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Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
bowler
()
Date: May 10, 2011 06:20PM
Trying to help someone who asked me about a theater he remembers at Archer and Western in the 1950's.
I'm almost positive he is thinking of the Brighton Theater, which used to be a bit further west near Archer and California. I know where to find a bunch of info on the Brighton Theater. Just in case I'm wrong, does anyone know of a theater that was on Archer and Western circa 1950?
Thanks.
I'm almost positive he is thinking of the Brighton Theater, which used to be a bit further west near Archer and California. I know where to find a bunch of info on the Brighton Theater. Just in case I'm wrong, does anyone know of a theater that was on Archer and Western circa 1950?
Thanks.
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
daveg
()
Date: May 10, 2011 07:06PM
Not sure about the 50s but I don't think there was a theater (aka show) on Archer and Western. Lindy's and McKinley Park, yes. Theater ??? I did take the Archer bus to and from high school in the early 60s and I know there wasn't a theater at that intersection back then.
Brighton was, as you say, just a bit west of there.
Brighton was, as you say, just a bit west of there.
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: May 10, 2011 11:08PM
[b]Yes there was a theater on Archer east of Western ave, About a block east. The building is still there you can see it on google satilite view. The name of the theater was the Archer. Also right around the corner on 35th st was the Midwest theater. [/b]
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
daveg
()
Date: May 11, 2011 01:13PM
More info on the Archer theater:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7151/
It was closed in 1950 so I wouldn't have seen it on my bus rides in the 60s.
More info on the Midwest:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2724/
Thinking a bit about this, there sure are a lot of ex-theaters in Chicago and probably other cities as well. Remember the days when you could walk to see a movie, usually a double feature?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2011 02:09PM by daveg.
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7151/
It was closed in 1950 so I wouldn't have seen it on my bus rides in the 60s.
More info on the Midwest:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2724/
Thinking a bit about this, there sure are a lot of ex-theaters in Chicago and probably other cities as well. Remember the days when you could walk to see a movie, usually a double feature?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2011 02:09PM by daveg.
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
bowler
()
Date: May 11, 2011 05:34PM
Thanks Richard and Dave!
I think it may be the Archer Theater on Archer and Damen (Robey). I found a reference to it in the Tribune Archive as being on the SW corner of Archer and Damen, it is refered to as the "New" Archer Theater. There is a supermercado there now so despite what the cinema treasures website claims I don't think it is there anymore.
I think it may be the Archer Theater on Archer and Damen (Robey). I found a reference to it in the Tribune Archive as being on the SW corner of Archer and Damen, it is refered to as the "New" Archer Theater. There is a supermercado there now so despite what the cinema treasures website claims I don't think it is there anymore.
Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
billyfrank
()
Date: May 12, 2011 02:38PM
thanks for all your help, driving me crazy trying to think of the name. The theater was on the west side of Western Ave, between the corner newsstand(Archer Ave) and the RR viaduct. next door to a typewriter store (white building), it is now a parking lot. here is a "great" site to view history of Chicago theaters:
http://movie-theatre.org/usa/il/chicago/chicago
but it did not help me, sad to say, thanks Bill
http://movie-theatre.org/usa/il/chicago/chicago
but it did not help me, sad to say, thanks Bill
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
laurtchka
()
Date: May 12, 2011 07:54PM
None of the links above mention another small theater in Old Irving Park, just steps away from the Palm ... it was called the Progress. I wonder how many of these tiny storefront nickelodeons have been omitted from the list. I do know there were a bunch of theaters up and down S. Ashland in the Back of the Yards area that were vaudeville/nickelodeon/movies all in one and all day long. One of my great-great grandmothers frequented those theaters in the teens and twenties, since she'd lived in that area and loved that stuff. Maybe she went as far north as the Archer, too, to catch a show!
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: May 12, 2011 09:53PM
[b]The midwet theater was at 3528 s. archer. The building is still there. You can see it on google street view.[/b]
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
waltk13
()
Date: May 16, 2011 09:48PM
The Midwest Theater was demolished in 1965 as the Cinema Treasures site notes…
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2724/
I remember it as a very sad day for us kids who lived in the neighborhood. The Midwest’s entrance was on Archer between Leavitt St and Hamilton Ave, a little closer to Hamilton. It was demolished to build a new A&P grocery store, which lasted only about 5 years and that A&P building has been occupied by the Unique Thrift Store since the early 1970s. The Midwest was to the left of the brownstone two-flat you see on Google Maps, the grey and white building there now is the Unique (A&P) building which replaced the Midwest. There was an emergency exit for the theater about 25 feet to the left of the brownstone that as kids we used to sneak into the theater. The old building with the large glass block windows to the right of the brownstone two-flat, was some kind of a machine shop in the days before and after the Midwest was demolished.
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/2724/
I remember it as a very sad day for us kids who lived in the neighborhood. The Midwest’s entrance was on Archer between Leavitt St and Hamilton Ave, a little closer to Hamilton. It was demolished to build a new A&P grocery store, which lasted only about 5 years and that A&P building has been occupied by the Unique Thrift Store since the early 1970s. The Midwest was to the left of the brownstone two-flat you see on Google Maps, the grey and white building there now is the Unique (A&P) building which replaced the Midwest. There was an emergency exit for the theater about 25 feet to the left of the brownstone that as kids we used to sneak into the theater. The old building with the large glass block windows to the right of the brownstone two-flat, was some kind of a machine shop in the days before and after the Midwest was demolished.
