American Theater

This was a small neighborhood theater in the “Little Italy” section of Erie. It was one of three movie houses in a two block stretch of 18th St. Not sure when the American was built, but it closed in 1953. It sat vacant until it was demolished January 1974. Today, the site is a parking lot. At the time it was demolished, the owner Bob Lee, who bought the theater in 1947, said it closed due to the impact of television and the economics of converting to Cinemascope. The address given in the newspaper account of its demolition was 504 W 18th St.