Crosstown Theatre

Sad news: the Crosstown’s finest exterior feature, the grand vertical sign (with its miles of neon) has been taken down by the church that has owned the building since about 1977. That sign first spelled C-R-O-S-S-T-O-W-N, and then in another color it would say CROSS-TOWN and then in a third color it would say CROSSTOWN. It hasn’t run in decades, but it was visible for blocks and blocks. Happily, the building still stands and word is that the interior is well cared for.

In the picture posted above, I believe the building in the background just behind the “Crosstown” sign is the Sears Roebuck store.

Suburban? At this location?

The Crosstown was on the East side of Cleveland a little South of North Parkway and the huge Sears Roebuck store mentioned above. Old-timers said it had been started in 1941 and construction was suspended during WWII so it was just a hole in the ground until 1946. I first saw it in 1963 as a freshman at Southwestern, which was a couple of miles East on North Parkway. Saw Jean-Paul Belmondo in “That Man from Rio” and Annette Funicello in “Muscle Beach Party” there, among others (you can tell I haven’t wasted MY life). It was still in business when I got back from the AF in 1973, playing things like “Towering Inferno” and re-releases of “2001-a Space Idiocy.” Malco wasn’t pleased with the cash flow, but didn’t want to let anybody else run it for fear of the competition, so they let it sit vacant for a while in the late 70s. They were looking for a way to unload it to someone who wouldn’t use it a movie theater. Enter the Jehovah’s Witnesses. By the time I left Memphis in 1983, they had taken over not only the theater for a conference center, but the entire surrounding block for offices, classrooms, and so forth. They left the marquee and the huge vertical “Crosstown” sign in place. I bet it’s real clean inside…. Best wishes.