The Ora Theatre was certainly not the first movie house in Freeport. The July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
“Freeport, Tex.—A new theater has been opened at Freeport. Texas, known as the Princess, and is under the management of H. A. Owens.”
An item in the December 4, 1941, issue of The Freeport Facts said that the new Long circuit theater soon to be built on Second Street would be Freeport’s fourth movie house. I believe that this was probably the Showboat Theatre, which was on Second Street and opened in the early 1940s. At that time, Long operated Freeport’s three other movie theaters as well.
The article also mentioned the Ora Theatre, so this house was definitely in operation by late 1941. Long also had plans to build a new theater in Velasco, a nearby town that merged with Freeport in 1957. I don’t know if Long’s plans for the Velasco house were carried out, as a site for that theater had not yet been acquired, and after the United States entered WWII a few weeks after the article ran, building restrictions were soon imposed throughout the country. Many theater projects had to be put on hold until after the war.
marmer: I can’t remember which page the list of Shult’s theaters was on. I tried checking the index of the 1950-51 catalog, but Shult is not mentioned in it. I started going through the book, but my browser keeps crashing (I don’t think it likes the site’s format) so I haven’t gotten very far. I’ll keep looking, and if I find the list I’ll post here again with a link. It might take quite a while, though. The site is slow, and my computer is uncooperative.
A typesetter at Boxoffice must have been drinking heavily. The 1949 issue I cited previously butchered the name of the architect. “Howell Ewald” was actually Howard George Elwell, according to the 1950-51 edition of Jay Emanuel’s Theatre Catalog.
An article published in the Medina Daily Journal in 1922 said that the Hi-Art Theatre in Lockport was located on West Avenue near the Big Bridge (now called Locks Plaza.) Another page of the newspaper has an ad for a real estate company at 13 West Avenue with the notation “Over the Hi-Art Theatre.” This block of West Avenue was later renamed West Main Street, which is confirmed by an ad for a fishing tackle shop in a 1938 issue of the newspaper, which gives its location as “16 W. Main—Opposite Hi-Art.”
A building with a tattoo parlor in it is at the current address 19 West Main, and east of that is a double-width building with a tan brick front, which is probably at 15-17 West Main. That means that the Hi-Art, on the ground floor below 13 West Main, was probably at the modern address 11 West Main, the lot just east of the tan brick building. Here is a Google Street View.
Description, photos, floor plans, and a section of the Nitehawk Cinema and other parts of the building it is in can be seen at this page of the web site archdaily. The project was designed by Caliper Studio.
A detailed description, photographs, floor plans, sections, and elevations of the Etoile Lilas Cinemas can be found on this page of the web site archdaily.
As noted in Dan’s description, the Showcase Cinema de lux Legacy Place was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3, which has been designing National Amusements' theaters since the beginning of the century.
The Bridge Cinema De Lux was one of many projects designed for National Amusements by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3. There are two photos on the firm’s web site.
Development Design Group designed the interiors of the Muvico Parisien 20, but the building itself was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3. There are two photos at SPG3’s web site.
The link to pictures of the theater on DDG’s web site posted by CSWalczak is dead, but this page of their site now has a slide show with four photos.
There is a conflicting claim about the design of this theater. Two photos of the Patriot Place Showcase Cinemas De Lux appears on the web site of the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3. A brief biography of architect Irving Shapiro (the S in SPG3) says this about the firm’s relationship to National Amusements:
“In 2000, spg3 was engaged by National Amusements, the parent company of Viacom and CBS. Mr. Shapiro worked closely with the president of National, to create a new experience for their cinema patrons worldwide. Between 2000 and 2008, National reinvented their brand and brought the concept of Cinema de lux to new buildings throughout the United States, Russia, Argentina and the United Kingdom. In the UK projects, the cinema was the entertainment anchor for several of the largest ‘urban regeneration’ projects being contemplated in Europe. The initial planning was done in collaboration with several acclaimed international design firms, including Foreign Office Architects, Chapman Taylor, Cesar Pelli and Westfield Architecture. In Moscow, the work was done in collaboration with Callison and IKEA’s in house design professionals.”
Apparently, SPG3 designed all of National Amusements' Cinema De Lux projects, even when the larger developments of which they were a part, such as Patriot Place, were designed by other firms, such as Arrowstreet. Arrowstreet did design a number of projects for Hoyts America, though, and SPG3 has designed some theaters for other chains.
