CHAMBER TO INDUCT JOHNSON INTO CIVIC HALL OF FAME
The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry has named one of the community’s most-active business executives as the 2002 inductee into its Civic Hall of Fame.
Willis Johnson, President of family-owned and operated Tivoli Enterprises, Inc., which includes the York Theatre in downtown Elmhurst and 14 other Classic Cinemas movie theatres (www.classiccinemas.com), a bowling center, residential hotel and commercial properties, will be inducted during the Opening Ceremonies for Elmfest 2002 at the Fifth Third Bank City Centre Stage on Schiller Avenue on Friday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m.
“Willis Johnson has contributed greatly to the redevelopment of Elmhurst’s Central Business District as both a business owner and real estate developer,” said John R. Quigley, President of the Elmhurst Chamber. “He also has volunteered his services to the benefit of business-related organizations as the Elmhurst Economic Development Corporation, Elmhurst City Centre and the Chamber.”
Johnson, who will enter the Civic Hall of Fame as the Chamber’s 11th inductee, oversees the operations of Downers Grove-Tivoli Enterprises, which employs more than 400 people, along with his wife, Shirley, and their son, Chris.
His movie career didn’t take off until Johnson, then a partner in a printing business for 20 years, was in his early 40s. He purchased the Tivoli Building in downtown Downers Grove in 1976 and began a long-term renovation of the block-size property that housed a hotel, bowling alley, restaurant, store frontage and the theatre. In 1978, he took over the 1928-built Tivoli Theatre when his largest tenant closed the theatre for “remodeling.”
Born and raised in Downers Grove, Johnson worked with his father at the International Harvester plant in Melrose Park after graduating high school and then Western Michigan University (1959), only to be laid off in 1960.
In 1961, Johnson and his brother started a Downers Grove-based printing business that is still in operation. From its modest roots, Johnson Printers expanded from letter press to offset to display materials by 1967.
When General Cinemas opened at Yorktown Shopping Center in neighboring Lombard, the Tivoli Theatre could no longer book first-run movies, forcing owner Oscar Brotman to close down. Then the theatre’s former manager agreed to book films and sell tickets, if the Johnsons paid the insurance and other bills. The Tivoli Theatre reopened as a first-run movie house, but economics required changing to a bargain theatre. After two decades of restoration work, the Tivoli Theatre celebrated its grand reopening in 1986.
Shirley Johnson, who spent 17 years in marketing at Miles Laboratories, handles advertising for Tivoli Enterprises.
The Johnson’s son serves as Tivoli Enterprises’ Vice President in charge of day-to-day operations after working his way up the corporate ladder from a 13-year-old janitor to usher to Assistant Manager to Concessions Manager to Operations Manager. During that time, he earned degrees from the University of Chicago (MBA with honors) and University of Illinois (BA with highest honors).
The Johnson family includes seven children, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Classic Cinemas
www.classiccinemas.com
The York Theatre at 150 North York Street and Downers Grove’s Tivoli Theatre are among the showpieces of Classic Cinemas’ 15 first- and second-run theatres in 13 communities throughout the Chicago area.
Johnson’s chain of theatres includes the Casino Cinema (Elgin), Charlestowne 18 (St. Charles), Cinema 12 (Carpentersville), Elk Grove, Fox Lake, Lake (Oak Park), Lindo (Freeport), Meadowview (Kankakee), Ogden 6 (Naperville), Paramount (Kankakee), Park Forest, Tradewinds (Hanover Park) and Woodstock.
Over the years, Johnson has worked tirelessly to restore the original architecture of the historical buildings in which his theatres are housed, while equipping the theatres with state-of-the-art projection and sound technology, and modern customer comforts.
York Theatre
The second oldest of Classic Cinemas’ theatres, the York Theatre was designed by noted theatre architect Elmer Behrens. It opened on Labor Day in 1924.
The Johnsons took over management of the York Theatre in 1982 as tenants, purchased the building in 1984 after their landlord went bankrupt and extensively renovated the facilities in 1991—restoring the original Spanish dйcor and redesigning the large single screen theatre into three auditoriums. In 1993, the adjacent Keeler Candy space was purchased and two more auditoriums were designed.
An Elmhurst landmark for more than six decades, the York Theatre’s restored stainless steel and porcelain high-rise marquee illuminates the Art Deco style that replaced the Spanish motif in 1938. It features 1,000 light bulbs and 1,000 feet of neon lighting. The theatre’s faзade restoration received an Honorable Mention Award from the Elmhurst Historical Society in 1994.
The theatre’s original orchestra pit housed a $20,000 Barthold pipe organ and now boasts a Barton pipe organ that was originally installed in Champaign’s Rialto Theatre in 1925.
Property Owner/Landlord
Besides his resurrection of the York Theatre building, Johnson has invested in the downtown business community as a property owner and landlord. His 1993 faзade and store front rehabilitation project of the Pettingill building, which Johnson purchased in 1992, attracted Starbucks Coffee as the corner anchor at York and Second streets. Earlier this year, he purchased the Ganet building, adding Leonard’s Fine Men’s Clothing to his growing list of tenants.
Elmhurst Economic Development Corporation
www.eedc.org
Johnson is an elected member of the Board of Directors of Elmhurst Economic Development Corporation, an independently chartered organization that serves as the marketing arm of the City of Elmhurst. Currently he serves as Chairman of the EEDC’s Marketing Committee.
Elmhurst City Centre
www.elmhurstcitycentre.com
Johnson is a founding member and Past President of Elmhurst City Centre, a not-for-profit organization of business and property owners that collectively markets and manages downtown Elmhurst. Currently, he serves on City Centre’s Board of Directors as Vice President and Chairman of the Marketing Committee.
Theatre Historical Society
www.historictheatres.org
Johnson and his wife also are long-time members of the Theatre Historical Society of America, a national organization founded in 1969 to document and preserve the history of theatre buildings. Its national headquarters is located in the stored second floor space in the York Theatre building.