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Detroit historic theatres tour
posted by
philbertgray
on
August 5, 2008 at 10:00 am
DETROIT MI — The annual Preservation Wayne Historic Theatre Tour in Detroit will be held August 9th. The tour is almost always a sellout and tickets should be booked early.
This year’s tour will be highlighted by a look at what remains of the original grand lobby of the Oriental Theatre on West Adams Street. The 3,000-seat auditorium was demolished in the 1950s, but the lobby remains. It has been sealed off for much of the past 50 years.
The tour lasts about 4 hours and leaves every thirty minutes from 9 am to 11:30 am from the lobby of the Fillmore Detroit (formerly the State Theatre), at Woodward Avenue at Elizabeth Street. Theatres to be toured this year include the Gem, Century, Michigan and Fox theaters. The Fox will offer a demonstration of its Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ with Dave Calendine on the console. A box lunch will be served at the Detroit Opera House, also part of the tour.
Tickets, $40, are available through www.preservationwayne.org or at 313-577-7674.
(Thanks to J'ossettelope for providing the photo.)
Comments (1)
This sounds like a good tour. To bad i am in californis. my friend Richard will be going this Sat. No one has any photos of the Oriental Theatre in Detroit. Once called the RKO Downtown. Rich is looking with interest to at least seeing what is left of the lobby. Even in MH’s great ‘Detroit Theatre Book’ no photos come up for the Oriental. I guess they went with the bulldozer in the early 70’s. How lucky people will be on this special Saturday tour and to hear the organ at the ‘Fox Detroit’ and a box lunch. If your in the Detroit area make it a date this Sat Aug 9 to see what is left in the MotorCity. Someday they may be able to go into the long closed ‘United Artists Theatre’ and see the torn out mess inside of what was once a great movie palace. Park your car in the once former ‘Michigan Theatre’. This place is a real trip to see and I think is on the tour. Have fun this Saturday!