The Cameo Theatre currently linked in the “Nearby Theaters” field is actually a duplicate listing for the Rialto.
The web page lostmemory linked to says that this house showed its last movie as the Rialto on April 26, 1958; operated as the Dex Theatre from December 31, 1965 until May 10, 1970; was the Cameo from September 28, 1970, until July 1, 1971; and was last operated as the Astro, from July 2, 1971, until January 20, 1972. As the Astro, it was an adult house from opening until December 17, 1971.
This theater’s building appears to be quite old. It could date from the 1920s or earlier, and its current simple facade is probably the result of a remodeling at some point. The south side neighborhood in which it is located is itself quite old, with many buildings dating from the late 19th and early 20th century. The St. Joseph stockyards, once the largest west of Chicago, were opened in this outlying area of the city in the late 19th century, and for several decades this was a thriving working class district, though not without its posher streets inhabited in part by the managers of the meat packing plants and other industrial enterprises located nearby.
The May 17, 1947, issue of The Billboard mentioned the Rialto Theatre, saying that a half-hour live broadcast of Bud Bailey’s Radio Jamboree, a country music show, was originating at the theater every Monday night. I’ve been unable to find any earlier mentions of the Rialto in any of the entertainment trade publications.
According to the caption of a photo on page 79 of the book “Bristol,” by George Stone (Google Books preview,) The State Theatre opened around 1940 in a building at 503 State Street, which would put it on the Virginia side of the street. The building had been occupied by a nickelodeon called the Eagle Picture Parlor during the silent era, and had later housed a billiard parlor. It doesn’t say when the State Theatre closed, but the building is still standing, now occupied by a Karate studio. It doesn’t look big enough to have held 750 seats, though.
The caption also says that there was a theater called the Isis next door to the Eagle (probably at 505 State Street.) The Isis operated at least into the 1920s. That building is also still standing.
Here is an article in The southwest Times that says the auditorium of the Dalton Theatre collapsed in 1982.
Early plans for Dalton and Richardson’s new theater at Pulaski were announced in the July 26, 1919, issue of The American Contractor. The announcement said that the lot on which the building would be erected was 81x180 feet. The project was to include a three-story office and commercial building as well as the theater. Only the office/commercial portion of the building is still standing. The larger part of the lot, where the theater once stood, is now an ill-kept parking lot.
From Google’s satellite view, it can be seen that the building is in the block of Washington just north of First Street, and adjacent to Peak Creek, the watercourse that runs through the town. That’s the 100 block of Washington, not the 200 block, so the correct address is most likely 106 N. Washington Avenue.
I wonder if the James C. Lombard & Co. mentioned in the NRHP data was a construction company, rather than an architectural firm? The notice in The American Contractor gave the name of the architect as John R. Forsythe, of Baltimore. I can’t find any other references to Lombard & Co. on the Internet, but Forsythe was a fairly well-known architect of the period, and is listed at Cinema Treasures as designer of the Pimlico Theatre in Baltimore. However, the nearly two-year gap between the announcement that Forsythe was drawing plans for the project and the actual opening of the theater might indicate that the original design was abandoned.
The AKA should be Towers Theatre, rather than Tower Theatre. The book Old Louisville, by David Dominé and Ronald Lew Harris, has a 1926 photo showing the plural name on the vertical sign.
This theater is mentioned in the January 2, 1909, issue of The Moving Picture World: “Bridgeport, Conn.—The Park City Moving Picture Theater, now under construction at the corner of Stratford and Newfield avenues, expects to open for business January 4, under the management of W. E. Victory.”
The Moore Theatre was never called the Orpheum, Old or otherwise. It presented Orpheum circuit vaudeville shows from 1916 or 1917 until 1927, but the theater’s name was never changed. The original Seattle Orpheum was an entirely different theater, opened in 1911 at Third Avenue and Madison Street. I’ve been unable to discover what became of the old Orpheum after the new Orpheum opened in 1927. It might have operated for awhile under another name, or it might have simply closed. By 1940, it was being used as storage space, and it was demolished in 1949.
404 Division Avenue South is the address listed for a house called Nichols' Theatre in the 1916 Grand Rapids Directory, and for the Rivoli Theatre in the 1922 directory.
