Westwood Theatre
16200 Hilliard Road,
Lakewood,
OH
44107
16200 Hilliard Road,
Lakewood,
OH
44107
3 people
favorited this theater
The former Westwood Art Theatre is located in Lakewood, a district to the west of Cleveland, OH. It was the sister theatre to the Heights Art Theatre (aka Madstone Centrum) in Cleveland Heights and the Continental Art Theatre in East Cleveland (demolished in the 1970’s.) In the 1960’s/1970’s the Westwood Theatre had shown XXX-rated adult films.
The theatre opened as the Hilliard Square Theatre in 1927 and was built for vaudeville and motion pictures. The seating capacity is given as 1,500 in editions of Film Daily Yearbook through the 1940’s and 1950’s, although in reality it could be 1,200 (800 in the orchestra, 400 in the balcony). It changed its name to the Westwood Theatre in around 1962. By the 1980’s, the theatre started showing sub-run Hollywood fare, toward the end charging only 50 cents admission!
The theatre closed in 1988, and has been vacant since. Lack of off-street parking, as well as the high cost of operating a single screen theatre, killed the Westwood Theatre. The building is still standing, and nothing has been done to the theatre since it closed.
Contributed by
Toby Radloff
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Recent comments (view all 25 comments)
i remember my mother talking about how nice the passageway was between Madison & Hilliard. My daughter lived in one of the apartments above the theatre several years ago. The building really should be torn down and re-built. Also, there are spirits living there.
1985 photo of the Westwood Theatre.
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1948 photo of the Hilliard Theatre.
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1978 photo of the Westwood Art Theatre.
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1968 Night photo of the Westwood Theatre.
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1983 photo of the Westwood theatre minus the marquee.
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1985 photo of the Westwood Art Theatre with new marquee.
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This is a more recent photo.
Very cool nights at the Westwood in the 60’s; LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, BELLE DE JOUR, REPULSION, RED DESERT etc.
I worked as an usher than assistant manager till westwood took over.I’m very glad to here someone is interested in revitalize this gem. I will keep in touch.
Westwood Art opened on August 23rd, 1961. ad: View link
In american classic images photos 1980’s new marquee really sucks. The 60’s one with JOANNA is so cool. How could they remove it?
Here’s a two-page 1950 trade article about the modernization of the Hilliard Square Theatre: boxofficemagazine
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!