Mercury Theater

7210 W. North Avenue,
Elmwood Park, IL 60707

Unfavorite 15 people favorited this theater

Showing 26 - 37 of 37 comments

jimpiscitelli
jimpiscitelli on January 26, 2006 at 10:20 am

Update to Cineplex Odeon proposal:

  1. Burnham Plaza – closed
  2. Rivertree Court – operated by Kerasotes Theaters
  3. Orland Square – closed
  4. Lincolnwood (now Lincoln Village 1-6) – operated by Village
    Theaters
  5. Ridge Cinemas – closed
  6. Grove Cinemas – demolished
  7. Oakbrook Center Cinemas – 1-4 closed; 5-7 demolished
  8. One Schaumburg Place – Became Streets Of Woodfield – operated by AMC Theaters
  9. Old Orchard (now Gardens Cinemas at Old Orchard) – operated by AMC Theaters
  10. Renovation Of The McClurg Court – closed
  11. Renovation Of The Chestnut Station – closed
  12. Renovation Of The Golf Glen – operated by Village Theaters
  13. Renovation Of The Esquire – operated by AMC Theaters
  14. Renovation Of The Town & Country – demolished
  15. Replacement Of The Mercury – never done
  16. Bricktown Square – closed
booperboy
booperboy on September 2, 2005 at 6:35 am

The Mercury Theater was built in the late 1940s by a Mr. Beck and owned and operated by him until its sale to B & K in 1957. It originally had a single screen and over 1200 seats. It was my neighborhood theater.

corvetteguy1963
corvetteguy1963 on August 8, 2005 at 6:41 pm

I seem to remember that the bricktown theatre was to replace the shuttered Montclare.What a shame to lose that one and the Mercury.I still have memories of seeing pee wee herman’s big adventure in the fall going back to school time in the early 1980’s.Both those theatres were awesome.

David Wodeyla
David Wodeyla on August 8, 2005 at 12:58 pm

To Paul Fortini: probably the same things that did in GCC in the late 90s. Poor decisions on signing leases, and a film dept that didn’t coordinate with Real Estate in what kind of volume business would be necessary to turn a profit.

Jayne2
Jayne2 on August 8, 2005 at 10:22 am

I can say that for #15 Mercury, the owners must have gotten a sweet offer for the land to build the strip mall. Residents behind the current strip mall protested, but the $$ spoke louder.

As for Bricktown, the gangbangers killed it.

TRAINPHOTOS
TRAINPHOTOS on August 4, 2005 at 4:58 pm

Brian and Bryan:

Thank you for posting that Tribune Article. It is interesting to see how Cineplex-Odeous (I mean Odeon)proposed and constructed all of these theatres. I did a little research and found out what happened to these. All of them opened (or were proposed) circa 1987-1989

1) Burnham Plaza—To be closed 9-2005
2) Rivertree Court—Now operated by Keresotas
3) Orland Square—closed
4) Lincolnwood—probably the newer section of Lincoln Village, which is operated by Loews-Cineplex.
5) Ridge Plaza—closed
6) Grove—closed and demolished
7) Oakbrook Plaza—closed
8) One Schaumburg Place—replaced by Streets of Woodfield.
9) Old Orchard—most likely the present Gardens at Old Orchard.
10) Renovation of the McClurg Court—closed.
11) Renovation of the Chestnut Station—closed.
12) Renovation of the Golf Glen—now operated by Village.
13) Renovation of the Esquire—done.
14) Renovation of the Town and Country—demolished.
15) Replacement of the Mercury—never done.
16) Bricktown—closed. This could have been the replacement for the Mercury.

It is truely amazing how many of these theatres didn’t last. What killed these nearly new and newly renovated places to close?

Jayne2
Jayne2 on August 4, 2005 at 11:07 am

Great picture, Brian!! Brings back lots of memories of the “old days”.

Broan
Broan on July 9, 2005 at 10:44 am

Here is the new URL for Bryan’s link. This Trib article states that the Mercury was to be replaced by six-screen Cineplex.

fab4fan
fab4fan on February 10, 2005 at 12:15 am

I remember going to the movies for the first time at the Mercury in the early 80s; I think it was a Smurfs movie. There’s a Blockbuster Video store on the site where the theater used to be—a poor replacement for a big-screen movie house, if you ask me. The nearest theater now is down North Avenue in Melrose Park.

jayne
jayne on November 18, 2004 at 1:37 pm

One of the last times I was in this theater was in the 80’s, I saw the movie “My Bodyguard”. They didn’t pop their own popcorn at that point, sneaked it in in big plastic bags. I think the owners must have gotten an offer on the land they couldn’t refuse. They could probably make more on the land than they did running the theater. Too bad because there still aren’t any good movie theaters in the area. There would be a market now.

jimpiscitelli
jimpiscitelli on January 23, 2004 at 10:30 pm

The reasons were lack of business and they did not have a bargin matinee price. It was full admission at all times.

MovieMan26
MovieMan26 on January 16, 2004 at 12:38 am

The last time I was in this theater was in 1987, I saw the movie “MANNEQUIN” there.
Of what I can remember; this theater was pretty worn down but nothing they couldn’t fix. I don’t know why they closed it down??…