This theater apparently had a predecessor nearby. The 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory lists a Madison Square Theatre at 1168 Madison Avenue, while the 1922 directory lists the Madison Theatre at 1231 Madison.
An Isis Theatre is listed in the 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory, but its address is given as 250-242 Monroe. The 250 was probably a typo. The name Iris in the 1922 directory was most likely a typo as well.
This house would not have opened in 1914 as RKO Keith’s, as the name RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) wouldn’t come into existence until 1928. A 1915 photo published in “Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards” shows the name Empress on the theater’s vertical sign, so that was surely its opening name.
It was still listed as the Empress Theatre in the 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory, and a biography of Harry Houdini lists the Empress in Grand Rapids as one of the venues he played in 1926.
The 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory lists the theater at 240 Monroe Avenue as the Iris Theatre, rather than the Isis. I don’t know if that was a typo or not. I’ve been unable to find any other references to either an Isis or an Iris Theatre in Grand Rapids.
Prior to being the Kent Theatre, the house at 322 Monroe Avenue was called the Orpheum. It was listed under that name in the 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory.
Broan: The Grand Theatre you found mentioned in 1912 might have been the unnamed house that was under construction in 1910 at 3512-14-18 Archer, according to an item in The American Contractor of July 3, 1910. It was designed by architect George O. Garnsey. 3514 Archer now houses an auto and truck garage called Mike’s Services, but it is clearly an old building. The top of a stage house is visible in Google Street View. This theater is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures.
The Cameo Theatre currently linked in the “Nearby Theaters” field is actually a duplicate listing for the Rialto.
The web page lostmemory linked to says that this house showed its last movie as the Rialto on April 26, 1958; operated as the Dex Theatre from December 31, 1965 until May 10, 1970; was the Cameo from September 28, 1970, until July 1, 1971; and was last operated as the Astro, from July 2, 1971, until January 20, 1972. As the Astro, it was an adult house from opening until December 17, 1971.
This theater’s building appears to be quite old. It could date from the 1920s or earlier, and its current simple facade is probably the result of a remodeling at some point. The south side neighborhood in which it is located is itself quite old, with many buildings dating from the late 19th and early 20th century. The St. Joseph stockyards, once the largest west of Chicago, were opened in this outlying area of the city in the late 19th century, and for several decades this was a thriving working class district, though not without its posher streets inhabited in part by the managers of the meat packing plants and other industrial enterprises located nearby.
The May 17, 1947, issue of The Billboard mentioned the Rialto Theatre, saying that a half-hour live broadcast of Bud Bailey’s Radio Jamboree, a country music show, was originating at the theater every Monday night. I’ve been unable to find any earlier mentions of the Rialto in any of the entertainment trade publications.
According to the caption of a photo on page 79 of the book “Bristol,” by George Stone (Google Books preview,) The State Theatre opened around 1940 in a building at 503 State Street, which would put it on the Virginia side of the street. The building had been occupied by a nickelodeon called the Eagle Picture Parlor during the silent era, and had later housed a billiard parlor. It doesn’t say when the State Theatre closed, but the building is still standing, now occupied by a Karate studio. It doesn’t look big enough to have held 750 seats, though.
The caption also says that there was a theater called the Isis next door to the Eagle (probably at 505 State Street.) The Isis operated at least into the 1920s. That building is also still standing.
The Columbia Theatre, opened in 1912 and closed in 1957, has been demolished.
Here is an article in The southwest Times that says the auditorium of the Dalton Theatre collapsed in 1982.
Early plans for Dalton and Richardson’s new theater at Pulaski were announced in the July 26, 1919, issue of The American Contractor. The announcement said that the lot on which the building would be erected was 81x180 feet. The project was to include a three-story office and commercial building as well as the theater. Only the office/commercial portion of the building is still standing. The larger part of the lot, where the theater once stood, is now an ill-kept parking lot.
From Google’s satellite view, it can be seen that the building is in the block of Washington just north of First Street, and adjacent to Peak Creek, the watercourse that runs through the town. That’s the 100 block of Washington, not the 200 block, so the correct address is most likely 106 N. Washington Avenue.
