Theatre 1536
1536 E. Grand Avenue,
Des Moines,
IA
50316
1536 E. Grand Avenue,
Des Moines,
IA
50316
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Tri-State Theaters
Previous Names: Eastown Theater
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Apr 9, 2009 — Remembering Cinerama (Part 26: Des Moines)
The Eastown Theater was a basic neighborhood theater showing mostly B-movies. It first opened May 29, 1941 and was operated by TriStates Theatres.
Before it closed, it had been re-named Theatre 1536, and it showed porn for a while. It was closed on December 31, 1983 with Walt Disney’s “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” and was demolished around 2000.
Contributed by
Swede Blue
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
From Boxoffice magazine, May 1941:
DES MOINES-The Eastown, new Tri-States and East Des Moines Theater Corp. theater here, is scheduled to open Wednesday. The new house will be the tenth Tri-States theater in the city.
I can’t see any building resembling the theater in Google street view. It must be gone. There’s a newer building with six store fronts which looks like it occupies the theater site and a couple of adjacent parcels as well, though it has the address 1534 E. Grand. The building next door is definitely not the theater.
Here is a December 1965 ad from the Des Moines Register:
http://tinyurl.com/llyx9u
It looks like it was called Theater 1536 in the 1983 photo. Maybe that was its porno name.
Here is a December 1974 ad for the Theatre 1536:
http://tinyurl.com/man8tm
The 1536 building was demolished about 2000 or so.
This opened as Theatre 1536 on October 25th, 1974. Grand opening ad posted here.
This opened on May 29th, 1941. Grand opening ads in photo section.
Closed after showings on December 31, 1983, the theatre was offered for sale for $59,000. A last ditch effort by a businessman to restore the theatre occurred in January of 2000 but the city’s building inspectors appear to have advised against it.