Livingston Theatre
1567 East Livingston Avenue,
Columbus,
OH
43205
1567 East Livingston Avenue,
Columbus,
OH
43205
3 people
favorited this theater
The Livingston Theatre was a neighborhood theatre that opened in 1946 on the east side of Columbus. The marquee still has “Livingston” in stainless steel letters across the front of the building.
The theatre closed, I think, in the 1970’s after serving some time as an adult theatre. The Flex Club, a gay bath house, occupied the theatre now until late-2011. In late-2012 proposals were made to renovate the theatre.
Contributed by
Toby Radloff
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Recent comments (view all 37 comments)
The Livingston reopened on July 6, 1973, showing THE MACK with Max Julien, Don Gordon and Richard Pryor, and BLACK GIRL with Leslie Uggams and Brock Peters (“She’s got to cut it…or cut out.”)
The last ad I could find for the theatre was August 4, 1974, showing TRUCK TURNER with Isaac Hayes and SCREAMING TIGER.
Marty Hart’s WIDESCREEN MUSEUM site has a page on the Scanoscope process. It includes a film-clip that would be rated PG-13.
View link
Mark your absolutely right. Joe Shade operated it when it re-opened in ‘73. He had real problems as he was a pharmacist and had no theater experience. When Carl & I took over the previous owners main complaint was that he couldn’t make any money in he concession stand. Come to find out, when the stand needed candy he let then come over to the drug store and get what ever they needed from the back room with no supervision. Needless to say we initiated an inventory, watched the stand, and made money. The double feature policy is what killed us. We ran all of the black product and all of the ‘kung-fu’ pictures we could find and ran ourselves out of product.
This location is no longer listed at flexbaths.com . Is it still open as a gym or has it been converted to a different use now?
Property was taken over in 2/11 by a local man who owns a variety of properties. He now owns the entire block that houses the Livingston and the parking lot west of the building. I can’t find any recent occupant, and I did find a site confirming that Flex Baths had closed.
Ownership of The Livingston Theater has once again changed hands and is in the process of holding events that will go towards the restoration of it. As the last post suggested it is indeed true that the Flex bathhouse did in fact close. The other end of the building adjacent to the theater is a bathhouse currently, called H2O Spa, however The Livingston Theater is a separate establishment. Various events will be held at the theater and it is available to be rented for those looking for a large capacity facility in order to hold events. It hosts a huge stage area as well as a balcony area.
To be fair I should elaborate, Flex is still in business, just not in Columbus any longer. They do operate a facility in Cleveland.
Does it still look like a movie or stage theatre inside, with the original raked seating? What sort of events will it host once it is restored?
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!
Nov 10 2012 a show what held at the theater to help raise funds to restore it. Good to hear.
What organization is trying to restore it, and what sort of entertainment do they plan to have?