Empire Theater
1521 Vine Street,
Cincinnati,
OH
25202
1521 Vine Street,
Cincinnati,
OH
25202
2 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1909 as a silent movie house by Henry Levy, who also owned the Liberty Theater in Northside and the Imperial Theater in Mohawk. In 1936 the Empire Theater received an Art Deco remodeling. The theater was closed in the 1960’s and never reopened.
In 2002, LaShawn Pettus-Brown, a pro basketball player in Japan and a Cincinnati native, announced plans to purchase the Empire Theater and give the theater a $900,000 makeover. Pettus-Brown, who is a concert promoter, then run the former movie theater as a venue for comedy, concerts, and other events.
However, not long after receiving a $184,000 loan from the City of Cincinnati, Pettus-Brown disappeared, leaving the Empire Theater to decline until the theater’s roof collapsed — ending all chances of a restoration.
Wanted by the FBI, the fugitive evaded authorities for several months, but was eventually undone by a prospective date who “Googled” Pettus-Brown and discovered his true identity. Pettus-Brown is now in policy custody and is expected to charged with wire fraud.
Not long after the roof collapsed, the Empire Theater was razed in July 2003 and is now a vacant lot.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
Demolition was in July 2003, according to the Cincinnati Post:
Demolition should be completed by Friday on a former Over-the-Rhine movie theater that made headlines this year when a developer who had promised to renovate it skipped town after receiving a city loan.
The city hired a Green Township contractor this week to raze the Empire Theatre in the 1500 block of Vine Street after heavy rains over the weekend collapsed the roof of the 94-year-old structure.
“I would hope by Friday we’re hauling debris out,” said Tom McAlpin of Allgeier & Son Inc., the company demolishing the old theater.
Henry Levy owner of the Empire Theate and other cinemas in the area died Sept. 25,1938 at age 58 in Washingto,D.C. while on a vacation trip with his family. The Forest and Norland Theaters belonged to him until he sold them to the Ike Libson Chain sometime between 1934 and 1935.
Also a cinema belonging to Henry Levy was the Liberty Th. in Northside on Spring Grove Avenue.
Now that this site is an empty lot, students from the University Of Cincinnati have added a colorful mural to an adjacent brick wall depicting many neighborhood images of this old German area. Included is a painting of the last Empire vertical signage.
A friend of mine who used to go this place frequently during its last days said you’d have to go home and wash your hair after seeing a movie here…
1985 photo of the Empire Theatre.
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Dec. 1985 photo of the Empire Theatre.
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This is the mural that Hank Sykes was talking about.
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Wrong theatre, bro.
Here is a pic of the Empire when it was actually in operation…
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On this street view pic, you have to hit the look right button a few times. See the building with the big mural on the side? The Empire was in the empty lot between that building and the check cashing place.