Piecing together some information from newspapers, ads for the Dorset at 515 Race Street ran as late as February 1981. The theater was then twinned and by May 1981 was operating as the Bay Cinemas, which closed in 1989. The Tolley Theatre appears to have been a dinner theater, not a cinema.
On the other hand, CinemaTour thinks that the Arcade was a completely different building at 515 Race Street. According to a WBOC story from 2014, this venue operated as the Tolley Theatre as late as 1995. In 2014 the owner, Gene Tolley, was operating a restaurant supply and catering business out of the theater and a building next door; he was considering reopening the theater but thought that the condition of some nearby vacant buildings might keep customers away.
Last day of operation was September 2, 1996, with a double bill of “Solo” and “Carpool.” An article in the previous day’s Honolulu Advertiser said that this house was built on the site of Hawaii’s first drive-in theatre, imaginatively named The Drive-In Theatre and opened in 1950.
The theater must have gone back to screening movies as the Oakland Square after its days as the Affro-Arts (with a double f, circa 1968-69), as a February 28, 1971 story in the Tribune notes the arrest of two gang members for trying to shake down the theater manager. They allegedly wanted $75 a week not to stage demonstrations in front of the theater. The theater does not appear to have advertised in the Tribune at this time.
Theater has been sold to Downtown Development Group LLC; they plan to renovate and present concerts, comedy shows and movies. Tribune Chronicle story here.
Follow-up article says that the landlord needs to close the theater to do structural work on the plaza around the building. They claim that it will reopen as a cinema at some point.
Last ad for the Guild in the Tribune looks like February 22, 1964, with “Lost Souls” and “Nature’s Playmates” on the screen. By April the venue was presenting live theater as the Hull House Sheridan, which appears to have lasted only through the end of that year.
Last day of operation as a cinema was September 19, 1985 with “American Ninja” and “Teen Wolf,” both of which were also playing at suburban theaters. Plitt’s advertising for the Chicago at the end seems to have become sporadic at best—on the Saturday before the closing, their display ad notes an all-night Bruce Lee marathon at the Chicago but does not mention what might have been playing at other times. A Tribune story on the day after the finale alludes to $2.50 tickets and lots of martial arts films, so it’s likely that the theater was no longer a true first-run house.
Here is the page that tells how to make clickable links on Cinema Treasures.
Last day of operation appears to be July 11, 1972; final feature was “Fritz the Cat.”
Piecing together some information from newspapers, ads for the Dorset at 515 Race Street ran as late as February 1981. The theater was then twinned and by May 1981 was operating as the Bay Cinemas, which closed in 1989. The Tolley Theatre appears to have been a dinner theater, not a cinema.
On the other hand, CinemaTour thinks that the Arcade was a completely different building at 515 Race Street. According to a WBOC story from 2014, this venue operated as the Tolley Theatre as late as 1995. In 2014 the owner, Gene Tolley, was operating a restaurant supply and catering business out of the theater and a building next door; he was considering reopening the theater but thought that the condition of some nearby vacant buildings might keep customers away.
The building that Kilduff’s thinks was the Arcade shows up on Google Street View at about 500 Race Street.
Last day of operation was September 2, 1996, with a double bill of “Solo” and “Carpool.” An article in the previous day’s Honolulu Advertiser said that this house was built on the site of Hawaii’s first drive-in theatre, imaginatively named The Drive-In Theatre and opened in 1950.
February 10-16, 1965.
May 18-24, 1966. Coming attraction is “The Singing Nun.”
The FCC paid the theater a visit the other day; seems it had been serving as the transmitter site for a pirate radio station.
The video is mostly a talking-head interview. It has a few seconds of the Palace toward the end (the whole thing is less than two minutes).
The caption says the photo is from 1917, so obviously not the same theater that was operating in the 1940s.
November 26-December 2, 1976.
Tribune stories in 1969 and 1975 place an Arab social club at this address.
Here’s a 2016 local news story about the closing. Here’s an iMDB bio page for the owner.
December 12-15, 1962. That hard-to-read second feature is “Rat Race.”
The theater must have gone back to screening movies as the Oakland Square after its days as the Affro-Arts (with a double f, circa 1968-69), as a February 28, 1971 story in the Tribune notes the arrest of two gang members for trying to shake down the theater manager. They allegedly wanted $75 a week not to stage demonstrations in front of the theater. The theater does not appear to have advertised in the Tribune at this time.
Dupont Street is in the Roxborough-Manayunk area, considerably northwest of this site. The theater in that picture is probably the Roxy Theatre.
Judging by the Street View, this building was demolished sometime between October 2016 and June 2017.
Daniel Talbot died yesterday (12/29/17). He was in his early 90s and had been married to Toby Talbot for 68 years. Variety obit here.
Theater has been sold to Downtown Development Group LLC; they plan to renovate and present concerts, comedy shows and movies. Tribune Chronicle story here.
Follow-up article says that the landlord needs to close the theater to do structural work on the plaza around the building. They claim that it will reopen as a cinema at some point.
The future of the Uptown: as murky as ever. Crain’s Chicago Business story here.
Last ad for the Guild in the Tribune looks like February 22, 1964, with “Lost Souls” and “Nature’s Playmates” on the screen. By April the venue was presenting live theater as the Hull House Sheridan, which appears to have lasted only through the end of that year.
Last day of operation as a cinema was September 19, 1985 with “American Ninja” and “Teen Wolf,” both of which were also playing at suburban theaters. Plitt’s advertising for the Chicago at the end seems to have become sporadic at best—on the Saturday before the closing, their display ad notes an all-night Bruce Lee marathon at the Chicago but does not mention what might have been playing at other times. A Tribune story on the day after the finale alludes to $2.50 tickets and lots of martial arts films, so it’s likely that the theater was no longer a true first-run house.
February 11-17, 1966. The features are “Hell Is For Heroes,” “Apache Uprising” and “5 Branded Women.”