Paul Schlossman’s Rialto, Regent, Majestic (1917 rebuild), and Michigan Theatres in Muskegon were all designed by C. Howard Crane. He also designed the Strand in Muskegon Heights.
The July 10, 1915 issue of The American Contractor said that additional contracts had been awarded for B. C. Ohmann’s new theater under construction at Lyons. The project had been designed by Syracuse architects E. A. Howard & Son.
An article in the December 26, 2013 issue of the Anchorage Daily News says of the Center Theatre that today “…extensively remodeled, the building houses the Eagle Hotel, Restaurant and Lounge….” The Eagle Hotel is at 918 S. Colony Way.
It’s impossible to tell from the Google street view exactly which part of the now greatly expanded structure the theater occupied. It has been engulfed. It’s even possible that the theater entrance was around the corner on the Elmwood Avenue side of the building.
This page has been up for about ten years now and it only has two comments. Does nobody go to movies in Alhambra anymore? It hardly seems worth my effort to have submitted it.
In any case, there has been a change at the theater and it is now Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14 & IMAX. It doesn’t look like there’s been any expansion of the building, so the original interior must have been reconfigured, probably with one of the 400-seat auditoriums converted for IMAX, and maybe another one split to add another screen. Or is the IMAX counted as one of the 14 screens? Since nobody who has been to this theater since 2008 has seen fit to comment, maybe we’ll never know.
The Sultana Theatre is at 305 W. Route 66 (aka Grand Canyon Avenue.) A sign reading “Sultana Theater” is above the entrance, but there is no signage indicating that there is still a steak house in the building. It must have either gone under or moved to another location.
Next door to the east, at 301 Route 66, on the corner of 3rd Street, is the “World Famous Sultana Bar,” and next door to the west, at 309, is a tobacconist’s shop called “Oh Sweetie.” The three occupy a single-story edifice with a unified facade, but satellite view shows that the part with the tobacconist was probably a later addition to the L-shaped corner structure. The theater’s auditorium, which has a gabled roof, looks like it might have also been a later addition.
A TripAdvisor review of the bar dated March 25, 2016, has this somewhat puzzling bit about the theater:
“The Sultana theater is a private type of setting, and does have various activities going on: Sometimes, shopping sprees, memorials, and the like. Sometimes, maybe a wedding or some other activity.”
Whatever the lobby is being used for, it appears that the auditorium has been reconfigured for use as a wedding chapel and associated reception rooms. The entrance to the Guadalupe Wedding Chapel is around the corner on Florence Avenue.
I believe Ivan and Eula Hansen were either the owners or the managers of the Cairo Theatre (see earlier comments.) Mr. Hansen didn’t work for S. Charles Lee, but hired him to prepare the plans for the 1933 remodeling.
Perrien Theatre is indeed the correct spelling. There is a Perrien Park in the neighborhood, in the 4800 block of Chene Street. The theater was listed in the 1914 city directory.
The “New Theatre Projects” column of the July 1, 1933 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this notice about the proposed remodeling of this theater, which might have been occasioned by damage the building sustained in the earthquake that had struck southern California on March 10 that year:
“LOS ANGELES— Mr. Hanson, c/o architect, S. Charles Lee, 2404 W. 7th Street. To remodel theatre at corner of 111th and Main Streets. Cost $7,000”
The Tempest Theatre’s first appearance in the Los Angeles City directory was 1926. The address does not appear earlier, so Tempest was likely the opening name of the house, and the opening was most likely in 1925 or very early 1926, depending on when the directory was compiled.
The “New Theatre Projects” column of Motion Picture Herald, July 1, 1933, had this item about the Capitol Theatre:
“LONG BEACH— Capitol Theatre, 219 E. Seaside Avenue. To re-build theatre demolished by earthquake. Architect, H. Alfred Anderson, 30 Pine Avenue. Mr. Ballinger, owner. General contractor, M. H. Walter, 219 E. Seaside Avenue, Long Beach. Cost $30,000”
As the Tracy’s front clearly dated from well before 1933, the rebuilding must have been confined primarily to the interior and rear of the house. The Capitol was one of four Long Beach theater repair or rebuilding projects listed in the column that week, all of which must have been occasioned by the large earthquake that had struck the city on March 10.
It’s interesting to note that architect H. Alfred Anderson’s address, 30 Pine Avenue, was in the Palace Theatre building, which he had designed in 1916.
The NRHP registration form for the Windsor Village Historic District says that the Strand Theatre was built in 1917 at the rear of an existing two-story brick commercial building which is still standing at 131 Main Street. The theater addition was destroyed by a fire, but the document doesn’t say when.
