Chestnut Station Cinemas
830 N. Clark Street,
Chicago,
IL
60610
830 N. Clark Street,
Chicago,
IL
60610
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 40 of 40 comments
The Jewish Center mentioned above is under construction.
I saw Return of the Jedi: Special Edition here in 1997. I was working at 600 n. Michigan theatres at the time. Needless to say, I got in free with an employee pass.
It’s a shame this theatre didnt survive. The neighbor hood is WAY MORE upscale now. Sames goes for Burnham Plaza. Both could have survived as art houses. God knows we need them.
Thanks for the description KenC. I have a fascination for theaters before my time. And I’m really interested in this place because I never been here. Although I walked past this place a few years ago, before it was torn down. That’s when my brother told me about seeing Predator here and his description of this place.
To CinemarkFan: The Chestnut Station did not have an escalator. After buying your ticket,you entered to the left. There were two concession stands, both facing Clark street. Only one was open; usually the one at the south end of the lobby. The lobby was more wide than deep. Between the concession stands was a somewhat narrow walkway (heading west) to auditoriums 1, 2,3 and 4. Two of them faced south; two of them faced north(toward Chestnut street). They were not very large…200, maybe 240 seats each. Your brother was correct about the colors and the zig zag stuff on the walls. I have no memory of the color of the seats, but I know they were comfortable. Auditorium 5 was on the second level. To get there, you had to use a narrow staircase at the north end of the lobby. Both washrooms were up there, too. There was a very small elevator near the stairs; I never saw it in use. Auditorium 5 was by far the smallest: 80 to 100 seats, tops.
This place perfectly illustrated the downfall of a good theatre. To me, it shows that C-O really started to lose interest in its theatres in the late 1990s after a flurry of investment a decade earlier. This theatre was located in a rather upscale area of Chicago—the Gold Coast—and occasionally showed fare to reflect the potential clientele in the area. It was also a good example of “adaptive re-use”, taking an Art Deco post office and making a cinema out of it.
But, as I said above, time went on and C-O lost interest in this property. The surrounding area didn’t decline. Indeed it remains an upscale area. But as C-O began charging bargain rates all the time for second-run “grindhouse” fare, naturally the quality of people attending went down hill. I could imagine the neighbors being glad to get rid of it!
It’s a shame what happened to this place. The people hanging out here just probably killed it. I also want to add that this was a 5 screener, not 6. I read that microfilm ad wrong. Man, I hope I can find interior photos of this, it would give my dad a smile. My brother, who went here once to see Predator here in 1987, said that Station remineded him of Burnham Plaza long after Station closed. He also said something about Station having a gray carpet with black stripes around it, and the theatres themselves looking like a Cineplex Odeon with the zig-zag stuff with lights on the auditorium walls, and that the seats had cream colored backs with a grayish padding. And did this place have escalators like he said?
If this was actually situated at the SW corner of Clark and Chestnut, then it’s been demolished for some time now.
Article on the Chestnut here.
Is this what it looked like?
What a downfall for this theater! I saw Amadeus here in 70mm and great stereo sound. Just before it closed I saw Ransom for $1 here. My friend and I walked out about 10 minutes into the movie after a large family sat behind us and started having a full picnic.
Thanks for the photo Bryan.
Does anybody have any pictures of this place? I have never been here before. And, if I did, I am way to young to remember it.
My favorite memory of this was going to a sneak preview of The Five Heartbeats. I got those tickets handed to me while in line for Silence of the Lambs at 900 N Michigan by a guy who if he wan’t Chris Connely (later Premiere Ed/MTV personality), he was his twin. Anyway, my brother an I went, got in and the back 4 rows seats were roped off. I jokingly said, “That’s for Robert and his crew”. I’m in my usual front row center seats, enjoyable film, everyone got into it, the credits roll and a guy stands up in front of the screen, a couple of people yell at him, and he says “We’d like to thank you all for coming out tonight”. The lights come on and it’s Robert Townsend! He says he appreciates the applause and he’d like to introduce his friends, and the 4 others “Heartbeats” come down and the place goes nuts! The cast hands out pictures, keychains and hangs in the lobby chatting and signing autographs. What a night!
Bryan, this cinema actually opened December 9th 1983 by Essaness Theatres with Sudden Impact and Yentl on three screens each. I know this because I have Microfilm on it. I myself have never been here so I don’t know how this cinema looks on the inside. Can anyone fill me in on this?
The last time I was there was back in 97'…
I saw “SPEED 2”.
Chestnut Station opened in December 1984 with the exclusive run of “Amadeus”. From then through the lte 80’s the theater provided a nice mix of art films and first run films. In the 90’s the area where the theater was located became notorious for gang activity and the quality of films went down. The last time I was there I saw “Halloween 6” with a fairly rough crowd. The site where the building once stood is now vacant with no sign a theater was ever there.