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Showing posts with label 87th street. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 87th street. Show all posts

Thursday, December 1, 2022

ICE Theaters policy trailer 2007 #tbt

 

[VIDEO] Today's Throwback Thursday we discuss the long gone ICE Theaters. In 1997 the company partnered with Cineplex Odeon to open three theaters two on the south side and one on the west side bringing movies back to underserved inner city neighborhoods. I used to enjoy going up to their theaters on 87th Street as opposed to going to the General Cinema (now AMC Theatres) at Ford City.

Eventually the company partnered with Marcus Theatres and later went independent and experienced a reversal in the fall of 2012 the company was evicted from their 87th Street location thanks to a dispute with a silent partner.

So ICE Chatham 14 became Chatham 14 Theatres which was later owned by the Texas company Studio Movie Grill and currently under the ownership of Michigan based Emangine Entertainment and the location is currently known as Cinema Chatham.

The location formerly located at 62nd & Western - if you're familiar with that area it's on the same lot that contained a Sears store has been demolished. The location in Lawndale near Kedzie & Roosevelt Rd (or 12th Street) was under the ownership of another company is currently vacant.

It's great to see this policy trailer preserved on YouTube you may have seen it in the community tab on @sixthward's YouTube Channel recently. I seen this enough times as a customer on 87th Street I always wondered if this would ever get updated.

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

The former Illinois Service Federal branch on 87th Street soon to reopen

 If you live in Chatham and do business with GN Bank - formerly known as Illinois Service Federal - is reopening their former branch on 87th Street & King Drive. According to Steve Daniels from Crain's:

Chairman Papa Kwesi Nduom, whose wealthy family rescued the bank in 2016 with millions in fresh capital when it was on the brink of failure, says the Chatham branch is open on a drive-thru basis for withdrawals and deposits. It will return to full service once licensing is completed, he says.

“This is being done to signal to the community that we are putting customer service high on our priority list,” he says in an email.

If you were following the FB page Concerned Citizens of Chatham the issue with this closure is what would replace the bank on this property. There were concerned about a marijuana dispensary possibly being located there. Well now a bank will be back on this property.

BTW, this article was from last year. GN Bank is a Ghanian-American company who rescued ISF in 2016 from failure. In this December 2021 article from ProPublica we find out GN Bank has a number of issues:

Five years later, the historic institution — renamed GN Bank — remains deeply troubled. Under the Nduoms, the bank has closed one of its two locations, cut staff, alienated many longtime customers and effectively stopped making new home loans, though that’s one of the central reasons for its existence. In 2020, the bank was again put under restrictions after regulators found “new violations of law, rule or regulation.”

Yet the Nduoms aren’t solely responsible for GN’s struggles. Regulators have failed to carry out a federal mandate to “preserve and promote” Black-owned banks, a ProPublica investigation has found.

Leading up to the Nduoms’ acquisition, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered the bank to reduce the risk in its loans, which led to less revenue. Then, the agency signed off on the new owners, even though they lacked banking experience in the United States and had investments abroad that posed known regulatory risks. Since then, the bank has been under close watch, yet the Nduoms have made a series of decisions that diminished the bank’s profile and quality of service.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Update to the former ISF branch on 87th & King Drive #Ward09

 

You might have seen this on Concerned Citizens of Chatham where a sign was posted on the building to the former Illinois Service Federal now GN Bank branch regarding a zoning change from business to residential. That means they must come to Ald. Anthony Beale for any proposals for this property.

Friday, February 5, 2021

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Bank branch at 87th & King Drive for sale

347-371 E 87th Street

This former Illinois Service Federal/GN Bank branch is for sale on 87th & King Drive. When driving by I've observed that there's hardly any business taking place there. I and perhaps others who live nearby wondered if this branch had been closed since ISF was purchased by GN Bank. And now we see some evidence of this with this listing shared by Concerned Citizens of Chatham.



This location is right on the borderline of both Wards 6 & 9.



