Mayfair Theatre
22 East 5th Street,
Dayton,
OH
45402
22 East 5th Street,
Dayton,
OH
45402
1 person
favorited this theater
Originally opened as the Opera House, then went to movies and than by the late 1940’s to burlesque. The Mayfair did switch back to B movies in 1949 before going back to burlesque in 1950. The Mayfair closed in 1968.
The Mayfair was to be razed on January 20th 1969 but caught fire on January 19th, 1969.
The goddess of Liberty that stood over the Mayfair was saved and is housed at the Dayton Art Institute.
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
very interested in the old theatres of dayton ohio- i attended them all please
write me—coolsurfmarianne my email is:
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY PICTURES OF OLD “LAKESIDE AMUSEMENT PARK” DAYTON OHIO? OR JUST MEMORIES?? COOLSURFMARIANNE
Concerning Lakeside Amusement Park way out in the SW area of Dayton, I used to ride the bus from Hamilton, Ohio with my mom who played bingo here while I went out and rode the rides. This was in the 1950s and all I can remember still in operation was the roller coaster (rickity wooden model) and the Merry-Go-Round, which was nice and clean. The bingo was in what was a huge dance hall facing onto the lake. I remember the entire place being demolished in the mid 1960s.
I danced at colonial theater in 1955 in a ballet dance recital-is now a lutheran church-any one remember the ice cream palor adjacent to the theater dayton ohio?
In 1966 I was 17-Lakeside Amusement Park- was closed and not operationg- but everything was still there and intact-It was a winter night—dusk-snowing-I went over the fence-into the old park-everything was still there- the bumper cars stood frozen-the huge laughing lady in the chicken wire cage-still stood there- grinning her hideos macabre grin-silent in the snow-all the little rides were still there! the carnival art work on the wood fencing that winded thru the park was still there- an art styles of the early 1900’s and 40’s and 50’s-it was so eerily beautiful-the grand merry go round-was there -I gave it a shove and got on it -it slightly moved a bit-the old roller coaster loomed in the now dark sky like a giant skeleton-all so surreal—Im just glad I was gutsy and went over that fence to see my beloved Lakeside park-before they leveled it-It sure is a great memory-im glad i have-1966……
lakeside park is now us rt 35 west-
Heard that ohio had more drive in theaters than any other state in late 50’s thru 1960’s Is it true?
Any one been in the Masonic Temple movie theatre in Dayton Ohio? It was built in 1928??It is magnificent!!!
This site has a 1960s photo that shows the Mayfair Theater.
As to Lakeside Park, you might want to search ‘YouTube’ for a video named ‘Flying Turns’ – it shows a great clip of the ‘Flying Turns’ coaster ride in 1930, as well as a few views of the park, when it opened at Lakeside that year (the first such opening of this very nationally-popular ride then at any amusement park). It’s set to ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ by Benny Goodman, too. The guys loved this ride so much because the women had to sit between their legs (quite ‘risque’ by 1930 public standards)! Lakeside was, as was Franke’s Forest Park, located off N. Main Street, originally a ‘trolley park’, built with the privately-owned streetcar lines so their patrons could take a streetcar/trolley to its terminus and enoy a fun day at the park. This line also accessed the Veterans Military Home nearby. I think one of the MTA trolley lines still follows the streetcar’s path in Dayton.
As to the Mayfair Theater, I remember it well on E. Fifth St. downtown – not a ‘classy’ place or area to be in. One of my Beavercreek HS teachers (Harold Solomon, I think his name was, a kind of a ‘New Age’ thinker then)in the early 1960’s (maybe 1961) took several of us students to see the show there one evening (parents thought it was a school outing) and as I remember, the ‘star’ performers were ‘Busty Russell’ and ‘Chesty Morganna’ – one of them, rumored to have size 73 DD’s, could take her breasts and fling them under her arms and over her shoulders! Quite an experience for teenagers back then!