State Theatre

There is hope for this art deco delight. First is that it has a great staff looking after it and second is that much of the original interior is still somewhat intact and salvageable. Take a peak at these photos from June 2010: 1, 2, 3, 4

I worked at the State during the split into four theaters, and did get some pictures of it before the work began. I will have to see if I still have those around…if I can find them I’ll post them here. I remember it was a TERRIBLE job, the same philosophy that had hacked up the Michigan in the 1950s…the art deco red glass exterior was smashed off and replaced with ugly green bathroom tile. There were two half-circle couches in the upstairs lobby that were still in decent shape, but they were pulled out and replaced with generic patio furniture. And a really nice art deco mural running along the ceiling edge was painted black. sigh.

Here is a 1983 photo:
http://snipurl.com/hasby

Here is a 1987 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cor9op

When I arrived in Ann Arbor in 1985, this theater was showing porn at night (I can’t remember what they were showing during the day). By the time I left, they had dropped the porn and were just showing regular movies. Even so, I never saw a movie there. Between the Michigan and the film groups holding screenings on campus, there was no shortage of movies to choose from. I do remember seeing the poster for Manhunter (1986) on display and being interested in that, but I didn’t see it until much later on VHS. What a shame!

Another recent night view can be seen here.

This is a 2008 night view of the State Theater.

i have a beautiful oil painting of the state theater painted by milt kemnitz
on the theater marquee is the film “please don’t eat the daisies”

This is a more recent photo.

Here is a 2007 photo of the State Theater at night.

This is another recent photo of the State Theater.

Here is a recent night view of the State Theater.

There are a couple of recent photos of the State theater at this link. Click each photo to expand it.