Palace Theater
1615 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland,
OH
44115
1615 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland,
OH
44115
10 people
favorited this theater
Built in 1922 for $2 million, this palatial vaudeville theater opened on November 6, 1923 with a seating capacity of 2,530. It later made the switch to movies.
In the 1950’s, the Palace Theater became the home for Cinerama—a renovation that required the removal of 1,800 seats. Despite the initial success, the Palace Theater, and its neighbors, fell on hard times and the theater closed in 1969. The marquee was subsequently torn down and the theater was boarded up.
In 1970, the Playhouse Square Association was formed to save the Palace Theater and other nearby theaters, such as the Ohio and the Allen. The Palace Theater reopened in 1973 as a performing arts venue and is still part of the Playhouse Square group.
It remains a live theater and performing arts venue to this day.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 60 comments)
A picture showing (supposedly) the first ticket being sold to “This is Cinerama” at the Palace:
View link. Only a few months later, on a cold February Saturday morning, our family went to see the film; an experience I can still recall vividly over fifty-odd years later.
Here is a construction view
The Palace was the one equipped for Cinerama, so I guess I’ve found where I saw “2001” in its roadshow engagement two or three times in the summer of 1968. I wish I could remember more from back then about the theater itself.
I wish Cleveland had been included in that “Remembering Cinerama” series last year, I kept waiting for it.
I do too, Tim; I was looking forward to filling in some gaps in my Cleveland Cinerama memories.
Note to ChasSmith: Actually, the reserved seat Cinerama run of “2001” was at Loew’s State. After Cinerama ended at the Palace, Cinerama productions (only 70mm versions) were shown at the Great Northern in North Olmsted, which was opened by Stanley-Warner as a purpose-built Cinerama house (SW has earlier considered retrofitting the Vogue in Shaker Heights for Cinerama; plans were drawn but not used). When Cinerama films were discontinued at the Great Northern, Cinerama returned downtown to Loew’s State. The 70mm re-release of “This is Cinerama” was shown at Loews Cedar-Center.
Thank you!
(Thanks also for your mention of the Loews Cedar-Center, the name of which I’d totally forgotten and I was having trouble finding any reference to it.)
A page of theatre photos opened this 1947 trade article about Cleveland’s “Film Row”: boxofficemagazine
Cleveland-born producer Ross Hunter’s Technicolor remake of “Magnificent Obsession” played its world premiere engagement at the RKO Palace in 1954: boxoffice
Renovations described in this 1960 trade article: Boxoffice
There is an excellent 1928 photo of the Palace on the Historic-Memphis.com website’s Theatre page. Here’s a link to the page.