Thursday, May 28, 2020

Historic south side scenes #Ward09 #tbt

I just wanted to share these two shots with you from Vanished Chicagoland on ig. The first photo is of the 87th CTA train station from during the 1970s. Just north of 87th Street you'd see a Magikist sign and it was a landmark for a lot of us who drove on the Dan Ryan Expressway once upon a time. The sign and that company is now gone. We at least have this picture with a now retired 2200-series train set departing 87th.




This photo is further south on Michigan Ave and 114th Street. It's of a Hillman's Pure Foods (Hillman's also had a location within the old Sears store at 63rd & Halsted) store that formerly was located there with the address 33 E. 114th Street. The building itself is still there and perhaps one day I can head that way and snap a shot of it. Probably become a great location for another small grocery store in the future if it fits any company's needs.
You know I can use Google Streetview to show you that building still stands. Since I see it still is, now it causes me to wonder what's there now.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

The Sixth Ward: From ISF to GN Bank - name change

I posted this yesterday to The Sixth Ward. The Illinois Service Federal branch on 87th & King Drive you could say is technically in Chicago's 9th Ward. And if you patronize this location soon it will have a new name!


Friday, March 16, 2018

Three snapshots on 87th Street, Wednesday

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to reenact the shots taken on New Year's Eve 2007 on 87th Street - posted to Sixth Ward blog . Back in January I did a throwback post also at The Sixth Ward blog with an old photo of the Seaway Bank sign from 2007. Just bear in mind that 87th Street represents the northern most of the 9th Ward from the Dan Ryan to roughly King Drive.

Unlike back in 2007 when these shots were taken on a simple point and shoot digital camera, these photos were taken on my iPhone with an olloclip lens.

Click on all pics for larger resolution.

Across the street is a Family Dollar store. If you can see the grand opening sign near the front entrance don't let that fool you, this particular store has been open since sometime in 2007. A local community organization wrote in their newsletters that year that they wanted a grocery store at this location. Even 10 years later no grocer has stepped forward to turn this back into a grocery store. Before 2007, this space was home to a locally owned Food Basket store.
 Moving along on 87th Street, here is a branch of Illinois Service Federal. Earlier in 2007 it was the site of a fatal bank robbery which made the local news. A teller was killed by gunfire during that violent incident. Since then ISF has gone through their own changes with a new ownership group hailing from Ghana who now owns this Black-owned financial institution.

Finally got a shot of the new sign at the former Seaway Bank which sports new signage because of it's ownership under Self-Help Federal Credit Union. Seaway Bank itself failed in January 2017 and was purchased in a FDIC auction by State Bank of Texas. Then in May 2017 Self-Help took over deposits and branches of Seaway after SBT sold them to the credit union.

There are more photos from 87th Street that I would like to post in the near future. At least on a much nicer day closer to Spring was I finally able to retake these shots. Of course there are other changes on 87th Street worth noting not captured in these three shots.

Monday, February 19, 2018

CBS 2: Students Go To "Black Panther" To Get More Than Entertained

[VIDEO] Vince Gerasole was at the Studio Movie Grill Chatham - 210 W. 87th Street - to document the school groups that were up there. Those students are said to also be treated to a talk that will encourage them to pursue careers in the film industry.

What's especially highlighted was that this film has come off of a strong opening weekend:
The numbers are in and Black Panther is a monster hit. More than that, it has already earned a place in the box office history books in just its first three-to-four days of release. The movie earned a $201.8 million Fri-Sun weekend and will earn an estimated $235m over the Fri-Mon holiday. So, without further ado, I wanted to take a moment to note the copious big ways that the Ryan Coogler-directed/Chadwick Boseman-starring superhero spectacular has already planted its flag in the sand.
Just consider this is the biggest opening weekend of a movie with a mostly Black cast and by a Black director. And of course it's setting the bar for comic book movies in general also.

I have no problem encouraging young people to pursue careers in film. Going into Hollywood is lucrative so that's never discouraged, let's however encourage them to explore their own voices as artists. That as important as scoring a job in that business, main thing is to go ahead and get started.

