More than 60 years after Ford City Mall opened, the shopping center—once anchored by a bank, cinemas, a bowling alley and a pocket-sized lineup of neighborhood shops—was scheduled to close by June 22. For longtime visitors on Chicago’s Southwest Side, the end
For a kid on the Southwest Side, Ford City Mall wasn’t just a place to spend money. It was a whole little world—built out of smells, sounds, and the promise that something would be happening there.
At one time. Ford City boasted a bank. a movie theater. rental apartments and a bowling alley with a cocktail lounge complete with a band that did a respectable rendition of Roy Orbison’s “Oh. Pretty Woman.” It had retailers that many shoppers can still name from the past—Wieboldt’s. JCPenney. Chas A. Stevens, Carson’s and Sears. But it was the smaller shops that made it feel like “our” kind of downtown. offering everything from hymn books to hash pipes.
There were candle shops, record stores, and a place that just sold leather jackets and coats. There was a magic shop. a Christian bookstore. and an underground clothing store fittingly called “The Nickel Bag.” The mall felt like a tiny city of sorts dedicated to the love of buying stuff—where even the layout seemed designed to keep you there long enough to forget you ever had to leave.
Now that same place is scheduled to close by June 22, more than 60 years after it first opened. High noon, no less.
The closing is landing after years of shrinkage and growing anxiety around what’s taking over in and around the parking lots. The mall is described as a shadow of its former self. reduced to a few dozen retailers. with worries over vehicle takeovers in the parking lots. flooding and sinkholes. Like all shopping malls. Ford City is also facing the same broad pressures transforming American retail—Amazon and other changes in how Americans shop.
For one longtime visitor, the memories start with a grand opening in the mid-1960s. His dad, a die-hard bargain hunter, took them. He doesn’t remember much about that evening except the buzz of crowds huddled around a stage set up in the mall. But what came next was what stuck—Ford City touching so many aspects of everyday life.
In the years that followed. the mall taught a kid how to count strikes. spares and gutter balls. especially gutter balls. The bowling alley was home of the famed “Red Pin.” If you got a strike when it was in the lead spot. the entire game was free. And it came with its own minor indignity: having to wear smelly loaner bowling shoes.
Later, at the bowling alley bar, learning kept going. Dressed in polyester “silk” disco shirts and bell-bottomed jeans, they practiced how to pretend like they knew how to dance.
He can’t say he ever went inside the Ford City Bank or the nearby Ford City Apartments—seemingly built to ensure shoppers never felt the need to leave the little city. But the movie theaters were regular territory. They were originally located just off Cicero Avenue, and started with two screens: Cinema I and Cinema II. For kids. it was the first time they’d ever heard the word “cinema. ” feeling sophisticated as they watched the original “Star Wars” trilogy. “National Lampoon’s Animal House. ” Clint Eastwood Westerns. and James Bond thrillers with 007 and Sean Connery.
There was also food—before food courts became a fixture. Ford City had a huge four-sided lunch counter plunked right in the middle of the mall, with options like Think Francheezies, Patty Melts and slices of apple pie under a heating lamp.
A few years later, “John’s Garage” opened, serving good burgers, pasta and other casual fare. Vintage gas pumps were used as a decorative motif. The place also offered a 1970s singles bar vibe, tied to the raised cocktail lounge in the center of the dining room.
And under all of it, there was Peacock Alley. It was a subterranean tunnel of offbeat offerings that stretched underneath the indoor mall and a chunk of the parking lot. It was seemingly inspired by Piper’s Alley, the 1960s counterculture shopping and entertainment district up north in Old Town. But Ford City’s version was tamer than what shoppers would find around North Wells Street. Rolling papers and bongs and the like were sold at a few shops. including “The Nickel Bag.” There was also the “Tricks and Toys” magic shop with an “Adults Only” corner of lewd party gags.
For teens and young people, Peacock Alley still delivered. Its arcade leaned toward pinball. video games and pizza. and it was described as a hot spot where virtually every young person in the neighborhood had a pair of jeans or a denim jacket they’d bought at “Just Pants.” You looked good for the crowd at the bowling alley or John’s Garage.
Now the wrecking ball is described as swinging toward 76th and Cicero.
The shift from those crowded aisles to online shopping is part of what’s driving the change. and it’s a switch that comes with real tradeoffs. The internet has meant no more sifting through the racks at “Music and Books” searching for an elusive early Pink Floyd or Hot Tuna album. No more relying on a young lady at a perfume shop to help find the perfect Valentine’s Day gift. Nearly anything can be delivered to doorsteps with virtually no wait—or human contact in most instances.
It’s a convenience that feels distant from what Ford City used to offer: the chance encounters, the laughter, the routines built around places where you could see people and be seen.
The end of Ford City Mall by June 22 doesn’t just close a storefront row. It closes a set of habits—bowling alley rituals tied to the “Red Pin. ” movie nights at Cinema I and Cinema II. lunch at a four-sided counter. and the tunnel feel of Peacock Alley with its arcades and odd shops. For someone who grew up going there, those details don’t read like nostalgia. They read like a map of how a neighborhood used to pass time.
Anyone can order jeans now. The question is whether the rest—strikes, food under a heating lamp, and the small city feeling of it all—can be delivered the same way.
Scott Fornek is a former Sun-Times staffer who most recently worked as an assistant breaking news editor. He also previously served as the newspaper’s politics editor and covered politics as a reporter.
Ford City Mall June 22 closure Southwest Side Chicago shopping retail decline bowling alley Cinema I and Cinema II Peacock Alley John’s Garage online shopping