Parthenon Theatre
5142 S. Hohman Avenue,
Hammond,
IN
46320
5142 S. Hohman Avenue,
Hammond,
IN
46320
2 people
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The Parthenon was opened on 19th March 1921, originally seating over 2500, it was the second-largest of Hammond’s movie theaters, after the 3000-plus seat State. It was originally operated as part of the Warner Brothers circuit, one of their earliest houses outside of California.
Opening night’s program several vaudeville and musical acts, a couple of film shorts, and the Douglas Fairbanks feature, “The Nut”.
The luxurious and highly ornate neo-Italian Renaissance Baroque style Parthenon quickly gained the nickname of “The Wonder Theatre”, not only screening the best first-run features, with sound by 1927, but vaudeville into the 30s, many of the most famous big bands of the 30s and 40s, and celebrities such as Harry Houdini, Jack Benny and even Rin-Tin-Tin, the most famous canine star of Hollywood until Lassie.
The Parthenon’s spacious auditorium featured one of the earliest Hammond movie houses with unobstructed sight lines, thanks to its large reinforced steel and concrete balcony, which sat well over 1200 alone. Its lobby spaces could fit more than 1000 patrons, and all the Parthenon’s public areas were richly decorated, like a Renaissance era princely palace, and furnished with the finest artwork and furniture, including caged songbirds in the main lobby.
By the late 60s, and into the 70s, the Parthenon began to be used more for rock concerts than as a movie house, beginning in 1967, when Sonny and Cher appeared on stage to promote their movie, “Good Times”. During the 70s, groups as diverse as KISS and Rush played at the Parthenon.
After closing in the early 80s, the longest-lasting of downtown Hammond’s great movie palaces was sadly demolished in 1983, replaced by a parking lot.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Didn’t the Parthenon Theater have an electric clock to the right of the screen and curtains? It had a sort-of sickly green glow to it, making it hard to ascertain the time. Or was the clock at the Paramount down the street? As a child I was fascinated by that clock. Wonder whatever happened to it? Probably either part of the earth now or sold at an antique store… – Bob Marovich
This website has some information on this theater along with stress test photos of the balcony during construction.
You can see the Parthenon Theater marquee in this 1960s photo.
A Kimball theater organ opus KPO 6569 size 2/11 was installed in the Parthenon Theater in 1921.
I have few pictures of the Paramount on my Flickr page:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimschuster/
oops I meant to say I have pictures of the Parthenon
Here is an April 1960 ad from the Hammond Times:
http://tinyurl.com/52sbq9
1976 Photo
1983 Photo
It’s not even a parking lot. It’s a useless grassy area right next to the downtown Hammond overpass.
Several vintage photos of the Parthenon Theatre can be seen on this web page. The text on the page is mostly quoted from Cinema Treasures, so there’s no new information available.