Granada Theatre
212 N. Michigan Street,
South Bend,
IN
46617
212 N. Michigan Street,
South Bend,
IN
46617
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The Granada Theatre opened in 1927 on Michigan Street in South Bend. The theater was designed by K.M. Vitzhum, who also designed the Lerner Theatre (now the Elco Performing Arts Center) in Elkhart.
Any additional information on the Granada would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
I saw Audie Murphy in the B&W “Red Badge of Courage” here, as an ND undergrad, three or four or five times in succession. I skipped a lot of classes to see the movie. After an interlude in the Air Force, I wound up as a Civil War historian, for almost 30 years. I can’t blame an entire lifetime on my wasted afternoons at the Granada, but they surely contributed!
The year given for this photo is 1986 but the correct year would be 1968.
The Granada was my favorite theater in South Bend. Even though looking very worn by the 1960’s, it still had the grandeur of the Spanish courtyard and created a very realistic illusion that one was looking up into the night sky inside the courtyard. At one time, stars twinkled and clouds moved across the ceiling to enhance the illusion. It stood directly across from the Palace (now the Morris Performing Arts Center). I always thought that the South Bend Granada was a mirror to the Chicago Granada, and part of the Balaban & Katz chain and used the same design as the Chicago Granada which was originally designed by Edward Eichenbaum, but the first entry on here appears to contradict this.
Love to have that one-sheet and 8 by 10 color stills.kids today have idea what a real theatre was.this my friends was a real movie house.
If anyone is interested there is an old Floyd Patterson fight night ticket stub on ebay that showed at the Granada. Would be pretty cool for someone that went or if you knew someone that went. Take care. Here is the link.
View link
Wow, my name is Malinda Williams-Pearman and I have just stumbled onto this web site. I remember Cosimo and the Granada theater very well. My father Jewell Williams considered Cosimo a good friend and was the stage manager there for years, until it was demolished. I would love to get my hands on anything vintage Granada. I still remember getting into the movies for free and taking home those large bags of left-over popcorn when they emptied the popcorn machine at night. Best wishes to Cosimo and family!
The Granada Theatre was located in the parkland situated to the right side of the Google Map picture heading this CT page. The building, formerly at the NE corner of Michigan St. and Colfax Ave., is gone. The (fuzzy) theater in the picture’s left distance is the Morris Arts (ex-Palace). None — none! — of this display’s linked photos show the Granada; for the most part, they show the Morris or the State, other theaters still on South Bend’s Michigan Street. One photo of the Granada’s exterior is linked among the “Comments”.
The Google Map picture has been corrected. The Granada Theatre was located in the park shown. Its marquee and entrance, facing Michigan Street, were situated more-or-less where the prominent row of trees now stand.
The Granada Theatre was a fine example of atmospheric style movie palace architecture. Even in its later days, the theatre was in fine shape and still created the incredible illusion that one was sitting in a Spanish courtyard in the evening. While the theatre had long stopped using the cloud and star illusions on the sky dome ceiling, it was still a magnificant structure and the fact that it was torn down a terrible historical loss. The marquee and font style of the theater’s name was a smaller duplicate of Chicago’s Granada Theatre. I wish I had taken photographs of the theatre when I worked there. I could never imagine something so beautiful could ever be demolished.
I was surprised today to find some color interior shots of this theater, taken in 1971. They were made during the removal of the 3 manual WurliTzer. I found them on www.theaterorgans.com website. I worked my way through there opus list, the first listing for South Bend is in l921. Once I found that, I clicked on South Bend, and the Granada was shown. Click on Granada (if needed) and you should be able to view these shots. As I said, it was nice to run across these, as interior photos of this this one are hard to find. == Sam ==