Euclid Theatre
E. Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland,
OH
44115
E. Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland,
OH
44115
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Showing 26 - 31 of 31 comments
Jeans Funny House was next door to the Roxy –
I’m wondering if this Oriental might have had another name.
It sounds like the Oriental was on the site where the East Ohio Gas Building or the former Continental Bank building was later built. I don’t recall the Oriental, but I do remember a penny arcade on Ninth called Jean’s Funny House.
Bond’s was built in 1947, I don’t know what was there before, it was before my time. Also, there was another burlesque house called the Oriental north of the Union Commerce Bldg and opposite the Roxy.
I am beginning to wonder if there might have been two Euclid theaters in Cleveland at different times. Mike Rivest’s list of theaters for Cleveland shows a Euclid Theater at Ivanhoe and Euclid, and I can vouch for a theater having once operated at that location, although it had closed prior to 1958 when my family moved to the area.
As I noted above, the auditorium section was clearly visible to anyone standing on Ivanhoe looking west, behind a block of stores that fronted on Euclid; it may still be there today. It was also probably a movie theater only as the proscenium end had no apparent stagehouse, which would suggest it was purpose-built for movies, whereas a theater built in 1914 would probably have served a variety of uses.
There was definitely not a Euclid Theater operating at Ninth and Euclid when I lived in Cleveland (1950-1970). Euclid and Ninth Street is an intersection that is very distinctive and well-remembered by me, as my mother worked in an office nearby. The Bond clothing store was on the NW corner; the huge Union Commerce Building was on the NE. On the SE corner was the classic Cleveland Trust building with its dome, and on the SW corner was an office building with a jewelry store and pharmacy at ground level.
The only theaters that I recall from 1950 and after, at or near the intersection, were the Hippodrome and the Embassy facing each other on Euclid and the Roxy burlesque house on Ninth. The next theater on Euclid would have been Loew’s Stillman further east on Euclid at 12th, closer to Playhouse Square.
I think that it is possible the 1914 Euclid was demolished and that the theater at Euclid and Ivanhoe was built some years after and took the name. Perhaps someone with access to those Film Daily Yearbooks or the archives of the Cleveland Plain Dealer could research the question.
There was definitely, however, a theater on the north side of Euclid at Ivanhoe. I grew up about a mile from there, and the portion of the building that would have housed the auditorium and proscenium was visible and readily identifiable for years when I walked down Ivanhoe to Collinwood High School. The theatre had closed before my family moved to the area, but the neighbors occasionally mentioned it. I don’t think it was called the Euclid or the Ivanhoe, but I can’t, for the life of me, recall what it was called. The lobby and entryway were probably converted to stores.
The address above is incorrect. I had it listed as East 9th Street & Euclid Ave. Cleve OH 44115, which was its downtown location, though I don’t know the exact address. Somehow it got changed to 16359 Euclid Ave. which is out at Euclid Ave. & Ivanhoe Rd. in suburban East Cleveland, several miles to the east.