Loop Theater

dallasmovietheaters on July 16, 2026 at 4:17 am

The Loop Theatre opened on February 17, 1928 and attracted second and third shift auto workers. (The Cadillac Clark Street auto plant was a quick streetcar ride a bit over a mile away.) The Loop was a grind house from its first days known for being open all night and playing third-run pictures and often having stage shows for 15 cents. The venue added sound in 1929 to remain commercially viable. The Loop was operated at the open by Alex Schreiber Enterprises which quickly was within Allied Theatres of Michigan with Schreiber operating Associated Theatres Circuit in the early to mid-1930s almost to the end of the theater’s run.

The Loop’s opening show on Feb. 17, 1928 featured Girlesk live shows and photoplays - unknown performers and unknown titles. For what it’s worth, it billed itself as the first “Girlesk” theatre in the world. The Loop additionally housed a short-lived Girlesk-branded operation that it extended to the new Times Square Theatre in 1929 and to anyone who wanted to license that term. When the Depression hit, the Times Square went dark in bankruptcy leaving the 24-hour trade to the Loop and, across the street, the Lyric. The Loop’s signage was by Electric Lu-Mi-Nus Signs Co. out of Chicago which also did theatre signage for Detroit-area venues including the Avalon, Uptown, Linwood, and Ramona.

During the Great Depression, the Loop’s neighborhood became increasingly populated by post-Prohibition liquor stores, nightclubs and bars, pawn shops, and cheap hotels while attracting a growing homeless population, as the eastern edge of Corktown gradually devolved into what was called Detroit’s Skid Row. One of the most high visibility spots was a block away in the Salvation Army Harbor Light Mission Center at 564 Michigan Ave.

The late night / overnight grind shows were now frequented by Skid Row folks trying to get a cheap overnight to escape cold and/or rainy Detroit nights. “Right now, as well as enjoying a good show the folks enjoy a good sleep,” said the manager of the Loop Fred Walton for much of the venue’s run. “Moreover, when anyone is fearful they won’t awake on time, all they have to do is leave a call at the box office and our user, Bill Rice, will see they are up on time."

The early Loop film contracts showed how low on the pecking order the theater was. The 1929 film, “Eternal Love,” played first run at the United Artists Theatre in downtown Detroit. Subsequent runs on the way down for the title went like this: Kramer - $250 rental; Annex - $225 rental; DeLuxe - $200 rental; Park - $175 rental; Strand - $150 rental; Senate - $140 rental; Great Lakes - $110 rental; LaSalle Gardens $100 rental; Loop $65 rental. The lower the terms, the more likely a playout would occur at the Loop.

Corden Candy Company opened its first ever theatre-centered confectionery inside the Loop Theatre. It was so successful that it followed it up with even more lucrative locations within the Colonial and the Senate theaters. The theatre was known for its two taglines in its halcyon days, “Always a good show” and “We never close.” In 1937, the competing Times Square came back on line also offering 24 hour shows. The Lyric would blink first closing in 1942.

The Loop closed on May 16, 1957 with “Away All Boats” and “Sleeping City” - check that - May 17, 1957 at 6:00a. The “We never close” sign remained in place, however. The Times Square closed in 1958 as 24 hour movie theaters were becoming obsolete. In 1960, the International Village was proposed and would lead to condemnation of that Michigan Avenue Skid Row area and all of Chinatown. Michael L. Duckett relit the Loop Theatre in late 1960 into early 1961 - it is assumed - simply to have the venue active as the boards met to determine property values.

In December of 1961, it was one of 213 parcels - three former theaters, several divey hotels including the Taylor Hotel and the White Star Hotel (both still charging just fifty cents a night at closure in 1962) and 35 (!) taverns - which were awarded condemnation funding. The Loop Theatre was awarded a rather austere $139,000.

By 1962, the International Village concept was DOA but the project continued as the Central Business District Project #1 that included the major highways that would sever former neighborhoods. That was cemented in February of 1962 when Arrow Wrecking of Dearborn received $587k to demolish the 59-acre “Skid Row” and 180 buildings that included both the Salvation Army, the Detroit Rescue Mission, and the Loop Theatre. The demolition was swift beginning in April of 1962 and completed by 1963.

sdoerr on May 18, 2006 at 2:55 am

This link will take you to a night shot that includes the Loop marquee, though very hard to see