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
waltk13
()
Date: May 16, 2011 10:20PM
The Archer Theater was actually not on Archer and Damen, (where the supermercado is located in the old Osco Drugs building) but, from what I have read, on 35th street just west of Damen. There is a refrigeration company there now, that I think was there in the 60s when I was a kid. The facade of the refrigeration company is much newer than the building itself, so it may be the skeleton of the old Archer Theater behind that new facade.
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7151/
(The map Cinema Treasure takes you to though is the wrong address)
As to the west side of Western Ave between Archer and the railroad viaducts, that's across the boulevard median from McKinley Park. The only thing I remember in that block on the west side of Western, other than one fast food place or another right on the S.W. corner of Archer and Western, was a lumber yard that was there just a little north of the viaducts, from time we moved into the neighborhood in 61' until some time in the 1990s when it closed.
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7151/
(The map Cinema Treasure takes you to though is the wrong address)
As to the west side of Western Ave between Archer and the railroad viaducts, that's across the boulevard median from McKinley Park. The only thing I remember in that block on the west side of Western, other than one fast food place or another right on the S.W. corner of Archer and Western, was a lumber yard that was there just a little north of the viaducts, from time we moved into the neighborhood in 61' until some time in the 1990s when it closed.
Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
billyfrank
()
Date: May 18, 2011 05:17PM
the address of Walsh Const. is 3710 S. Western (today), near NW corner of Western and Archer Ave., their parking lot is where my 'unknown" theater was located. It would have been south of the RR viaducts and west of the boulevard median. Contacted Walsh (marketing), but zero help, it is now big time and very big company never returned my calls! thanks for all ur messages, Bill
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
()
Date: May 18, 2011 09:02PM
We visited Grandma's house at 45th & Sawyer often when I was a kid and I clearly remember a fire one Sunday (or Sat.) evening at Czerwick Lumber which from billyfrank's description sounds like it may have occupied the Walsh Construction site before them. The lumber yard might not have been right at 3710, possibly a bit north, but bottom line is that I cannot recall any theater in that vicinity.
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
waltk13
()
Date: May 19, 2011 01:18AM
billyfrank & b.a.hoarder,
OK, we're talking about two differnet viaducts here, not unusual for the neighborhood. 3710 S. Western would put it just south of the viaduct the CTA Orange Line uses today, just north of Burger King. The lumber yard I was speaking of was just north of the viaduct at 39th (Pershing Rd.) and Western, across from the McKinley Park tennis courts and pool. By the time we moved into the neighborhood in 61' whatever theater was there at 3710 was already gone/closed. I remember Walsh Construction already being there when I was in high school, walking back and forth from Kelly in the late 60s. I have some older cousins who lived in the neighborhood before we moved in and when I see them I'll ask them what they remember.
OK, we're talking about two differnet viaducts here, not unusual for the neighborhood. 3710 S. Western would put it just south of the viaduct the CTA Orange Line uses today, just north of Burger King. The lumber yard I was speaking of was just north of the viaduct at 39th (Pershing Rd.) and Western, across from the McKinley Park tennis courts and pool. By the time we moved into the neighborhood in 61' whatever theater was there at 3710 was already gone/closed. I remember Walsh Construction already being there when I was in high school, walking back and forth from Kelly in the late 60s. I have some older cousins who lived in the neighborhood before we moved in and when I see them I'll ask them what they remember.
Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
billyfrank
()
Date: May 20, 2011 02:07PM
waltk13, thanks......looks like we (you) may (I hope) a winner with your cousins, thanks Bill
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
()
Date: May 21, 2011 10:25PM
I called my wife's aunt who had worked at Czerwiec Lumber before the fire to get information on any possible theater along Western, either south or north of Archer and she remembers no theater in the vicinity. The Czerwiec fire was about 1958 give or take a year, and was a big one , a 4 alarm blaze. Walsh purchased the property from Czerwiec. Not only did she work at that location she grew up on 33rd. & Hoyne and the only theaters she remembers going to in the area were the Midwest and Brighton.
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
captain54
()
Date: May 22, 2011 02:26AM
Not that this is at all related, but I couldn't help but point out that another interesting landmark in the same general vicinity (SE corner of Pershing and Western, 2323 W Pershing), now McKinley Park Lofts, was once a warehouse for the Ronco/Popeil line of products made famous on late nite TV ads in the 60's and 70's
Re: Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
waltk13
()
Date: June 01, 2011 12:17AM
@b.a.hoarder: Who is your wife's aunt? I grew up on the 3300 block of Hoyne and my cousins (the Skarupninski family) were living there, right next to The Coffee Nook restaurant, long before we moved in.
@captain54: A classmate and friend of mine's father worked at Ronco on 39th. Rumor was his dad actually created the Pocket Fisherman, but their contracts gave the rights to anything they developed to the company.
@billyfrank: My best friend's mom has lived in the neighborhood for all her 85+ years, she thinks she remembers a theater on Western, but can't recall a name. So far all my cousins remember is the Midwest.
@captain54: A classmate and friend of mine's father worked at Ronco on 39th. Rumor was his dad actually created the Pocket Fisherman, but their contracts gave the rights to anything they developed to the company.
@billyfrank: My best friend's mom has lived in the neighborhood for all her 85+ years, she thinks she remembers a theater on Western, but can't recall a name. So far all my cousins remember is the Midwest.
Theater - Archer and Western?
Posted by:
billyfrank
()
Date: June 08, 2011 02:56PM
thanks Walter, I am still looking also. Can still feel the heat from all those "bright" "blinding" lights sitting in the southbound Western Ave bus. Bill
