Loew's Ames Theatre
4115 N. Main Street,
Dayton,
OH
45415
4115 N. Main Street,
Dayton,
OH
45415
5 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Loews
Functions: Retail
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Ames Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Ames Theatre was a beautiful neighborhood theatre which opened December 8, 1949, across a driveway from the Northtown shopping center on N. Main Street. It was opened by an independent operator and ran the theatre until around 1967, when, as the story goes, the theatre was sold away from his family due to the marriage of the son who married outside the religion.
The theatre was bought by Loew’s and they remodeled the theatre in a green, purple and blue motif. The theatre played big first runs and had exclusive Dayton runs of “The Graduate” and “Romeo and Juliet”, to name a few. Loew’s then split it by putting a wall down the middle of the auditorium for the twin, leaving the small screens at the front of two narrow auditoriums.
Loew’s seems to have lost faith in the operation and turned the theatre sub-run at an 80 cent admission. On May 26, 1988, Loew’s closed this theatre, and it became a camera shop.
Contributed by
Jerry Young
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
I think this is the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/yk5xn5l
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyum/4999246073/
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“Green, purple, and blue motif” ? Apparently then Loew’s used this bilious color scheme for more than one of their theaters then. Loew’s East in the Cleveland suburb of Richmond Heights had the same decor, and if memory serves, the green was more like chartreuse and purple more like lavender. I guess it was “mod” when these color scheme was used, but boy, did it quickly look dated and dumb.
They most likely bought a lot of those colors paint and had to use them somewhere.Just a joke!Maybe.“MOD MOTIF”.
Pretty plain,dull looking theatre to me .No jazz.Thanks for the pictures.
After Loews purchased the theatre, a remodel took place with new seats, curtains and carpet. The color scheme was green, purple and blue. It was pretty jazzed.
It was my first theatre job, in a tuxedo as an usher on April 25, 1969 and the movie playing was ROMEO AND JULIET. I also worked Loews Downtown at the same time. Theatre business was such much better than.
This opened on December 7th, 1946. Ad in photo section.
Loew’s Ames Theatre closed on May 26, 1988 with “The Seventh Sign” and “Three Men and a Baby.”
This building in 2021 is being renovated to be leased in late fall. The new owners talked about possibly a furniture store or yikes a Casino! Any investors out there interested in restoring it as a cinema again??? It would be awesome as a classic theatre possibly a playhouse!