UNITED ARTISTS
MOVIES AT FAIRLANE
TODAY
Unfortunately the theater that we all knew is now gone. It had undergone a major restoration in the 1990's, and then just a couple years later they tore out that whole section of the mall and built the Star of Fairlane 20. Now there are 20 large stadium seating style theaters in place of the Movies At Fairlane. The building extends almost halfway out to the perimiter street which circles the mall. At the center area of the photo where the sky-witch is you can see where parking and our entrance to the mall used to be.
The inside of the mall today. The photo on the left shows where the upstairs theaters used to stand. Security has also been moved to another part of the mall. Having Security right next door was always a good thing! On the right side of this photo is where Olga's Kitchen used to be. The photo on the right shows where the downstairs entrance to the mall used to be. Where the ticket box once was located is now the Cyber Coaster ride. Also gone is the Jonathon B. Pub.
The marquee was torn down in May, 2003. This was the last piece of the theater that was still in existence. These photos of the marquee were taken two weeks before it was torn down. It looks like they poured the foundation for a new sign.
Changing the marquee was not a fun job. During the winter in sub-freezing temperatures Jerry Powers & I had to balance the tall ladder against the marquee on a snowy/icy sloped hill, and hope the it didn't slip out from underneath us. United Artists supplied us with snowsuits if we needed them. During the summer it was better, and we used to hang from the bar 30 feet up and do chin-ups! If there was only one change to be made on Thursday nights we had to drive in, get the letters, make the change, and could be done in about one-half hour. That meant that we had to give up our plans and be available every Thursday night to make $1.68, before taxes! Jim Hayden finally negotiated a deal with us where we would be paid for 2 hours of work to change the marquee, whether any changes needed to be made or not. Rarely did we get a night off and make that extra 2 hours for free.
The mall hasn't changed much in the past 20 years. The Hyatt Regency is still there, but it isn't connected to the mall by the People Mover any more. The People Mover was torn down many years ago. Hudson's is now Marshall Fields. Many of the restaurants are gone, and have been replaced by the Food Court. I work out at Bally's at Fairlane a couple times a week during my lunch break.
One of the best times of the year was the Christmas party! I don't know how no one got in trouble with all the alcohol we kids drank! Once I was so drunk after leaving I couldn't see the median in front of me in the middle of Greenfield Road until I hit it. The building where we had our annual Chrismas parties is still located at 6606 Greenfield Road, in East Dearborn. It isn't the MEA hall anymore. I have no idea what it is now. Dearborn has the largest Arabic population in the world outside of the Middle East. If you can read what this sign says you've been living in East Dearborn for a long time!