Lakeside Theater

raybradley on March 23, 2011 at 8:43 pm

Windows were cut into auditorium walls when this building was converted into a popular record store. Here is a fine shot of what the old Lakeside Theatre looks like today,
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77DX on February 11, 2008 at 2:50 pm

My grandparents built this theater and opened it in 1949 when there was nothing between it and Lake Hefner. My grandmother, Elizabeth Newcomb, said the only other business on North May was a hamburger stand a few blocks away. I guess that became the A&W a block or two north.

Grandmother was a presence at the Lakeside until her health began to fail in the 1970s. It was the cornerstone of Newcomb Theaters Inc, which included the Trend at 1214 North Pennsylvania, and the Cooper at 19 North Robinson (subleased from the Cooper Foundation).

My grandfather, Leonard Newcomb, was a dentist and built the Lakeside with his dental office upstairs. A door on the north side of the building opened on a stairway which went up to the dental office waiting room.

On Saturdays when I was a kid my grandfather would work in the dental office until noon, then he and his dental assistant would go downstairs to open “the show” at one. He married that dental assistant in 1991 at the age of 90 long after my grandmother and her husband had died.

Tower Records was relatively late in the building’s life. When my family sold it in 1977 it became a Sound Warehouse.

Lauren Durbin on October 31, 2006 at 12:18 pm

Corrected the names of the photos at the above link. They’re now called Lakeside Theater instead of May Mystery Theater. Thank you for the identification of the theater, Cosmic Ray!

Okie on July 9, 2006 at 6:41 am

During the late 1970’s the Lakeside Theatre was renovated into Tower Records Superstore. Large display windows were cut into auditorium walls, and the sloped floor was made level.
I beleive the building sits empty these days.