The biography also mentions the firm’s earlier connection to General Cinema:
“Mr. Shapiro acted as the Executive Architect for General Cinema from 1995 through 2000. During this time, spg3 was responsible for all new General Cinema design and construction.”
this article in the Rio Grande Herald of February 9, 1984, says that the Garmon Theatre opened in 1937. As of 1984, it was being operated by Concha Gavilan, who also operated the H & H Drive-In at Rio Grande City.
Ads for the Garmon Teahtre from the 1970s and 1980s give the address as 212-214 E. Main Street. A Chevron filling station across Main Street from the theater currently has the address 207 E.Main, so the theater’s old address must still be in use.
The 1911 Sanborn Map of Atlanta shows three moving picture theaters on this block, at 30, 32, and 36 Peachtree Street. The Bonita was the largest of the three. The house at 36 Peachtree was the Alamo. The house at 30 Peachtree was not on the 1922 Sanborn map, but the Bonita and the Alamo were. All three buildings have since been demolished.
The Alamo has been demolished, along with two other theaters on the block. A small house I don’t know the name of, not yet listed at Cinema Treasures, was located at 30 Peachtree on the 1911 Sanborn Map, along with the Bonita Theatre at 32 Peachtree and the Alamo at 36 Peachtree. The Bonita and the Alamo were on the 1922 Sanborn map, but the house at 30 Peachtree had been converted into a retail store.
Clickable version of street view. The V.F.W. Hall is in between Blue Smoke at 119 E. Main and Subway at 123 E. Main, so Cinema 63’s address must have been 121 E. Main.
As the Ritz opened in 1935, it was probably an earlier house called the Lyric Theatre renamed. The July 16, 1935, issue of The Film Daily said: “Ansted, W. V. — Skaggs and Ruffner have reopened the Lyric.” Though the item doesn’t mention a name change, the 1934 FDY lists only the Lyric Theatre, with 245 seats, at Ansted, and the 1935 FDY lists only the Ritz Theatre, again with 245 seats. Sounds like a name change to me.
The Lyric Theatre, Ansted, West Virginia, with 250 seats, was on a list of movie theaters published in the January 2, 1915, issue of The Billboard, so it was a pretty old house.
The Star-Lite Drive-In was closed in 1978 and demolished to make way for a shopping center. Prior to the closing, Boxoffice of January 2, 1978 published this article (upper right) about Pacific’s plans to build the four-screen Woodward Park Drive-In to replace the Star-Lite.
Clickable version of kpkilburn2’s link. Zooming in on the Google street view you can see the address, 36 Michigan Avenue, on the door of the building.
The building looks as though it could have been built in 1863, so I’m wondering if that’s how the theater got its name? Or was it named to commemorate West Virgina’s admission to the Union as a state in 1863?
In late 1977, Metropolitan Theatres twinned the Village and Plaza Theatres in Palm Springs. The January 2, 1978, issue of Boxoffie ran a brief article with a drawing of one of the the Plaza’s twin auditoriums, prepared by the Filbert Company, the theater supply outfit that handled the alterations.
The partition dividing the old auditorium featured decorations matching those on the original side walls so that the theater’s Spanish atmospheric style could be retained. Unlike many twinnings, the Plaza’s also included reconfigured seating to maintain good sight lines. The Plaza and Village Theatres both reopened shortly before Christmas, 1977.
The Village Theatre might have been listed as an independent house in the newspapers before 1981, but before the end of 1977 it had already been taken over by Metropolitan Theatres. It was Metropolitan that twinned the Village and Plaza Theatres in 1977, as noted in this brief article in Boxoffice of January 2, 1978. The article features a drawing of the twinned auditorium of the Plaza, but says that the Village got new carpeting, draperies, and lobby treatment. Both houses got all new projection and sound equipment. Both theaters reopened shortly before Christmas, 1977.
An item in the July 19, 1935, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor said that Clifford Balch was preparing plans for alterations to a theater in Palm Springs for Earl “Streib.” It doesn’t give the name of the theater, but as 1935 was when Earl Strebe took over this house, it was probably this one. The Palm Springs (later Village) Theatre was only three years old, and the Plaza hadn’t been built yet.
This recent article in the Toledo Blade says that United North, the nonprofit organization that operates the Ohio Theatre and Event Center plans to begin showing first run art films and documentaries later this year. The Ohio, which broke even in 2013, will continue its various live events with movies worked into the schedule.
