Park Ridge’s vintage Pickwick Theatre plans to close in January

For Park Ridge’s iconic Pickwick Theatre, the final credits will roll in January after almost a century of hosting moviegoers, its owner told Chicago Tribune/Pioneer Press Tuesday.

Co-owner Dino Vlahakis, 63, said his family is closing the vintage movie theater, which has been losing money almost consistently since the onset of the pandemic; however, they hope a “knight in shining armor” will take over the operation.

[ Update: Potential buyers call, ticket sales soar after news Park Ridge’s Pickwick Theatre is to close ]

The Vlahakis family has owned the 900-seat theater since 1967. It has stood in Park Ridge since 1928 after opening as a vaudeville house, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, according to information from the Park Ridge History Center.

Currently, Vlahakis said, the plan is for the Pickwick to show its last movie Jan. 8. He’s thinking the picture will be “Gone With the Wind.”

“We don’t want it to close, and maybe somebody will see this as a golden opportunity for them,” Vlahakis said. “But (co-owner) Dave (Loomos) and I just can’t do it anymore. I’m at the age when I want to go to bed at 10 o’clock at night.”

Vlahakis said he plans to maintain ownership of the building, which has 24 other tenants.

But it’s gotten harder and harder to make a financial go of operating the theater, he said. Some of that is due to fewer movies being available to show in theaters.

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“Movies have fallen off,” Vlahakis said. “For example, at Christmas time, we’d (historically) have 10 or 11 movies to pick from. This year, we only have five films like that you can show in the theater.”

With fewer movies to show, the theater loses out on opportunities to bring regulars back more often, meaning it sells fewer tickets.

“In the olden days, if you had a bomb, at least you had also a big hit because you would open…new films every week,” he added.

The trend toward chain movie theaters hasn’t helped either, he said.

“When I opened the business in 1981, 50% of the movie theaters were independent theater owners and then 50% were chains,” he said. “Today it’s 95% chains and 5% independent movie theaters.”

That’s not to say that Vlahakis doesn’t think it’s still possible to operate an independent movie theater. But he said it’ll take more creativity than it used to, and a willingness to weather dry periods.

Vlahakis’ father bought the theater in 1967 alongside three other partners, he said. By 1972, his father was the sole proprietor. He started working at the Pickwick as an usher at 13, he said, and would watch the audience laugh at the punchlines of comedies and jump at the scare points of horror films.

Maureen Jones was in the audience Sunday when Vlahakis announced he planned to close the theater ahead of a screening of the movie “Polar Express.”

“I turned to my husband because we’ve been going there forever,” Jones recalled. “I’m like, are you kidding me?”

Jones grew up in Park Ridge and said she saw her first-ever movie at the Pickwick. She thinks it was “Pinocchio.”

She said she was sorry to hear the news but added that she understood the decision from a financial perspective.

“It’s disappointing, but we can’t all live in a museum,” she said. “We have to look forward.”

The Pickwick has enjoyed many notable moments over its 94 years. It was ready for its closeup when film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert filmed the intro to their television show there. Filming for the Chicago Fire television show took place there over the summer. Park Ridge Native Hillary Clinton visited and spoke in 2019, and the movie house runs a classic film series curated by Matthew Hoffman.

Besides the main theater in the Art Deco building, the Pickwick’s four smaller movie theaters would also close, co-owner Dave Loomos confirmed.

Vlahakis credited community support from the residents of Park Ridge and neighboring suburbs with sustaining the Pickwick for almost a century.

“They still support the theater — I think they love that it’s an independent, family-run theater,” he said. “The reason we’ve survived is because of the town of Park Ridge and the surrounding areas.”