Aster Theatre
605 Hennepin Avenue,
Minneapolis,
MN
55403
605 Hennepin Avenue,
Minneapolis,
MN
55403
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 17 comments
January 1952 photo added credit Minnesota Historical Society. Astor marquee left foreground.
Courtesy Old Minneapolis Facebook page.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to credits the firm of Liebenberg & Kaplan with the design for the 1960 remodeling of the Aster Theatre.
The Astor Theatre, aka Riviera, mentioned in the introduction for the Aster, is listed in the finding aid for the Liebenberg & Kaplan papers at the University of Minnesota. The firm worked on that house in 1930-31 and again in 1935. The Astor/Riviera does not appear to be listed at Cinema Treasures. Oddly, the finding aid does not mention the Aster.
Nice old pictures,they do not make them like that anymore.
Try looking up the Mann as the Pantages (Original and current name). It is listed.
Thanks Dick. Boy how the city has changed. I wish I could find a photo of the Mann downtown, with pictures of the sneak preview held there (before the roadshow release) for The Sound of Music, but this web site doesn’t even have a page for the downtown Mann, or do they under an older name? I only see the Mann Southtown.
The Aster was on Hennepin Ave. It was on the same side as the State Theatre, but between 6th and 7th street, closer to 6th.
Does anyone know where this theater was? Address?
Thanks Ken MC for the photos of the theatre. The Aster looked like it was once a nice comfortable theatre.
The porno policy was instituted in June 1965. It continued that way until closing in August 1979, and demolition was in November.
Here is a 1929 exterior photo of the Aster:
http://tinyurl.com/mf3dm
Here is the neighborhood theater that Dick referred to a few posts ago:
http://tinyurl.com/pt5zu
Here are some photos of the interior, circa 1929:
http://tinyurl.com/zcwyh
http://tinyurl.com/hro84
http://tinyurl.com/rzmuf
http://tinyurl.com/nc382
Thanks for clearing that up. I was checking for Minneapolis and saw nothing in the list!
The Riviera Theatre was in downtown St. Paul. Whereas the Aster referred to in this section was in downtown Minneapolis. The St. Paul Riviera opened originally as the Astor. Name changed to Riviera in 1928. There also was a St. Paul neighborhood theatre called the Astor.
Why isnt there a listing for the Riviera here?
I worked as a projectionist in Minneapolis from 1957 through 1975. First hit the Aster in 1958. Theatre was running double features from 10:00 am to midnight seven days per week. Booth was equipt with a pair of Motiograph with Brenkert Enarc’s. These were later replaced with a pair of Super Simplex’s and Peeles Magnarc’s. R. Varani
The Aster Theatre was still showing family movies in the 1960s I saw the movie Julie with Doris Day there. It did not switch to adult movies until the late 1960s. David Kerr