Warner Theatre
120 N. High Street,
West Chester,
PA
19380
120 N. High Street,
West Chester,
PA
19380
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Almost positive that comments I posted in 2007 about the old Warner Theater here in downtown West Chester have been removed. Not happy about that. Will repost old memories later. But as to sendingoutansoso’s inquiry from 2008, yes, I do recall the old Eric West Goshen theaters. By the time I frequented it, in the mid-1970s, it had twinned. Or maybe it was always a twin theater. My guess is that it was a typical strip mall theater of the time – mid to late 1960s – and nothing terribly distinguishing about the theater. Imagine a typical strip mall theater of that era, and you’ve got the Eric Twin West Goshen shopping mall theaters. I recall seeing a second-run engagement of JAWS there in the fall of 1975. Or maybe JAWS had opened there in June or July of that year and had played all those months, as films often did back in those years, but my guess is it was a second-run showing. Not sure when the theater(s) closed. The Eric chain, based in Philly I believe as Sameric, went out of business for good in the 1990s. Anyone confirm that?
The Hotel Warner opens today.
Actually the site has 6 beautiful color photos of the Warner’s interior, auditorium & what appears to be aspects from the lobby http://www.decopix.com/LR_DOA_Gallery-Final/content/West_Chester_Warner_Auditorium_NX_large.html
Photo of auditorium ceiling http://www.decopix.com/LR_DOA_Gallery-Final/content/West_Chester_Warner_4_NX_large.html
Groundbreaking August 11, 2011 for the Warner Hotel http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/08/11/groundbreaking-for-new-hotel-in-west-chester/
Theater’s lobby building to be lobby for 76 room hotel http://www.thewarnerhotel.com/
I went to college in West Chester and seem to remember the Warner having a kind of art deco Egyptian motif. It was very impressive, at any rate. Movies were getting more permissive and much steamier when I was in college and I saw A Summer Place and Splendor in the Grass at the Warner. Both were the talk of the campus for days afterwards.
I have fond memories of the Warner. I went to my first movie on my own (sans parents) at the Warner to see Disney’s The Fighting Prince of Donegal. Later, in the early 70s, my high school English class was asked to leave in the middle of a special screening of The Lion in Winter which our English teacher had arranged for us.
I love that photo of the auditorium! What flamboyant decor!
Lost Memory; your photo link from 7/21/07 no longer works. Is there some way you can re-post it?
Here is an interior photo from the Irvin Glazer theater collection:
http://tinyurl.com/n55qt5
Does anyone remember the Eric movie theater next to the Kmart in the Goshen Shopping Center in West Chester, PA? What happened to the Eric chain?
Here is an exterior photo from Google maps:
http://tinyurl.com/6k8pg7
I’ve heard from a West Chester resident that “The art deco auditorium had seen better days by the 80’s, but you could still see the grandeur, and the size of the place itself was amazing.” The fellow says the auditorium was torn down and made it into a parking lot, and that the lobby was renovated into offices, which is where the Philadelphia Inquirer has their Chester County office today. He further tells me that “The only interior architectural detail that survived is the railing on the stairs, which were originally the balcony stairs.”
The Warner Theatre opened on 14th November 1930 with the movie “The Life of the Party” starring Winnie Lightner and the Warner Bros, child star Davey Lee, billed as ‘The World’s Biggest Little Star’, made a personal appearance.