Wick-Willo Twin
30432 Euclid Avenue,
Wickliffe,
OH
44095
30432 Euclid Avenue,
Wickliffe,
OH
44095
2 people
favorited this theater
Probably the only cinema that ever existed in the tiny suburb of Wickliffe east of Cleveland, the Wick-Willo Twin was housed in the rather absurdly named Wick-Willow Mall, which is a rather small building that looks like millions of other small block-like buildings across the country that house professional offices and small shops.
Fronting on Euclid Avenue, it opened in 1974 and closed in 1977. The two small auditoriums had few notable or decorative features, with small screens and simple Soundfold drapery. There was no real marquee, just a simple changeable-letters sign on the front of the building.
After closing, the space that the cinemas occupied was converted retail and office use and there is no indication remaining that a cinema was ever housed in the structure.
Contributed by
Christopher Walczak
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Wow, I forgot about that one, and now I’m bending my brain to remember who owned it. That area never did well with theatres – This along with the Loews Showplace (originally Community Circuit) at SOM Ctr and Euclid, and the GCC Shoregate Cinema were all duds.
It would be great if you could remember or find out, Dave; this place always struck me as one of the oddest theatres ever built, and it came and went very quickly. I rather suspect that some people who lived in the area never knew it was there. It was so small with very limited parking; one could easily drive right by it and and not even see it unless one was really looking for it. It appeared on the Greater Cleveland scene roughly about the same time as the World East and World West and I have wondered if the operator was trying to emulate those small cinemas as in many ways the set up was similar.
Are you the Chris Walczak who was Head Thespian at QHS many years ago?
Nigel: Yes, I am.
I believe this was suppose to be a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema. It was his idea to operate a theater chain that would show only G rated movies. They did’t last long. Not sure if it ever even open as a Lewis theater or as the Wick-Willow.
I just found this website and wanted to let you know that the onwers first name was “Angelo” – Not sure if he was an onwer or the first owner. He just took over the building again and is doing a multi-million $ remodel. The building has had the same decor from it’s first renovation into office spaces. You can still see where the 2 screens were and the concession stand, which is now an office.
I know this because my office was located inside for years.
Chris, sorry I haven’t replied in so long. I would really like to get back in touch.
Jim
Jim! I am in St. Louis. Where are you?
This opened on October 16th, 1974 and closed in 1977. Its grand opening ad has been uploaded in the photo section.
Wickliffe isn’t exactly tiny—it would have had 15-20K people when this opened. The theater was one of the shortlived Jerry Lewis Cinemas. Probably lasted a year or so as that. The auditoriums were very small and cheaply done. I think it ran bargain second or third run features both as a Jerry Lewis and definitely as the Wick-Willo.
The Jerry Lewis franchises were franchises built around small, standardized layouts and automated systems that didn’t always perform as advertised. The earlier Jerry Lewis Cinemas were a littl lesss bare bones than this one.