The Gotham Theatre was built in 1920 and designed by Carlson & Wiseman. A notice that plans for the project had been filed appeared in the September 25, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. This web page has an overview of the theater’s history.
The September 4, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide had a short article saying that the City of New York had granted a twenty year lease on a plot of city-owned land under the Manhattan Bridge to developer Henry E. Jacobs.
Jacobs planned to erect a two-story store and showroom building along the East Broadway frontage, which would include an entrance for a moving picture theater that would occupy the remainder of the plot. The entire project was being designed by architects Gronenberg & Leuchtag. The theater was to be leased to the Florence Theatre Corporation, also for a term of twenty years.
Extensive alterations were made to the Riverhead Theatre in 1931, the house reopening on February 5 as advertised in that day’s issue of The County Review (PDF here.) The architect for the remodeling was Calvin Kiessling, who had offices in New York City and in New Caanan, Connecticut.
The Scenic Theatre was the only theater listed for Keene in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. This PDF file has an extract from a book about Keene which says that the Scenic Theatre was built by Pike & Whipple in 1914, and the building was demolished in 1966. A 2004 article gives the Scenic’s opening date as March 2, and says that it closed in the early 1960s.
Theater industry trade journals indicate that by early 1918 the Scenic was being run by Charles C. Baldwin, who would open the Colonial Theatre in 1924. Keene’s first motion picture house, the Nickel Theatre (aka Majestic) opened on Church Street on January 9, 1905, and by 1913 the town had a house called the Dreamland Theatre.
Larry Harnisch’s “Daily Mirror” weblog has posted an ad for this theater that ran in the July 17, 1947 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinal, the city’s African-American newspaper. The ad promotes the house as the Flo-Mills Theatre.
The Rex Theatre was mentioned in the June 15, 1918 issue of Motography. The Victor Theatre was open by 1906, and construction had begun in 1905. It was listed as a 900-seat, ground floor house in the Cahn guides. The Victor was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory along with houses called the Lyric and the Majestic.
This item from the August 10, 1969 issue of The Tennessean contradicts our current description of this house. It says that the Madison Theatre was opened by Martin Theatres. I notice that the grand opening ad uploaded by Mike Rivest doesn’t mention either Loew’s or Martin, but it must have been a Martin house first, later taken over by Loew’s.
Architects were the Columbus, Georgia firm Brookbank, Murphy & Shields. Predecessor firm Brookbank & Murphy had designed Martin’s Georgia Cinerama in Atlanta in 1965, and probably did a number of other projects for Martin during this period.
Rstewart: Martin did have at least one theater designed by Brookbank, Murphy & Shields, the successors to the firm that designed the Georgia Cinerama. It’s the only one I’ve identified so far, being the Madison Theatre in Nashville, which doesn’t look much like the Georgia house. Chains tend to stay with the same architects for many projects, though, so it’s entirely possible that there is a near-twin to the Martin Cinerama out there somewhere.
I’ve been hunting down more information about the Odeon and the Bijou, and though I’ve found out that both opened somewhat earlier than I’d thought, I haven’t had much luck unraveling the confusion over the later names used in the 1920s. I’ll put together what I’ve found so far and submit the new pages as soon as possible.
This item about the 1927 rebuilding of the Robinson Grand Theatre is from the July 9 issue of The Moving Picture World:
“Construction work on the Robinson Grand Theatre, Clarksburg, W. Va., is being speeded up by increased labor and a night shift in an effort to get the new playhouse ready for its formal opening, scheduled for Labor Day, or, perhaps, a little sooner. Interior decorating is to begin within a short time. All steel construction is being used throughout in the building, and it is said that the house is as near fireproof as engineers can make it.”
An ad for the Pictureland Theatre appears in the November 7, 1924, issue of a publication called The Tower. The 1926 edition of Glenville State Normal School’s student annual, “The Kanewhachen,” makes reference to a showingof “The Ten Commandments” at the Pictureland Theatre on October 5, 1925.
The Pictureland Theatre is listed in the 1926 FDY, though with only 100 seats, so the house was probably either expanded or moved to a new location later. I did find this web page with the line: “Finally, Thelma told me she and Newsom were able to get an apartment over the new Pictureland Theatre owned by Judge Marsh in 1929.” The wording suggests a new location more than an expansion.
The March 11, 1939 issue of Boxoffice had this news from Glenville:
“Lyric to Haney
“Glenville, W. Va. — H. L. Stump has withdrawn from the operation of the new Lyric Theatre which was opened here less than two months ago. Bruce Haney is now in charge.”