The article also contains some information about the difficulties art theaters have faced in Toledo in the past. Toledo itself has been without a dedicated art theater since the closing of the Southwyck Art Cinemas in 2001, and the nearest multiplex still showing such films on any of its screens is Cinemark’s Levis Commons 12 in the outlying town of Perrysburg.
I just stumbled across some of that information myself, and posted in on the Ora Theatre page.
The Ora Theatre was certainly not the first movie house in Freeport. The July 15, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had this item:
An item in the December 4, 1941, issue of The Freeport Facts said that the new Long circuit theater soon to be built on Second Street would be Freeport’s fourth movie house. I believe that this was probably the Showboat Theatre, which was on Second Street and opened in the early 1940s. At that time, Long operated Freeport’s three other movie theaters as well.The article also mentioned the Ora Theatre, so this house was definitely in operation by late 1941. Long also had plans to build a new theater in Velasco, a nearby town that merged with Freeport in 1957. I don’t know if Long’s plans for the Velasco house were carried out, as a site for that theater had not yet been acquired, and after the United States entered WWII a few weeks after the article ran, building restrictions were soon imposed throughout the country. Many theater projects had to be put on hold until after the war.
marmer: I can’t remember which page the list of Shult’s theaters was on. I tried checking the index of the 1950-51 catalog, but Shult is not mentioned in it. I started going through the book, but my browser keeps crashing (I don’t think it likes the site’s format) so I haven’t gotten very far. I’ll keep looking, and if I find the list I’ll post here again with a link. It might take quite a while, though. The site is slow, and my computer is uncooperative.
A typesetter at Boxoffice must have been drinking heavily. The 1949 issue I cited previously butchered the name of the architect. “Howell Ewald” was actually Howard George Elwell, according to the 1950-51 edition of Jay Emanuel’s Theatre Catalog.
Maybe this link will work.
An article published in the Medina Daily Journal in 1922 said that the Hi-Art Theatre in Lockport was located on West Avenue near the Big Bridge (now called Locks Plaza.) Another page of the newspaper has an ad for a real estate company at 13 West Avenue with the notation “Over the Hi-Art Theatre.” This block of West Avenue was later renamed West Main Street, which is confirmed by an ad for a fishing tackle shop in a 1938 issue of the newspaper, which gives its location as “16 W. Main—Opposite Hi-Art.”
A building with a tattoo parlor in it is at the current address 19 West Main, and east of that is a double-width building with a tan brick front, which is probably at 15-17 West Main. That means that the Hi-Art, on the ground floor below 13 West Main, was probably at the modern address 11 West Main, the lot just east of the tan brick building. Here is a Google Street View.
The Showcase Cinemas De Lux Florence was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3.
Description, photos, floor plans, and a section of the Nitehawk Cinema and other parts of the building it is in can be seen at this page of the web site archdaily. The project was designed by Caliper Studio.
A detailed description, photographs, floor plans, sections, and elevations of the Etoile Lilas Cinemas can be found on this page of the web site archdaily.
As noted in Dan’s description, the Showcase Cinema de lux Legacy Place was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3, which has been designing National Amusements' theaters since the beginning of the century.
The Bridge Cinema De Lux was one of many projects designed for National Amusements by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3. There are two photos on the firm’s web site.
There are two photos of the IMAX at the Tropicana on the web site of SPG3, the architectural firm that designed the project.
The Northbrook court 14 was one of many projects designed for General Cinema by Cambridge architectural firm Robert Luchetti Associates.
Development Design Group designed the interiors of the Muvico Parisien 20, but the building itself was designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3. There are two photos at SPG3’s web site.
The link to pictures of the theater on DDG’s web site posted by CSWalczak is dead, but this page of their site now has a slide show with four photos.
There is a conflicting claim about the design of this theater. Two photos of the Patriot Place Showcase Cinemas De Lux appears on the web site of the Philadelphia architectural firm SPG3. A brief biography of architect Irving Shapiro (the S in SPG3) says this about the firm’s relationship to National Amusements:
Apparently, SPG3 designed all of National Amusements' Cinema De Lux projects, even when the larger developments of which they were a part, such as Patriot Place, were designed by other firms, such as Arrowstreet. Arrowstreet did design a number of projects for Hoyts America, though, and SPG3 has designed some theaters for other chains.The biography also mentions the firm’s earlier connection to General Cinema:
The City Square Theatre in Trenton was mentioned in the January 8, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World.
this article in the Rio Grande Herald of February 9, 1984, says that the Garmon Theatre opened in 1937. As of 1984, it was being operated by Concha Gavilan, who also operated the H & H Drive-In at Rio Grande City.
