Eastown Theatre
1470 Lake Drive SE,
Grand Rapids,
MI
49506
1470 Lake Drive SE,
Grand Rapids,
MI
49506
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Opened in 1936 as the Eastown Bijou Theatre and later renamed the Eastown Theatre. Built for and operated byperated by B&J (Butterfield & Johnson) until it closed. Butterfield Theatres did the booking for the theatre.
The Eastown Theatre closed in 1975 and is now a Church (Uptown Assembly of God) Any further information on the Eastown Theatre would be appreciated.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
An article about the new Eastown Theatre was published in Boxoffice of December 12, 1936. There are several photos. The Art Moderne design of the 1,000-seat house was by Grand Rapids architect Harry L. Colton. The Eastown was built for B&J Theatres (Butterfield & Johnson.)
Photos of the Eastown Theatre at this link.
View link
The theatre closed in the early 80’s, I know they ran Caligula in 1983…..
“Caligula” was released in 1979.
Yes, it was, but they ran it in late 1982,or early 83, it was cold and snowy, I saw it there, uncut full edition. I was suprised that a theatre in consertive GR would play it. And it played about 3 weeks. I worked in a theatre in Hollywood in 1981 that ran Caligula exclusive for over a year. it opened in the fall of 1980. It also ran in Kalamazoo uncut full edition at the Campus theatre. midnight show 1000 seats all shows sold out. they kept it for 3 or 4 weekends.
I had a friend that lived just around the corner on Wealthy from the theatre. We walked over to see Caligula. We had a blast, I had seen it many times, this was his first viewing. He was shocked, horrified, and loved it.
Here is a fresh link to the first page of the 1936 Boxoffice article about the Eastown Theatre. The article continues on subsequent pages of the magazine (click on “next page” links above or below the right side of the page scans.)
Keep clicking a couple of pages past the article about the Eastown and there is an article about the Washoe Theatre in Anaconda, Montana, opened the same year. The pair provide an interesting example of the two streams of modern design during the 1930s: the ornate (and costly) Art Deco details of the Washoe, versus the elegant simplicity of the Eastown’s Streamline Modern style.