The New Lyric Theatre was advertised in the January 17, 1939 issue of The Glenville Mercury.
There are references to an earlier house called the Lyric Theatre in Glenville, operating at least as early as 1925, which might have been the year it opened. The 1926 FDY has listings for the Pictureland Theatre and an “M. P. Theatre” at Glenville, which might indicate that the new house hadn’t yet been opened or named when the yearbook went to press sometime in late 1925.
The Strand was one of several Muskegon area theaters designed for Paul Schlossman by Detroit theater architect C. Howard Crane.
Paul Schlossman’s Rialto, Regent, Majestic (1917 rebuild), and Michigan Theatres in Muskegon were all designed by C. Howard Crane. He also designed the Strand in Muskegon Heights.
The July 10, 1915 issue of The American Contractor said that additional contracts had been awarded for B. C. Ohmann’s new theater under construction at Lyons. The project had been designed by Syracuse architects E. A. Howard & Son.
An article in the December 26, 2013 issue of the Anchorage Daily News says of the Center Theatre that today “…extensively remodeled, the building houses the Eagle Hotel, Restaurant and Lounge….” The Eagle Hotel is at 918 S. Colony Way.
It’s impossible to tell from the Google street view exactly which part of the now greatly expanded structure the theater occupied. It has been engulfed. It’s even possible that the theater entrance was around the corner on the Elmwood Avenue side of the building.
This page has been up for about ten years now and it only has two comments. Does nobody go to movies in Alhambra anymore? It hardly seems worth my effort to have submitted it.
In any case, there has been a change at the theater and it is now Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14 & IMAX. It doesn’t look like there’s been any expansion of the building, so the original interior must have been reconfigured, probably with one of the 400-seat auditoriums converted for IMAX, and maybe another one split to add another screen. Or is the IMAX counted as one of the 14 screens? Since nobody who has been to this theater since 2008 has seen fit to comment, maybe we’ll never know.
The Sultana Theatre is at 305 W. Route 66 (aka Grand Canyon Avenue.) A sign reading “Sultana Theater” is above the entrance, but there is no signage indicating that there is still a steak house in the building. It must have either gone under or moved to another location.
Next door to the east, at 301 Route 66, on the corner of 3rd Street, is the “World Famous Sultana Bar,” and next door to the west, at 309, is a tobacconist’s shop called “Oh Sweetie.” The three occupy a single-story edifice with a unified facade, but satellite view shows that the part with the tobacconist was probably a later addition to the L-shaped corner structure. The theater’s auditorium, which has a gabled roof, looks like it might have also been a later addition.
A TripAdvisor review of the bar dated March 25, 2016, has this somewhat puzzling bit about the theater:
Whatever the lobby is being used for, it appears that the auditorium has been reconfigured for use as a wedding chapel and associated reception rooms. The entrance to the Guadalupe Wedding Chapel is around the corner on Florence Avenue.
I believe Ivan and Eula Hansen were either the owners or the managers of the Cairo Theatre (see earlier comments.) Mr. Hansen didn’t work for S. Charles Lee, but hired him to prepare the plans for the 1933 remodeling.
Perrien Theatre is indeed the correct spelling. There is a Perrien Park in the neighborhood, in the 4800 block of Chene Street. The theater was listed in the 1914 city directory.
The “New Theatre Projects” column of the July 1, 1933 issue of Motion Picture Herald had this notice about the proposed remodeling of this theater, which might have been occasioned by damage the building sustained in the earthquake that had struck southern California on March 10 that year:
The Tempest Theatre’s first appearance in the Los Angeles City directory was 1926. The address does not appear earlier, so Tempest was likely the opening name of the house, and the opening was most likely in 1925 or very early 1926, depending on when the directory was compiled.The “New Theatre Projects” column of Motion Picture Herald, July 1, 1933, had this item about the Capitol Theatre:
As the Tracy’s front clearly dated from well before 1933, the rebuilding must have been confined primarily to the interior and rear of the house. The Capitol was one of four Long Beach theater repair or rebuilding projects listed in the column that week, all of which must have been occasioned by the large earthquake that had struck the city on March 10.It’s interesting to note that architect H. Alfred Anderson’s address, 30 Pine Avenue, was in the Palace Theatre building, which he had designed in 1916.
The NRHP registration form for the Windsor Village Historic District says that the Strand Theatre was built in 1917 at the rear of an existing two-story brick commercial building which is still standing at 131 Main Street. The theater addition was destroyed by a fire, but the document doesn’t say when.