Also enjoy Black Panther it's really good.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Community meet & greet on Saturday

Sorry for the late notice - and late crosspost from sixthward.us - on this as I just got wind of this on Friday night. Meet not only your new state Senator Elgie Sims, and state Rep. Nicholas Smith also county Commissioner Stanley Moore at their offices.
  • 8658 S. Cottage Grove Ave.
    Suite 404
    Chicago, IL 60619
    1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
    Phone: 773.933.7715

Flyer is below.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Tomorrow is the last day for the #SeawayBank farmer's market

Division of Self-Help FCU
It was started back up early last month and on Wednesday that's it for the year! Here's hoping they return with fresh produce for local residents next year!

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Seaway Bank Farmer's Market Aug. 2nd to Sept. 20th, 2017

Seaway Bank as a division of Self-Help FCU is hosting a farmer's market every Wednesday from Aug. 2 to Sept. 20, 2017 from 9 AM to 2 PM. at the main branch located at 645 E. 87th Street. Refer to flyer below for more details or click this link for a printable flyer.



Thursday, March 9, 2017

Studio Movie Grill launches remodeled Chatham theater

Early concept of SMG Chatham
The concept you see above have come slowly, but has finally become reality according to this press release from Studio Movie Grill regarding our local movie house. And also this ig post we shared around Oscar time.


Saturday, June 21, 2014

2014 Children Summer Series at Studio Movie Grill

Click image to go to SMG page
A few years ago under the ownership of ICE Theaters, the Chatham 14 on 87th Street had a film series called "KidsRule Summer". Well things change and under new ownership - this time Studio Movie Grill - the Chatham 14 now has "Children's Summer Series". Although it had started as of late May 2014 it will continue through August

Friday, January 17, 2014

Chatham 14 is now Studio Movie Grill

Crossposted to The Sixth Ward on January 10, 2014

It's been an interesting period of transition for the Chatham 14. In October 2012, the original operating company ICE Theaters had been evicted and the location was closed for a week before a new company - F & F Management - was brought in by new owner Michael Silver to operate the Chatham. Then all screens were upgraded for digital and 3D exhibition during the Spring of 2013 and now another piece of news.

According to DNA Info Chatham 14 now has new owners - Studio Movie Grill or SMG. While some of the many changes to the Chatham were noted in the DNA Info article here are some more details on the changes to come and how the many employees of the Chatham will be affected:
  1. Chatham 14 theaters are 100% owned by SMG with Mr. Michael Silver having no ownership interest in this entity.
  2. S&S Management is running the theaters day to day operations until 2/2/14 when their contract expires.
  3. All janitorial, snow removal, HVAC contracts currently maintained by African American vendors will stay in tact.
  4. African American vendors are being identified for the renovation work.
  5. There WILL NOT be a Sports Bar located within the theater but a bar area that will be a part of the fast casual restaurant that will be located in the lobby.
  6. All employees have jobs until the proposed renovations are completed and the new business officially opens. They will have the opportunity to apply for the new jobs as their roles will change under the new concept.
Also, You may have heard about them before. They were the subject of ABC 7's program 190 North and you can see the video below. SMG is based out of Dallas, Texas and the closest location to us is in Wheaton, Illinois.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Get a free popcorn, for donating a coat at Chatham 14 Theaters

Until December 20, 2013 if you donate a coat that's either new/clean but gently used please drop it off in the Chatham 14 lobby. The cineplex is located at 210 W. 87th Street and not only are they accepting coats they want toy donations as well. According to this article from DNA Info:
For every new or "gently"' used coat donated during the theater's first annual winter coat drive, the theater will give away a voucher good for a large popcorn.

Venisha White-Johnson, director of operations for the Chatham 14 Theaters, said while the theater has done food drives in the past, the coat drive started after she saw so many kids coming to the movies in shoddy jackets.

"I see kids coming to the theater with coats too small, worn out and in some cases not suitable for cold weather," she said. "Times are hard for everyone, especially single mothers, so having a coat drive seemed more appropriate."

The donations are being accepted daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. through Dec. 20 at the theater at 210 W. 87th St. A voucher that can be redeemed anytime is given for every coat donated, and there is no limit to how many coats a person can donate.
Well we call for donations to food pantries this year, and now donations for winter coats. More than one way to provide a blessing for someone this holiday season!