I wonder if the James C. Lombard & Co. mentioned in the NRHP data was a construction company, rather than an architectural firm? The notice in The American Contractor gave the name of the architect as John R. Forsythe, of Baltimore. I can’t find any other references to Lombard & Co. on the Internet, but Forsythe was a fairly well-known architect of the period, and is listed at Cinema Treasures as designer of the Pimlico Theatre in Baltimore. However, the nearly two-year gap between the announcement that Forsythe was drawing plans for the project and the actual opening of the theater might indicate that the original design was abandoned.
The AKA should be Towers Theatre, rather than Tower Theatre. The book Old Louisville, by David Dominé and Ronald Lew Harris, has a 1926 photo showing the plural name on the vertical sign.
This theater is mentioned in the January 2, 1909, issue of The Moving Picture World: “Bridgeport, Conn.—The Park City Moving Picture Theater, now under construction at the corner of Stratford and Newfield avenues, expects to open for business January 4, under the management of W. E. Victory.”
The Moore Theatre was never called the Orpheum, Old or otherwise. It presented Orpheum circuit vaudeville shows from 1916 or 1917 until 1927, but the theater’s name was never changed. The original Seattle Orpheum was an entirely different theater, opened in 1911 at Third Avenue and Madison Street. I’ve been unable to discover what became of the old Orpheum after the new Orpheum opened in 1927. It might have operated for awhile under another name, or it might have simply closed. By 1940, it was being used as storage space, and it was demolished in 1949.
The Superba Theatre is also listed in the 1916 city directory, at the same address.
404 Division Avenue South is the address listed for a house called Nichols' Theatre in the 1916 Grand Rapids Directory, and for the Rivoli Theatre in the 1922 directory.
The Orpheum is also listed at this location in the 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory.
This theater apparently had a predecessor nearby. The 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory lists a Madison Square Theatre at 1168 Madison Avenue, while the 1922 directory lists the Madison Theatre at 1231 Madison.
An Isis Theatre is listed in the 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory, but its address is given as 250-242 Monroe. The 250 was probably a typo. The name Iris in the 1922 directory was most likely a typo as well.
A house called the Columbia Theatre is listed at 78-82 Market Avenue in the 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory.
There is a Burton Theatre listed at 2026-28 Division Avenue South in the 1916 Grand Rapids City Directory.
In the 1916 Grand Rapids Directory there is a house simply called Beecher’s Theatre listed at this address.
The Alcazar Theatre is listed at 642 Bridge Street in the 1916 edition of Polk’s Grand Rapids City Directory.
This house would not have opened in 1914 as RKO Keith’s, as the name RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) wouldn’t come into existence until 1928. A 1915 photo published in “Grand Rapids in Vintage Postcards” shows the name Empress on the theater’s vertical sign, so that was surely its opening name.
It was still listed as the Empress Theatre in the 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory, and a biography of Harry Houdini lists the Empress in Grand Rapids as one of the venues he played in 1926.
The 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory lists a theater called the Superba at 314 Monroe Avenue.
The 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory lists the theater at 240 Monroe Avenue as the Iris Theatre, rather than the Isis. I don’t know if that was a typo or not. I’ve been unable to find any other references to either an Isis or an Iris Theatre in Grand Rapids.
The Norval Theatre was designed by architect Ernest Huberty. A notice of the plans was published in The American Architect January, 1919.
Prior to being the Kent Theatre, the house at 322 Monroe Avenue was called the Orpheum. It was listed under that name in the 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory.
The Fulton Theatre was listed at this address in the 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory.
Brown’s Stocking Avenue Theatre is listed at this address in the 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory.
The 1922 Grand Rapids City Directory lists Beecher’s Division Theatre at this address.
Broan: The Grand Theatre you found mentioned in 1912 might have been the unnamed house that was under construction in 1910 at 3512-14-18 Archer, according to an item in The American Contractor of July 3, 1910. It was designed by architect George O. Garnsey. 3514 Archer now houses an auto and truck garage called Mike’s Services, but it is clearly an old building. The top of a stage house is visible in Google Street View. This theater is not yet listed at Cinema Treasures.