Vogue Theatre
6259 N. College Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46220
6259 N. College Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46220
2 people
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The Vogue (Official)
Additional Info
Architects: Edwin Kopf, Eric G. Stenbeck
Functions: Bar, Concerts, Nightclub
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
317.259.7029
Nearby Theaters
Opened on June 18, 1938 with Martha Raye & Bob Hope in “College Swing” and originally seating 800. Among the personalities attending the opening night were Indianapolis native Carol Lombard and her then boyfriend Clark Gable and another 26 Hollywood stars. The Art Moderne style Vogue Theatre in Indianapolis' now-trendy Broad Ripple neighborhood went over to screening adult movies in 1974. It hasn’t been a movie house since 1977, but is still packing them in in its current role, as one of the city’s most popular nightclubs, the Vogue, which opened on December 31, 1977.
The exterior still retains its old-fashioned movie house appearance, complete with a large neon marquee, but inside, it has been almost entirely made over. On March 11, 1981 the movie “Rock ‘N’ Roll High School” (1979) starring The Ramones was screened.
The club has hosted live performances by big-name artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tori Amos, Todd Rundgren, Johnny Cash, Joan Jett, John Mellencamp, Frank Zappa and Willie Nelson as well as local bands. Most nights, however, you’ll most likely be hearing a DJ spinning everything from house to techno to retro disco to world music on the very packed dance floor.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
This is a 1946 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/pnewd
Let’s try that again:
http://tinyurl.com/rn3f7
Wow, Dr. Bop (& The Headliners) played there? They were a riot. Had their own bartender on stage with them. They’d bat pitchers of beer out over/on the audience with their guitars. Indoors at a theatre must have been a mess.
They performed on a rubber mat. Insured by Lloyds Of London I was told. They lived in Chicago for a while in the `80’s. Played many a street fair. They had rotating female back-up singers called the “Melendez Sisters.” A gal I went to grade school with turned up as one once. Her dad was a folk musician too as I recall. Thanks for the pics.
Here is another 1985 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/nzoopw
Here are two daytime photos from 1985:
http://tinyurl.com/l4vjhm
http://tinyurl.com/nfnkhg
Here is a sketch from June 2009:
http://tinyurl.com/nvgzl2
I liked it.
June 18, 1938 grand opening ad in photo section
Newspaper photo from 1948 aded. Though it implies 1938. Courtesy of Steven Ross.
So, since Dave Letterman grew up in Broad Ripple, is it safe to assume the Vogue was his boyhood theatre?