Huron Theatre
941 W. Huron Street,
Pontiac,
MI
48341
941 W. Huron Street,
Pontiac,
MI
48341
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Opened on June 5th, 1942. Grand opening ad posted.
This theater was actually in Waterford not Pontiac. The Waterford/Pontiac border is Telegraph Road.
My uncle’s Johnson Construction Company theater job list, and most online sources, show the 1941-42 Huron Theatre as being in Pontiac, Michigan. A current (April 2021) Google Maps shows the address as being instead in Waterford Township, Michigan. In August 1948, several years after he’d built the theater, my grandfather Albert S. “Al” Johnson, shot a single Kodachrome slide showing the exterior of the Huron with the film “Three Daring Daughters” listed on the marquee. I’ve uploaded a copy to this website.
In that image, the theater appears as a typical art moderne style theater with three pairs of blue doors with matching half-moon glass (Al’s patented “Johnson doors”). Multi-colored porcelain enamel tiles cover the entire front of the theater and wrap slightly around the sides.
This nostalgia piece from the Oakland Press News says that the Huron Theatre burned on Christmas Eve, 1983. There’s a photo of the fire and one of the burned-out building. The article also says that the theater was in Waterford Township (Water Winter Wonderland also lists it in Waterford.)
The article was also blogged, accompanied by a different photo of the theater while it was still in operation. It was showing Around the World in Eighty Days, and there was special lettering on the building itself, not just the marquee, so this might have been the roadshow, which could date the photo to 1957. If not, it’s probably 1958.
Lssu91 Was the fire on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve? Most articles say New Years Eve. They wre playing “The Return Of The Jedi” and “The Dead Zone”. Also was this theatre located in Pontiac or Waterford Township?
Actually, the Huron Theater burned down Christmas Eve 1983…Hope this helps!