Ads for the Garmon Teahtre from the 1970s and 1980s give the address as 212-214 E. Main Street. A Chevron filling station across Main Street from the theater currently has the address 207 E.Main, so the theater’s old address must still be in use.
The 1911 Sanborn Map of Atlanta shows three moving picture theaters on this block, at 30, 32, and 36 Peachtree Street. The Bonita was the largest of the three. The house at 36 Peachtree was the Alamo. The house at 30 Peachtree was not on the 1922 Sanborn map, but the Bonita and the Alamo were. All three buildings have since been demolished.
The Alamo has been demolished, along with two other theaters on the block. A small house I don’t know the name of, not yet listed at Cinema Treasures, was located at 30 Peachtree on the 1911 Sanborn Map, along with the Bonita Theatre at 32 Peachtree and the Alamo at 36 Peachtree. The Bonita and the Alamo were on the 1922 Sanborn map, but the house at 30 Peachtree had been converted into a retail store.
Clickable version of street view. The V.F.W. Hall is in between Blue Smoke at 119 E. Main and Subway at 123 E. Main, so Cinema 63’s address must have been 121 E. Main.
As the Ritz opened in 1935, it was probably an earlier house called the Lyric Theatre renamed. The July 16, 1935, issue of The Film Daily said: “Ansted, W. V. — Skaggs and Ruffner have reopened the Lyric.” Though the item doesn’t mention a name change, the 1934 FDY lists only the Lyric Theatre, with 245 seats, at Ansted, and the 1935 FDY lists only the Ritz Theatre, again with 245 seats. Sounds like a name change to me.
The Lyric Theatre, Ansted, West Virginia, with 250 seats, was on a list of movie theaters published in the January 2, 1915, issue of The Billboard, so it was a pretty old house.
The Star-Lite Drive-In was closed in 1978 and demolished to make way for a shopping center. Prior to the closing, Boxoffice of January 2, 1978 published this article (upper right) about Pacific’s plans to build the four-screen Woodward Park Drive-In to replace the Star-Lite.
Clickable version of kpkilburn2’s link. Zooming in on the Google street view you can see the address, 36 Michigan Avenue, on the door of the building.
The building looks as though it could have been built in 1863, so I’m wondering if that’s how the theater got its name? Or was it named to commemorate West Virgina’s admission to the Union as a state in 1863?
In late 1977, Metropolitan Theatres twinned the Village and Plaza Theatres in Palm Springs. The January 2, 1978, issue of Boxoffie ran a brief article with a drawing of one of the the Plaza’s twin auditoriums, prepared by the Filbert Company, the theater supply outfit that handled the alterations.
The partition dividing the old auditorium featured decorations matching those on the original side walls so that the theater’s Spanish atmospheric style could be retained. Unlike many twinnings, the Plaza’s also included reconfigured seating to maintain good sight lines. The Plaza and Village Theatres both reopened shortly before Christmas, 1977.
The Village Theatre might have been listed as an independent house in the newspapers before 1981, but before the end of 1977 it had already been taken over by Metropolitan Theatres. It was Metropolitan that twinned the Village and Plaza Theatres in 1977, as noted in this brief article in Boxoffice of January 2, 1978. The article features a drawing of the twinned auditorium of the Plaza, but says that the Village got new carpeting, draperies, and lobby treatment. Both houses got all new projection and sound equipment. Both theaters reopened shortly before Christmas, 1977.
An item in the July 19, 1935, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor said that Clifford Balch was preparing plans for alterations to a theater in Palm Springs for Earl “Streib.” It doesn’t give the name of the theater, but as 1935 was when Earl Strebe took over this house, it was probably this one. The Palm Springs (later Village) Theatre was only three years old, and the Plaza hadn’t been built yet.
This recent article in the Toledo Blade says that United North, the nonprofit organization that operates the Ohio Theatre and Event Center plans to begin showing first run art films and documentaries later this year. The Ohio, which broke even in 2013, will continue its various live events with movies worked into the schedule.
The article also contains some information about the difficulties art theaters have faced in Toledo in the past. Toledo itself has been without a dedicated art theater since the closing of the Southwyck Art Cinemas in 2001, and the nearest multiplex still showing such films on any of its screens is Cinemark’s Levis Commons 12 in the outlying town of Perrysburg.