Stadium Theatre 1950

711 Ocean Drive with Edmund O'Brien is playing at the Stadium. It's the summer of 1950.

The art deco Stadium Theatre, designed by architect John Pridmore, opened in 1937, became a live theatre in the 1940s, was transformed back into a movie house in the 1950s, and became the Evanston Theater in the 1960s, where it was known as one of the earliest theatres in the Chicago area to have stereo sound. The theater was eventually acquired by the Loews chain, which closed it in 2001.

In approximately 2007, most of the block where the theater was located was acquired by developers Dodge Capital, LLC and J.Hawk DDI, LLC, who, after a heated zoning controversy, were given permission to build a 52-unit condominium development, the Eastwood. Delivery was advertised for early 2009.

Following City approval, the theater was demolished in 2007. Nearly 100 pictures of its interior and exterior just prior to and during demolition are posted online at flickr.

Pre-sales for the condo project did very poorly. The developers in 2008 were granted a 2-year extension of time to begin construction. As of 2010 the theater site was still a vacant lot.