Lakeside Theatre

Also known as Esquire for a short while with first ad placed on November 14th, 1943.

The October 13, 1932, issue of The Film Daily noted that the Lakeside Theatre in Duluth, a new house, had opened in September.

Sketchy life for this one. Plans to build began in 1931 with public hearings and petitions from neighboring property owners. Permits for plumbing and constructing the marquee were issued in Aug. 1932. Permit for minor alterations in lobby granted in 1942; theatre final closing was Oct. 1951. Permit to “construct 2nd floor in vacant theatre” for “retail store” was granted in Dec. 1959. It is presumed the theatre was vacant and intact 1951-1959. At some point during the theatre’s life there was a garage added. Documents always refer to a “garage” – perhaps it was storage space but a car could be parked in it? The builder, owner was Al Hedenberg Construction company with some partners. Other lessees seemed to be the operators. It had numerous operators and occasional closings and reopenings. the theatre had various names – it was “Esquire” in at least 1945, but it was not always known as that. It was more often called “Lakeside” or in the postwar years it was “Lakeside Art”. During the postwar years, there were a few operators that tried art-foreign films, which were somewhat hot at the time and could be more easily obtained. There probably wasn’t much of a market in Duluth for such fare so that is one of the presumed contributors to its demise. This theatre rarely advertised in the Duluth newspapers so information and ads for it are very hard to come by. There was a neighborhood paper that existed there but that was never consistent for long periods of time. The theatre is in an area of the city which to this day consider themselves apart from the city, which explains why the theatre did not advertise in the major Duluth newspapers. Various sources give the seating capacity as 300, 350, up to 400 or slightly more. A good guess would be for the most conservative number.