I can remember seeing a network news story from the ‘70s that showed the mostly-closed theaters as a symbols of Cleveland’s decline…one of them had “SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS” on the marquee. I now wonder if that might have been related to the use as a lecture hall described here rather than just a random message!
Poking through the archive.org links, I discovered that the guestbook for the oldgranadatheatre site reamins active (somebody posted there last month). Would the owner be notified when a post is made?
The history of this theater seems garbled. The article says it opened in 1913, but the Cinema Treasures page and the theater’s own web site say 1927. The National Register of Historic Places description says that 1927 was a significant year for it, but has 1900-24 as a period of significance for the building—hard for it to be significant if it doesn’t exist. Others say there’s evidence of a Rapp & Rapp theater in Sioux City built in 1917. Can anyone reconcile all this?
Address was 527 13th Street West, directly across the street from the Capri. This page links to an undated picture of street paving that shows both theaters (with the Capri closed). The picture shows this theater’s name as the Princess Cinema; it’s unclear if the theater was ever anything more than a storefront porn house.
I could not find much about old Bradenton theaters on the web. I always had the impression that the town was big enough during the pre-multiplex era to support more than the few screens that have shown up, but I could be wrong.
According to the University of South Florida the theater was located at 522 13th Street West and was previously called the Palace Theater. This page links to a picture of the Capri; it is undated but appears to be from the ‘70s. The theater was showing adult films at the time; here’s how it looked under the marquee, and here’s how it looked during the inevitable police raid. Here we have an undated picture from the opening of the Capri, with Miss Manatee County and Hernando DeSoto (or a reasonable facsimile).
The organ from this theater is now at Roaring 20’s Pizza and Pipes in Ellenton, Florida. According to a flyer from the restaurant it arrived there after stints at Ken’s Melody Inn in Los Altos, California and the Paramount Music Palace in Indianapolis (where it was enlarged and rebuilt). It went to Florida after a plan to send it to a museum in Germany fell through.
The 1975 photo is misidentified. The street sign in the picture reads North Clinton Avenue and Meade Street, making that building the Princess Theater.
One I watched at the Adelphi: TAXI DRIVER and KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.
Philadelphia Inquirer story on the theater’s comeback here. Accompanied by a set of nice photos, which may be viewed separately here.
The story puts the theater’s closing date at July 3, 1987, after a fire broke out during a showing of Beverly Hills Cop II.
I can remember seeing a network news story from the ‘70s that showed the mostly-closed theaters as a symbols of Cleveland’s decline…one of them had “SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS” on the marquee. I now wonder if that might have been related to the use as a lecture hall described here rather than just a random message!
Walter Klein Jr., the owner who restored and reopened the Vic in the 1980s, died January 21 in Arizona. A colorful obit may be found here.
This photo, dated May 5, 1959, shows the Keystone just before demolition.
NOW PLAYING! 470TH SMASH WEEK! (more or less)
“CINEMA TREASURES.ORG"
WITH A CAST OF THOUSANDS (of theaters)
CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCES—ADMISSION FREE
Former Bandbox owner Art Carduner died last Friday at age 88. A colorful Philadelphia Daily News obituary may be found here.
Poking through the archive.org links, I discovered that the guestbook for the oldgranadatheatre site reamins active (somebody posted there last month). Would the owner be notified when a post is made?
Some recent pictures here.
According to this obituary the former Roxy was until recently the home of a used book store called the Cosmic Squire.
The history of this theater seems garbled. The article says it opened in 1913, but the Cinema Treasures page and the theater’s own web site say 1927. The National Register of Historic Places description says that 1927 was a significant year for it, but has 1900-24 as a period of significance for the building—hard for it to be significant if it doesn’t exist. Others say there’s evidence of a Rapp & Rapp theater in Sioux City built in 1917. Can anyone reconcile all this?
According to this blog post a spacious private residence has been built on the Oakland Square site.
What this country needs is more signs with winking moon faces. (Among other things.)
Art Proctor, longtime owner of the Avalon, died on September 15, 2009. Obituary here.
Address was 527 13th Street West, directly across the street from the Capri. This page links to an undated picture of street paving that shows both theaters (with the Capri closed). The picture shows this theater’s name as the Princess Cinema; it’s unclear if the theater was ever anything more than a storefront porn house.
I could not find much about old Bradenton theaters on the web. I always had the impression that the town was big enough during the pre-multiplex era to support more than the few screens that have shown up, but I could be wrong.
This page links to a weekly listing from the Palace (not the Wallace as it says). Undated, but the films are mostly from 1926-27.
According to the University of South Florida the theater was located at 522 13th Street West and was previously called the Palace Theater. This page links to a picture of the Capri; it is undated but appears to be from the ‘70s. The theater was showing adult films at the time; here’s how it looked under the marquee, and here’s how it looked during the inevitable police raid. Here we have an undated picture from the opening of the Capri, with Miss Manatee County and Hernando DeSoto (or a reasonable facsimile).
The organ from this theater is now at Roaring 20’s Pizza and Pipes in Ellenton, Florida. According to a flyer from the restaurant it arrived there after stints at Ken’s Melody Inn in Los Altos, California and the Paramount Music Palace in Indianapolis (where it was enlarged and rebuilt). It went to Florida after a plan to send it to a museum in Germany fell through.
Suggested features for all-night film festival:
The Mighty Ducks
Duck Soup
$1,000,000 Duck
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
and cartoon marathons with you-know-who. No, not him, the other one.
I don’t know about the Doylestown theater, but this one was very similar to the Community Theater in Eatontown, New Jersey, pictured here.
Theater has been redeveloped as retail space; looks like they kept the facade and the neon. Here is a daytime photo.
Nice shot of the neon here. (IMDB calls that second feature a comedy, so that doesn’t resolve the Spanish porn controversy.)
Picture from 1975. Identified as the Rialto, but the street sign matches the Princess’s address.
The 1975 photo is misidentified. The street sign in the picture reads North Clinton Avenue and Meade Street, making that building the Princess Theater.
1986 picture here. The marquee looks a little battered, perhaps hinting that the end is near.