The Gotham Theatre was built in 1920 and designed by Carlson & Wiseman. A notice that plans for the project had been filed appeared in the September 25, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. This web page has an overview of the theater’s history.
The September 4, 1920 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide had a short article saying that the City of New York had granted a twenty year lease on a plot of city-owned land under the Manhattan Bridge to developer Henry E. Jacobs.
Jacobs planned to erect a two-story store and showroom building along the East Broadway frontage, which would include an entrance for a moving picture theater that would occupy the remainder of the plot. The entire project was being designed by architects Gronenberg & Leuchtag. The theater was to be leased to the Florence Theatre Corporation, also for a term of twenty years.
Extensive alterations were made to the Riverhead Theatre in 1931, the house reopening on February 5 as advertised in that day’s issue of The County Review (PDF here.) The architect for the remodeling was Calvin Kiessling, who had offices in New York City and in New Caanan, Connecticut.
The Scenic Theatre was the only theater listed for Keene in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. This PDF file has an extract from a book about Keene which says that the Scenic Theatre was built by Pike & Whipple in 1914, and the building was demolished in 1966. A 2004 article gives the Scenic’s opening date as March 2, and says that it closed in the early 1960s.
Theater industry trade journals indicate that by early 1918 the Scenic was being run by Charles C. Baldwin, who would open the Colonial Theatre in 1924. Keene’s first motion picture house, the Nickel Theatre (aka Majestic) opened on Church Street on January 9, 1905, and by 1913 the town had a house called the Dreamland Theatre.
Larry Harnisch’s “Daily Mirror” weblog has posted an ad for this theater that ran in the July 17, 1947 issue of the Los Angeles Sentinal, the city’s African-American newspaper. The ad promotes the house as the Flo-Mills Theatre.
The Liberty Theatre was at 221 E. Main Street, according to this article. The Liberty was in operation from 1929 to 1956.
The Rex Theatre was mentioned in the June 15, 1918 issue of Motography. The Victor Theatre was open by 1906, and construction had begun in 1905. It was listed as a 900-seat, ground floor house in the Cahn guides. The Victor was listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory along with houses called the Lyric and the Majestic.
This item from the August 10, 1969 issue of The Tennessean contradicts our current description of this house. It says that the Madison Theatre was opened by Martin Theatres. I notice that the grand opening ad uploaded by Mike Rivest doesn’t mention either Loew’s or Martin, but it must have been a Martin house first, later taken over by Loew’s.
Architects were the Columbus, Georgia firm Brookbank, Murphy & Shields. Predecessor firm Brookbank & Murphy had designed Martin’s Georgia Cinerama in Atlanta in 1965, and probably did a number of other projects for Martin during this period.
Rstewart: Martin did have at least one theater designed by Brookbank, Murphy & Shields, the successors to the firm that designed the Georgia Cinerama. It’s the only one I’ve identified so far, being the Madison Theatre in Nashville, which doesn’t look much like the Georgia house. Chains tend to stay with the same architects for many projects, though, so it’s entirely possible that there is a near-twin to the Martin Cinerama out there somewhere.
I’ve been hunting down more information about the Odeon and the Bijou, and though I’ve found out that both opened somewhat earlier than I’d thought, I haven’t had much luck unraveling the confusion over the later names used in the 1920s. I’ll put together what I’ve found so far and submit the new pages as soon as possible.
This item about the 1927 rebuilding of the Robinson Grand Theatre is from the July 9 issue of The Moving Picture World:
An ad for the Pictureland Theatre appears in the November 7, 1924, issue of a publication called The Tower. The 1926 edition of Glenville State Normal School’s student annual, “The Kanewhachen,” makes reference to a showingof “The Ten Commandments” at the Pictureland Theatre on October 5, 1925.
The Pictureland Theatre is listed in the 1926 FDY, though with only 100 seats, so the house was probably either expanded or moved to a new location later. I did find this web page with the line: “Finally, Thelma told me she and Newsom were able to get an apartment over the new Pictureland Theatre owned by Judge Marsh in 1929.” The wording suggests a new location more than an expansion.
The March 11, 1939 issue of Boxoffice had this news from Glenville:
The New Lyric Theatre was advertised in the January 17, 1939 issue of The Glenville Mercury.There are references to an earlier house called the Lyric Theatre in Glenville, operating at least as early as 1925, which might have been the year it opened. The 1926 FDY has listings for the Pictureland Theatre and an “M. P. Theatre” at Glenville, which might indicate that the new house hadn’t yet been opened or named when the yearbook went to press sometime in late 1925.