the hood, we'd hit up Dennis's on Belmont, back when the area was still a lil sketchy. Always was an adventure to head up that way and hang out there for the night.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
729 Brompton
(---.148-78-65.ftth.swbr.surewest.net)
Date: October 23, 2012 02:28AM
I remember Times Square, it was pretty damn good, but the one in the Century Mall was in the basement and even better. More moody. Better for the TRON games too.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
snappytom
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: November 06, 2012 11:34PM
I remember a place on Western across from Lane Tech. It was almost all pinball, games like Asteroids were just starting to appear.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
Lance Grey
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: November 07, 2012 01:43PM
Another ? Fun-Zone ? was on Western across from Waveland Bowl. I recall it was strictly tokens--No quarters.
Re: Video Arcades
Posted by:
caribiner23
(---.pools.spcsdns.net)
Date: November 08, 2012 02:09PM
The arcade near Palwaukee was called Just Games. They have several locations around the suburbs, including one in Mt Prospect, just blocks from my home.
There was a shooting at the Mt Prospect location in the late 1970s, and the place wasn't long for this world after that.
There was a shooting at the Mt Prospect location in the late 1970s, and the place wasn't long for this world after that.
