Granada Theatre
513 Chestnut Street,
Virginia,
MN
55792
513 Chestnut Street,
Virginia,
MN
55792
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The Granada Theatre was operating prior to 1941. It was one of three theatres within a two block area of the city almost directly across the street from the State/Lyric Thetre. I found two different seat counts of 502 and 574, and in 1950 it was listed with 900 seats. The same family that owned the Granada Theatre owned the Maco Theatre, I believe his name was mentioned on the Maco Theatre listing as Mr. Deutsch.
Any further information on the Granada Theatre would be appreciated. I do know that the Granada Theatre was open past 1984.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
great photos. Sadly, this theatre is long gone. There was a fire in the building next door as noted in the above pics. I don’t remember the exact details on why the theatre was torn down? Possibly a second fired in the same building’s shell? I enjoyed many movies here as a kid and young adult. An old friend of mine used to work here as an usher. Those were the days when the usher would walk down the long aisles with a flashlight and tell you to get your feet off the seat in front of you. There is a 6 plex in the neighboring town. Compares nothing to these grand old theatres of course.
As you look at the photos, the building on the right hand side survives today.
The lot is now occupied by Virginia Senior Citizens Center, using 511 Chestnut St. as their address.
The Granada Theatre was owned by Louis & David Deutsch. It was listed as open in 1937.
The January 28, 1950, issue of Boxoffice had a brief article saying that an antitrust suit had been filed against major film producers and distributors by “…Rose and Lewis Deutsch, owners of the Granada Theatre in Virginia, Minnesota, a 630-seat house built in 1936.”
The Deutsch’s had difficulty obtaining films on opening the theater in 1936 until they signed an agreement with the dominant regional exhibitor, Minnesota Amusement Company, which allowed them to get first run or second run product, but only if their partners got the biggest share of the revenues (this was a very common situation for independent theater operators to be in during that time.)
When the agreement ended in 1946, the Deutsch’s were again unable to get first run product. Their lawsuit claimed that, due to collusion between producers, distributors, and the Minnesota Amusement Company, the Deutsches had suffered $75,000 in business losses.