Broadvue Theatre
4172 Pearl Road,
Cleveland,
OH
44109
4172 Pearl Road,
Cleveland,
OH
44109
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 14 comments
At least when an old theatre is showing ‘smut’ we can get in to see the once grand place. It’s better than having it shuttered and demolished.
Ran 60 years from January 16th, 1927 to March 28, 1987 with final days as a live concert venue following community repertory screenings.
To my recollection, this was the first Cleveland theatre to run hard-core porn films in the early 70’s. They gradually merged with a XXX bookstore next door to create a 24/7 porn complex by the 80’s. Video viewing booths were set up in the lobby of the original theatre. I used to have one of their T-shirts.
January 16th, 1927 grand opening ad in photo section.
More pic’s coming to the flickr link, stay tuned…
Unforchantly in the Broadvue’s case the operators of the porn theater stole & sold pices of, and generaly disrespected the place.
For example:
They painted porn red over the white marble in the ladies room, when we stripped the paint the marble was stained pink. This was a grand lady waiting for a rescue that never truely happened. Now 25 years later, the renovation of neighborhood theaters is thr new “thing” in Cleveland, go figure.
linking
I do too; however, it has to be remembered, as it was pointed out to us who part of a historic theater tour in Detroit some years back, that whether it was porn or chop-socky films or explotaion fare, that these types of films kept a number of classic theaters operating, with the HVAC and other systems running and in some degree of repair in most cases so that, when the time came and resources became available, they could be restored to a nobler use.
Always hate to see a theatre go the smut route.
I put some interior shots on flickr, hopfully I did this right.
Here is a pic of the ceiling
View link
I was a volenteer back during the 80’s when OBCDC was trying to renovate and have many pictures of the interior. I will be glad to upload a few when the option is turned back on. Otherwise I believe the style was Greco-Roman, but the exterior was definatly Art-Deco.
It’s seating capacity when it opened was 2100, and she first opened her doors on January 15, 1927 as a movie / vaudeville house.
Here is an 11/30/74 ad from the Cleveland Sun:
http://tinyurl.com/6ye6mn
I remember it had a coffered ceiling with a dome in the center. All the seats were on the main floor, there was no balcony. There was a bus stop for the 51 bus in front. After it switched to porn, the women waiting for the bus would stand under the marquee only if it was raining, otherwise they stood in front of the barber college next door.
It seemed like there were more than 800 seats there…
I waited for the bus at this theatre for 4 years straight every morning on my way to school. I remember it had bright red shag (indoor!) carpeting installed under the marquee outside!When it was taken over by the Community Development group from Old Brooklyn, I recalled going there to see a showing of Pink Floyd’s The Wall.It was kind of nice to be inside the place, after having to stand outside of it every morning looking at the shady characters going in to see porn flicks at 7:00 am.