If a “living wage” ordinance becomes the law in Oak Park, mandating $11.50 an hour for all employees, the Lake Theater on Lake Street will close, owner Willis Johnson told the Oak Park Community Relations Commission Wednesday night at a hearing in Village Hall.

Johnson pays many employees $8 an hour, and to raise it to the prescribed level would put the Lake out of competition with theaters in four neighboring communities, he said, delivering the night’s heaviest blow against the proposed ordinance after a series of employers had similarly spoken against it and others for it.

The commission has a document ready for delivering to the village board in which it recommends the $11.50 minimum.  It had been charged by the board with offering its recommendation in the wake of a November 2008 advisory referendum in which a “living wage” was supported by 60% of voters.

The Lake is an anchor of after-hours life in Downtown Oak Park and draws customers from Oak Park and other suburbs and the West Side of Chicago.  Classic Cinemas has had it since 1981.

.. On April 11, 1936, the Lake Theatre opened with a single screen, and a seating capacity of 1,420. Designed by world-renowned architect Thomas Lamb, the Lake is a prime example of art deco style. When Classic Cinemas took over the Lake in 1981, its distinctive decorative elements had long been painted over, and water damage from a leaky roof had destroyed much of its plasterwork. Classic Cinemas was finally able to purchase the theatre in December of 1984 and immediately embarked on an ambitious renovation project.