Cascade Cinema
131 S. Main Street,
Akron,
OH
44308
131 S. Main Street,
Akron,
OH
44308
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
Previous Names: Strand Theatre
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News About This Theater
- Sep 4, 2008 — History of Strand Theater
The Strand Theatre opened on September 2, 1915 with "The Island of Regeneration". It was built for and operated by Maurice C. Winter, who had sold the Bank Theatre near Main & Market Street’s to build the Strand Theatre.
Seating was provided for 857 in the orchestra and 350 in the balcony. It was equipped with a Moller pipe organ that was played by Katherine Bruot.
Taken over by Isaac and Jacob Silverman in 1918 after the death of Maurice C. Winter, it was taken over by Warner Bros. in 1929 and they remodeled the theatre.
With the downturn of business during the 1960’s, the Strand Theatre went through several changes of management, closures and openings. In 1970, the Star Kay Theater Group of New York purchased the Stand Theatre and it became an adult cinema. Despite protests, it remained open and even escaped being closed down on moral grounds, by heavily self-censoring the films it screened. It closed in 1976 and became a concert club, with mainly jazz muscicians playing. This was short lived and by 1978 it was screening porn movies again, this time known as the Cascade Cinema. It was closed for good in 1986.
It was demolished in 1990 to make way for the $30 million Main Place building.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Interesting article here:
http://www.ohio.com/news/27730294.html
Here are some postcards showing interior and exterior views:
http://tinyurl.com/c678jg
http://tinyurl.com/cyvro5
My brother, a friend, and I were at the “The Strand” as it was known back then to see Vincent Price in “The Tingler.”
The Tingler was a lobster-like creature we all supposedly had in our spine that was kept in check by screaming when scared. In the movie a woman who was mute is scared to death by her husband so he could get the lucrative old movie theater his wife owned. It’s when the Tingler shows up and Price removes it from her body.
It gets out of the box and goes into the silent theater movie house through a floorboard. Price asks where the floorboard leads to and the husband says, “It goes down into the theater.”
With that my brother who is somewhere around 5 to 7 years old lets out a whoop and sprints down the row, up the aisle, past an amazed usher, and out into the street with me in pursuit. He thought the Tingler was in our theater, The Strand. The usher let us back into the movie. We laughed about that into our fifties.
February 17th, 1971 reopening ad as a adult cinema in the photo section.
September 2nd, 1915 grand opening ad also in the photo section.
1963 photo added, copyright William Ling. A tank parked in front of the Strand for “The Longest Day”.