Plaza Theatre
3343 W. Devon Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
3343 W. Devon Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60659
2 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cineplex Odeon, Essaness Theaters Corp., Plitt Theatres
Functions: Retail
Previous Names: Plaza 1, 2 3
Nearby Theaters
Located in a strip mall and first operated by Essaness, later (briefly) by Plitt then finally by Cineplex-Odeon. This HAD to be one of the most generic/non-descript theatres ever in the Chicagoland area. Located right across the street from the Lincoln Village Theatre, it seemed to be operated as an adjunct to that theatre.
The Plaza 1, 2 3 was housed in a former discount store (I believe it was called Community). To be more precise, it occupied the north end of the building. It was opened December 12, 1980 with “Stir Crazy” playing on two screens. The third screen opened December 25. I saw “Superman II” and “The Lost Boys” there, I know that it operated until 1987. The Plaza probably closed when Cineplex-Odeon built the new section of the Lincoln Village Theatre, right across McCormick Boulevard.
Although the address listed was on W. Devon Avenue, the theatre did front McCormick Boulevard. Later, a K-Mart opened in the space formerly occupied by Community(?) and also took over the space occupied by the theatre. The K-Mart is now a Home Depot.
Contributed by
Paul Fortini
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Recent comments (view all 26 comments)
The Plaza 1,2,3 opened December 12th, 1980. First films to play here were “Stir Crazy” on two screens. “Any Which Way You Can” took over one of those screens on 12/17, and the the third opened on Christmas Day. Roy Leonard of WGN attended the grand opening ceremony.
Actually, the sequence would briely be Essaness, Plitt (briefly),
then C-O. Not positive whether or not it made it into Loews.
Oh, and C-O opened the newer section of Lincoln Village around 1988. The Plaza lasted until late 1998, so they did operate concurrently.
Paul is correct with regard to Zayre and Venture.
I remember when all three sites around this intersection were operating. It seemed like they valued this market and were trying to create a “megaplex” by combining them. Judging by the large crowds I remember at the original Lincoln Village in the 80’s it was probably a good judgment call at the time.
I don’t know why I just remembered this. But I think when we saw “Robocop” here, they ran trailers for “Alien Nation” with James Cann.
And one of the scenes showed a mall parking lot that looked almost like the one we’d just come in from.
I think it was a scene with ET’s Leeza Gibbons as a newscaster, saying something about President Reagan to establish a time reference.
Just for the record, the purple brick building opened as Shoppers World on August 15, 1962. The chain was sold in late 1967 and all stores became Community Discount World on February 29, 1968. Later Zayre/Ames/Kmart, etc.
This theater was located in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago. For some reason it doesn’t show up on the map of the neighborhood search. The Theater was a nice place to see a movie.
One of the things I remember was, if you paid to see “beverly hills cop” you could stay and see it again. There were only 1 person selling movie tickets at the window and 1 more selling popcorn. There were no movie users.
The Theater was clean and had good popcorn.
FYI. Park on the site of the Plaza Theatre to be renamed after late Alderman Bernard Stone.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170613/west-ridge/ald-bernard-stone-berny-park-50th-ward?utm_source=Rogers+Park+%26+Edgewater&utm_campaign=ecf9723b03-Mailchimp-CHI&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9bf16baa3a-ecf9723b03-174879621
I saw the Gus Van Zant Psycho here, which according to Imbd was 1998. (Awful movie). I don’t recall much other than it was a plain theater and rather large. Odd that there are no pictures.
Kmart of course is long gone. It’s now Home Depot on the site.