Avalon Theater
1500 East Lake Street,
Minneapolis,
MN
55407
1500 East Lake Street,
Minneapolis,
MN
55407
2 people
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This theater was completed in 1937 by architect was Perry E. Crosier. The facade features an interesting hulking corner tower with neon light boxes.
The theater currently houses a theater puppet ‘company’ called ‘In the Heart of the Beast’. They create and perform large scale puppet performances. They are very active in the community and “employ” many volunteers and school children.
The highlight of their year is the annual May Day parade. HOBT took over the building in 1988, it had formerly been a pornography theater, known as the Fine Arts Theater.
It is a great renewal effort for a building that had become a nuisance to the community. The HOBT is wonderful program that is one of the gems of Lake Street.
Contributed by
Sean Ryan
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Avalon Theatre seated around 1000 people.
I’ve gone through the Minneapolis theaters and have found that the American, Vogue and East Lake are not listed. The Vogue was at Lake and Blaisdell, the American was on Nicollet and Lake and the East Lake was on 1537 East Lake Avenue, apparently across the street from the Avalon. If I’ve failed to account for any of the three under another listing, please let me know. Otherwise, I will add them as new theaters.
This website has small photos and some history of the Avalon Theater.
Here is a new link for the “Heart of the Beast” website.
Another photo is here.
The “AIA Guide to the Twin Cities” by Larry Millett, published in 2007 by the Minnesota Historical Society, has more information on this theater. It was originally a smaller theater built in 1924 and designed by Ekman, Holm & Company. It was enlarged in 1937, and redesigned in the Art Moderne style by Perry Crosier. A 1997 renovation and restoration for the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre was done by Vincent James Associates Architects.
I’ve been unable to discover if the 1924 theater that was incorporated into Perry Crosier’s Avalon had the same name or not. The Avalon was owned by Bill Frank and Oscar Woempner, operators of about a dozen theaters in the area at the time of the 1937 rebuilding.
Click on the link that I posted on Jun 24, 2007. It gives similar information and claims that “The western half of the Avalon’s site has been a movie theater since 1909, first with silent films, then showing “talkies†after 1927”. Was there another theater at this location in 1909?
I’ve been unable to find out anything about the 1909 theater. It was probably demolished to make way for the 1924 building.
I don’t know anything about the 1909 theater either. The 1935 Film Daily lists a 300 seat Avalon Theater for Minneapolis. The location given is Bloomington and Lake. That maps pretty close to the location of this Avalon Theater. If it is the same theater, both theaters were named Avalon.
The Avalon was an adult theater in 1982 known as the Fine Arts. Here are some photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Photo3