The Martin Theater on Broadway, two blocks up from the intersection of Ft. Williams. It was torn down 1971-1978. (The Plaza was built inside the Ogletree Plaza, which was about four blocks away down Ft. Williams Rd.) Aside from the Comet Drive-In, the Martin Theater downtown was the only theater when I was a kid in the 1960s. That’s where we saw Jason & the Argonauts, The Ten Commandmants, Elvis Presley in Kissing Cousins. In the summer of 1970 I remember we saw Me, Natalie starring Marlo Thomas; Count Yorga, Vampire; House of Dark Shadows. A year or so later: Love Story. The first block from Ft. Williams for many years in the ‘70s-80s had a department store called Sokels (sp?). Before that I don’t remember everything on that block, but there was something, maybe a coffee shop, then a drug store with soda fountain & comicbook stand, then next door was the Martin Theater (2nd or 3rd business on that side of the street). There may have been an alley on both sides of the Martin, otherwise it was one long block. Then just past the Martin was a big dark red two-story house (Craftsman style? Four Square style?) which housed Olan Mills photography. Then there was the next intersection with stoplight. I don’t remember what was across the street (I know for years it was a parking lot, below the steep hill going up to the old cemetery). On the next block most of those buildings seem to be intact. You can probably find many old postcards of these blocks on Ebay.
The Martin Theater on Broadway, two blocks up from the intersection of Ft. Williams. It was torn down 1971-1978. (The Plaza was built inside the Ogletree Plaza, which was about four blocks away down Ft. Williams Rd.) Aside from the Comet Drive-In, the Martin Theater downtown was the only theater when I was a kid in the 1960s. That’s where we saw Jason & the Argonauts, The Ten Commandmants, Elvis Presley in Kissing Cousins. In the summer of 1970 I remember we saw Me, Natalie starring Marlo Thomas; Count Yorga, Vampire; House of Dark Shadows. A year or so later: Love Story. The first block from Ft. Williams for many years in the ‘70s-80s had a department store called Sokels (sp?). Before that I don’t remember everything on that block, but there was something, maybe a coffee shop, then a drug store with soda fountain & comicbook stand, then next door was the Martin Theater (2nd or 3rd business on that side of the street). There may have been an alley on both sides of the Martin, otherwise it was one long block. Then just past the Martin was a big dark red two-story house (Craftsman style? Four Square style?) which housed Olan Mills photography. Then there was the next intersection with stoplight. I don’t remember what was across the street (I know for years it was a parking lot, below the steep hill going up to the old cemetery). On the next block most of those buildings seem to be intact. You can probably find many old postcards of these blocks on Ebay.