News that the Pickwick Theatre would show the final movie of its 56-year run under its current ownership on Jan. 12 unleashed a flood of reminiscing across Chicagoland.
While it’s very likely not the final curtain for the iconic Park Ridge landmark — co-owner Dino Vlahakis was at one point fielding a dozen interested heirs to the movie operation and plans to retain ownership of the building itself — it is the end of the current movie operation for the theater, built in 1928 by commission from leading citizen and former mayor William Malone.
Readers from all over wrote in with their memories of the Pickwick, from shared moments with loved ones to an arrow shot into the Pickwick’s curtain and a favorite Park Ridge Mexican restaurant that opened 31 years ago after the owners saw a movie at the Pickwick, spotted a vacant space and thought, “wouldn’t that be a good spot for a restaurant?”
Here are some of those memories.
Captioning for the hearing impaired. Murray Fisher wrote of a 2006 showing of “Pirates of the Caribbean” that offered audience members with hearing impairments screens at their seats so they could read the dialogue of the movie.
“The generosity of Dino Viahakis made it possible for a ‘proof of concept’ presentation of providing discreet captioning for those who need it,” Fisher wrote in an email. “Individual small screen technology is now the standard for movie theater captioning.”
First movies. Peggy Flynn, who grew up in Park Ridge and now lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin, said three generations of her family had grown up going to movies at the Pickwick. The day she saw Mary Poppins for the first time at the theater was also the day she learned how to whistle, Flynn said.
Kathy Nicolet, a fourth-generation Park Ridgian now living in Hanover Park, recalled that her parents took her to see “Around the World in 80 Days” as a young child, and that people called the Pickwick “the queen of Uptown” because it was the center of Park Ridge’s world.
“By the time I got to be 13, I was spending Saturday afternoons there with my BFF, Susie, stealing kisses from sweet boys followed by Coke and fries at the Pickwick Restaurant… Ah, the memories. The happiest in my childhood, forever etched in my brain,” she wrote.
Love story. Longtime Park Ridge resident Katie Mazukelli wrote about her childhood and adolescent visits to the Pickwick, when the movie, the building’s Art Deco ceilings and the herds of middle school boys competed for her and her friends’ attention.
Mazukelli married another Park Ridge native and found herself celebrating a wedding anniversary during the pandemic outside the theater.
“We toasted life and the many blessings in this town,” Mazukelli wrote. “The Pickwick was not the main attraction that night, but the perfect backdrop.”
Magical experience. Jenna Tinaglia wrote of getting to know the Pickwick on summer vacations with her grandparents in Park Ridge. Her grandmother took her to see her first movie, “101 Dalmatians,” at the Pickwick in 1996, which she remembered as a “magical experience.”
“I miss those summers with my Grandma Tinaglia so much,” Tinaglia wrote. “Anytime I drive through the Park Ridge six corners and see the Pickwick marquee, I am taken back to that moment.”
Right on target. Paul V. Murphy lived just a few blocks from the Pickwick in the 1960s as a child and watched many matinees there.
“I remember there was some kind of fabric suspended from the ceiling that could be dropped as a fire suppression device. Someone seemed to have shot an arrow into it and that arrow hung there for quite a while. It made you wonder what it would be like if that fabric came down on the audience!” wrote Murphy, now of University Heights, Ohio.
‘If it weren’t for the Pickwick, Hay Caramba wouldn’t exist.’ In 1991, Josie and Bull Saavedra took their family to watch “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” at the Pickwick, their daughter Marlene Saavedra recalled. That’s when they discovered the empty storefront at the Summit Shopping Center and thought it would be a great location for a restaurant. That gave birth to Hay Caramba, which, even though it has moved just across the tracks, is still a Park Ridge favorite Mexican restaurant.
Marlene said she and her brother Michael loved the Pickwick growing up, and now her boys Noel and Christian are keeping up the movie-going.
“As heartbroken as we are to hear the news of the Pickwick closing, we wanted to say a heartfelt thank you because without them, there would be no Hay Caramba!” Marlene wrote. “The Pickwick will always hold a special place in our hearts. We love you and wish you the best in your future endeavors.”
From a 14-year-old. Everett Baldi, 14, wrote that his favorite memory of seeing movies at the Pickwick was the excitement around new releases.
“My friends and I saw Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness on opening night,” Baldi wrote. “The Pickwick was packed and the theatergoers went crazy with excitement. It was the first time I recall the audience erupt like this in nearly three years post COVID.”
First glimpse of Park Ridge: Pickwick in snow. Kyle Bedtelyon remembered that on New Year’s Eve 2013, he and his wife had just returned to the Midwest from Texas, and it was snowing.
“I can remember the snowflakes against the bright lights of the Pickwick marquee sign and beautiful snowfallen Park Ridge,” Bedtelyon wrote. “It was the first time that I’d seen the Pickwick Theatre and it couldn’t have been more beautiful [than] it was that night.”
The last showings under the theater’s current ownership will be two screenings of Gone With the Wind at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 12.