Paradise Center for the Arts
321 Central Avenue N.,
Faribault,
MN
55021
321 Central Avenue N.,
Faribault,
MN
55021
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I’ve got an advertising herald for WHAT PRICE GLORY (1927), which was showing at the Grand Theatre – Faribault starting Wednesday, January 11, 1928.
Last correction. The Grand Theatre fire must have happened in 1928, not 1927. I just added a much nicer photo of the Grand Theatre with Richard Dix “Easy Come Easy Go” on the marquee. Which was released 04/21/28.
OK, Update & Correction. The Grand Theatre burned down in 1927. The Paramount was built in 1928, and was renamed the Paradise sometime after 1933. I added a program and exterior image from that year for the Paramount, to the photos section.
I just added a 1920’s photo of the Grand Theatre, which preceded the Paradise on the same site. The Grand Theatre burned down in 1927, according to a 2004 article in the Faribault Daily News. The article also mentioned a poured concrete foundation for the Paradise. To avoid the same fate as the Grand. It is probably not necessary to create a separate page for the Grand Theatre. As the address was the same as the Paradise. But the name should be added as past names. I found the photo on a Facebook page called “You know you grew up in Faribault when…” I credited Brian Schmidt who posted the photo.
Well, based on the photo link provided by Lost Memory, the photo on the theatre’s web site is indeed that of the Paradise. However, the photo on theatre’s website does show a vertical with the name Paramount. So it must have been known as the Paramount early in its life.
I was lucky enough to tour the theater when it was still running, ran down an hour from Minneapolis. The owner was a very nice gentleman who let me roam the theater freely (while he went to lunch somewhere) for over an hour and a half. It is beautiful inside. The nice thing about the trip is since he was not long away from closing, he showed me about 14 boxes and asked if I wanted them. I arranged for transferring them home and when I started opening them,….lobby card sets from movies like Sound of Music and Greatest Story ever told, 6 boxes full of pressbooks (one for each studio) and the others were one sheets and Boxoffice magazines from the 1940’s and 1950’s.They were not in the basement so were in good shape. Guess my day was very lucky, the final owner of this theater as a movie house was one of the nicest guys I had ever met (and I would still say that had he given me nothing). Here’s a link to a picture: View link
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Interesting that the exterior photo of the Paradise on their website shows a vertical sign with the name “Paramount.” There’s no mention of the theatre ever having been called the Paramount. I wonder if they used the wrong photo?
We are open! First musical performance October 27, 2007. First play: December 2007. First movie: January 26, 2008. www.paradisecenterforthearts.org
Theatre has its grand re-opening on 20 October.
I visited the theatre yesterday. They are planning to open in October.
They seem to be coming along nicely in auditorium but the marquee is not up yet.
It’s going to be a great little cinema.
We are holding a volunteer event January 27th 2007 from 8am – noon at the historic Paradise Theater in downtown Faribault. This is a great opportunity to be a part of this renovation and see all the changes that have been made! If you’re interested, contact me at or call the Paradise Center for the Arts at 507-332-7372 to get more information.
Theatre opened in 1929 with 900 seats and the architects were Liebenberg and Kaplan.
The Paradise theater has been saved by the Faribault Art Center in Partneship with the Merlin Players and Faribault Area Community Theater and is going to be renovated into a Community Art Center with a gallery and 300+ seat theater for both live performances and independent film showings. If anyone can be of any assistance in locating seats and giving us some advice on how to get the stars and clouds working again it would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and we can always use money too. If you would like more info I can be reached at
Thanks for the info guys.I will check out the art centre website.The status should now be listed as closed.
atmos.
It could be that the Art Center was already located in rented quarters in the theater when that meeting was conducted on May 20th of this year. The minutes only said that “… the Art Center is moving forward with purchasing the Paradise Theater.” Or, they might just be adding the theater to their holdings. In any case, contacting the Art Center from its web site would probably be the best place for Mr. McBain to get more information about the theater. Clearly, it had not been demolished as of last May.
All I can find with Google is a mention near the bottom of this page:
View link
Apparently, it still exists, and might be purchased for some sort of public use.