i check this site often, hoping for an old-school feature on yorktown. seems i was in that mall once a day as a kid, and ended up working there in high school.

you’re dead-on about it constantly being brought back from near-flatline.

i’d love to see photos, or even an old layout/mall map, from any time in the 70s or 80s. i have lots of memories of stores and restaurants from that time, but can’t for the life of me remember their names.

here’s hoping for something archival to surface soon!

I seem to remember the big draw for families back then was gardens and fountains (maybe with colored lights?) in the summer and christmas lights and little christmas vignettes with robotic characters under glass in the winter (like snowmen or elves or sledding kids or whatever, sort of like the downtown stores had the robotic characters in their windows).

They were spread out over the walking areas, so families would just go see the fountains in the summer and the christmas characters in the winter.

(I assume the robotic vignettes were actually how the center converted the fountains for winter use–turn the water off and put a glass covered vignette in a fountain’s place–but I can’t really remember.)

I see the comments above about “how could people shop outside in Chicago,” but they really turned the outdoor aspects into an asset. And, you know, the cold weather doesn’t stop Michigan Ave. from being packed in the Christmas season either.

I was disappointed that McDonald’s moved out of the center. I don’t remember who I asked about it, but someone told me McDonald’s now wants only free-standing restaurants. They no longer want to be in shopping centers, food courts, etc. (McDonald’s has moved out of Yorktown also.)

We moved to the Chicago area nearly 11 years ago, settling in DuPage County. I recall at the time that my wife and I were surprised to find an open air mall (Oakbrook) in the area. We had the usual reaction- An unenclosed mall in Chicago? In the winter? Must be awful, we thought. But, as we learned our way around the western suburbs, exploring the various shopping venues, Oakbrook became our favorite. Oakbrook has many assets that far outweigh the seeming inconvenience of inclement winter weather.

Some of those assets:
1.The architecture- nothing gimmicky, just a clean fresh international style that is as contemporary in 2009 as it was in the 1960s when Oakbrook was built.;
2. The landscaping – the gardens are well-tended, the trees are mature and one can actually experience the change of seasons which, to my mind, is a positive. Oh- and the fountains work!
3. The mix of stores. Really, there are very few stores on Chicago’s famed Michigan Avenue that do not also have locations in Oakbrook.

I have no disclaimer to make here, because I have no connection with Oakbrook ownership or any of the Oakbrook stores. I just happen to recognize Oakbrook as one mall (may be the only mall) that actually is capable of generating some enthusiasm among my family. Yorktown down the road is certainly an acceptable mall and in fact seems to be improving, but Yorktown just doesn’t have the same panache as Oakbrook. Interestingly, the newest section of Yorktown, on the site of the old Montgomery Wards, is open air, with storefronts facing open walkways, apparently in emulation of Oakbrook- good luck, Yorktown…

Shopping at Oakbrook is cool because it feels as if you are walking in a garden.The mall has undergone renovations, but those changes showed some sensitivity to the original design, unlike the clownish renovations that were done at Old Orchard.

Oakbrook has a sense of style and class, is aesthetically pleasing, and as someone else mentioned, the people seem to be more well-mannered than in other malls. That’s not being snooty, it’s just a reflection of the surroundings-they are designed to uplift.

Orland Square once had a 4 screen theater(later called Orland Square 7-10, which opened under Plitt Theaters in 1977, and later when the theaters were renumbered, Cineplex Odeon). After Cineplex Odeon and Plitt theaters merged in the mid-1980s, CO opened Orland Square 1-6 in the late 80s.

Both theaters operated, until Marcus Theaters opened a 10(later 14, when a 4-screen addition was built after it opened) screen theater in Orland Park. Theaters 7-10 closed in the late 1990s, and 1-6 closed in 2001, around the time CO and Loews Theaters(Loews sometimes went under the name Sony Theaters) merged. I remember the CO chain extremely well, and it was quite a nostalgia trip to go to Rivertree Court(8 screen theater in Vernon Hills originally built by CO, and which have a similar design to Orland Square 1-6) in December of last year!

Here’s more info on both Orland Square 1-6 and 7-10:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/5369/
http://www.cinematour.com/theatres/us/IL/11.html

I really hope you do try to copy the important information from his posts, in case the site again attempts to take the old posts offline. Just hope Web Archive did save his posts regardless, during one of their recent rounds of archiving sites.