Cla-Zel Theatre
127 N. Main Street,
Bowling Green,
OH
43402
127 N. Main Street,
Bowling Green,
OH
43402
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 33 comments found
there was 5 functioning motion picture theatres in the bowling green area. Lyric, the State, The Stadium 1&2, the Cla-Zel, and the Portage Drive In (just outside BG). For those who remember the offices for the Armstrong Circuit Theatre Group were located above the rogers pharmacy, next to the Cla-Zel. Factoid, the Armstrong Circuit also was very community oriented, they had a train that kids could ride during parades, and at the portage drive in on movie nights. When the Portage Drive In was demolished, the “Armstrong Tooter” was sold to a local resident, the Tooter was in poor shape from being stored under the screen all of those years, never being used and weather and bird dropping placed on it, so no one knows if anything has been done to it since.
Another 2008 photo of the Cla-Zel Theatre.
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Rich, there was a Stadium Cinema I & II on E. Wooster, could that have been the cinema you are talking about?
Bowling Green had yet another theater on E Wooster Street near I-75. The address was a long the lines of 1616 E Wooster. It opened around 1970 and closed in the mid- to late-80s. It was part of a chronically underperforming plaza that included a Great Scot super market and Gray Drug, along with a strip of small shops. I think it was simply the Cinema or named for the plaza (may have been College Plaza or University Plaza). I think it always had at least two screens. It tended to get 1st run films before the Cla-Zel, which spent many years as a low price, second/third run theater.
If somebody adds the Lyric, there were apparently two of that name, both owned by Clark M. Young. The second Lyric was opened in 1935, and an item in Boxoffice of September 21, a few weeks before the new house opened, said that Young was naming it the Lyric after his old theater which had been dismantled.
I’ve been unable to find anything about the State Theatre. The Bowling Greens in Kentucky and Missouri each had a State Theatre, too, which muddies the search results.
A June 2007 night photo of the Cla-Zel Theatre courte4sy of Jim Rees.
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Chuck….You should add the Lyric and State theaters. The Lyric dates back to at least 1930 and is listed in 1955 with 360 seats. I don’t have any information about the State Theater.
LM, I got a reply from the Bowling Green Chamber with the following information, the Lyric Theatre was located at 138 E. Wooster, closed and demolished and is now a new building houseing a Steak House.
The State Theatre was located at 144 N. Main St., The building was completely gutted the front facade lowered and is now the Ben Franklin Craft Store. So there were two theatres besides the Cal-Zel.
This is a 2008 photo.
Look at it this way, if both names belong to the same theater, your really only searching for one theater. Let me know if that makes any sense. LOL
Are your trying to fluster me? LOL now I have two theatre names to look for.
LOL That happens to me alot.
There is a Lyric Theater listed in 1955 for Bowling Green, Ohio with a location given as East Wooster Street. I wonder if Lyric is another name for the State Theater.
Thanks LM, I have it written down and will keep looking. I had found another photo with the address below the picture and clicked to enlarge it and hit the X and lost it. Now I can’t find it again.
I saw the photo of the State Theater Chuck, but I don’t have any information on it.
1982 Photo
There was also a State Theatre in Bowling Green, does anyone have information on the State?
Here is a 1975 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cwawxn
Here is the website for Club Encore.
Great Eastern Theatre Co. took over operation of the Cla-Zel Theatre in 1987, according to an item in Boxoffice Magazine’s November issue that year. The former operator, Armstrong Theatres, had gone out of business. On assuming operation, Great Eastern refurbished the Cla-Zel with new carpets, a new sound system, and other embellishments.
Great Eastern took over Armstrong’s Maumee Theatre at the same time.
The Cla-Zel reopened in November 2008 with a re-designed interior and refurbished marquee. The sloped floor has been removed and the venue is now on two levels, with a bar and seating near the entrance and a smaller bar and large dancefloor on the lower level by the stage. The majority of the original architecture and fittings have been restored, with new additions very sympathetic to the original design.
It is currently open Wed-Sun and operates as Club Encore on Thursday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s, and will begin hosting live music in January or February 2009.
Here is an article from June 30th 2008 about plans for the Cla-Zel:
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Another photo of the Cla-Zel can be seen here.
The Cla-Zel has been purchased by a group of investors who plan to create “an upscale entertainment facility” featuring a bar and live music. A newspaper article can be viewed at:
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A Marr & Colton theater organ was installed in the CLA-ZEL Theater in 1926.
The Cla-Zel was operated by the Armstrong Circuit in 1963. This company had a strong presence in Ohio as they also operated theaters in Fostoria, Maumee, Napoleon, Toledo, Defiance, Port Clinton, Millbury, Carey, Fremont, Mansfield, Upper Sandusky and Bellevue.
A 2007 photo of the CLA-ZEL Theater can be seen here.