Warrington Opera House
104 South Marion Street,
Oak Park,
IL
60302
104 South Marion Street,
Oak Park,
IL
60302
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I was just thinking about the Mar Lac House today, you see 33 years ago to this day in 1976 I booked my wedding reception there for March 7th, 1976. I can still remember the man’s name who we met with, I believe that it was Carl Seider and the wedding cost us only $10.50 a plate. What a difference 33 years makes! I think I may even still have the contract for the reception. Too bad it was torn down.
When I was a teenager I met Ral Donner there, he was performing in a rock and roll show there and he came running into the men’s room because the teenage girls were chasing him for autographs. He knew they wouldn’t chase him down in there. What a way to meet a celebrity. If anyone can pinpoint the date of that show and whom else may also have performed that evening I would like to know when it was. It was probably around 1967.
Loren Argall at
I am the former owner of Mar Lac House (Mar Lac Banquets) and have done some research concerning the Warrington Opera House. From our findings, we did not obtain a definite date, but we guessed that the Warrington closed sometime in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s. It was about that time that ads for performances or movies stopped appearing in the local newspapers. Since the closing of the Warrington and the opening of Mar Lac House, we understand that the building housed several different businesses, including a miniature golf course and an electrical supply house.
Hey, Bryan. Don’t wanna flame ya or anything. It’s just that I went to a lot of movies back then and would have loved to have had another theater to go to. The only other theater that hung on in Oak Park was the Southern over on Oak Park Ave and Harrison. Maybe that’s the one that the Historical Society is referring to.
Neat photo above. The tracks in the foreground belong to the Lake Street Elevated, which ran at ground level until 1964.
Growing up in the area,I attended many movies in Oak Park at the Lake and Lamar theaters from the late 40’s through the early 60’s and never were any films shown at this location during that time.
It probably stopped showing films much earlier than is indicated above.